The
Twin Fin Surfboard has a much longer history than you think. Dating back as far as mid to late 1940's with Bob Simmons explorations into planning hulls and utilized parallel twin keels to help trim along the face of a wave with more projection and control instead of controlled drag.
Since then, the
twin fin has gone through many variations, and was adopted by early knee boarders in the 60's-70's evolving to the most popular design at date, the
fish surfboard. Twin Fins made their biggest impact in the late 70's when Australian Surfing Icon Mark Richards also known as MR, started dominating professional surfing with his re-invented twin fin design. From 1977 to 1981 Twin Fins were the pinnacle of performance surfing design.
Twin fin surfboards come in many shapes and sizes these days, including performance orientated designs like the
DHD Twin Fin and
Mini Pip by Gary McNeill Concepts, popular boards like the
Album Twinsman and the performance hybrid style like the
Astro Zombie by Panda.
Twin Fins offer a great amount of speed and can feel loose yet with a ton of drive under the right circumstances. Their only drawback is in bigger surf where they can seem too loose and lack the control you need to handle bigger juicier waves.
Tell that to Mark Richards who surfed them with confidence on Hawaii's big wave North Shore.