The Long History Of The Modern Twin
Once considered a redundant design, relegated to museum piece by the Thruster, the twin fin has had a modern resurgence.
In fact, it’s had a number of resurgences.
First, the fish revival of the nineties, then the retro reboot of late-70s twins, and more recently - and arguably the most fascinating of all - is the interest in longer-railed twins.
As opposed to late-70s twins made famous by Mark Richards’, which sported double-flyer swallowtails, this latest iteration of twins has a wholly different planshape. For one, they have a narrower nose than their MR counterparts, plus more parallel rails, and down the back they’re distinguished by pintails, or rounded pintails. Channels are another difference; they’re under most modern versions but were seldom seen on late-70s twins - Byrne Surfboards clinker channels notwithstanding, but we’ll hear more about that shortly.
The design was popularised by shapers such as Gary McNeil and Simon Jones, spreading through the more accepting lineups of Byron and Noosa, but they’re now present everywhere. Even those arbiters of hifi surfing, JS Industries, have a rounded twin in their quiver - the Big Baron - so it’s safe to say we’ve hit saturation point.
As is the way with surfboard design, Swellnet likes to dive into the historical records, paddling our way upstream, where we can dips our lid to the pioneers of various designs. We’ll do the same for the twin pintail shortly, but first we called up Gary McNeil to provide an overview of the design.
“I’m a child of the eighties,” says Gaz after we’d exchanged pleasantries, “and surfing then was all about power. How hard can you turn?!”
“The problem was, I loved my twinnies too," says Gaz, noting the twins propensity to spin out.
Before he was an in-demand North Coast shaper, Gaz was a hot Wollongong surfer, often photographed by Mick McCormack at the ledges and points of his hometown. While most around him were on Thrusters, Gaz surfed a twinny despite their shortcomings.
“Those early twins had three things wrong with them,” explains Gaz. “They had too much vee, the deck was too flat giving them boxy rails, and the fins were so splayed out they were hard to control.”
On the latter, Gaz has a bit to say. “Phil Byrne was miles ahead of his time. MR had the four world titles, and they can’t be discounted, but what Phil did with clinker channels is to bring some control back to the tail and that thinking can be found in modern twins.”
Gary made what he calls his first modern twin fin back in 2006. It was a moon tail twin with torus channel for Dave Rastovich. Rasta promptly ignored the board for a year, then, when he remembered he had it, rode the board once and was hooked for the next three years.
In 2006, surfboard design was in one of its more cautious stages. AI and Kelly were trading world titles, their equipment was refined but unadventurous, the ‘shorter board’ revolution, as exemplified by Slater’s Wizard Sleeve, was still a year or two away.
I asked Gary what motivated him to go against the grain and shape something unlike the order of the day. He was quick with his answer.
“Two things, mate. The first is that I’ve always liked twinnies and I wanted to make one that would hold. The second thing is that I just wanted to do something that was different.”
Rodney ‘Weasel’ Bedford
In 1978, Weasel was the South Australian state champion and shaping under the Sunrise label. He headed west to Margaret River for the Aussie titles, then continued on around Oz, stopping six months later at Byron Bay to glass at Sky Surfboards under Michael Cundith where he saw his first twins. Weasel liked what he saw.
“Everyone else was doing singles, but Michael did twins with a belly concave, which reduces rail thickness. Most twinnies had a flat deck and were fairly meaty in the rails, but Michael’s weren’t.”
Weasel suggests reduced rail thickness as one of the greatest developments in board design. “It just allows you to get the rail into the water easier, which then allows the board to do all these things we want it too.”
Heading back to South Oz, Weasel started up Lipstix, which he ran for a few years before shaping under Cutloose, then spending some time at Gravelle, moving on later to 100% Surf. It’s at Lipstix, however, that Weasel’s story intersects with that of the modern twin.
At left, a Lipstix rounded twin pin shaped by Weasel in the early-80s, and at right is Weasel with a Rip 'N Tear twin pin, also from the 80s
“That Lipstix board you’ve got a photo of would’ve been shaped around 1980, or maybe even 1981,” explains Weasel.
