Friday, May 27, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Hoyte Designs Twynzer Review
Below is a thorough review posted yesterday on Surfermag Design Forum for Russell Hoyte of Hoyte Designs Twynzer.
Big Thanks to HT who posted this!!
The link to this post is here if you wish to see photos.
BOARD DIMS: 6’1” x 19” x 2 3/8”
BOARD CONSTRUCTION: PU/PE 4x4x4 with a 4oz. patch.
FINS/CONFIGURATION: Glass-on Marlin 101 Bamboo Fins in a Twinzer set-up
OUTLINE-ROCKER-BOTTOM: RHD Spitfire type of outline and rocker (no bump in the outline, however) – moderate entry rocker, low rocker through the middle, increased tail-kick rocker from the fins out the back. The board has a moderate single concave under the front foot, increasing single concave depth towards the fins, to slight double in the single between the fins to just behind the fins, which then transitions into hard, converging channels in vee panels in the last 5 inches – the apex of the the roll/vee along/down the stringer is slightly higher than the rails in the last 4-5 inches.
RIDER: 5’10.5” x 175 lbs.
EXPERIENCE: 40 years old, 35 years riding waves, 28 years stand-up surfing
BACKGROUND: In 1992-93 I lived on Oahu, and having been a HUGE fan of both Martin Potter and twin fins, I went to the Blue Hawaii factory and had a long conversation with Glen Minami, with the intention of ending up with a Twinzer similar to Potter’s board from the late 80’s, early 90’s. Mission accomplished, I rode a 6’2” x 18 1/2” x 2 3/8” Minami Twinzer all over Oahu, and brought it back to SoCal with me when I moved back from Oahu after a year-long stint on the island. The Minami Twinzer was absolutely magic for me, and allowed me to surf with a lot of freedom, speed, and looseness I found lacking in thrusters. The Minami broke in half in small, grinding beachbreak left barrels in the spring of ’93 in south swell on the backside of Faria/Pitas. I’ve always wanted another Twinzer, so I finally pulled the trigger, asked Russell Hoyte to shape one for me.
SESSIONS: 6 sessions so far, all in a mix of regional and local NW/WNW swells. Yesterday morning offered up some good regional 12 second offshore thumping HH barrels, and the evening before I scored good wedging 11 second wedging/rebounding HH hollow draining and super fast righthand reef/rocky point waves. Last night was groomed regional windswell waves, and two days ago I caught some really fun beachbreak windswell wedgers in the early afternoon with some waves in the 5’ range. I’m really looking forward to surfing the board in some southern-hemi groundswell for further experimentation, and will update the review after the next round of southern hemi swell.
THE RIDE: Wow! Unbelievable! Just unbelievable. How often does a board go absolutely perfectly from the very first wave? This board felt perfect under my feet on the very first wave I caught, a 3’ left in semi-junky conditions at a really good and protected beachbreak with diffracto waves from canyons, breakwalls, and jetties. The board picked-up the wave effortlessly, gained instant purchase and projected across a high line on the face across a long fast walling-up section – the board was up and maching after one pump, and it carried speed as effortlessly as it picked-up the wave. It hit the section with perfect accuracy, transitioned the hit into a long double-clutch floater, landed out ahead of the lip, and projected off the bottom without losing a beat into a small and open 2’ clean face on the inside, and ripped up the inside of the small rampy inside end-section. First wave on a new board with funky design, and I surfed it as well as I can surf a wave!
Similar to the Minami, the board is a breeze to surf frontside, and offers up a completely different backside experience – the board allows you to hold a line for distance, break the line instantly for vertical schwacks off sections, the tail throws out of the lip, all the way around, and comes back underneath you easily. The board just stays under you, in uncanny fashion.
The board has a very unique balance of speed, drive, and looseness – more drive, control and stability than it should have for its speed and looseness. It has a great ability to get traction and purchase on the face, hold a line, but still maintains an ability to throw it up in the lip instantly, throw it around and break lines at will, all while maintaining high speed and flow. It’s more or less a perfect balance and combination of the ride characteristics of a twin, twin/trailer, thruster, and quad. It rolls between turns better than quads (less shifty), is more vertical and pivoty, does rounder turns, but has similar built-in speed and high-line capabilities of a quad. It is faster and freer than thrusters, but has nearly the same level of control and stability. There is no doubt that it is better than quads in steep, barreling waves. (disclaimer: I’ve ridden three quads, owned a HP 6’2” x 19” x 2 3/8” mayhem/…lost SD4 a couple years ago – similar in shape and design to the Twynzer, and is what I base my comparison upon).
I struggled a lot with my SD4 quad in barrels – really “hit-or-miss” experiences. The Twynzer rides barrels insanely well – much better lines, faster, doesn’t ride up the face in the tube, doesn’t get hung up high when trying to slip in under the lip, and is looser and easier to adjust the line in the barrel in comparison to the quads I’ve ridden. In comparison to thrusters of the same type of outline, rocker, the Twynzer is better (read; better than a Flyer). In comparison to rockered-out deep single concave thrusters, the Twynzer has similar ability to slip in, make it out, but it has a completely different type of feeling in the barrel. I would take the 6’1” Twynzer in steep barreling 6’ waves over any board other than my 6’4” deep single rockered out concave thruster. The Twynzer has much more drive and purchase than a twin-fin, but similar freedom on steep faces, in the lip. It also does 360’s like a twin-fin, probably better because you can get further through the arc before breaking it and sliding around – more ability to power the board strongly.
In terms of “power surfing” capabilities, it falls somewhere short of a thruster, but not by much, not much at all. I like the lines, freedom on the face, much more than quads – I can drop deeper, later, and at more critical angles than I can on quads, and can also pull up into barrels infinitely more easily, whether off the bottom or right on takeoff, in the hook, and can hold a better line in the barrel, faster and freer, and with really good drive.
Ultimately, the bottom line is, the board is a f*ckin’ blast to surf…insanely fun! By far the most fun I’ve had on a new board, off the bat, ever. No doubt about it. I’m going to order another identical to it, just to have as a back-up! I’m not kidding. The board picks-up waves with ridiculous ease, almost on its own, and is really, really effortless to surf...just a great, great board. It is so much fun to ride. It's like a fast, loose skateboard that can stil bomb hills with control.
You are depriving yourself if you don’t at least try this design, sincerely!
This board is better than the original Minami Twinzer I owned – its just insane. Russell went off with the tail – way more channeling and rocker than we discussed, but he put something into it that is unique, and more importantly, WORKS! I wondered if it was too “severe” for a moment, but I think those converging channels just add to projection off the bottom, across the face, and just create insane looseness up in the lip – total freedom with this board.
I can’t, I seriously can’t recommend this board enough. I’m stocked! Thanks, Russell! You said you were going to make it fast, loose, and skatey but with drive. I had faith, and you delivered on all points!
Woooohoooo!!!
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