Greg Webber Mini-Fish twinnie

[Cpt.Caveman]

Heya guys,

Just wondering if anyone here has an opinion of the Webber Mini-Fish twinnie, his new brainchild ( http://www.webbersurfboards.com ). After watching videos of him talking about the board it sounds like fantastic fun.

I loved a 5' something twinnie that my mate had which was shaped by Al Merrick, so much speed and glide. What I didn't like was that whenever the wave had some power or I got a lot of speed, there was always a good risk of sliding out if you pushed a turn too hard. It really had to be nursed.

These new design combinations in Webber's look like hes tried to combine the best of both worlds - the twinnie drive and flow + modern performance short-board technology + huge flexy fins. He claims that it has the same drive and flow as a twinnie, but it has the grip that allows you to surf it really hard and draw some tight turns.

I know that some twinnie purists say that the glide and flow is what the twinnie is all about, and its not a board to surf as hard as you would a thruster, but still. If he successfully combined both - WHAH!

[Cpt.Caveman]

Heres the video of him talking about the board, sounds good to me! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpA6eBDYQiY

[old grom]

Hi Cpt - Thanks for the link - enjoyed seeing Greg's latest - Christ he can put out some great ideas and market them well - the vid had me throthing and convinced I need one! However what stopped me was that my new 'average out the front beachies' board with its own bells and whistles arrived the next day (so no more borads for a few months ).

I guess I am a design junkie, and always wanting to believe that there is a magic new shape that will work wonders (and fix half my own surf flaws; and make me surf like I was a kid again..); and the exact market that media/marketing savvy shapers go for - this style of marketing got me in yet agian last month - as I brought a custom Fat Bullet from Bourton - after viewing his link:

http://www.basesurfboards.com/board_detail/show/id/56

It looks and feel great - but dont know if the real thing lives up to all the hype as despite getting up at 6.00 this am - I ran down to the beach to fine zero surf...

Eager to hear from anyone who has tried our the mini fish- looks insane and love those rear fins - OG

[Cpt.Caveman]

That looks like a pretty exciting board Mr Grom, a quad fish with some interesting bottom designs. I'm really keen to hear how it goes!

I found some other reviews of the mini-fish, I'm almost certain on getting one now. It was either going to be that, or a quad. I think the mini-fish will be so different to any of the standard or semi-fish boards that I have it'll be great to mix things up and make surfing average waves fresh again

http://www.mesurf.com.au/ProductDetail.aspx?id=309 - good review

http://forum.surfermag.com/forum/showth ... 239&page=0 - some discussion on a US forum

Reading the most recent Surfing World magazine got me all excited again to try new and different board designs and technology. The recurring theme in the magazine was that modern board design, and what shapes are most popular for the recreational surfer, are all based too much on the ultra low volume, highly refined, high performance boards that the pros are riding. They made a good point that these boards are often not idea for the recreational surfer because you usually need quite a bit of skill, and good waves to make them work well for you. It also seems as though these performance boards have stamped out and decreased the incentive for shapers to experiment with old technologies like the twinnie and quad.

Now that people like Greg are reviving 20 year old ideas, but incorporating all of the current knowledge on surfboard design and performance, I'm getting really excited to see what interesting things come out of it. The bullet quad above, Greg's twinnie, etc. I'm really excited to see what they can find with all of these long-lost avenues of development, that might not be what a pro can win contests on, but will put bug-eyes and a big smile on the average recreational surfer!

[pridmore]

is a great time in surfboard design, people are finally open enough to ride something alternative ( whats alternative, well thats a whole other thread...)...Greg Webber is passionate about his design and it shows, love his work....not always what I want to ride but his enthusiasm for design makes me wanna get one too.....

[puurri]

is a great time in surfboard design, people are finally open enough to ride something alternative ( whats alternative, well thats a whole other thread...)...Greg Webber is passionate about his design and it shows, love his work....not always what I want to ride but his enthusiasm for design makes me wanna get one too.....

Oxford St group hug.

[Cpt.Caveman]

Will be getting a 5'9" demo board this coming week to see what its like. Hopefully I have some surf for it so I can report back something useful

On the topic of new interesting board designs, heres something that I like the look of. The Lost Round Nose Fish Quad - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0kRuBIT ... re=related

Seems to go okay in reef waves too, interesting!

[smw1]

I've had my eye on one of these for a while. Love the fins.

Need to try a demo firsth though I think.

