Watch: Alex Knost // Bonzer Redux

Stu Nettle picture
Stu Nettle (stunet)
Swellnet Dispatch

From hanging five to ripping, tearing, and lacerating, Alex Knost's surfing exerts a POMO sensibility - there's a bit of everything in his loose-limbed act.

This time it's atop a Campbell Brothers Bonzer on the SoCal pointbreaks.

Comments

regydogy's picture
regydogy's picture
regydogy Monday, 29 Oct 2018 at 10:04am

got an old pt tubeshooter . say 74 ish , bonzer love it .

freeride76's picture
freeride76's picture
freeride76 Monday, 29 Oct 2018 at 11:43am

I really want to like it.....but I just can't.
It just seems too self-consciously showy.....all hat and no cattle.

Whats POMO Stu?

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Monday, 29 Oct 2018 at 11:56am

POMO = Postmodern

His style is a grab bag of tricks from every era.

Gotta agree with you RE showmanship. Seems more about lookz than feelz.

....buuuuut it sometimes looks good!

timcosh's picture
timcosh's picture
timcosh Wednesday, 31 Oct 2018 at 8:41am

fashions had a serious drought for a long while......

timcosh's picture
timcosh's picture
timcosh Wednesday, 31 Oct 2018 at 8:41am

fashions had a serious drought for a long while......

tux's picture
tux's picture
tux Monday, 29 Oct 2018 at 12:12pm

Poor mans Ryan Burch...thumbs down from me

freeride76's picture
freeride76's picture
freeride76 Monday, 29 Oct 2018 at 12:24pm

There's a sequence of Richo surfing Aussie Pipe in Steve Core's film Ocean Rhythms.......just insane beautiful, stylish surfing on a bonzer which blows this out of the water.

This is a cover act, a bad cover act: nowhere near as good as the original.

regydogy's picture
regydogy's picture
regydogy Tuesday, 30 Oct 2018 at 9:52am

totally agree there . the guy is such a try hard it makes me sick . but it is byron bay . the place is full of these wanks , and there comeing to a town near you . lol

goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot Tuesday, 30 Oct 2018 at 10:41am

Ahh yeah but it’s not Byron

wozz's picture
wozz's picture
wozz Monday, 29 Oct 2018 at 1:41pm

That was pretty lame. But at least it wasn't air after air.

Spuddups's picture
Spuddups's picture
Spuddups Monday, 29 Oct 2018 at 2:39pm

Yeah, something a bit different, but the board doesn’t seem to go that well. Doesn’t look like it wants to go on rail. I reckon he’s nursing it through most of those turns. Probably the length more than anything else.

Island Bay's picture
Island Bay's picture
Island Bay Monday, 29 Oct 2018 at 3:04pm

How to ride a Bonzer:

AndyM's picture
AndyM's picture
AndyM Monday, 29 Oct 2018 at 6:58pm

Absolutely ripping...

Ape Anonymous's picture
Ape Anonymous's picture
Ape Anonymous Monday, 29 Oct 2018 at 6:41pm

OK, how do his knees and hips handle all this "ripping, tearing, and lacerating"? Been doing a similar style and level of surfing for the past half-a decade on similar equipment and everything aches so badly!

AndyM's picture
AndyM's picture
AndyM Monday, 29 Oct 2018 at 7:02pm

Decided to have a look FR - here's some footage of Terry Richo presumably on a bonzer, definitely a far, far superior surfer to old mate in the video above.

Some of Richo's forehand cutties are searing.

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Monday, 29 Oct 2018 at 7:39pm

Fuck yeah , that was so much better.

The POMO in the Knost clip was painful to watch. It’s not about the Feelz when the pretension involved removes you from the moment. The irony being that Knost’s whole deal is standing apart from the despised Jock Mentality , yet his act would require just as much of a premeditated game plan as any comp surfer.

Takeaway the spontaneous vibe and you’re left with derivative c grade surfing.

Having said that ....it was still fun to watch. Turns out you can be a critic and still just love watching surfing.

