Watch: How Torren Martyn’s 7’9″ Twin Survived A Decade Of Hype Cycles

It began with an almost utopian question: could a single board handle small North Coast NSW points, a variety of beach breaks, reefs, and large surf?

For Simon Jones, this wasn’t hypothetical. He had met an intrepid surfer who had been pedaling across some of Australia’s many miles with a single surfboard in tow — one board to answer for every whim of the ocean.

The chance encounter led Simon to shape the first version of the Massive for Torren Martyn in 2016. And Torren, as per usual, made it work. It worked in the small, it worked in the big, it worked in the treacherous middle ground where we’re so often betrayed by equipment limitations.

Was this board the holy grail of hydrodynamic compromise?

Channels and twin fins are often dismissed as mere reinventions of “the past,” but what Simon and Torren conjured somehow escaped nostalgia or novelty for novelty’s sake — a mid-length, channel-bottom, keel-fin twin. In the 21st century!

After what seemed like its swan song at perfect J-Bay, the 7’9″ had, for a time, disappeared, only to be found almost a decade later at a friend of Torren’s.

Dusted off and taken back out to cold-water righthanders in Victoria, as if it had never left, the board opened up familiar feelings: ease of entry, long sustained lines, and unhurried speed. Then it bent in half during its actual swan song.

But an update was already waiting. Simon had shaped a new version — narrower, more pulled in, with a little more rocker.

As with wheels and four-legged tables, there’s a lot to unpack about the longevity and usefulness of good design. And maybe, for those who aren’t chasing decimals under the pressure of a countdown timer, there’s a lesson in here somewhere.

If you’re waiting (impatiently) for Episode 3 of EAST with Mikey February, this might carry you through that piqued interest in the once-unusual shapes that are now starting to feel more familiar.