Bong Drops ‘Merge’, A Team Surf Film Shot In Very Good Waves

In partnership with Billabong.

Lennix Smith, as you may have gathered, is pretty funny. 

Fat-shames himself in post-heat interviews, spins hilarious stories about Brazilian competitors barking at him during World Junior finals, posts tongue-in-cheek selfies to IG with elite surfers talking about how ‘stocked’ he is to meet them. 

The 21-year-old from Shellharbour finished second on the 2025/26 Qualifying Series, meaning he’ll get his first proper crack at the Challenger Series this season.

Along with Caleb Tancred and Xav Huxtable, he’ll form part of the Aussie power contingent packing into Ballito next week, followed by the US Open shortly after. 

“Keen to rip some heads off. ‘Les go,” he says.

Smith was also one of the surprise success stories at this year’s Stab High Virginia Beach, briefly leading the open men’s division thanks to a monster slob air-reverse that earned 46 points from the panel.

Lennix also stars in MERGE, Billabong’s new team surf flick cut together by Thomas Crews.

“Yeah, the first bit of the clip was filmed around mine,” Lennix told Stab. “Tommy Crews and Jai came down for a little strike and stayed at mine for a couple days. The waves were cooking.”

From there, he and Willis Droomer headed to King Island, the remote island off Tasmania, renowned for its short, hollow teepees and world class cheese.

“That was unbelievable,” he said. “The way the waves come in is super unique because they have to wrap the whole way around the island. That was my first time there and I think we surfed for six hours.”

The trip got off to a flying start, Lennix explained. Four blokes piled into a Hilux and headed straight to the nearest track. “Willis goes, ‘Yeah, this is the track. I know what I’m doing. I’ve been here a bunch.’ And I was like, ‘Alright, mate.’”

Within minutes, deep bog.

“I could see him questioning himself, then we started driving up this hill. I’m not even joking, it was basically straight sand, and Willis just drove straight up it. I knew straight away he was going to bog the shit out of the car. And yeah, he fucked it.”

“We’d literally just rocked up,” said Lennix. “We were going to go sus it out, and then that happened. It took us so long to get unbogged. We were digging forever, and Willis wasn’t even helping properly. He was just standing around scratching his head.”

A space cadet that he loves to pieces.

“Willis is the most random kid I’ve ever met in my whole life,” he said. “Going on trips with him is the funniest shit of all time. He’s so random, but he’s great value. I take the piss out of him so much, and he hits it right back over the net.”

There is also a small but memorable appearance from Taylor Bartlett, the 11-year-old son of late South Coast surfer Nathan Bartlett, who tragically passed away surfing earlier this year. Taylor’s section carries extra weight. His dad was there for the sessions, pushing him into waves and, by all accounts, frothing on the fact his son would be in the film.

“Taylor is unbelievable,” Lennix said. “He’s only 11, and he’s honestly amazing in tubes. He’s such a good little kid too. He’s got the best little personality and attitude. He literally surfs the exact same as his dad,” he said. “Exact same. And he charges so hard. It’s actually crazy how hard he charges. He’s riding little 5’2”s that look like guns. He’s going to be so good when he’s older.”