Album Twinsman Review

We may have talked about it before but there are 3 commonly known types of twin fin. 

The round tail twin think CI’s Twin Pin (review here), most twin fin models from Morning of the Earth surfboards made famous by Torryn Martin. 

The traditional fish keel twin fin, the Christenson Fish (review here) takes the gold medal in this category currently. 

Then thirdly, and probably the most popular, is the MR 1980 retro style twin fin. A pretty fishy shape up front but leads into a flyer and very tight swallow tail. This third category is where the Album Twinsman lies and it’s taken the flyer to tight swallow to all new levels.

There’s a lot to foam in all the right places on this board. Up front under the chest it paddles like a dream and trims like a glider when up front on the board. But with the bitey flyers and tight swallow means getting back on the tail of this board turns it into a high performance short board. Because of this drive you get from the tail shape the Twinsman is best suited to a more upright twin fin. 

In the FCS 2 range the Mark Richards Twins, the Mick Fanning Twins and the Power Twin are all well suited and let the board do its thing. The modern keel for example however makes the board way too stiff and it doesn’t give it the same spark as the other up right fins. 

It goes both ways! 

It’s the great pursuit of the shaper at the moment to create a twin fin that goes both frontside and backside, and the team at Album have most certainly done that!

The Album Twinsman goes in almost all conditions, it grovels and trims extremely well but then in the bigger stuff it holds like a performance board. The ideal conditions for this board however would be 3 to 4 foot open face walls. Don’t worry, however, a bit of shape or some barrels and this board won’t let you down either. If you think Winkipop, Tea Tree, Greenmount these waves will really see the board excel.

The one condition I did find the board struggle a little was wonky or choppy waves. The rails in the mid part of the board seem to catch and wobble of weird wonks and chops in sub par conditions. This hasn’t deterred me from surfing the board in all conditions but it is something that I have definitely noticed when trying to find something that the board struggled with.

Overall Best Conditions:

3-4ft clean, open faced waves – can be chubby or sucky, it’ll still work. But overall, it’ll work in most conditions.

Stats were:
Waves: 88
Sessions: 16
Longest Wave: 200m (Palm Beach Beachies)
Top Speed: 30km/h (Burleigh Point)

The Album Twinsman is the definition of the performance twin. It goes both left and right which for some twinnies is a concept unheard of. In the smaller waves it plans and trims with ease making you think you’re killing it. In bigger waves it holds like your short board and the harder you push the more it pushes back (with the right fins of course and in this case the Power Twin from FCS 2 is what pushes back).

With all these positives there are some negatives however. Like anything with a relatively flatter rocker late drops aren’t this board’s forte, if you’re like me and can be a little lazy paddling into waves you need to be conscious of this and make sure you’re always getting the board into the wave nice and early. You don’t really have any excuses on this board, the flatter rocker and chunk under the chest mean you should be getting in early no matter what.

In terms of workmanship performance I cannot fault the team at Album Australia. Twins in the FCS2 construction are notoriously known for folding in on the board because of the amount of pressure on the box. The Album team reinforce the Twinsman boxes with carbon so you’ve really gotta give it something to fold those bad boys. The deck is holding in well and there is nothing out of the ordinary from overall wear and tear. 

Album has been on fire in 2020 and 2021, and it’s no wonder with the resurgence of the twin fin and in turn them making possibly the best twin fin on the market. The proof is in the pudding as well. Coco picked one of their twins as her favourite board in the Electric Acid Surfboard Test hosted by STAB. Asher Pacey’s ‘No Straight Lines’ is a 2021 masterpiece of twin fin surfing and McKenzie Bowden’s profile has gone from strength to strength riding Albums exclusively. We don’t even need to mention Josh Kerr.

My point is the Album Twinsman is the crown jewel of the Album line up and it makes sense that this board goes so god damn good and that they’ve risen into the conversation alongside the likes of CI, Mayhem, JS, DH etc etc. I talk about the one board quiver a lot and I never thought I’d utter these words about a twin fin but this board very well could be your one board quiver if the whole world blew up and you could only ride 1 board for the rest of your life. They kind of figured it out to have it all. Spark, liveliness but also drive and hold when you need it. To have that in a twin fin is wild and it’s something I’m thoroughly enjoying. 

The Wins:

• a twin fin that pushes back 
• Trim and glide like a 10 foot glider 
• reinforced FCS2 plugs 

The Challenges:

• catching wonks and chops in sub par conditions 
• Late drops