From: rogerc@ssd.intel.com (Roger Christal)
Subject: Bonzer boards : A Review
Organization: Supercomputer Systems Division, Intel Corp.
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 18:32:02 GMT

In article <5390032@hpldsla.sid.hp.com> schofiel@hpldsla.sid.hp.com (Jeremy Schofield) writes:
>I recently read a news-blurb about the Gorge Animal Bonzer boards.  I'm
>pretty interested in the concept.   If any anyone has had a chance to try
>one out, what's the deal ?   How do they handle ?

I demo'd two Gorge Animal Bonzers on October 3rd at Maryhill in the
Gorge.  The conditions were ideal.  I'm 175 and was powered to
overpowered on a 3.5 Northwave Trilite rigged without the camber
inducer.  The swell was betwen 3' and logo-high.  The high wind
shortboard I have been using is a 1991 Gorge Animal 8' 6" and 21 1/2"
wide.

My sailing partner and I were able to use two glass Bonzers (also
comes in epoxy) for the entire day.  One was 7' 6", 21" wide, the
other 7' 9", 21 1/2" wide.  Each board is made from a Clark 8' 6"
blank.  The shaper takes an extra 9" off the front for a snub-nose and
3" off the tail to make it square.  The glass version of the board can
be purchased in lengths from 7' to 8'.  Retail is $1095.

I started on the "long" one (7' 6" is long {;^) and immediately fell
in love.  It was extremely responsive.  This is the first board I've
ever sailed that I felt comfortable turning WAY off the wind in an
overpowering gust.  It jibes like it is on a track.  I don't normally
try to get up in the air, but this board had me looking for ramps.  It
really LOVES to jump.  I had decided after 5 minutes of sailing this
board that I must have one.

After riding the 7' 9" version for about an hour, I got on the "short"
one.  It was everything the other board was except better.  More
responsive and MUCH more fun.  The only problem I had was getting it
to a plane when the wind backed off a bit.

This is not fast board on the top end.  It will do very well in light
chop and medium winds.  It really excels in high wind, big swells or
chop.  As another example, on September 29th, my 195 pound friend
sailed a 7' 6" Bonzer at Rooster Rock, fully powered on a 2.0 (!) in
70 MPH gusts.  He said he had a great time on the board.

My partner and I have both ordered a 7' 6" board.  They will be ready
in early November.  I expect that I will be able to use it with my
smallest sail (3.2) up to 5.2.  I'm hoping that this board will
completely replace my 8' 6" board, but it isn't up for sale yet!

Performance Windsurfing Report rated the 7' 6~ version as a "wave
custom" in Issue 3, 1992.  The numbers that the testers used were 1 =
poor, 2 = fair, 3 = good, 4 = excellent.  The values are:

Early planing = 2.6
Acceleration = 2.7
Speed - Top end = 2.8
Upwind ability = 3.6
Jumpability = 3.6
Balance = 3.2
Control = 3.3
Maneuverability = 3.9
Tight jibes = 3.8
Wide jibes = 3.5
Stability = 2.8
Durability = 3.6
Finish = 3.9

Other boards tested in this category were Logoszworks 7' 6" Spoon,
Gorge Animal 7' 7" Epoxy Bonzer, Cascade 7' 9" Semi-spoon, Berky
Composites 7' 9~ Gorge Aerospoon, Carbon Air 7' 11" Les Crichton
Design (Les is Gorge Animal), Carbon Creations 7' 11" Brian Carlstrom
Shape (Brian is Windance), Windance 7' 11" EPX Gorge, Hi-Tech 8' 0"
Gorge Wave, Progressive Composites 8' 0" Wave, Open Ocean 8' 0"
Poly-Rite Woody, Real Wind 8' 2" Winged Squash Tail, Hi-Tech 8' 3"
Gorge Wave, Watson 8' 3" Highwind Performance and the Windance 8' 3"
Gorge Wave.

I marked each boards test result for scores of 3.6 to 4.0; ie more
toward excelent than good.  The 7' 6" Bonzer has 6 such marks, the
Open Ocean had 6 also and the Progressive Composites had 7.  All other
board had 5 or less marks of 3.6 or better.

-- 

>>=-  Roger Christal  rogerc@techbook.com  rogerc@ssd.intel.com  -=<<