SMW1

[eMpowered]

Not new, Remember its Greg.

After the whole Banana Board - Shane Herring thing I don't think he has ever released something without serious R and D first.

i was blessed to ride a 5'0" ish one of these early last summer. Zing,Spring and try to keep up with the thing were my thoughts when I rode it.

Super fun.

[Cpt.Caveman]

Okay, I took out a Webber Mini Fish demo board today. The guys from the Australian Surfer Headquarters at Manly were nice enough to get their hands on the demo board so that I could try it out. Here is my amateur board report:

My specs: I'm 5'11", 83kg, and have been surfing about 10 years. I like to surf with flow and power, I wouldn't call myself a tricky or flashy surfer. I do about 2 airs a year for example.

First inspection: The board I picked up was a 5'9" and the first thing that struck me was how fat the rails were. There was so much volume squeezed into this board for a 5'9" it was ridiculous, even the nose had volume squeezed in. The rails were as boxy as they come, they were about 2 inches thick themselves, let alone the full 3 1/8" inches in the mid point. The double concave is extremely exaggerated giving quite a vee in the middle of the board. It was quite lite for the amount of foam, I was pleasantly surprised with that. My first thoughts were: "this is a bit of a toy, and its going to surf like a boat, but lets see how it goes". I was doubting Greg's claim that its for the competent to advanced surfer.

First surf: Conditions - 1-3ft Queenscliff, weak south swell, very clean fast little runners on the inside section. Nice day all in all. The board paddled amazingly as to be expected, I could take off almost as easily as a mini-mal. I had a lot of trouble trying to find speed from the board and the small surf. If I surfed with my weight on both feet it felt very boggy and didn't have much drive or lift at all. I found that I really had to surf off my front foot and give it some good pumps to get some speed from both the board, squirting some water out the back of the big concaves. I was a little disappointed with that, expecting a small wave bullet. When I finally got some speed to do a turn, I jammed the back foot down and slid the whole thing into an out-of-control tail-slide cutback. It definitely didn't feel good, thats for sure. No speed, no grab, not much fun. I caught a wave in knowing it would be a bit bigger at Curly and Dee Why, thinking it might be good to try it in a little bit of juice.

Second surf: Conditions - Double over-head sets, mid to high tide Dee Why point. Clean and powerful with solid little runners through the inside. My first thoughts were "here we go, this thing is going to slide out like crazy but it'll be funny to try". First wave it definitely felt a little bit skatey, nothing out of the ordinary. It was starting to feel a little bit more like a performance board however.

Second wave, I put my feet a little further up the board and tried to surf off the front foot a little bit more. MY GOD!!!! This thing just got more and more grip the faster and the more powerful the wave got, and really asked me to surf it hard. I got some fantastic sets that were definitely overhead and pretty solid, and it was an amazing feeling. Front foot pressure = drive and amazing speed that you can expect from a twinny. When I tried to use that speed to come off the bottom and into a turn, this is where it got really interesting. It was sticky with plenty of bite, and let me crank it right up into a hard top turn, straight back down with stacks of speed and back up into a big lip bash, straight back down into another roundhouse cutback. I had an ear to ear smile like you wouldn't believe, this thing was amazing. I couldn't believe how hard I could push it with those huge boxy rails.

I've got to admit, it didn't go too well when I had a late take-off. Taking off sideways down the face into the barrel? Forget it, too corky. I would have to take it straight into a bottom turn and start the turn out in the flats, but just as usual the thing would bite and send me towards the shoulder with amazing drive. On another wave I put my feet a little closer to the back of the board and it felt a lot more like a performance board that was itching to skate out. I didn't feel like I could push it too hard. It definitely didn't like to have the back foot jammed down for a big turn, the rails wouldn't catch and the thing would slide. Just like any twinny I guess, the drive and flow had to be directed with the same amount of drive and flow in the turn, not with powerful back foot pressure that a thruster can take.

I didn't want to go in I was having that much fun, but I was starting to cramp up really badly. I remembered Greg's words from his interview: "it definitely has range...". Too right Greg. Interlude - stuffed down a date bar and a powerade from the bakery. Back to Manly for one more surf.

