Smik Bonza 8'8x31

I everyone, I came across a Smik Bonza in one of my local stores the other day, and its a board I had wanted to see in the flesh for some time. It was also the size that I was interested at 8'8x31 125ltr, I mentioned it to my good wife and to my surprise, instead of the usual "no you have enough SUPs" she said to get it if I wanted it. Did you spot her mistake there

So here are quite a few photos showing the outline, rocker and fin setup for anyone interested. I struggled to find much online about the board so I these might help anyone else interested in the Bonza.

























I hope to at least get a paddle in on the weekend and will let you know how I think it goes. I you have any tips or questions about the board please share them too.

Have a great weekend all.

Steve.

I'm curious as wel, after a long time thinking I went for a custom Hipster twin pin 9.0 myself, but this is looking very good to

Great board, I have the long board version. Lots of fun turning from the middle of the board on a long fast wall and when you put more weight on the back foot she really loosens up and turns so well. When it's really glassy the fins hum and if you push the back foot down it accelerates really well, have fun.

Thanks everyone, just had my first surf this morning on the Bonza. At a punchy beach break that stands up more like a reef than a beach. Two to three foot with sets just over my head, and plenty of push from the take off.

First paddle out, hmm its only seven ltrs less than my 8'6x31.5 Hipster, but I have full on Bambi legs this is going to be interesting.

To be fair the wind was calm, however there was plenty of cross bumps running through the line up at an angle to the swell. Weeks of NE sea breezes around here lately, so it would be challenging on any board but the Bonza is a full balance exercise at first.

I found that the board has a very small sweet spot when standing out the back, with the deep concaves and V under your feet its not a relaxing wait for the next wave. It did improve by the end of the surf, so I will see how it goes as I get more use to the board.

Paddling speed was ok, and once I went into surf stance to catch waves I had no problem with stability. And it feels like you could drop into any size wave on the Bonza. And yes the speed was there as expected, I never had to think about pumping the board to make a section. Indeed for the first few waves I was playing catch up to the board as it was finding speed by its self. The rights were very punchy and the lefts running with the swell direction fatter and slower, yet even on the few lefts (backhand for me) that I caught the board still had plenty of speed over the dead spots.

Now for the thing that did surprise me, this board turns like nothing else, you think about it and next thing you are flying out of that turn and onto the next. Normally at this beach the local surfers would rather give me stink eye than talk to me, but a few commented on how good the board seemed to be going. Its so lively in its turns and you come out of a turn with more speed than you went in with. In this size surf its a great feeling, will be interesting to see what its like in smaller waves, but in these conditions the board felt a foot shorter than its size.


So an interesting first surf on the Bonza, in cleaner conditions it will be easier to live with. But the performance on the waves easily makes up for any standing challenges, the board feels alive on a wave unlike any another I have ridden. And its turning ability is insane and on one wave towards the end of my session the squirt off the bottom turn on take off was like someone just lit the rockets as I made two sections with easy. Then stepped back and used that speed for a nice round house cutback that had a surfer hooting for me.

That sums it really.

A great start and it should only get better over my next few surfs.

Have a great Sunday all.

Steve.

Bonzer hydrodynamics. Side fin cant (look closely) plus angle compresses water pressure between fins and is enhanced by the massive double concaves feeding side pairs and between sides and centre... Squeeze fluid through a smaller space and either it or the surrounding space has to go quicker (both will obviously, And... the surrounding space moves to reduce pressure i.e. board lifts... reduced pressure/drag, thus speed) on a turn pressure increases because weight, equals more lift and drive thru turns... enhanced by better side fin angle being more vertical/perpendicular to resistance during a turn.

Hang on and enjoy the ride!!!

Hi everyone, had a surf with the new fin this morning and it went better than expected.

A couple of reasons for that, the waves for the most part were a little smaller, the sets still had plenty of punch though. I had the fin all the way back in the box and my feet moved into better positions from the take off.

The board was still a handful waiting out the back, if you are thinking about this board and are my size you will need to have good paddle control to used it a as third leg. I was finding it hard to paddle quickly as my weight would shift forward and push the nose of the board under if I was not in a surf stance. I missed a couple of good set waves because of this.

Again paddling into waves I found I needed to add a few more strokes to push the board onto the wave. The right-handers today were really wedging up with a steep take off and I had a few late drops. That nose kick on the board might slow the paddling a little, but it never felt like it was going to catch on take off. I really have no doubt about paddling into any size wave on the Bonza. A few of the drops I had today would be a little challenging on my Hipster. So as it says on the box the Bonza is a board that can handle bigger challenging waves.

The new fin/or my better foot placement worked really well today, plenty of drive and a solid feel under my feet. These waves had really hollow sections and a solid closeout end section and I was really leaning on the inside rail a few times to exit the wave. And it never once felt like it was going to lose grip my other boards in those type of sections would have let go. And the instant speed of the board had me making a few waves that on take off seemed to be a closeout.

So after three surfs the Bonza is going to be a great board in a larger range of conditions than I though it would. And in strong challenging wave its easy a go to option.

Cheers.

Steve.

Hey Steve dunno what part nsw your in but this prolonged bout of onshore northerly airstreams and 2 distinct windswells is a killer.
I did my knee supping these conditions while negotiating a rip just to add a bit more bounce to the show. So good on you for having a crack and fingers crossed for better days to get a handle on your new stick-which is what I was trying to do.
FWIW I can still prone surf and don't want to risk fkn up my knee any more in this marginal poop

I agree with Colas. Flat is fastest. Concaves are for control.

If you have two identically shaped boards, one with flat and one with a concave bottom, which board will allow water to flow across its bottom faster? Which rock is better for skipping; a flat or round one?

Another advantage of flat is that the angle of attack is not limited by the direction of the bottom contours. That is, a flat board turns easier in any direction bc it is not locked into a direction by the alignment of the concaves, which are essentially mini fins placed in the middle and sometimes front of board.

Concaves require pumping to accelerate bc concaves need to be unweighted to break the grip of the concaves and allow the board to move up the wave to higher/faster portion of the wave.

I recently surfed my flat bottom board after surfing my concave board. On my first drop I really overdid it and went straight down bc I was used to forcing/pushing my concave board down the wave face - something that is not necessary with a flat board.

Faster but by how much? Overall shape, the rocker, surface area and outline matter more, also most concaves are fairly subtle. For instance the smik bronzer probably has a relatively narrow tail, adding concave gives more surface area and lift, roughly equivalent to a little wider flatter tail. I don't think concave is for control only or even mostly, a gun is usually flat maybe some panel v in tail, control would come from outline and rails. Bronzer design is unique I think. The shape has to all work together making broad generalizations about one thing kind of confusing. Anyway it sounds like the board works great, regardless of the theory, although I admit to being a little skeptical of the squeezed water flow.