Jason Forrest: Yeah, we had a couple fun little sessions in the Outer Banks. Got a little swell snuck in for us. That was a lot of fun, loved it. And then to like bonus up on this little session at the pool was just insane. Incredible. So totally loving the pool and just the vibes.
What's up, guys? Welcome to the REAL Board Loft. We're here at Atlantic Park Surf in Virginia Beach, Virginia. We got Cory Lopez here with us today. Cory, thank you so much for being here.
Cory Lopez: Yeah, stoked to be here. We're here at the Atlantic Park wave pool and just got done having a session. Super fun riding this new Twinzer 96 Round Nose, a lot of fins and a lot of fun.
Jason Forrest: It's so fun. So, a little backstory on it here. You know, Cory's been coming and staying with us at Waterman's Retreat for seven years. I went back and looked—seven years. Since the kids were small, you guys have been coming down to the Outer Banks, staying with us at REAL and Waterman's having all these killer sessions. So much fun. We've seen the kids grow up, we've seen you grow up, too.
Cory Lopez: We've all got to grow up.
Jason Forrest: And now to be here to add in Atlantic Park Surf is really cool, because we got some pretty good waves a couple days ago, but we had one session and then you guys had another session the next day.
Cory Lopez: Yeah, we had a couple fun little sessions in the Outer Banks. Got a little swell snuck in for us. That was a lot of fun, loved it. Beautiful blue water and everyone having a good time. And then to bonus up on this little session at the pool was just insane. Incredible. So, totally loving the pool and just the vibes.
Jason Forrest: And we've actually seen a lot of guests like yourself add in Atlantic Park Surf to their stay, either on the front or the back, so they can guaranteed score. It kind of takes out the stress of the trip. You're like, "We're going to go to the Outer Banks, we're going to hit Atlantic Park Surf on the way, guaranteed score."
Cory Lopez: Yeah. Staying at Waterman's is insane, and going out there to the beaches is just so beautiful. Of course, we got that little swell—super fun, beautiful day at the beach. Then to just add the bonus on the back end was a perfect little mix.
Jason Forrest: Obviously, the review is going to be talking about the Twinzer RNF96. You are literally the person on the planet that has ridden the OG 96 more than anybody else on the planet—5'5", 19 and a quarter came out in late '90s. I graduated high school in 1997, so summer of '98, me and all my friends played that movie non-stop. To be here with you to talk about these boards is really cool. I know a lot of viewers out there—even the guy in our session was on a Round Nose Fish 96, he was like 35 and said that movie changed his life, and he was from the Gulf Coast.
Cory Lopez: He's from the Gulf Coast. Yeah, that was super cool.
Jason Forrest: That movie has been so impactful. When I think about that movie, it was really the first board review. Moments into the movie, you have your classic line about "little discs you put under your feet." You guys were talking about the board in that movie, which is pretty crazy to think. We've seen iterations of the board, we've seen the Redux, we've seen the OG. My OG is back here—I rode it for four years, still would be riding it. Then this one came out. I've been riding it for about a month or so. I had a couple sessions in the pool, and then we got you this one on this trip. Tell us your first impressions. Five fins, you know—what was your first thought out of the gate?
Cory Lopez: This was my first time riding five fins. It's a lot of fins. You look at this thing and it's so high-tech, and these fins look so cool. But my first thought picking up the board before I even put the fins in it was it looked more like what my custom-ordered 96 would be. It's a little more pulled-in in the nose, seems like it's more high-performance in the way the tail was. That was before I put the fins in.
I've never ridden a Twinzer, I've never ridden a board with this many fins. Once I started riding it, after like three or four waves, I was like, "This thing is built more for high performance." In my opinion, the added fins give you that drive and push off it to where you can really lean into turns more, as opposed to the 2+1 setup on a traditional 96.
Jason Forrest: But you don't ride it as much with a 2+1. You're on the thruster most on the 96.
Cory Lopez: If I ride a traditional 96 Round Nose Fish, I ride it with my original thruster fin setup because I like that drive. To me, I like this setup.
Jason Forrest: When you first got it, I remember you told me you thought about setting it up as a thruster.
Cory Lopez: Yeah, but then it doesn't have the fin box. I didn't know what to do.
Jason Forrest: You basically were forced to ride it as a five-fin because it's got those epic little nub boxes.
Cory Lopez: Yeah, they're small boxes, but these fins are so sick.
Jason Forrest: You can't ride it as a thruster unless you custom-made a fin, but it's made to be ridden like this.
Cory Lopez: Has a really cool feel. It really likes when you get your foot far back on the board; it loosens it up and you can feel the board start to pivot a lot. I really enjoyed my time on the board. It's a fast board, does sharp turns, and will hold a rail. You can feel it grabbing and driving through turns. Like I said, if you get that foot back, it feels like it just wants to really rip around.
Jason Forrest: I got mine in the Black Sheep construction, exact same construction as the other one. When this came out, I wanted to get the exact same dims and construction so I could compare it head-to-head.
