We know we’re not alone in our adoration of surfers that make riding waves look so smooth and effortless—artistic even. The lines drawn on waves all over the world by stylemasters such as Torren Martyn and Mikey February inspire dreams of emulating their moves. While their skill level is quite a high bar, we can always wonder what’s under their feet. Which board styles do they tend to pick that allow them to find their flow?
The “twin pin” concept quickly spread from under the feet of these star surfers (and the hands of their board makers) around the surf world. More and more shapers and surfers seem to be finding good fun and functionality out of a design that blends a smooth pintail outline with a twin fin set up more commonly found on fishes.
We couldn’t resist taking our own crack at a twin pin and have enjoyed evolving one of our beloved shapes into an exciting new submodel–the Arctic Tern. Named for a slightly sleeker species of tern known for its more “buoyant” flight style and longest migration of any animal on the planet.
There was no need to start from scratch, we already had a model that served as a great starting point: the Tern, our sleek, retro-inspired mid-length built for control and flow in steeper surf. Experimentation started with Nolan swapping the single fin and side bites for a pair of upright twins in an attempt to gain more speed. The concept worked, but this new idea begged for a few design tweaks to better match the fin setup.
Adjusting the wide point more towards the tail, rounding out the pintail outline, and slightly slimming the overall width and rail foil all work to make this Tern submodel more focused on speed, drive, and a loose-but-responsive feel.
The Arctic Tern excels on waves that feel rushed for the sweeping turns of single fins but with steep pockets where fish tails won’t fit. Riders looking for a board that blends the speed and looseness of a fish but hold and responsiveness of a pintail will find this board could replace a whole section of their quiver–making it a great travel board.
“The Arctic Tern carries the same overall character of a clean and simple outline as our original Tern, but shifts the wide point back to focus the rider's stance and energy to driving the twin fin setup through pumps and turns.”
This winter as Nolan proofed out the now final version in the 6’4 length and was starting to consider the next size option a familiar face came by the shop at just the right time.
Enter our good friend Casey—local surfer and longtime Grain family. He first built a board with us a few years ago alongside his dad, and when he heard we were prototyping a new version of the Tern, he was all in. With a background in engineering, Casey brought a unique perspective to the design process. He’s the kind of builder who notices everything and takes a great deal of care and planning to execute a plan for carrying out any creation.
Casey is on a migration of his own, transitioning from more than a decade of living on the west coast to setting off on a new chapter across the Atlantic. His journey included a stopover this winter in his home turf of southern Maine, where he lent a helping hand around the shop building boards. Immediately drawn to the new concept we were working on and it wasn’t long before he and Nolan were scheming up the specific dimensions for the second size iteration of the Arctic Tern, a 6’10.
Casey got to work building his own Arctic Tern, the second of its kind but first in its size. Over the course of a few weeks, the board slowly took shape—hands-on, no shortcuts, and every decision intentional. Casey’s 6’10 Arctic Tern was ready to be surfed. Lucky for him we had waves on the very day his board was ready for wax!
Casey flexed his design and craft skills by personalizing his board with a subtle but complex bottom channel—a la Ryan Lovelace FM—that left us all standing around in admiration.
We’re now officially offering the Arctic Tern in three sizes:
We’ll be shaping the Arctic Tern in 6’4, 6’10, and 7’4 lengths. Giving a good range of smaller midlength sizes for different size riders, and the option to shift up or down in volume for the type of surf and surfing you’re looking to accomplish.
The Arctic Tern is available now. Come ride it (get your Grain Pass), build it (in a workshop), order yours (as a custom) or just come check it out at our shop.