I Rode a Wooden Twinzer with Asymmetrical Fins
Updated 2026-09-19
A timber board with a different fin on each rail is not something that turns up often. This 6'6 twinzer, built from recycled timber offcuts by a local shaper who reached out after an earlier video, surfed noticeably better on the backhand than the forehand, the opposite of what a standard, symmetrical setup gives. As at December 2023, here is what a loan like this actually teaches.
What this board is built from
Called the Patch, a name earned from being pieced together out of recycled timber, this 6'6 x 21 1/2 x 2.75 board comes in at 39 liters. The bottom is a timber veneer over an EPS core, made from 2-millimeter Paulownia panels glassed over the top, while the top deck combines traditional fiberglass with a Paulownia inlay. The result carries genuine craftsmanship in its tail and nose blocks and a pale, eggshell-like finish that is as much a visual piece as a board meant to be surfed.
Fins set up asymmetrically
The two rear fins on this board are different colors and set at slightly different positions front to back, tuned for a goofy-foot rider. Both were hand-shaped in G10 fiberglass by the same shaper who built the board. Riding it, the closest comparison in feel is a Bonzer-style setup, with a similar sense of a channeled jet effect coming off the tail through a turn, even though the fin configuration itself is different again.
The bottom shape
A straight edge shows a vee at the nose, deepening into a vee double concave, before easing into a single concave through the middle, then back into a vee double toward the tail, and a final double concave behind the fins with a touch of vee right at the back. The rails run thick and foiled toward the front, soften through the middle, get noticeably bitier around halfway down the board, and thin out again toward the tail.
How it actually felt in the water
Carrying the board down to the beach, the timber surface felt slippery to grip underneath the rail while paddling, a texture never encountered on a fiberglass board before. In the water it floated better than its listed 39 liters suggested, closer to 41 or 42 liters by feel, likely down to the EPS core underneath the timber. It paddled well off a flat rocker, catching three lefts and two rights in small, one to two-foot conditions.
The two directions surfed differently. On the lefts, the nose bogged down slightly through turns, feeling a touch flat and wide underfoot. On the rights, ridden on the backhand as a goofy-foot rider, the board came alive, surfing noticeably better than on the forehand, the reverse of what is normal on a standard board. That difference tracks directly back to the asymmetrical fin setup, tuned to favor one rail over the other. In a home break with more right-handers than lefts, that quirk could genuinely suit some riders, but it read as unfamiliar territory after years on symmetrical boards where the response on both rails can be predicted in advance.
Would it get ridden again by choice
Under the arm, it sits somewhere between a PU and an EPS board: not as light as a typical foam-core board, but sturdier feeling than most EPS as well. Repairs, if the timber is damaged, involve cutting out the affected section, laminating in a fresh piece and glassing back over it, a genuinely repairable system rather than a write-off risk. Even so, on the morning after testing it, the board picked up when good waves showed was not this one. A wooden, asymmetrical board like this comes down to personal taste and style rather than outright performance, and the pull of a familiar, symmetrical board already in the rack, whose response on both rails is already known, won out.
Questions people ask
How does an asymmetrical fin setup change the way a board surfs?
On this board, it made the backhand direction noticeably livelier than the forehand, the opposite of a standard symmetrical setup where both rails respond the same way.
Do timber-bottomed surfboards float differently to fiberglass boards?
This one felt like it floated slightly better than its listed volume suggested, likely due to the EPS core underneath the timber veneer, while still feeling sturdier underfoot than a typical EPS board.
Are timber surfboards actually repairable?
Yes, on this build. A damaged section can be cut out, a new timber patch laminated in, then glassed and sanded back, rather than the board being written off.
Is a Bonzer-style channel setup similar to a twinzer?
There is a similar sense of a channeled, jet-like release through a turn, even though the actual fin count and placement differ between the two setups.
Why would someone choose a familiar symmetrical board over an interesting asymmetrical one?
Predictability. A symmetrical board responds the same way on both rails, which makes it easier to commit to in the moment, compared to a board that behaves differently depending on which way a wave breaks.
For more on twinzer fin setups, see two new twin fins, and the one I actually keep riding, which covers a different twinzer against a standard twin fin. For fin configuration choices more broadly, see twin fin fins and do fins make a difference. For another board built specifically to be versatile rather than familiar, see a 7'2 twin fin travel board, tested from small to overhead. The boards this one was measured against day to day sit in the current quiver.