Twin Fin Invitational Opens With Basque Hospitality, Music and Surf Culture
The TFI’s opening episode pairs twin-fin surfing with Basque food, music and a week built around shared style and good waves.
The Twin Fin Invitational’s appeal starts with surfing, but the event’s third year is making a wider point: a contest can be shaped as much by how people spend time together as by what happens in a heat. Its opening episode, “Ongi etorri” — Basque for “welcome” — introduces a week of twin fins, local food, live music and a community of surfers gathered in Zarautz.
William Aliotti launched the TFI around a simple idea: invite surfers to ride twin fins and let style, flow and creativity lead. The format gives that idea room to breathe. Men and women surf together in mixed heats over two days, while surfers and filmers judge performances throughout the week. At the closing ceremony, a video recap helps determine the winners.
That structure puts the emphasis on what the surfing looks and feels like, rather than on a conventional contest rhythm. The boards set a common constraint, but the surfers can answer it in their own ways. As the opening episode makes clear, the gathering around the sessions is part of the event’s character, too.
A welcome built around the coast
The first day brought flat conditions, but the forecast looked promising for the rest of the week. That gave the crew room to wait for the strongest windows at Zarautz’s big beach break instead of forcing the schedule around marginal surf. In an event where creativity matters, choosing when to surf is part of the setting: the best conditions give riders more scope to show what a twin fin can do.
Aliotti used the quieter day to bring the group to San Sebastián, a city he describes as a place for exceptional food. “During this event, I love to show what I love to do,” he says. “That’s why we decided to go to San Sebastián on that flat day, because I love good food and this is the capital of incredible food. It was such a joy to share this with all the riders.”
Food and hospitality aren’t side details in this telling of the TFI. They’re how Aliotti introduces his guests to the place hosting them, and how the event builds a shared experience beyond the lineup. The opening episode frames that welcome as a central part of the week, alongside the boards and the surf.
Zarautz as the gathering place
Shelter Bar, owned by Basque surfer Aritz Aranburu and set along Zarautz’s promenade, served as the event’s headquarters. Its breakfasts, coffee, pintxos and beers gave the riders a place to regroup between sessions. The bar also hosted a welcome concert by The Currens, extending the first episode’s sense of occasion from the beach into the evening.
Tom and Pat Curren alternated between drums and guitar and joined in on vocals, while Lee-Ann Curren led the set with her voice and instrumental playing. The performance kept Shelter moving late into the night. It also added a distinct musical thread to a week organized around creative expression, with the band’s live set echoing the event’s easygoing, collaborative mood.
Old boards, new lines
The twin fin is more than a visual theme. Tom Curren points to its history, describing boards from the early 1970s and the fish design, which began as a kneeboard. The idea has endured: decades later, some of the world’s best surfers are still finding new ways to ride it. That continuity gives the TFI an interesting tension. The board has a clear past, but the surfing on it can keep changing.
“They’re all surfing on the fish, which used to be a knee board,” Curren says. “You see all kinds of amazing surfing on the fish now.” His point gets to the event’s central appeal. A shared board type makes the differences between riders easier to see: how they use speed, draw lines and bring their own instincts to a familiar design.
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The invited field reflects the TFI’s international reach, with surfers from Japan, South Africa, Australia, California, Hawai’i, Portugal, France, Tahiti and the Basque Country. The riders named for this year’s gathering are Aritz Aranburu, Kepa Acero, William Aliotti, Ainara Aymat, Eli Beukes, Miguel Blanco, Nahia Calder, Lee-Ann Curren, Pat Curren, Tom Curren, Gatien Delahaye, Ian Fontaine, Brendon Gibbens, Ian Gottron, Alex Gray, Kepa Housset, Iñigo Idigoras, Zoe Jackin, Maud Le-Car, Clay Marzo, Ander Mendiguren, Greyson Messier, Kaito Ohashi, Axel Oregi, Rudy Palmbloom, Sam Piter, Clement Roseyro, Garazi Sanchez, Sara Taylor, Chippa Wilson and Lili Young.
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For Aranburu, the week is both a chance to host and a chance to surf: the Basque standout put in strong performances throughout the event. The first episode sets up the TFI as a meeting of those roles, with local knowledge and hospitality framing a lineup full of varied approaches to the same board.
The next episode follows the crew to Mundaka for what the series calls a “sneaky good day.” For now, “Ongi etorri” makes the case that the Twin Fin Invitational’s identity is already clear: good conditions matter, but so do the people, place and shared curiosity that give the surfing its context. Eskerrik asko — thank you.
Related: Why Are Some of the World’s Best Freesurfers in Zarautz This Week?