Spuddups's picture
Spuddups's picture
Spuddups Tuesday, 30 Oct 2018 at 5:43am

That old footage is so frustrating how they zoomed in on the surfer and you can't see the rest of the wave. He's ripping no doubt though. I gotta surf down there one day.

Island Bay's picture
Island Bay's picture
Island Bay Tuesday, 30 Oct 2018 at 6:20am

Try watching Morning of the Earth, Spud. It's so frustrating! All those beautiful points, and all you see is the surfer.

Was actually thinking of you when I watched that Richo footage. You should do a goofy pilgrimage.

Spuddups's picture
Spuddups's picture
Spuddups Wednesday, 31 Oct 2018 at 4:51am

It's been on the cards for 30 years. Indonesia got in the way though!

Terminal's picture
Terminal's picture
Terminal Tuesday, 30 Oct 2018 at 6:50am

...Seems appropriate this guy is sponsored by Vanity Fair Corporation....

goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot Tuesday, 30 Oct 2018 at 7:30am

Does anyone know what that first song is?

He’s a very showy, look at me surfer. Obviously talented.
I thought that wasn’t as hard to watch as some of his other clips, although i recall seeing a clip of this insane forehand layback tube stance thing he did that I thought was pretty epic

Island Bay's picture
Island Bay's picture
Island Bay Tuesday, 30 Oct 2018 at 7:44am

Roxy Music - If There Is Something
Heck, Bryan Ferry was good before he went all soft and wobbly.

goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot Tuesday, 30 Oct 2018 at 8:13am

Thanks IB, and that footage of Robbo is great

Craig's picture
Craig's picture
Craig Tuesday, 30 Oct 2018 at 8:50am

Great music, but the surfing, not for me. Looked like he had to try really hard to get that thing to move around and that ended up making him look bad. Would have surfed that point much better on a different board.

tux's picture
tux's picture
tux Tuesday, 30 Oct 2018 at 9:08am

Russ Short

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Tuesday, 30 Oct 2018 at 9:23am

Jeez, that was nice surfing. Could've watched much more of that.

ryder's picture
ryder's picture
ryder Tuesday, 30 Oct 2018 at 9:26am

I think the board is fine but Knost just tries too damn hard to fit, contort and squeeze 20 different things in on one wave. Kid needs to take a chill pill and watch how Joel Tudor does it

lostdoggy's picture
lostdoggy's picture
lostdoggy Tuesday, 30 Oct 2018 at 10:58am

I actually enjoy alex knost from time to time.
This one didn't do it for me. Board looked too stiff and boggy as Craig said above.

velocityjohnno's picture
velocityjohnno's picture
velocityjohnno Tuesday, 30 Oct 2018 at 1:58pm

Sinking tail, long length of rail. Cheyne, Geoff and soon after Simon solved that.

You could put the design into a more area back type board and get surfing like Robbo's above. Even Terry has more area in the tail of his bonzer. I can see where Alex is getting the cheater 5 approach after seeing the footage of Russ Short.

Edit: the flow was nice though. And that edged version he paddled in later both looked more of a struggle to get in, but also far more responsive.

JaM's picture
JaM's picture
JaM Tuesday, 30 Oct 2018 at 2:40pm
saltman's picture
saltman's picture
saltman Wednesday, 31 Oct 2018 at 8:39am

Nobody notice the rather savage drop in at 1:15 ?
not very nice

regydogy's picture
regydogy's picture
regydogy Wednesday, 31 Oct 2018 at 9:32am

its a different clip to the other day

jacksprat's picture
jacksprat's picture
jacksprat Sunday, 4 Nov 2018 at 7:04pm

Ah yes. Acolytes of the mystical Morning of the Earth. No smoke comes out of a cars in that world. No film processing chemicals. No blank waste or fibreglass dust. They didn't use modern technology at all. Country soul, like in the magazines which advertised the lifestyle. It was way ahead of it's time - the original reality TV show - the prototype of Bondi Rescue.