Non-identical twins: How the modern twin fin beats its older brother
In the late 70s and early 80s twin fins were king. Riding on the coat-tails of Mark Richard's four world titles they were the board of choice for a few short years. Twin fins were looser and they could access parts of the wave that single fins with their button down stability simply couldn't go. Yet all that manoeuvrability came at a cost.
“Off the bottom, twins were as reliable as a wet paper bag,” said Matt Warshaw of the twin's unpredictability. “Top-turning, you get a little foam between the fins, you might as well be riding a unicycle up there.” Twins also struggled in bigger waves, testament to that was MR downshifting to singles in Hawaii. While another deficiency was made patently clear in the very first article on the Thruster published in Tracks, February 1981: “...the Thruster can also be surfed BACKHAND!”
All of which explains why the Thruster was so immediately popular post-1981, but leaves us in a fuddle making sense of their current resurgence. And make no mistake, twins are back in a big way. Not fish, but late70s/early 80s twins replete with swallow tail and frequent flyers. Most major labels have a twin or two in their range while a cursory scan of the carpark shows backyarders and custom shapers are also getting in on the second act.
Darren Handley needs no introduction, shaper to the stars that he is, and he's got a history that stretches back to the twin fin's early 80s peak. That was when DH was a dogsbody on the floor at Pipedreams. “I made fins, and I also had to grind fins out for team riders,” says DH of his early job role.
Boards would come in with feedback from the riders. DH would take to the fins with an angle grinder, reposition them and then reset with fibreglass. There were no fin systems back then, of course, so experimenting with fins and fin positioning was a big exercise and it goes part way to explaining why those early twin fins came up short.
“We were figuring things out. Shooting in the dark a little bit, “ says DH. And it wasn't just the fins, this was pre-computer shaping “We couldn't get the consistency in the shapes. It was hard to get something remotely as close as what we do now.”
But fin systems and CAD shaping are technical inventions, the modern twin fin also has design elements not used back in MR's day. “I try not to look at other people's boards, but we do a mix of concave and vee.” DH's twin model – definitively titled 'The Twin' – has a single concave under the front foot blending out to a double concave with vee through the last 17 inches.
The double concave is clearly visible in this cross section view of The Twin
Back in the day, the typical bottom shape on a twin would've been a flat panel vee beginning a third from the nose stretching the length of the board and getting deep towards the tail. In the intervening years surfers discovered concave which provides lift and speed and has become a shortboard staple. When the mix is right, modern concaves can sit alongside traditional twin fin features.
“It's important to get that hull working,” says DH, hence the concave under the front foot, while the wide vee tail allows surfers to “enjoy the freedom of the tail”. It's that skating feeling that makes twinnies so alluring.
Gary McNeill spent his teenage years riding twin fins and he has fond memories of skating about on a twinny. He was also one of the first shapers to revisit the design, a result of being “pulled into Dave Rastovich's creative vortex.” Gary, in case you hadn't twigged, shapes Gary McNeill Concepts, Rasta's ride of choice.
A decade ago Rasta was poring over boards from a range of lofty shapers: George Greenough, Dick van Straalen, Ben Aipa, and looking to channel those ideas into something new. The result was the Rasta Torus Drive, a design that Gary considers the missing link between old and new.
The Torus has a channel running the full length of the board, from the nose to between the twin fins, then out through the slightly pulled swallow tail. It wasn't a conventional twin per se, but Rasta loved it, he even rode a 5'9” version at eight foot Grajagan last year, and it made Gary realise what was possible with twins. That they could, if put together correctly, overcome all the old hang ups.
Rasta tearing on a 5'9" Torus Channel twin fin by Gary McNeill
Like DH, Gary says much of the problem with early twins was under the hood. “Having a flat rolled bottom into a vee tail may be great for small junky surf but it's too skatey in bigger waves or on your backhand.” It's a problem he's rectified by using concaves or the Torus channel (which sits within a concave) in all his boards.
The old twins also had flat decks and boxy rails. For instance, MR's world title twins were 2' ¾” thick, around quarter of an inch thicker than current shapes with much of it carried in the rails. They were also glassed heavier. The combination of greater volume and heavier materials reduced their sensitivity.
In contrast the modern twins are refined and ultra responsive. Some of them may share those old aesthetics but they've lost the vacillations. The promise is a board that can be surfed backside, has a measure of predictability, yet hasn't lost that old footloose feeling of a twin.
