A Winter At Pipeline, Riding Nothing But Asymmetrical Twinnies

There’s a lot about asymmetrical surfboards to be skeptical about. Off-kilter tail templates, fins where there usually shouldn’t be fins, and all sorts of sometimes unnecessary panache.

But, there’s also a whole lot that makes sense about these seemingly sideways surfboards. The quote which most succinctly sums the concept is from our elusive friend Ryan Burch, “You ride one side, surfing is a traverse, it’s never a flat thing. Water enters your board at an angle, there’s no reason symmetry should be the end-all — at what point do you ride both sides?”

And, whether it’s Mick Fanning choosing an asym as our Electric Acid winner or Ryan Burch picking apart ferocious G-land on a pickle fork, these boards have proved their concept — they work for technically gifted surfers.

Really, it was only a matter of time until we saw people begin to break free of the theory that you need three or four fins to surf solid Pipeline. 

Enter Kale Cadam.

Though he may not be the first to spend a winter testing asymmetrical boards at Pipeline, the 19-year old from Mission Beach might be the first Pipe grom to show up with nothing but twin fins in his luggage. 

“It was my third winter in a row out there,” he tells us. “That was my first time bringing only twin fins. It was honestly a pretty big step, but I’m glad I did it. I wanted to try something different. Everyone is either out there on quads and thrusters, I love how much speed I have with a twinny, and I wanted that speed going through Backdoor waves.

I just started riding for Ashton [AH Vessels] a few months before Hawaii. We souped the boards up a bit, and he made me a 6’4 that was absolutely magic. He put deeper channels, more foam through the nose, and a little more rocker in my big boards than he does in my everyday boards. They’re all asymetrical, and they work great — they feel like normal shortboards on the backhand at Pipe too.

I’m definitely going to keep bringing them to Hawaii — why not?”