modern twin fin by mr still making and refineing them
First, let’s get a simple definition of “performance twin”, to be real. If they could not do snapbacks, (you know, the carving kind… which Mungal’s, for instance, were a good example of), they can’t be considered performance twins. This rules out the Lis type Fish, and the inferior-to-it twin fins that came before it. But, while some of you are crediting Brewer for coming up with the proper fin foil for twins, and crediting Reno with inspiring some random guy who was experimenting before MR, no one is remembering Reno’s account, in the most widely-read surf magazine no less, of the impressive “PERFORMANCE” on a “TWIN FIN” that got HIM experimenting with twins. It was, if I remember right, Liko Boy Hookano, at Hanalei, on a Brewer shaped twin, with the fins toed in and tilted out… doing snap after snap, on down the line. So, case closed: That old Dick, in conjunction with a local boy, seems to have made the first real performance twin fin board, in the first half of the 70’s.
it was a collaboration
keith richards and thor swenson
working in david bowie’s shed out back
in cornwall.
…ambrose…
or did modern times start in 1947?
I’ll have to agree about Reno
I also wirnessed Liko Boy Hookano tearing the snot out of crack14 around 71’-72’
one of the greatest unknowns kauai produced
kauai’s version of maui’s buddy boy
I saw a lot of them around Encinitas in late 69. I shaped a bunch of them for Brumett. Not sure if I would call them high performance.
They were thick with hardly any rocker. Jim Phillips was making a few in Rhode Island around 68.
There is no answer to this question. Just peoples opinions.
The key word is “high performance”…perhaps the MR thing would define that.
I saw the early Lis twins and I would not call them high performance. They did have a big following though.
Fun subject though.
I AM sure that no one worldly would call those ones high performance, and I’m sure they were incapable of doing a carving snapback. That move was a key to MR’s north shore credibility on a twin, and MR openly credited Brewer’s passed-on shaping principles, as well as Reno’s getting him re-interested in the potential of twins, as being big influences on his Free Ride performance twins. And if Reno openly cited Liko Boy Ho’okana, on a Brewer shaped twin, doing snap after snap at Hanalei, as being what inspired Reno himself to start his experiment with a twin, as a small wave Australian contest shape, then Dick Brewer would seem to be the non-elusive answer, even if your opinion is that “there is no answer, mannnn”. In my opinion, Reno’s twin, being too fishy in some ways, was even less of a performance twin than Jackie Grayson’s pre-MR “Pigfish” in Florida. But Reno never claimed his groveller could fire off snapbacks at Hanalei… but defininitely did recall that about Liko Boy’s earlier (1974?) twin, shaped by Brewer.
Some interesting success/failure experiments this century, though, are the porpoise shape by Mirandon, and the Tomo boards. And, interestingly enough, the one with the missing rail line between the feet appears to go much better than the wakeboard shape … though I don’t consider even it a true performance twin, since carving snapbacks are not in either’s wheelhouse (though the porpoise does seem to do most everything else better than I would have thought).
I’ve had a bit of a trawl. I can’t seem to find any footage of someone surfing a twin-fin in the pre thruster era better than MR. Larry B perhaps, but MR had the full package in my opinion. I would say that whoever was shaping MR’s boards invented the modern performance twin fin. I would be happy to be proven wrong if any one can find some footage of someone surfing a twin better than MR.
As it turned out the rein of the twin fin as the board of choice of those pushing surfing’s boundaries was pretty short: perhaps only as little as five years.
Youtube is missing a few million minutes from the first half of the seventies on Kauai.
I think Reno, since he was selling his own shaping by then, and thus had no interest in exalting Brewer… and did not seem to be trying to take away at all from what MR was doing, but rather, was explaining what had inspired him to shape the board that had in turn inspired MR (by MR’s own account) to start shaping himself some twin fins… and since Reno had his own pro status to worry about, and thus no vested interest in exalting some out islander’s surfing… MIGHT just not have been perpetuating a sleeper hoax on us, when he recounted in '78 or so his impression of Liko Boy’s surfing, on a Brewer twin years earlier on Kauai, that had inspired him to shape the board that he rode in the '75 or '76 Aussie contests, which MR famously picked up on the potential of. (In other words, had MR himself seen Kauaian Liko Boy ripping Hanalei on a twin years earlier, it seems he would not have had to make such a leap of faith, from Reno’s Australian-contest-groveller board.) (And, who knows, MR’s twins might have been higher performance for it… since vee, and up to 22.5 inches in width, and wings, are not exactly “modern performance” elements, and are not required for a good twin fin.) (The backfoot area just needs to be sufficiently wide, to allow the outer fin to pop out early enough that one can actually lay into a frontside bottom turn… instead of having to do a modern “butt up” bottom turn to save some body extension to compensate for the late release of a fin that is too close to the stringer.)
Looks like I’ve got a bit of homework to do! At least we can agree that MR was particularly skilled on a twin fin.
Love this kind of insight.
Nice thread. Thanks for reviving it.
It all started w sum stoned Hippy who decided he wanted to surf in zig zag motion…his name was -Reno Abelirra of Hawaii! Jk Reno…Anyoldways, Reno taught MR about his new found toy by nearly running over the competition…mr noticed he was no match for reno on his bionic fish…so mr went bat shit
Crazee and decided to one up Reno with te rocket fish winged swallow twin! He then thought he could fly…wait a,sec, he was flying over da competition to! This lead me to order a Reno fish, but I was a foot too long, and I pulled my tail a bit…here’s my new shorter modern twin that’s sure to kil it! - Jim
It’ll kill it… if “it” is a creature, and you hit it over the head with thet there fossil!