“I shaped plenty of swallowtail twins back then,” says Weasel of the years 1979 to 1983, “but I also shaped many pintail twins too, and that was all to do with my surfing. You see, I struggled surfing twin fins on my backside.”
“I’m a goofyfooter and I was spending a lot of time at Cactus, and once it got over a few feet I couldn’t control the tail of a twin fin. Reducing the tail area, making it a pintail, was my solution to that problem.”
“I made it so the tail would hold in.”
That same solution was sought by Gary McNeil in 2006 and is evident in all the modern twins currently being made.
Nick 'Maz' Masarin
Like Weasel, Nick Maz is another shaper who roamed far and wide. He began shaping in the early-70s with his Buddha Sticks label, then Maui Surfboards, and later shaping for Living Water. Nick was also a highly sought after ghost shaper for many Gold Coast labels.
However, Nick didn't merely roam to physical locations, he also allowed his imagination to take him to new places, always toying with unique ideas and concepts. If something hadn't been done before then he was willing to give it a go.
“Some of the boards I’ve made over the years aren’t pretty,” laughs Nick. “But then everything that’s new looks weird, doesn’t it?”
“It’s always been the way with me; I don’t want to copy someone else's ideas, so I’ll work with what they’ve got but put my own spin on it.”
That mode of thinking led Nick to shape the Living Water board, pictured below, in the late-70s.
Narrower nose than MR-style twins, rails more parallel, and a rounded pin tail, this Living Water twin shaped by Nick Maz displays many elements of the modern twin fin
“At the time I was shaping a few twins with swallow tails, but I knew how they went, so I wanted to experiment with different tails - see how they rode.”
“I shaped twins with swallowtails - did plenty of those - but I also shaped them with pintails, round tails, and even did a square tail. I also dropped channels into some of those twins."
Nick's unrelenting curiousity drove him to create a board that, in both planshape and features, carries the DNA for the modern twin.
Though his shaping output has slowed, the channel twin is a board he still works on - his Instagram feed is testament to that - yet very few people realise that this modern design was first made by Nick four decades ago.
Off The Wall surfboards
While researching this article, we came across the following board in an Instagram post - see pic below.
The board was made in South Australia under the Off The Wall label, and most likely shaped by an American named Harry Connors. Further investigation, however, led nowhere.
It'd be nice to know what thought processes drove Harry to mix a rounded pin to a twin fin config, not just bucking the design trends of the day (the board looks late-70s), but presaging them by many decades.
Comments
Any given day out Burleigh you will see plenty on curved channel twins shaped by the Legend Ian Byrne (brother of AB) from House Of Byrne.
Ive never ridden one but the guys that do surf them unreal.
Tom Hoye has been credited as bringing the first modern twinny to Oz. It was a Corky Carroll shape he brought from California in 1970.
He says he hated the design for its lack of drive, but Terry Fitz paid some interest in it when they surfed together out at Dee Why. Two weeks later they ran into each other again and TF showed him his own version of the shape.
TF's twins attracted some notice but according to Tom the design really took off in Oz when an ad for Barry Bennett surfboards, where he had found a job shaping, appeared in the inaugural issue of Tracks. The ad featured a photo of Tom and the original twinny he had brought with him.
I've got a copy of the ad somewhere and can dig it out.
Ad here
https://flic.kr/p/2n5uiqK
Yep, back in 2019 I had a couple of conversations with Tom about that. Vale old fella...
https://www.swellnet.com/news/design-outline/2019/05/07/tom-hoye-why-stop-four
Good work Stunet ,love these articles .
Plus one. Epic bits of surf history that must be shared. Thanks
While writing this it became clear that, yeah, there's a thing happening here, a movement of like-minded shapers creating boards that in appearance and performance are generally the same.
And yet there's no name for the design.
I've used 'modern twin', 'long-railed twin' and 'pin twin', but each are inadequate, and in fact 'pin twin' is misleading as the Miradon brothers created the pin twin - a single fin with a deep swallowtail providing the 'pins' - back in 1968.
I'll throw in the typical twin fin objection: has anyone been able to really make them work backhand?
Well, Weasel reckons he did.
With a pulled in outline, and small swallow they look good on the backhand.
