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The Bonzer is the archetype of the modern surfboard. This is an obvious, but at the same time, much disputed and little recognized fact. The Bonzer was the first tri-fin surfboard (December, 1970). Dick Brewer built a three fin board around the same time but, being that we were just a couple of kids from the sands of Oxnard, neither of us knew what the other was doing.

There are two main characteristics that establish the Bonzer as an archetype.

1. The originating of the triangular positioning of the 3 fins, with the side fins ahead of the center fin. The position of the side fins was 10 1/2 to 12 inches from the tail and 1 1/2 to 1 3/8 inches from the rail.

2. We designed a single to double concave (double through the fin area) bottom to work in conjunction with the fins to organize the water flow through the tail area.

We hope this peek into the Bonzer archive is of interest and provides a more expanded prospective of the evolution of the short board.