Third surf: Conditions - Queenscliff, a litte bigger up to 3-4 foot on the sets, and a lot more powerful and rip-bowl like in the same place as before. The board continued to excel, it was amazing. The speed and drive that you could expect from a twinny, and it really didn't mind being surfed hard. It build up some fantastic speed in the zippy little shorebreak waves, letting me surf top-to-bottom again. Last wave it wasn't afraid to go vertical, that felt fantastic, letting me coming back down with plenty of speed again. I kept hearing Greg's voice from his interview: "this is definitely not a toy...". DEFINITELY NOT A TOY AT ALL! I kept thinking. Forced to go in from horrendous cramps, I didn't want to give the board back to the shop I was having that much fun.


Overall impression: This board really was a whole lot of fun and made small waves much more fun with the extra speed and drive (once I could find how to surf it). This fun didn't stop when the waves got bigger and more powerful however, the board had grip and drive, strangely more so when it went faster and the waves got bigger. It was totally happy to surf top-to-bottom and go vertical, I really didn't feel like I was forced to cruise on the thing and keep it under control. I didn't get a chance to see if the same was true in choppy conditions, it was only ever nice clean surf.

The down-sides:

- It didn't like to have the back foot jammed down. Turns were better off driven around with my whole body, not jammed around, otherwise the tail would slide out badly.

- When the wave got bumpy it started to show more of its skatey twin side and didn't grip into the wave as well. I think one of my last bottom turns went sideways from a lot of foam on the waves face. I could have drawn it out a little more, it was my own doing. It did feel like it needs certain conditions for its great grip and hold to show in the bigger stuff, but hard to say without trying it in junk.

- Any thought of taking off sideways and sliding down the face to have your fins catch and send you into the barrel? Forget it, way too corky. You would have to set it up with a nice bottom turn up into the barrel. There will be plenty of take-off barrels missed.


To me, I have to ask myself what I want in a board. It did make surfing a whole lot more fun to have the speed and drive of the twin fins, and it was a great surprise to be able to use it and push it into some nice turns. I can't help to think though, if I turn up to one of my usual spots and there are some nice barrels, I'll probably be pretty frustrated. It makes me think that a quad set-up with sharper rails for more bite might be a better option. Mainly to give you a similar amount of drive that you can expect from the twinny, but also with the versatility in more critical waves.

My own persona bottom lin is: To have it on the side not as a go-to board, but to keep my surfing fresh when I'm tired of attempting to surf like Kelly Slater, and to give me an ear-to-ear smile by making average surf fun? Absolutely! I want one, but not before I get myself a nice all-rounder quad from Mr Pridmore

[old grom]

Great report Cpt - did they let you keep the Demo Board for a week or two? very generous.

You wrote:

Overall impression: This board really was a whole lot of fun and made small waves much more fun with the extra speed and drive (once I could find how to surf it). This fun didn't stop when the waves got bigger and more powerful however, the board had grip and drive, strangely more so when it went faster and the waves got bigger.

Would you rate this board as a 'crap/ slop surf'' go to option - to get you out and a bit of a thrill on those small shite days - thats where I had imagined its place in a quiver - in place of a trad fish or egg or such. Would you choose to take it out when there was a bit of juice and quality in the wave- over your standard shorty?

I gather that as you want one - that it does to some extent live up to the hype that Weber has on his site?

I like some volume - but 3 1/2 inches - could you duck dive?

Great detailed review - look forward to hearing about the "all-rounder quad from Mr Pridmore" - Cheers OG

[Cpt.Caveman]

No, it was only for one day unfortunately. I surfer myself silly in order to get enough waves on it

I would rate this as a board to take out when you want to make surfing fun again, and make it all about enjoying the speed and flow, but while still having the opportunity to turn and use it (unlike traditional retro boards). I wouldn't rate it as a go-to small wave board, its always going to be a bit of a novelty ride due to the huge volume in the rails. Think bar of soap flying around a bathtub (with some huge twins guiding it), not performance fish.

The reason that I enjoy surfing older retro boards like single fins is that they force me to think about flow, and that forces me to take the focus off trying to surf top-to-bottom like Kelly Slater. The one drawback for me in surfing these sort of boards is feeling kind-of tied down due to how unresponsive they can be.

The really fun thing about this board is that it has all of the properties of above, only has performance elements incorporated to free the board up and offer some freedom to surf it hard.

I wouldn't rate this as a performance board at all, it definitely has its limitations due to the crazy volume in its rails. If you want a small wave board that allows you to surf as high performance as possible in small waves then I wouldn't buy this board. I would buy a modern fish or semi-fish, or some sort of quad. At least then you'll be able to get barreled more easily, and take late drops that will set-up the next section.

