Slip slide glide

Just caught Lee’s blog post on the Joker… lovely to have a review by a well respected longboarder, and someone who has never ridden a bonzer before as it brings a totally new perspective to some of the traits I now take for granted. Thanks Lee.

What got me started…

Moi | Stevie J | Bruno | Mark | Tim E… and a little article in Surfer back in 1970 something!

Banyak boat trip. Bonzers only (and 2 McCoy Nugget singlefins)…

My first ever bonzer wave on Stevie J’s 6’4” Gary Hanel 5 fin performance swallow… couldn’t believe how fast the thing was! Shame the pic is so blurred but you get the idea.

Campbell Bros 40 year anniversary POD (Moonlight Glassing) - FOR SALE

6’2” x 20 1/4” x 2 1/2”  Campbell Bros Atlantic POD – 40 year anniversary model. Made in California, glassed by Moonlight. Sand finish. Opaque burnt orange tint, bonzer runners in black.

An absolute classic POD from Malcolm that I came across… just didn’t suit the owner, so i thought i should rescue it. This board is either for sale at the right price, (too thin for me) or will be a wall-hung-tribute  to the creators of Bonzer in the Mill. If you are interested, make me an offer.

 

Crap pics – sorry – I'll post more once its cleaned up. Might even polish the rails!

My kind of contest...

Nice vibe at home this weekend... my friend Lee of Hickory Nines did a great job of capturing the vibe. Fun and friends in a laid back stylie...

The Old Smithy Invitational 2011 from Lee Robertson on Vimeo.

I was judging (due to more injuries) so sadly no bonzers ridden.

#1 Rising Sun Freakfish EVO6 bonzer

Hajime’s 5’11” x 20 1/4” x 2 3/8” FreakFish. Rising sun deconstructed resin band to follow…

  
My favourite tool – the Lie Nielsen convex sole hand plane.  

Foiling the fins next week.

I’m “out”… I love a longboard!

Shovel(flex)nose bonzer EVO6 longboard… I have to say (and please bear in mind I am a shortboarder) that I LOVED this longboard… form the first take-off the board felt incredibly intuitive and had me walking up to the nose so easily. It is really stable up front due to the quite parallel rail line from the shovel nose and seemed to allow me more time up there than was reasonable, especially for a shortboarder! It would turn from the middle very naturally too, which was unexpected, and off the tail i could easily pull it into roundhouses. I have only ridden it as an EVO6 with MR rears so far and it works so well I am wondering if I’ll ever get a single fin in the box! And of course then there’s the resin band… straight off a lovely Havana Corona. If I was to make a tweak it would be to lower the rail apex just a touch through the rear 1/3 of the board for even more sensitivity…

It’s a very special board that has far exceeded my expectations and made me seriously question what board to pull out when the surf’s good! So I’m “out”… I love a longboard!

RED review - Atlantic POD EVO6

Last week I was lucky enough to surf RED at Way-Outs in overhead and clean. After a long paddle i have to say i enjoyed the board more than any other in a longtime… it paddled in early, and smoothly and was SO stable that i actually forgot about taking off all together, it was back to being instinctive… which it hasn’t been since my knee op really. Once up the board was amazing. The closest I can liken it to is skateboarding; i felt i had no limitations, i could carve such tight lines and every input not only resulted in a smooth turn but acceleration. I could really feel the back fins driving together projecting me into the next turn and running smoothly through flat spots.

The following day I had it at a rocky little number on the low tide. I got a nice little cover-up followed by a vert top turn; what was so impressive about this was that the whole first part of the wave as i dropped in and pulled in, I was riding from the middle as I got up too far forward, but the board still turned and drove beautifully. For me this has always been an important characteristic of riding bonzers, they are so forgiving and don’t have that narrow sweetspot like the thrusters I used to ride. 

So the 6’4” x 20 3/4” x 2 7/8” New Atlantic POD with Bernoulli concaves and dedicated EVO6 set up is officially my new favourite board.