That’s got some really questionable design elements… one modern and one that keeps sneaking back in retro boards.
Actually, the one I referred to as modern is more a “worst of both worlds”. Which is, the outline being hip-py two feet up, like some twitchy modern thrusters, but straighter in the first foot ahead of the tail block. The hippyness between the feet will give it less drive in bottom turns, and the straighter last foot of rail will make it not want to transition well into a carving snap (rendering those unlikely). Seems like you’d be better off with a shape that gave you more horsepower when you lean into a turn with both feet, and yet more effective transitions when you lean onto your back foot to carve out of the top in a snapback.
Can’t go wrong with using part of a perfect circle, tangential to the widepoint, with a radius that will intersect your desired width a foot up from the tail… and then from there steadily accellerating the curve into the tail, a little (so that you can still have a somewhat wide swallow), or a lot (so that you wind up with a roundpin).
Of course, instead of carrying that “perfect circle” curve ahead of the widepoint, you’d want to gradually accelerate the curve ahead of the widepoint, to allow you to intercept your desired width a foot back from the nose. But… from there into the tip, you’d be better off with - instead of the curve continuing to accellerate, the way it does on your board in the photo - the curve not increasing any more in the last foot of the outline. Because, if the forward outline is increasingly blunt, especially as the rocker simultaneously accelerates into the tip, the nose will tend to push water and catch, when trying to do full rail cutbacks.
But fortunately, you, sir, are a shapaholic…
I dont know who invented it but MR and Akila Aipa have certainly perfected it…
here is a pic of my good buddy AL shredding it up on a hopper ‘modern performance’ twin fin…
have to also throw campbell bros in there for the most badass performance twin fin
Grasshopper, your friend is doing classic “rug surfing”, (turns that can be done without leaning over or firing out of)… which can be done even better on a tri-fin, and, nearly as well on a rug. Not my idea of “perfect”, or some sort of magic carpet (you know, the ones that maintain momentum or accellerate, instead of just allowing you to go “doink” around your heel without going anywhere… like you can after running on to a stationary rug). Don’t settle… it’s not necessary.
i have certainly not perfected anything, but MR and Aipa have - their boards are so sick
just wanted to show one in action that was made from their inspiration. if you are not impressed by a turn like that in waves as shitty as those then you are a hard man to please…
check his wake - speed and controlled slide - that is twinny territory, not thruster style
my favorite kind of twinny is a modernized keel fish that has so much glide and skate but can also really knife into the face - the middle one in this pic:
interesting angle! About my ‘grand plans’ for twin here. My design center concept w pulled tail happened by accident yrs ago - back during the twin fin craze… what happened was: my friends bought twin fins ( g & s and a Vinson )…I tried the g& s with a more traditional parallel outline…but for whatever reason, when I ordered a custom board from -Vinson I was not sure how wide tail block was… so I just wrote on 8" for tail block…Anyway, to my surprise my board worked amazingly well! What I noticed was that I could cut back on a dime if the wave had sum juice…and I also noticed it was a complete 180 deg turn! :0 and it would send me directly into the curl! So I natural banged hard off lip…which sent me literally – flying at full speed in towards wave shoulder again…this really was not like the g&s I tried…that board was nice and drawn out on turns…more down the line ride…my board allowed more of what I’m going to say a almost short board feel…or you could squeeze out a bit more of a arc in the turn…but it also depended on wave shape also…it seemed to work best on waves with more hollow for,mation FWIW…I’m not a expert on rocker, but I’m thinking it was continous curve rocker. Or a rocker that gradually pulls from center? What I’m trying to say is: my board seemed to have a rather flat rocker, but May be a tad of curve towards the tips… the curve 2" feet up im going to say was pretty straight, and I think it had a slight hip at 12" point and then pulling to the tail block at 8"… that said, my board was finicky. Or the wave had to be powerful enough to make it ’ wake up ’ for me… my best session ever was at Stockton ave in Santa Cruz. Apparently the break I was told at the time was a advanced break. At age 14 I was still learning how to surf, but my neighbor a knee boarder whom I just met was a older more experienced surfer who reassured me to just follow him and he’d help me make my way out…I think I grabbed a wave right as I got out almost! Going backside I thought id be wiping out for sure! Laughs. But instead I was being rocked up and down the line in and out of sum phenomenal power! All the being barreled and amazingly making it! I got the feel for break and board! Anyway I got back out and grabbed 4-6 more waves…my friend was catching a bunch also…then it fizzles out after a hr or so…I got one last ride in and the out of balance rocking and rolling down the line is forever etched in my head…that’s why I’m trying to recreate a ride and memory into a new board similar to what I think I had back then…but only 6" shorter and a smidge wider! I’ll take it back out there and if all goes as planned - I’ll build a handful more of these creatures. Peace
Symettrical - I kinda get what ur saying about nose and tail design…I’ll draw up another template and straight n out the curve in nose more by narrowing the dims a bit…then on tail I could refine that area a bit also…-thanks for the info! I’ll stop by the dollar store and grab sum poster board.