It's the wider tail twins that look horrible backside,
Jack Freestone now riding for Album it will be interesting to see him on his backhand, when riding their twin designs.
Depends what you mean by ‘work’?
I mean check this:
https://m.
Asher
There used to be some good footage of Torren at cloudy also, seems to be taken off the net
I Reckon Asher makes the boards look how they where designed in the beginning. Effortless and smooth and at one with the wave. Less flicks more glide. Could make any board look good. His style complements the twin. As the twin does his. Speed looks effortless Magic combination
Yep the 'twin pin' a la channel islands surfs unreal back hand. I have one from Balin that has channels at the back and a similar plan shape to the CI and is probably better back hand for me. At 5'9" and 30L it is oversized for someone young and agile at my height and weight (5'6"/65 kilos), but it allows me to get into waves goes really well in good waves (not so good in slop). Real carver.
I have a quiver of twin keels that are shaped off a Rich Pavel model. The 5'5 is the original and the best. It goes equally well backhand and forehand. Fast & precise without tracking or spinning out and really good in hollow waves. The upscaled 6'0 and 6'9 had the swallowtail narrowed by 1/2 & 1inch respectively but 1 inch is too much and stiffens it up a bit too much. Having said that it does easily handle 8ft+ without any issues.
I have a photo of them but can't seem to add it to this post??
I thought the same Steve. But they work well if all the necessary parts are in place. Fin position is key, more so with the shorter the board. Channels help with grip. I've been riding a 6'0" 4channel and having no problem going top to bottom backhand in waves well overhead.
yep came 3rd in Aussie titles in 2'lefts on a DK twin, surfed the same board in 8'+ Bells and won..then France La Gravierre perfect barrels, best designed short board of all time!!
If this isn't "making a twinny work on your backhand", I'll eat my own ear wax.
It's that footage of Torren in Sea Legs at Cloudbreak. Insane.
Thanks Tango that was fookn Unreal.
wow. cheers Tango.
Nice, trouble with people that have that much talent is they could do the same on a dust bin lid
That may well be true, IF. I think it takes a special talent to make Tyler Warren look sluggish.
I feel like that when I see Asher surf. For a while I went down the Album surfboard rabbit hole until I saw that he surfed just as well on any of their models ... much prefer seeing average punters surf a board I'm thinking of buying. Much close to reality ....
Can't count the number of times I've seen a beginner or average joe be sold a craft that only limits their progression. Especially women who are new to surfing. Too short. Too thin etc.
My late 70s Free Flight twinny went great on the backhand as well as forehand. In fact I was probably the first person to go left in towards the rocks at the fairy pools at Granite Bay Noosa in 1980 (a kamikaze act that I survived but lost the left fin - worth it though for the challenge). Now after surfing Noosa, Byron and Angourie so much i y my youth I always look for a good backhand left, and was well rewarded in the 10 years I lived in WA, the land of the pumping lefts. I find I can take off on steeper sections backhand than forehand because you are leaning back a little more at the take-off.
I've seen Joel Fitz looking great backhand on a more traditional fish, with slightly modern characteristics.
Michael February has been riding the Channel Islands version of a "modern twin" to significant effect, most recently in the current Van's release, shot in Ivory Coast - mostly on his forehand, I can't recall him going left on a single wave in the entire video.
I’ve been riding Gaz’s boards for well over a decade and as I’ve said before they are what keeps me young. Boards certainly work both forehand and backhand. Some of the lefts I've had are memorable. Another thing is they are not like other “mid length” designs. These are high performance twins!
Agree mate, my 5'11" ACDSOD Two Fangs is the best allrounder I've ever had. I'm on my second one, surfed the first to death. Goes great in slop to double overhead lefts and rights. Epic board from a great young shaper, highly recommended.
Going left
That was sick! Thanks SB. Well and truly puts the "no backhand" and "no rebound" arguments against twins to bed.
Herbie Fletcher
Thanks Stu good write up and really great to get some photos of tails and rails cheers
What about Dick Van Straalan???
