The TOLHURST SURFBOARDS – THE TWINION in action

TOLHURST SURFBOARDS – THE TWINION

5’7” x 19 1/4″ x 2 3/16″

Shaped By BILLY TOLHURST

When we designed this board our aim was to create a board that had the flow and speed of a twin fin on toe side turns and the control and drive of a regular board on the heel side. So we merged two successful small-wave board models, picked out by Harley Ingleby for their unique characteristics. The two models were the BT Twin Fin and the Minion model hence the name given to the asymmetrical model, ”The Twinion”. The result was something very special. Incredibly fast and loose like a twin fin but much easier to harness in all conditions. It surfs like a twin-fin forehand with the positive feel and drive of a quad off the top and in cutbacks. When surfing backhand waves, the bottom turns are without any of the twin-fin issues that some surfers have trouble with, while snappy top turns and accelerating cutbacks are a reality. Overall a really fun board. I think this design is the best shaping I’ve ever done! By Billy Tolhurst.

Tested By Sheldon Simkus

With the Asymmetrical boards, the tail and fin combinations are designed for either goofy or naturalfooters. So, this, is a naturalfooter’s combo. This is definitely, to look at, the most interesting board on the test. The board is a pretty neat construction, sandwich epoxy.

But it’s the fin setup which really grabs me. A quad set up on one side, and a twin fin set up on the other. And you really feel this when you’re riding it. We had head-high rights with a nice shape to them and this board went excellent.

I really wasn’t sure what to expect from it as it’s so out there from anything I’ve ever seen or ridden. I watched a lot of Harley riding his before this trip to see how he would surf it. And he goes really well on them, but me? I had no idea how I’d go.

I had to go into this wiht an one mind. I surfed the board how I thought it should be surfed. And it really went well. It was all pretty crazy, actually, with how well it went. One thing which immediately hit me was this board
can’t be forced. On the righthander, coming off the bottom turn, you had to let the board do the work. And once you got that wired, you could cruise off the bottom then the transition going from toe-side to heel side rail was really smooth. I’m not a fan of big turns on quad fins, but this felt really nice. The quad set up would feel like it wanted to slide out … but it never did. It held through every turn, which surprised me.

The strength of this board was the speed and drive, and the carves possible at the end of those speed runs. And the noise! The noise is like nothing I’ve ever heard in surfing before. It sounds like a jet plane or something, all the water gushing past out of the tail and fin setup. That was super crazy!

What else? It has an ultra-forgiving rocker. Which makes it easy to surf. You don’t have to force it or generate speed. It’s all just there ready to go.


Our two cents...