In 2003, England opened up to the Bonzer Experience. This was due to the enthusiasm and good graces of well known English surfer, Guy Penwarden. Guy had contacted me a few years before when he was looking for some Bonzer artifacts for Hot Rocks, a restaurant in Bournemouth. When he thought the time was right, he invited me over to do some shaping and we got things going.
2004 was a watershed year. The publication of the Bonzer article, “Belief System,” by Steve Barilotti in The Surfers Journal, became the cornerstone of trans generational recognition of the Bonzer. The ‘Journal’, being somewhat know as the publication of record, put us right back in the thick of it. Our plan of holding off the ‘Journal’ article while momentum built behind the scene had paid off. By the time the article was published, substantial ground work had been laid for the next phase of the project. Many top surfers such as Taylor Knox, Dan Malloy, Brad Gerlach, Donovan Frankenreiter, Joel Tudor and Derek Doerner had been putting in some quality time on the boards. This began to solidify the credibility of the Bonzer as a continuing force at the cutting edge.
A presence in surf/art films such as, Surf Movie, Sprout, and Thread kept the boards visible in an influential segment of the surf media. But far and away the biggest factor in spreading awareness of the Bonzer Experience has been the wild, wonderful, weird, world wide web. It is hard to overstate what having our web site, and Duncan’s Bonzer Front blog has allowed us to do. Then there is the site, Surfy Surfy, which has flown the Bonzer flag high by providing information and pictures of all the new Bonzers coming out of the Moonlight Glassing factory. We have also received tremendous support from the blogs Cabinessence, Daily Bread, and others. All in all, 2004 to 2006 was pretty amazing. The Bonzer buzz had reached around the world.
