What do you guys think of the new twin-tip boards?? I’m trying to find people who are interested in this new style in surfing. Know any shapers that make them??? HELP!!!
whats up punkngo i live on the eastcoast and have made a few twin tiped boards for some of my friends that are really good surfers(just have to put the shaper they ride for on the board) but anyway they have a blast on them they take some getting used to but a fun to ride.
did they have fins on both ends? chanels on the nose? anything weird???
Yes they had a modified wakeboard fin with channels in the nose starting at about a foot from the nose.
can you post pics of the bottom?
I think what he’s talking about is a Gemini. They have two “noses” that are maybe 8 inches apart,and a bit of concave between em before they merge into a pretty flat bottom on the forward section. I forget what the bottom contour in the rear half is; they may have bevel rails, they are pretty damn wierd looking. I think they boil down to a floatier wider board, which can be ridden shorter with the same float; they’re very rare in the water.
The HIC shop at Ala Moana has one in the window now, or did last week. Forget who makes 'em; I just go by there for eye candy.
My neighbor ordered a gemini which should be in this Oct. I’ll pass on whatever info I can.
Here’s a balsa version
The original poster may have been asking about fore-aft symmetrical surfboards (ie- “spun templates”) and not the Gemini… but that was just my impression. I assumed this because he mentions a “new style of surfing”, which is something that the spun templates compliment.
As for such boards, I’ve seen some… Greg Loehr does a “double ender”, as well at Paul Baymore of Fly surfboards (NJ). Stewart did something similar called “the experience” (I think that was the name given to it). There was also another company, the name of which I don’t recall, that was putting on a big push for their
The Gemini Speedfreak is what they’re called and they DO live up to that name. If you take one out on a good day you will notice this on the first wave. For me it took one session and i bought my first one that day. The design is taken from a mono-hull catammaran. There is a deep concave starting right between the two tips. It mellows out but goes the length of the board. It actually turns into a reverse V in the tail creating flatter panels to push turns against. Rails are beveled in the nose for more rocker, no rail catching. A 6’3’’ has the rail in the water like a 7’0 with the shorter boards rocker. It will ride a bigger wave, with control, than a typical board the same length. That’s why they feel a bit stiff at first, until you get used to them. But they’ve allowed me to go 6’’ to 10’’ shorter than I used to ride in the same situations.
The concave bottom, longer rail and the four fins ( two per hull) make them very fast with control. Fin placement is key here- super positive, no spin out turns and yet super loose and turns on a dime. Sound like an impossible fantasy? That’s what I thought till I tried one. Now I’m so hooked. Jeff Alexander is the inventor - grew up in San Diego and the North Shore, lives in Bali now. We’re working on finding a Cali shaper to copy some. Meanwhile there is John LaLanne of LALA surfboards in Maui who makes them also.