On October 2nd the 'Communing With Twin Fins' event will be held at Bondi Pavillion. Organised by Damion Fuller - who's partial to the odd twinny himself - it's a celebration of twin fin design, both old and new. Get details here.
Comments
Ahh music to my ears Stu. Haven't surfed my thruster in under 4 foot for 6 months. Just no fun compared to the twinnie in average waves. Even getting to handle it in heavier stuff and back hand. They are a lot different just as the average board is to the olden days. The retro mob I think forget how far we have come as the boards today are sooo good you just can't compare the two as they are so refined now. The old twinnies I surfed on around 80-81 were just chunks of foam with a fibreglass cover and a flat to V bottom 5'6" twinnie didn't like large Winki. I still remember the hammering I got back then. Modern boards you just trust as they do all the things they are supposed to. With those old barges you didn't know if were even going to make the drop or not. I rode a 5'6" twinnie when I was 20 and am riding one again at 57 however the only thing they have in common is two fins.
Personnally - I'd never go back to a twin fin. Maybe I've shyed off them, after surfing the 70's - 80's models. The new curves and concaves (I ride MC's) are absolutely breathtaking to turn, carve and the speed :)). Why make it hard ??
I had a Water Cooled (Kym Thomson designs) channel bottom twin fin in 1980/81 and it was one of the best boards I ever had. Twinnies gave that skateboard feel that was harder to find on a single.
Annie my 5'6" was one of Kyms as well. Was a good board.....for its day. OVH500 I love the challenge it really gets the blood flowing as they are so quick and exciting. Feel like I am pushing a lot of water sometimes with the thruster and getting nowhere. Super hollow waves fine but anything else they seem slow.
Hey mem and arnie - I surfed a Kym Thompson twinnie as well, 5'10" with channels (custom spray - checkerboard - 80's graphics :)) with those straight wing fins ? Caught waves really easily but bottom turns had to be very drawn out and the curves we surf today are so different. Not so sure memi about speed - if you've ridden an MC at Bells (which lets face it isn't the steepest wave in the world) they fly down the line and make sections we would never have thought about :)
Yeah you would be probably be right there OVH500 as MC is out there a lot, however I reckon a quad would go well out there. I am from the Peninsula so the waves shorter, sharper and hollower however on the few long walls I have ridden it on it really wails down the line. Excellent point break board the only down side I have come across is in chopper marginal conditions however that is probably more due to the size/width ratio. My 5'9" thruster is better in those conditions. My Kym Thomson had two broken stripes across it real 80's as well - Echo Beach stuff. Ahh, those weren't the days.
Mick Pierce
For shear fun, and that down the line speed. Can't beat the twinny
I got a twin shaped by Tom Hoye in 2001. Six copies have been made over the years. I love the way WA gets all but ignored here. Rasta the guru of discovery? Pfft. Rasta the darling of the media? That may be closer.
The drip - The surf media being East coast based ( and centric ) is the best thing that could have happened for WA surfers.
PS Conversely Swellnet does more on WA than most - and respectfully.
Fair enough.
I agree with OHV500 ...... Maurice Cole's Metro is easily the fastest board I have ever ridden.... regardless of fin configuration.
cycd: One of the new models ? man are they quick - bloody awesome. Never have I felt more in control of a board and they come off the top beautiful. It's the big concave and the fins just hold it together :))
I have a few new models off MC (metro,protow and guns)... check his insty, new Metro ID he made me is the light blue one. Top bloke MC, he shaped me a new one after getting the tail wrong on the other order. They are very extreme and I have asked him to tone down the concave and edges on this one, they don't pivot/release as easy off the top but drive and carve incredibly. Best cutback and hack board for sure... we will see how the new Metro ID goes. He has also done me a 9'0 (darker blue one on the insty page) ... this has V to single concave out the back of it, toned down rhino based off the protow,really keen to get on this as the protow is a magic design for up to triple OH
Yep: been surfing MC's for 40 years :)) just love the feel and they look great too. Loved the old protows and metros - super fast with the big concave. Just received a new 6'9" Reverse V (updated design) a step up for big Bells. So great, easy to paddle in and beautiful off the bottom and top, Using c-drive fins. 6' metro for the beachies and summer, new tail lift gives you that great release off the top :) running normal fins on that one, found it had more drive (personal choice). 9' sounds magic, for down south :))
Love the way this thread has been tangented over to MC's boards.