It definitely lives up to Greg's hype. He really has combined the retro elements of speed and flow, with more modern elements of aliveness and responsiveness. The crazy volume will always be a bit of a sticking point in performance in my opinion, making it miss the category of performance fish in my mind, rather novelty fun board instead.

It was okay to duck-dive but was more prone to pulling me back with the wave on a late duckdive
(e.g. whitewash). Getting it under the water was fine for me at 83kg.

[Cpt.Caveman]

Well, after a couple more surfs with this board, I have a little more to say about it:

Its a bit limiting and a bit average when the waves are very good (i.e. over head height, and nice and clean). Mainly because its so buoyant and difficult to surf as aggressively as you would a thruster. As you get plenty of speed from these waves anyway, the extra speed that the board generates is a bit redundant. I was left just feeling like I was a bit held back, and unable to push the turns as hard as I would like.

I tried it in slightly more solid but bumpy wind-swell, and it went fantastic, it was a lot of fun. When the wave itself doesn't have much to offer in speed and power, the board generates it as much as it can itself. This made uninteresting surf much more fun for me.

A downside that I have found, is that going back to a low-volume shortboard after riding the mini fish takes some adjusting to. Its a hell of a lot of volume difference, including width and thickness. This makes the regular shortboard feel a little harder to ride for the first few waves like I have to get reacquainted first.

My new verdict is: It is a damn fun board. Its so just so fast, so easy to paddle, and you have the freedom to surf top-to-bottom for sure. I would have this board in my quiver instead of a mal for smaller or less interesting days. It performs a lot of the same functions as a mal - buoyant, fast to paddle, easy to catch waves, you'll get a lot more waves in a surf by covering more distance more easily, etc. Where it differs from the mal is that its shaped to surf top-to-bottom, not to go in a straight line. It is more limiting than a standard shortboard, or even a semi-fish shortboard. You're not going to be able to surf it as aggressively as these boards, so to me its not a board that I would take out when the surf is really good. It fits nicely as a board to reconnect with the fun of surfing - going super fast, doing some fast turns, and catching lots of waves. Its great fun, but be careful though. Spending too much time on it might be detrimental to surfing your regular shortboard.

[Davros]

Thats an intense demo.And great info - thanks.

[Cpt.Caveman]

I love it when a board can make uninteresting waves super fun again, good times

As long as there are waves to surf on, you're out there

[JET01]

Just got a 6'0 webber mini fish...

Had a 3 hour surf this morning at the Alley in Cronulla . Got a bunch of waves and did some nice turns...

I'm not a very good surfer but i reckon it's a sweet board... It's my favourite board so far. The quiver had really come along since i started surfing 2 years ago, and this has pretty much rounded out my quiver for now.

6'0 webber mini fish
6'2 firewire dominator
6'2 M10 hogfish
6'5 Stretch F4
6'7 PCC
6'8 Miller waterskate
7'0 Miller Powerglide
9'0 Modern Longboard

[onawave]

Just got a 6'0 webber mini fish...

Had a 3 hour surf this morning at the Alley in Cronulla . Got a bunch of waves and did some nice turns...

I'm not a very good surfer but i reckon it's a sweet board... It's my favourite board so far. The quiver had really come along since i started surfing 2 years ago, and this has pretty much rounded out my quiver for now.

6'0 webber mini fish
6'2 firewire dominator
6'2 M10 hogfish
6'5 Stretch F4
6'7 PCC
6'8 Miller waterskate
7'0 Miller Powerglide
9'0 Modern Longboard

bloody hell. and i thought my quiver was decentish. very impressive. i wouldnt get time to surf that many boards...

[Davros]

Just got a 6'0 webber mini fish...

Had a 3 hour surf this morning at the Alley in Cronulla . Got a bunch of waves and did some nice turns...

I'm not a very good surfer but i reckon it's a sweet board... It's my favourite board so far. The quiver had really come along since i started surfing 2 years ago, and this has pretty much rounded out my quiver for now.

6'0 webber mini fish
6'2 firewire dominator
6'2 M10 hogfish
6'5 Stretch F4
6'7 PCC
6'8 Miller waterskate
7'0 Miller Powerglide
9'0 Modern Longboard

bloody hell. and i thought my quiver was decentish. very impressive. i wouldnt get time to surf that many boards...

And it looks like boards released in the last 2-3 years. Hows the credit card looking Jet01.Ouch.