Board Review - 5'9 DHD Mini Twin

DHD mini twin fin reviewNever really being into Twinnies i didn't know what to expect but was really keen to give it another go after seeing some recent footage of guys like Asher Pacey and Ryan Burch tearing on their twinnies. I really liked the lines they were taking on the waves which were smooth and still quite performance oriented. Riding these boards also looked like alot of fun!

I decided to go with slightly more volume at 32 liters for my custom DHD. The dimensions are 5"9 x 21 1/2 x 2 3/8, I normally ride a standard shortboard at 29-30L.  

On first impressions the board looked really fun with quite a lot of volume forward and a very thinned our tail. The wide point was definitely front of center and I really liked the way the beaked nose came together. The overall template really points to easy paddling and and thinned out tail for pushing through turns. The other noticeable feature about this model is the artwork DHD offers. I custom ordered mine in a special fish scale type tribal pattern with a mottled blue background and solid blue rails. All of the mini twins come with a special artwork which i think was developed with Asher Pacey and really give the model a slick look! The bottom contours feature a single to double concave with V out the tail. The rocker is medium to low and glassing is 4x4x4 standard.

I picked up the board in Sydney and took it to Hawaii for my summer holiday with the intention of surfing it on the south shore. On my first session i decided to try it with the Rasta Keel twin fins (Sea Shepherd) from Futures. On first impression they looked like a lot of fin for the board with a really wide base template. The surf was small on my first session but i did notice how well the board paddled and stroked into small waves. Once up and riding the board felt very intuitive and easy to surf despite the very large fins which clearly contributed to a lot of drag. On my second session i decided to switch up the fins to a Futures Chritenson twin set which i managed to get hold of. These are medium sized twin fins which are quite upright and stubby. They had more rake than the rasta keel fins and had a much narrower base. The surf was about shoulder high and conditions very glassy. With the smaller fins the board really came alive and felt alot more lose and natural. 

What surprised me about the board was the ability to push through cutbacks very hard of your backfoot and not have it slide out. The overall ride was smooth and fluid and the board really carried through the flat sections and still held really well in the pocket. 

I surfed the board consistently for two weeks and really got used to it. I found that it really allowed me to push hard through my turns and surf vertically in the pocket.- something i really didn't expect from a twin fin fish which i thought would need to be surfed more laterally! I also tried it with the STX twin fin template from Shaper fins which are larger than the Christensen fins and they also worked really well giving a little more drive but still alot of flow and speed.  All in all an awesome board which is surprisingly versatile! yewww!
DHD mini twin fin reviewDHD mini twin fin review