Got him to make me a 6'10" Protow for Indo last year and it was just the thing, blew me away at how it turned so easily with those hard edged rails not to mention the hold and speed + surprised me that a board that size surfed smaller days so well too. I'm waiting on a smaller version to be finished this month as a partner for the 6'10" on next years trip.
Must admit the DH "The Twin" looks like fun .
Have 6'5 and 6'9 Protow's.... 6'5 is up there with the best board I have ever owned. Paddles, barrel rides and turns unbelievable. 6'9 pretty much handles everything you throw at it from head high to triple OH... get your foot back on the tail and it is real loose... hard to believe for a board 6'9 x 20 x 3 glassed in 6 ounce.
Now back to twins haha ... MR super twin, might have to pull this out when I get home, amazing fun board
Can't believe all the hype on MC's boards, this post is about retro designs for pivoty surfing , please do not confuse the issue by bringing new designs into the conversation.
Watch your back with that Twinnie!
No, i'll do what I want ;)
Now listen , you sound like an advert for MC , isn't he a seppo now?
Sounds like you have way too much interest in MC sharkman .... i'de better warn him he has a creepy Suzzzzzspect type on his heals and to take extreme caution when near public restrooms ;-*
I think that's where he lives now a seppo restroom!!
Well that makes sense when you're full of shit ..... you should know well this as you're a critique on the subject :D
6'10 x 20.5 x twice glassed in 6 ounce, 6mm stringer it's a bit weighty, but it works for me. Can't wait to drive over and pick up the new smaller one.
Nigel Beckman surfboards insta
Beckham has his own take on where 2 fins are positioned on short or longboards
His shortboard diamond tail planshapes look nice.
corey graham - for that eccentric take on the twinnie - beautiful looking boards - never ridden one though ??
Speaking of Corey Graham,
He either mustn't read/reply to emails, or doesn't wasn't to sell any more boards.
Ive emailed him twice now about getting a twinny thats for sale in his showroom..
Ive got the cash here waiting, i just wanted to know a little bit more about it.
And he doesn't have his phone number anywhere either..
I think he is Indo at the moment ?
Typical shapers :))) - ever tried getting hold of MC :))))
Yeah that might explain things
3 emails and two Insta messages now.
Still no reply, yet he's posting on Insta every day.
Dudes killing it.
I reckon the key to riding twins (as well as other designs) is taking the time to understand their strengths and limitations in a variety of conditions. I don't think you could jump on an 80s twin and start ripping straight away, but you might get a different feeling or two after a handful of surfs that keeps you interested in sticking with it. Yes, you need to easy up and nurse bottom turns, and they are easy to overcook on the backhand, but their straight line speed and looseness is unlike the single fin flow and thruster's user-friendliness (which both have their place!). Quads take some getting used to too. The modern twin with less foam, lighter glass and concaves probably opens them up to more everyday surfers, i'd love to jump on one and see how they go compared to the couple of MRs i've got.
If you ever want a cool little challenge (many people have probably done this willingly or unwillingly!) try taking the back fin out of your regular thruster and see how your technique and enjoyment changes. You might find that thrusters go good as unintentional twinnies too!
Andrew they are way different to the old 80's ones. They ride, as they would, like a modern short, smaller wave thruster just looser and faster. The big difference I find is you can get to a spot in the wave you want to go without trying, and every surf is exciting. I am an old hack so for me it has given me a new lease of life. Thrusters are the go to board in sketchy conditions or super hollow as they are totally reliable, however in anything else I am loving the twinnie. I agree with you on quads, get your rear foot in the wrong place and they don't work, and that sweet spot seems to me to be narrow. And yes you still need to think about your bottom turns on your backhand.
Cheers for the feedback Memla. Yeah would love to fit a new style twin into the quiver!
The NPJ Duo is a twin fin that doesn't slide out at all :)
Lost Track Torren Martyn : Magic Seaweed /Vimeo
Nice twin fin riding.
Udo, I saw a still from that on Simon jones insty,
Bottom turn channeling MR at OTW
Ben Aipa 7'10 heavily concaved Twin Fin pintail circa 1978 : bugscollection instagram.
New twinnie Craig B ... very nice.
Jim Banks vid on youtube showing his Magic Carpet model..beautiful foil.
Broshenka...how about a ride report on the new Sculpt Donut Dagger twinnie..