Joyride Board Test: The Channel Islands Twin Pin

Mikey Feb loves it, Mikey C loves it, here’s your chance to win one and presumably love it.

cinema // May 11, 2022

Words by Michael Ciaramella

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Ed note: See the bottom of the page for your chance to win a custom Channel Islands surfboard.

Have you ever seen a surfer with such a connection to their board that it made you think, If I just had one of those, my style/barrel/rail-surfing would improve dramatically?

If you have a Morning of the Earth, Hypto Krypto, or Ghost in your quiver, the answer is probably yes. The performances put on by Torren Martyn, Craig Anderson, and John Florence were captivating enough to go DUMMY-viral while still portraying a level of attainability.

Surfboard marketing 101.

While I was certainly moved by those alliances of man and craft, none of them really struck me with the, “Oh yeah, I could do that,” feeling. The same cannot be said for Mikey February and his CI Twin Pin.

Despite the fact that Mikey is a foot taller and carries a style diametrically opposed to my own — not to mention that I’ve had a tenuous relationship with twin fins in the past — this one got me hook, line, and sinker.

My Findings

If you ask Ryan Burch, Speed and Control are the two axes on a surfboard’s X-Y chart. Give a little here, you’ve gotta take a little there.

Or so we thought.

The Twin Pin merges center-finless speed with tight-tailed control, bringing both characteristics startlingly close to 100. This board accelerates with ease, changes direction on a dime, holds an extended carve, and releases when desired — it even holds in hollow surf.

As far as a bang-for-buck board goes, you’d be hard-pressed to find something more versatile and fun in a wide range of conditions than the Twin Pin.

Did the board make me surf like Mikey Feb? Of course not. But the sensations it provided erase any waist-bent tube or slightly bogged carve you’ll see in the video above.

The Twin Pin is a pure fun machine.

Let’s talk about fins

I started out on Futures’ Merrick Twins. They have a large outline, no foil, and are made purely from fiberglass. All of which is to say: they hold. And maybe a little too much, if you’re not surfing well-overhead waves. I was actually shocked that a twin fin could be so stiff when I was riding the BMs. That combination of pin tail and stiff, large fins removed most of the slide and spark that draw us to a twin in the first place.

So, I threw in my ol’ reliables — the Rasta upright Twins. They’re a bit smaller, more flexible (on account of the honeycomb construction), and have a deep inner foil for speed. As always, it was an instant connection in the fun-sized surf. For me, these fins never miss.

If I was going to ride the Twin Pin in pumping surf, however, the Merricks would be a great option.

How to win a free Channel Islands surfboard:

Email us at [email protected] (subject line: Twin Pin) with the following info for your chance to win.

Name:
Age:
Where you’re from:
Which pro surfer/board combo has most deluded you into thinking, “I can do that”?
Bonus: Include a photo of yourself surfing

Here’s the winner of a previous Joyride board giveaway, Isaac Plunket, whose curly locks must bounce like a happy labrador atop his new HS Hypto Krypto Twin.