Dual Dreams In The Desert: Craig Anderson, Ozzie Wright, and six vintage twin fins

Board collector's vintage Byrne 'Clinker' twin fin makes the cover with Craig Anderson.

When Stab and Electric disappeared into the dust of West Oz with Craig Anderson, Ozzie Wright, and six vintage twin-fin crafts, the curious atmospheric effects of dual rudders quickly materialised: Most notably, a touch of soul.

Can you feel it? That inescapable resurgence of the twin fin design? Right now, every notable shaper is doing an 80’s template single fly twin fin. Asher Pacey is ripping the Superbank on them, and even Mick Fanning is shaping his own. But, why now? And, do they even work?

If the single fly swallow tail twin fin is an idea from the early 80’s that’s worth reviving, then perhaps we’ve left other design concepts behind. Are there other design elements from that period worth revisiting? Like, channel bottoms, flex fins, or chimed rails?

The common belief is that twin fins are only for when it’s small, mushy and onshore, but four-time world champ (on a twin fin), Mark Richards, says in Simon Anderson’s Thrust that twin fins work best in hollower, more powerful conditions. Could this be true?

Stab, Craig Anderson, Ozzie Wright and I grabbed six vintage twin fins from different shapers, from different places, all with different design features, and headed into the desert with host Ry Craike, to find some barrels and put the ideas to the test. Despite a swell prediction of eight-to-ten feet, Craig requested 5’7” to 5’10”s and Ozzie asked for 5’3” to 5’7”s…

See what these boys could do on 40 year old surfboards in proper waves made the headache ache and pain of collecting for the past 2 decades all worthwhile.

So I went into the shed and pulled out a selection of the most unique twin fin designs I had. We ended up packing (from left to right)

- 6'0" Nirvana twin fin shaped by Peter Lawrence designed by Glen Winton. (AU)

- 5'10" KC twin fin shaped by Greg Trotter. (AU)

- 5'8" Wave Tools twin fin shaped by Lance Collins (USA)

- 5'8" Fluid Foils twin fin shaped by Jim Pollard (AU)

-5'9" Byrne 'clinker' twin fin shaped by Laurie Byrne (AU)
- 6'0" Skipp twin fin shaped by Terry Richardson (AU)
- 6' 3" SKY twin fin shaped by Bob McTavish (AU)

Ozzie with the Lance Collins, a long way from Newport Beach CA.

Ozzie on the Sky, showing that a pair of big fins has no trouble with some size.

Craig giving the Wave Tools a go.