Cory Lopez: Yours is real close to what my custom board would be. This is stock off the rack from REAL Water Sports, a 5'4". If I get a custom fish, it's going to be a 5'5", but a little more pulled in. When Matt makes my boards, it's almost identical to the look of my board. I wouldn't know the difference, to be honest.
Jason Forrest: Mine is a stock 5'5". Literally the same exact construction and dims so I could feel it out. I run traction on mine because in the summer this is the only board I carry around, so the wax doesn't melt in the back of my truck; I can just grab it. We came up here for a coaching session a couple weeks ago and I got to ride it on the right. Right out of the gate, I felt like I could push on it a lot harder. Today on the left, same thing—with the fins, it felt more positive and like you could push on it more. I think the board is going to have more range and you'll be able to ride it in a higher variety of waves.
Cory Lopez: I think you'll be able to take it out on a bigger day, too. It can be overhead and you'll be able to go out, drive through a turn, and still have fun on it. Like I said, when you get that foot way back, even in small surf, you can loosen it up, twist it around, get the board backwards, and do whatever you want.
Jason Forrest: Let's talk about the fins. Both of us have the Twinzer set that Biolos shaped for the board. When I went to look at what fins I was going to get, I watched a couple reviews. There's a lot of information out there, but I feel like if the shaper makes fins for a board, I'm just going to get the fins the shaper makes for it.
Cory Lopez: These are the fins I got handed. They were like, "Hey Cory, we got a Twinzer for you, here's the fins." They're Mayhem fins, so I trust that they're going to work. Matt puts a lot of thought and care into everything he does. I've known him my whole life—I used to live on his couch when I was 15 years old. If I ride a Merrick, I ride Merrick fins. If I ride a Pyzel, I ride Pyzel fins. Why mess around? Just get the fins made for the board.
Jason Forrest: This set is specific to the board. It does come with a set of canards.
Cory Lopez: Canards, there we go. It comes with a set of molded fins, so if you wanted to do a twin fin setup, you can do that. We surfed it here—what waves did we just surf?
Cory Lopez: We started off on a T2, T3 expert turn left. T3 was my favorite wave we surfed today; I was really enjoying the board on that and felt like you could get through three maneuvers really nicely.
Jason Forrest: Our second session, we went to pro turns—expert turn right into pro turn back-to-back.
Cory Lopez: I was getting drained by the end of back-to-backs.
Jason Forrest: We had six guys in the first session and five in the second session, so we were dominating. Tuesday after Labor Day is a good day to be here at the pool—everyone's tired and gone home. This specific board at the pool—you kind of didn't feel like it was the right board for the pool, right? Too small, or...
Cory Lopez: For me, not being a board made specifically for myself, this board was about a half a liter under what I'd normally ride because it's stock dims. If I was making a custom version, I would have had a 5'5" that would have been my volume. This board was a little small for me.
Jason Forrest: The thought in my mind when getting these dims was surfing Outer Banks punchy beach break that had potential to be head-high, so the lower volume was fine. We got a fun session on it out there. Coming into the pool with fresh water and smaller waves, I probably would want a little extra volume.
Cory Lopez: I feel like the RNF Twinzer is a really good pool board. Last year when I came up here, I rode my custom RNF96 in the pool and had a great time. This board was really good as well, but the stock volume off the rack was a little low for me personally. Custom, I would have ordered half a liter more than stock in this dim. But if this stock board fits your weight and height ratio, it's a great board.
Jason Forrest: I've ridden it in the advanced turn, pro turn left, and on the advanced barrel right. One of the lifeguards mentioned it's like the perfect board for the pool, and he's right, because you could ride it in pretty much anything they throw at you here. It's a perfect all-arounder. What are we missing, Cory?
Cory Lopez: I got three sessions on this thing and really enjoyed the board. There's more to come—I'm going to keep it. There's going to be punchy days at our beach breaks at home in Florida where I can just light it up.
Jason Forrest: I feel like I've just scratched the surface. To only have this board for a month, I feel like I'm just breaking into it and figuring it out. First impressions are that it's more positive in the turns, it's going to have a bigger range, and overall it's really good.
Cory Lopez: I really like the way the board could push through the turns more. Having the extra fins lets you feel like you can really drive through turns, which is the way I like to surf.
Jason Forrest: It's been another great trip with the Lopez family at REAL and Waterman's Retreat. Adding in Atlantic Park Surf is so epic—you're guaranteed to come up here and score. Rolling out for the first time in this review, we actually have promo code REAL5. If you use REAL5 when you book your session at Atlantic Park Surf, you get 5% off your session. If you have any questions about the Lost RNF96 Twinser, or want to order a custom or stock board, give us a call at REAL at 252-987-6000 or look us up online at realwatersports.com/surfing.
Cory Lopez: Thanks for tuning in.
Jason Forrest: We did it. Thanks, Cory.