Great article. Its interesting how twinnies periodically become a thing again and keep evolving. There were definitely a few shapers like John Sterwart at Catherine Hill Bay making clinker channel twinnies in the late 70's until the thruster killed them off, but as per your article they were mainly swallow tail MR style. From memory JET surfboards at Byron Bay made a few too.
Yep.
JET shaper Dennis Anderson made heaps of them.
Have got a Joel Fitz cosmic twin on order. Love a twinny.
On MRs Insta, he calls what I think Stu and many call “flyers”, wings.
I dropped in and saw Don Alcroft about 4 years ago who at one point was a ghost shaper in Byron whilst working for Pacific Foam Systems and did MR as well as other shapers boards under license.
He showed me one of the original MR templates he still had, which had rail profile and various other instructions written on it by MR. Pretty cool to see.
Donny suddenly pointed at the indent in the tail rail line of the MR template and said “What are they called?”. I said “flyers”. “No, no, no… everyone calls them that these day! They are, and have always been wings! Anyone calls them flyers, you correct them OK!” Haha.
Be interested to hear whether there’s a difference in what a flyer vs a wing is, or we talking the same thing?
(Sorry to reply to you… first time user … couldn’t find where to comment)
@TripperSurf good question. My buddies and I refer to Wings as the ones that cut in fairly sharply by about 1/2" to 3/4" with a straight trailing edge perpendicular to the stringer and generally with sharper corners and edging, and Flyers as the ones that tended to cut in at an angle backwards with a softer outline. Same same but different?
excellent record keeping Stu
for me never had a twin I liked - ha! maybe because I'm going backhand most of the time.
Don’t discount MRs twins and their more modern spin offs (super twin etc). I love my 1980 MR remake. Fat nose thick boxy rails, vee bottom and sharp fluted flyers. Probably my favourite board to ride from 1-4ft waves with a bit of wall and push but definitely not sucky, barreling waves. Takes a lot of getting used to both forehand and backhand but bloody beautiful when you do. Had many a comrade in the surf write it off for them as they say they are a “back foot surfer” whatever that means. Ive ridden singles, glass slipper thrusters, channels, quads, fishes, step ups and mals too you just gotta choose a board for the conditions of the time (surf and mental state!). I reckon these modern twins with longer rail lines are helping guys catch waves easily, draw out their turns while still being manoeuvrable thanks to the twins. Bloody unreal! I’d love to try one!
My first brand new board was a lipstix twin
By weasel , from top o taps surf shop .
Had a spray similar to the one weasels got in the photo . Slaved all school holidays in a meat factory to pay for it .
God I loved that board ! Wish I still had it .
But was the days of trade ins and along came the thruster
Great article! I'm an old fart and am on a twinny trip at the moment riding short, long and even a foamie twin. It has been great to revisit my twin fin youth, there is nothing quite like the speed and fun that you can generate on a twin fin. Riding the twin pins now has been a lot of fun, so smooth. And that foamie MR I'm riding is too much fun. Who's have thunk an old codger could go out and find his inner grom again? Thank you to all those shapers to look outside of the WSL for your inspiration. I still have my swallow tail, channeled twin fin shaped by Weasel in about 1982. I reckon I'm about ready to pull it down off the mantel piece and wax her up!
A few years ago a pal who likes meaty waves fell onto his thruster pintail and dislodged his central fin. He continued surfing and the boards performance had improved. The central fin was never replaced.
I have a faded memory of Strapper (Dennis Day) back in the late 70's at Bells one day I was there. He was on one of his fish twins I presume. The lines he was carving were incredible compared with everyone else out there who were on standard single fins. There are still a number of his boards hanging up in various Strapper shops down here. Does anyone else have memories of his surfing?
Simon Anderson certainly stopped the twin it's tracks
I had a 6 2 Strapper twin swallow custom which I took to Cactus in 1979, went unreal on backhand IMO. Next board was a Trigger 5 10 twin swallow custom which I took to Bali in 1983 and loved it at Ulu's and (esp) Kuta Reef (to this day it's the fastest I've ever been on a board). Tried my son's Oke 6 0 twin swallow channel custom a year or two back but it was way too short for me, as was an (ancient) Island 5 9 twin swallow channel which a mate sold to me for $25 a few years back!
