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Hey yarmo
You’re right I’ve NEVER HEARD OF RICK / RICH McHALE but I don’t doubt his existence or what you have to say about him.
As I said before fertile minds must have looked at the early Twin Fish design and wondered how to make it go better in better waves.
Evolution led to the performance twin fin.
Cheers
Mooneemick
My memory is, Simmons first in the 50’s, then the Mirandon brothers with the Surfboards LaJolla Superboard mid to late 60’s, then Eaton, Terry Martin, Munoz with the first shortboard twinnie of the late 60’s with Bing and Hobie … riders Rolf and Corky. Then the fish thing from OB early 70’s … Lis, Snow White and the OB underground … the kneeboard crew down there who eventually stood up culminating in the Blears, Nuuhiwa World Contest 1 and 2 in '72. Then Reno, MR and the pro boys in the 80’s, and finally Jobson with the twinzer in the 90’s. These are high points and there have been plenty of others but these are the ones I remember as having real impact.
Oh yeah … Mid 70’s there was also Clyde Beatty with the Rocket Fish … that was a pretty significant step too.
Hi Greg…hope I didn’t catch you napping or too busy the other day. Good speaking with you. I’m about to give some of your epoxy another spin on a new board.
First twin I ever rode was in late 1970: one of those hideous, stubby, hollow little Hansen “Strato-Glas” monstrosities.
First twin I ever saw was 2 years earlier, but they didn’t quite have the fins dialed in yet:
I meant to post the beak nose on another thread. oh well. sorry bout that.
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Point of interest: Alan Nelson, 1957 La Jolla/Windansea, solid balsa 5' 0'' x 20'' true mini Simmons, complete with twin half moon fins. Used primarily as a standup shorebreak board.
well this thread has some good stuff in it , but not everything i was looking for .
search continues
The popularity of the modern performance twinnie was because of two surfers , IMO , Mark Richards and Larry Bertleman…they were around long before that -I had a 70’s Nipper Williams that I remember as an epic board in ALL conditions…fins on the tail / NO arse slide at all…By Mark Richards own admission , he was mentored by Geoff McCoy from a very young age , about shaping and design …and in particular , twin fins…at Narabeen , and East Coast Australia generally Geoff McCoy took twins to a new level…there were others involved ,Mike Eaton…?..David Nuuiwa…Corky?
Visual evidence.
oops, forgot the newspaper showing the date. lol.
Still Rolf’s is documented as 1971. That was a Bing, I was riding the Bahne version of them. They worked on steep vertical faces and totally tracked and sucked in flat faced waves… hadn’t figured modern toe & cant yet.
I was making fish style twin keel kneeboards that some guys stood and rode in SB in 1972, but I don’t really count those.
how about STEVE LIS ??? i dint read all the pages so he may have already been mentioned???
here's how something get's out of hand.......................geeez.
show me where i claimed to have invented the twin..............(quads yes..............1977-78)
maybe you guys need to quit huffing so much.............jk............lol.
plus.............i believe the issue here is the more up-to-date twins..................that would go to joey thomas.
herb
good point Herb ,
so modern Twin = concave bottom , sleek rails , and ? modern foil
Akila Aipa comes to mind as the first one i saw that was retro nothing .
I love that shape and others like it(no matter who built it).
It has a look that says...............................YESSS!!!!!!!!!!!
THANKS FOR SHARING !
now it's time to go give my oldest a driving lesson...........................it's more scary than taking a big drop on an unknown spot...........lol.
herb
This kinda looks modern, interesting as I don’t think it’s a Simmons…
Oh nevermind…
gotta love that................is that pic for real ?
herb
Photo from Surfing illustrated Vol I # 2 Spring 1963, way prior to photoshop!!! I’m amased at the stringer, rounded pin and fin shape ( different from Simmons). Wish I knew more…
I was around when the first twins hit, I remember Hobie, Bing and Space Sticks, later the early Mc Coy twins where the same symetrical fins with no toe in, Lance Collins really had it going with “Wave tools”, Stussey and jezz (I am old) I forget who else but the HB scene was my playground and I robbed the best ideas, (Ha) made a bunch and experimented with templates, fin cant and toe in. Got into Zuma and refined the template with a narrow tail, (God I hate kickin’ fins). Here a lucky grom with the last one.
