Surfboard history - Twin fins to thrusters with Surf & Sun

15 December, 2015

Surfboard evolution.

From single fins to twin fins to thrusters or tri-fin surfboards.

90% or more of surfboards are now thrusters.

Find out more in this video or by visiting us in our surf lessons Middleton.

Transcript

00:00:15 - Surfboard styles and setup

What we use today as surfboards is what they called the tri-fin setup. The evolution of boards, the original ones didn’t have fins and made of wood and there’s no fins or skeds on the surfboard. Then they introduced what they call single fin, there’s a big back fin on the board and that got the board a little bit of stability.

 

00:00:34 - Invention of twin fin surfboards

In the 1970’s, a gentleman from Australia named Mark Richards, he invented what they called the twin fin surfboards. So these had two fins on the side, a little bit bigger than this one we have on this boards, and that gave the board a little bit maneuverability, are looking for a bit more maneuvers, and a lot easier to maneuver surfboards. So that’s the evolution in 1970’s from Mark Richards.

 

00:01:00 - Invention of the tri-fin surfboards

And then around about 1980 another gentleman from Australia, his name is Simon Anderson, he invented the tri-final and trust the setup. This setup is still used on about 90% of the surfboard’s today.

 

00:01:10 - Tri fin setup and configuration

And the tri fin setup, just the back fin on the surfboard got a little bit more stability, and a little bit more drive as well. And that might have made the biggest difference in the way surfboards performed. And like I said today, about 90% of the surfboards today are in this configuration. And so that’s the way they evolved into what they are today.