Really dig this board. I've been toggling back and forth between this and the 8x28 Blurr V2. I could surf this board every day and be pretty content, it paddles very fast compared to my Blurr and after getting my balance dialed on a pointy 8x28 this board is fairly easy except in weird bouncy stuff (I'm 83kg at moment + suit). I like how the New Deal carries speed, and feels powerful when you get on a decent wave and do a good turn. There's a cool feeling that I don't get on my shorter boards.
Where I surf, you get huge variation within a session from 5-10 ft. tide swings and features that shrink waves (swell blocking jetty) or jack them up. In my last session on New Deal it was 7 ft. at 13s and I started out on some mushy head high waves, messing around walking board. Then paddled out 500 m to an outer break with big mellow waves, then came in and surfed steep, just overhead waves, got sick of shortboard crowds and finished on waist high steep waves along jetty as tide went negative. The New Deal feels pretty perfect for that kind of day - it can do everything.
What I'm really psyched about is that riding my New Deal makes me surf my Blurr better. My New Deal doesn't feel big when I'm on it, but when I get back on my Blurr, it feels tiny on the wave. I pretty much only surfed the Blurr for a year and I sort of habituated to it, but now when I hop on it I fully appreciate how easily it turns. Riding the ND makes me focus extra on where my back foot is and how it affects turns, this seems to really help my surfing on Blur. So really thrilled on having a performance longboard. Lot of synergy with the shortboard. Hope other folks are finding the same
I had to google the board as I had no idea what it looks like, nice long board shape how about some pics so we can see the concave?
We put it next to my friend's Kalama 9x28 and I think main difference was the tail is a little more pulled in. I've only surfed the Kalama in really weak surf so can't really compare the two. Friend really liked the New Deal, but he also had it out on a perfect glassy sunny day, we prob would have said nice things about a piece of plywood that day it was so nice out.
Here is promo video
Looks like a really nice board, very similar to my long board in many areas with construction and shape and the reasoning behind why you would use one is exactly why I went for a long board shape.
Dave ,I have had both the new deal and smik bonza ,respectfully ,not much in common other than they both have concave in the bottom! Bonza are a very different concept relying heavily on fin cant /toe placement ,and very deep concave ,as aposed to standard concave - vee double concave out the back ! The one thing I personally was happy to read in review ,was that the original 10x29 was a stiff board to surf,but it was the best paddling board I have had full stop! I was not compatible with that rocker surfing wise .weight and construction similar with both boards ,with me personally preferring the infinity -kinetic connection,bummer they are soooo expensive to land here !hope you are compatible with the Smik and you are getting waves cheers 
Just got a few more sessions on New Deal in a great run of long period swell. Did some mixed Blurr and ND sessions and got a better understanding of how these boards work for me. I surf the 9' ND like prone surfers would a ~7-8 ft. mid length. At first I thought I should just be trimming down the line and walking board, cause that's what I associate with long boarding. I like working on this, but then I'd get the board in more powerful waves and just surf it like I would my 8' Blur. I thought maybe this was sacrilege, but after sharing a peak with prone guys on longboards and mid-lengths, I realized that I surf the 9' ND how prone surfers ride a 7-8' board. Lots of compression/extension and then understated top turns or more aggressive cut backs. Seems like it actually makes sense to do this if a shortboard SUP is typically surfed like a prone board 1-2' shorter (so a 9' SUP = mid prone?). On the ND my search images for what I want to turn on is different, I want something with room to keep the rail in the water for longer - a chance to top turn just feels like a cutback that I had to stop short. But that same piece of wave would be what I'm after on the Blurr. A perk of the blur is that paddle-switch or sort of no-paddle cutbacks where you lead with shoulder seem a lot easier. I don't really try these on ND. And of course top turns a blast. Maybe this is all obvious, or hahaha I am misinterpreting my surfing, but felt like I got a lot of clarity by alternating between Blurr and ND during a run of great waves. Now what I wanna know is how a ~7'7"x28 95L wide tailed board would feel ...
I keep lovingly looking at a 9'6" x 31" New Deal. The more I think about it, the more I think that may be my next board after I get the 8'8" Spice that I have on order.
