Two New Twin Fins, and the One I Actually Keep Riding
Updated 2026-09-19
Two new twin fins arrived in the same month, and only one of them gets picked nine times out of ten. As at December 2025, here is the twinzer against the standard twin fin, and why the easier board wins almost every time.
The twinzer: a lot of new feel at once
Picking up this 6'6 twinzer, the first thing that stands out is the weight and a concave deck, meaning the distance between the top of the deck and the bottom concave is genuinely small through the middle, thickening out toward the rails. Paddling it means lying into that concave rather than sitting flat on top, a different feel to almost anything else in the rack. It has a beaky nose, a swallow tail, and a twinzer fin setup where the rear twin fins sit much further back than a standard twin fin position, which took some adjustment on its own.
The rocker runs flat through the nose, and the bottom is a single concave the whole way down into the twinzer fins, running a set of G10 twinzer fins that performed well from the first sessions, with a touch of tail rocker to finish. It comes alive in fat, smooth conditions, glides well and turns nicely once the extra length behind the fins is accounted for, but it is not an easy, grab-and-go everyday board. Against the 6'6 Dark Void already in the rack from the same shaper, bought earlier, the twinzer loses that contest for daily use every time.
The Twin Cam: no adjustment needed
The Twin Cam paddled well from the very first wave and turned hard immediately, no settling-in period required. It steps down comfortably into mush and steps up just as easily into good waves, with a wide-ish front section, plenty of nose rocker and a slightly foiled-in tail that gives it all the turning response wanted from a performance twin fin.
At 6'4 x 21 3/4 x 2 3/4, this board comes in at 45.1 liters, an extra liter of volume compared to the twinzer despite being two inches shorter, a useful reminder that outline and volume distribution matter more than raw length. The rolled entry helps it get into bigger waves cleanly, and the bottom runs a single concave into a double vee, deepening toward the tail before flattening out again right at the very back.
A set of half keel fins with a hooked outline went in and has not needed changing since: the board works in small and big waves alike, paddles easily, and feels light without giving up strength, backed by the same Exo-Flex construction used elsewhere in the rack. Set against a 6'6 Wingman from the same shaper, the shorter Twin Cam still paddles better, which settled that comparison quickly too.
Which one actually gets ridden
Between the two, the difference is simple: the twinzer asks the rider to adapt to it, and the Twin Cam just lets the rider surf. Riding the Twin Cam for the first time was enough to trigger a clear-out of eleven other boards from the rack almost immediately, on the basis that boards clearly outperformed could not honestly be kept.
Questions people ask
What is the practical difference between a twinzer and a standard twin fin?
A twinzer sets its rear fins further back and pairs them with a small forward set, which changes how the board feels underfoot and where it wants to be ridden from, versus a standard twin fin that puts two fins in a more familiar forward position.
Does a shorter board always mean less volume?
Not necessarily. The 6'4 board here carries more volume than the 6'6 board it was compared against, because outline shape and foam distribution matter as much as raw length.
Why would one twin fin need more adjustment to ride well than another?
A more unusual deck shape, fin placement or rocker profile, like a concave deck paired with a twinzer setup, changes paddling position and wave entry timing more than a standard twin fin outline does, which takes longer to feel natural.
Is a heavier, more technical twin fin ever worth the adjustment period?
It can be, in the right conditions. A twinzer like this one comes alive in fat, smooth waves where its glide and length behind the fins pay off, even if it is not the board reached for on an average day.
How do you decide between two similar new boards in a quiver?
By riding them back to back in similar conditions and being honest about which one keeps getting picked. Here, the board that needed no adjustment period won out clearly over several sessions.
For the boards each of these was measured against, see a 7'2 twin fin travel board, tested from small to overhead and 8 boards from one shaper, now down to the 3 I kept. For the wider decision on twin fin styles, see twin fin fins and keels or upright twin fins. Both boards have their own pages: Sweet Leaf and Twin Cam.