DHD MF Twin Review

My Experience with the DHD MF Twin

Before I was converted to twin fins, I used to ride performance shortboards all the time so I thought it would be interesting to see how a performance twin would go. Whilst another board was being repaired, I grabbed myself the 5'9" DHD MF Twin from our demo rack. I later learned this was actually second-hand board and I ended up keeping it.

Specifications

The Board: 5'9" x 19 5/8" x 2 3/8" - 28.4 Litres

Fins: FCS II Power Twins

Me: 5'9" / 65kg

A 28.4L shortboard could be considered a bit oversized for a surfer with my weight (based on volume calculators) but I prefer a bit of extra volume for easier paddling and a higher wave count.

Performance

The overall outline is somewhere between a fish a groveller and a performance shortboard but by far my favourite feature is beaked nose. The beaked nose allows you to paddle very far over the nose making it an excellent board for last minute drops into a steep barrel and gives you a little extra push when catching regular waves.

What surprised the most is how reliable and predictable it felt under my feet especially on rail. I think the unusual tail and overall look of the board gave me a preconceived notion that the board was going to be loose and hard to control, but its not. To me it just felt like I was riding an extremely fast shortboard.

The MF Twin is also very forgiving if you time a turn wrong or go off balance slightly the board almost always offers an opportunity to correct yourself and keep going. This could be the beaked nose giving you just enough lift in the nose to stop you fully sinking the rail and bailing.

I treated the MF Twin like it was performance shortboard and forgot it was a twin fin. It's also really good on the backhand and its one of the few twins that I could actually perform a half decent backhand bottom turn on.

A huge thanks to local sponger Ryan Bennett for grabbing this little clip of me dodging the crowd.

Check out Ryan's YouTube Channel for more bodyboarding and surfing around Cornwall.

Ideal Conditions

The MF Twin works great in smaller waves, but it definitely performs best if the wave has a slightly steeper face regardless of the size. In the clip above the waves were very fat and bouncy and not ideal however I still had a fun surf, and caught plenty of waves.

I would consider this a board for average to good conditions, and it really can surf tight in the pocket similar to a thruster. The only time I felt any of the twin fin looseness was at the end of a turn when the board slows down enough for the tail to start releasing and there's a spit second where you are waiting for the fins to reengage.

Suitability for Intermediate to Advanced Surfers

This would also be a great board for somebody who rides thrusters but desires a slightly faster, looser board that still has shortboard characteristics. There doesn't appear to be any major trade off in control as the board manages to feel both loose and reliable at the same time.

Update: 12 months on and I'm still using it as a daily driver with FCS II Power Twins. I have yet to surf it with the MF Twin set the board is actually designed for but this set up works for me.

More information about the DHD MF Twin.