Great article! Makes me laugh all the people commenting on surfing twins backhand, that have probably never ridden them - or at least very little. From my experience (I own about 10 of em) it's mostly the larger tail area that make them slightly more difficult off the top on your backhand. I've got a Joel Fitz Tomahawk, a Mikey F Twin Pin, a Deathless Twin Pin and a MOTE 6'0 that are all insane backhand.
Another fallacy is the spinning out rubbish. Put the correct fins in a Twin designed for decent waves and they are no more prone to sliding than any other design.
I have 2 of Gary McNeil's RTTs (Gumtree specials) as well - beautiful boards in both design and construction.
I've got a 6'10 custom RTT.....much more drawn out that the usual dims, it's got thruster hold and drive with the speed of a twin on steroids.
Someone mentioned that the move towards thin over boxy rails was a major reason modern boards go better. I agree with this idea. I've ridden a lot of old boards from the 70's and the thickness of the rails is often my main criticism of them. You just can't get get the rail to bite. People talk about concaves being a major breakthrough, but I would argue that a flat bottom board with modern thin rails will go a lot better than a concave bottom board with boxy rails.
Also while belly and Vee both old designs that have their place in the design smorgasbord, but they are pretty hard to work with in my opinion. Those old heavy 7ft single fins with pin tails, belly and boxy rails are pretty awful really. I've never seen anyone really make one look good in the surf.
Speaking of Gary McNeil:
Latest craft made by Gaz for Tom Carroll - 5'3" round tail twin with torus channel.
Been making a performance twin now for about 3 years. Current version goes so so good.
Ridden mostly as a straight twin, no issues. Put a trailer in there if you're worried it will slide, it doesn't.
Here's a nice one from Leendert
During a couple of years at TopOTaps surf shop, we had a few boards come through by Jack Howarth? Lipstix et al
Might be worth of a few words with the old fella on the Off the Wall boards...
Thanks Stu. One thing I'd like to clarify is whether or not the term "twin pin" is being caught up in a whirl of confusion. I always thought the term "twin pin" originated from the original fish design, where each side of the fish tail acts like like a single-keeled pintail, depending upon what kind of turn the rider is drawing - i.e. one "pin" engaged on a toe-side turn, the other "pin" engaged on a backside turn. I have a old artwork that substantiates this.
It seems, however, that today's use of the term is referring instead to a twin-fin board that has a pintail.
What do you board design historians out there think?
Indeed, the Twin Pin was designed by the Mirandon brothers in the late-60s.
I agree the term shouldn't be used here, however the original Twin Pin was very obscure and these things (naming habits) often progress organically, independent of what you or I think.
Thanks Stu.
(A little like the misnomer "parabolic rails" - they're not parabolic at all!)
Twin Finned Twin Pin.
Harry was from Hawaii. I think he was only in South Oz for a couple years. I will ask a mate Franky. He will know more.
Harry was from Hawaii. I think he was only in South Oz for a couple years. I will ask a mate Franky. He will know more.
The think is Weasel is still one of the best shapers in SA. He made a twin for me a few years back and it was a really fun board to ride. Mind you he has shaped me single fins and quads. Great to see him recognised for his shaping and innovation
The think is Weasel is still one of the best shapers in SA. He made a twin for me a few years back and it was a really fun board to ride. Mind you he has shaped me single fins and quads. Great to see him recognised for his shaping and innovation
A Sky Twin Pin shaped by Dahlberg
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/valentine/surfing/vintage-sky-twin-fin-s...
Mid 70s early 80s Didnt realise so many Twin Pins were made
http://www.boardcollector.com/2008/10/emerald-bolt.html
And one from NZ
https://www.facebook.com/NZVSC/photos/a.1455828481331644/2339549606292856/
Great boards, revolutionary, really advanced surfing in the 70’s setting the stage for even better things to come. Tom Hoye’s (the legend) great influence on Oz surfing is still not fully appreciated.
Ben Aipa, Larry Bertleman and a bunch more Hawaiians.
Locally, Mike Davis (via Cal.) And Terry Richardson re channelled twins early 80's
Paging Island Bay
https://www.swellnet.com/forums/shaping-bay/211166