Hello All,
Thinking of making a bonzer with a fairly old school shape. I am hoping to use the Red-X (I think thats right?) system so i can remove the fins. My question is how would this sort of board perform purely as a single fin? I would love to hear any thoughts, experiences or theories (Im heading off for a round the world surfari/adventure in a couple of months and trying to keep it down to 3 boards. Already got the fish and the 9,6!). Peace Out
James
By single fin I assume you mean the center fin only, without the 2 or 4 side fins? As I understand it, the side fins, especially the 2 runners in the early bonzers, are integral to the design by helping to direct the water flow through the concaves and out the tail. Maybe a bonzer without the side fins would behave more like a channel bottom? According to what I’ve read, the Campbells started with the fins first and added the concaves a few years later, so it would be interesting to see how it works in reverse.
We’ve been doing a bit of R&D on the 5-finned boards. Surprisingly, the board will work as a single but the drive will suffer. Increase the center fin size to 7.5 to 8.5 with a long base to get the drive back. I’ve got a couple of pics of one of the test boards on our website: www.plusonesurf.com look under “Special Projects” for the purple-tinted board. Note, the board as a single works not nearly as well as it does with the ventral fins. Those things have insane speed and drive when done properly…
This reminds me of an experience I had way back. I had a bonzer in 1974 that went really well. I loved that board and it had a cool air brush job. My brother, who still hadn’t bought into the short board thing and was still sporting a crew cut said “aw, that’s bullshit, it would go better without those stupid side fins”. This is the brother who taught me how to surf and in spite of being a total hard ass was and is a really great guy. So I ground off the side fins. The board became a total dog and then I broke it. I left it to a friend of mine to restore as I left on a trip to central america. After I was gone he decided it would be a good idea to burn it in a surf sacrafice after a lengthy flat spell. The moral of the story… keep the side fins.
…that said, the only ‘bonzer bottom’ I’ve ever ridden was a 6’9 single fin , here in west australia.
Felt really good to me, especially backhand it held in high under the lip, is what I noticed…which is why I now want to make a three fin bonzer, to see / feel the difference the two side fins will make. If the deck had not badly delaminated, I would have kept riding the 6’9 " [c 1975, apparently] as a single. As it happened, it’s now reshaped and re-glassed as the 5’7 pintail single fin, instead. I’m still waiting for the waves to wax it up and surf it !
ben
Hi Jay, first if you’re going to do a world surfary/adventure i world try to change the 9’6’’ for something smaller… it’s becomes bigger and heavier the more you walk with your surfboards hanging from your shoulder.
On the bonzer, i can’t imagine why do you want to have a multi fin board that feels as a singlefin. If you want a high performance singlefin, there are some… and they’re very versatile. Ask Solosurfer and Cheyne Horan or check Mc Coy’s site.
Anyway i have a C.I. single fin and the bottom is really bonzer like, this gives the board more lift than a conventional singlefin, and it holds the speed on the turns way better than any other singlefin i tried. But it’s a singlefin…
If i were you, i would use a center standard (Bahne) fin box.
Have a great surfary!!!
Coque.
PlusOneShaper,
The purple board looks very interesting. I am especially interested in the side fins. Can you tell us more about the design and the removeable aspect?
Thanks,
Sr Pato