Twin Fins

What kind of waves are you looking to use it on? fishz are great for crumbly waves when your looking for more performance and building speed. In bigger powerful surf I've found them to be kinda squirly, kind of like driving a car with loose tie rods at high speed. Very unpredictable. This pretty much goes for all twins fins but it's a must to round off any quiver.

 

Au contraire, fish were invented and intended for good, hollow waves.

 

Drop some coin and get one of these...

http://www.surfysurfy.net/category/alpha-omega/

 

Agreed on what they were designed for but I've found that in critical situations, steep faces, they have a mind of their own. If your slightly off balance it will either rail hard or perl when your not expecting it. Sure they'll work in those conditions for a super experienced rider but these boards perform better for the average joe in average conditions.

 

That Campbell Bros. Fish looks like a great shape. Also a big fan of the Mandela Super Chunk round nose quad pictured next to it.

Arch, I read your post on the C-bucket you just rode. You need to take a look at Christenson's twin fins. His keel fishes are legendary, I'm sure he has a hybrid that will suit you.

Surry Surfy, Mollusk and Mitch's Surf Shop to name a few.

 

I've never been on one before but that looks suite.

 

Personally I've always liked the CI Twinfinner style board, super fast and can turn on a dime. The RNF may cater to smaller waves better. That is debatable though. I think the new ci twin fin and the old ci robber were both sick designs. The more pulled in tail on the twinfinner, and even CB fish will probably help it is larger surf.

either way, you can't go wrong. as always there are local shaper derivatives of those boards.

 

Hey Archy - I picked up a RFN-5 a few years back and it's still a go to board in my quiver. I primarily ride it as a twin or twin with nub trailer in thigh to slightly overhead surf. I haven't ridden it much bigger as I've found that I have to adjust my surfing to make certain bottom turns work and don't really want to worry about that in the bigger stuff. The nub definitely helps in this regard but I still prefer the thruster when the waves get big.

 

I have a couple of friends who owned Christenson twinnies that i repaired and templated in the process. They were about 5'7" in length, slightly more pulled in at the tail than other "retro" keel fishes, proabably truer to the original Lis/Frye intent that a lot of imitators. Both were plain white sanded finish boards with smallish somewhat upright glassed on keels. I was blown away by how well shaped they were...SO racy, flowing, and with rails,and nose and tail foils that made a lot of other twinnies look clunky and thick by comparison. It was like the boards were made for PURE speed, flow and control in fast hollow surf.

I agree that these boards should not be confused for a mushy wave grovelor. Sure with the wide and moderate rocker you can ride them in mushy waves, but thats not what makes them come alive.

 

Is it wrong that sometimes I skim past other's advice and go straight to Mitchell's? He is a well rounded fella!

 

With a Fish, the outline is certainly important. A flat rocker and fin placement too. But I've always thought that the foil is critical on these boards. If the rails aren't "just right", they totally lose their best characteristics although they'll still fly fast down a straight line.

 

*cat with heart eyes emoji*

 

Thanks! Z but i wasnt really giving any advice but just seconding the motion that Christenson's shapes are amazing. On another level really.

By the way, i follow Mark Richards on Insta and he is putting out some killer twin, tri and quad swallow tails. Its a design he pioneered, and clearly still loves to build.

 

On my "traditional," twin keeled fish, I make some modifications... slightly different bottoms and I tweak the entry rocker. The other major key to their performance is the geometry of the fish tail. Not to get all geeky about it... there's a magic number curve that is super important...

But one thing I don't change is the rail shape and volume. I still use an angled, down rail from the beak in the nose, through the mid section of the board. Past the mid section, I fade out that angle but keep the rounded bottom of the rail all the way through to the tip of the tail... only foiling it thinner as it goes. So it starts out thin and angled down at the beak, thicker and still angled down in the middle, and just soft and round and thin in the tail.

 

modern replica of MR's 1976 Bumble Bee model. This shape looks so fun to me.

 

A bunch more MR twins that are a little bit pulled in compared to the one above.