Dual Dreams In The Desert: Craig Anderson, Ozzie Wright, And Six Twin Fins

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 Damion Fuller aka The Boardcollector 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-10 feet, Craig requested 5’7” to 5’10”s and Ozzie asked for 5’3” to 5’7”s…

Full feature and breakdown of each board in Stab’s summer Big Book, out this month.

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You like the way these Twins look on a wave? Go enter for your chance to win five new twins over at Electric’s wildly-generous giveaway.