A Radical double-ended surfboard that allows surfers to perform skateboard tricks has been invented by a trio from the most unlikely of places - Canberra.

Wakeboarders, skaters and snowboarders have been borrowing and refining each other's moves for years. Now, the latest word in extreme integration: the twin-tail, a surfboard which will theoretically let you do anything the other boardriders can do - and a lot they can't. It's not all that difficult when you've got a board that allows you to surf in either direction, ie with either foot forward. 360s become routine; aerial tricks, kickflips, ollies, and the rest of the skating repertoire are currently being redeveloped on waves by a stoked crew headed up by gun surfer Ed Fanning. (Fanning's exact words after his first test surf: "It blew me away.") Even more technical manoeuvres should be made possible by a hand toggle fixed in the centre of the board. According to Dean Mundy, who along with his wife Janice and mate James Klobasa originated the concept after years of mucking around with symmetrical double-ended wakeboards, snowboards and skateboards, "It should be possible with the twin-tail to roll under the lip of a wave and land in a switch stance - that is, a spin as well as a flip." The mind boggles.

Editor of the Australian surfing bible Tracks Magazine, Sean Doherty said the design was the most radical change to surf boards since the introduction of the thruster 20 years ago. "It's not often that you see something come out of left field like this," Mr Doherty said. "All the lines are blurring between the different board sports so this could do very well."

The patented board design, which has three fins at the front and back, allows riders to do 540-degree spins, front and back flips as well as conventional surfing.

Spun Sports asked high profile surfer Ed Fanning to trail some of the boards and he was impressed. "They just blew me away," Fanning said.

Mr Mundy said his wakeboarding and waterskiing background, which including competing in an exhibition at the Seoul Olympics had inspired the design. "It allowed me to look outside the box at what could be done on a surfboard," he said.

Mr Mundy, 30, his wife Janice, 32, and their friend James Klobasa, 30, are all ex-professional international waterskiers who live in Canberra but who also surf. "We travel to the coast every weekend - it's only about a 90-minute drive," Mr Mundy said. But for the sake of their expanding the business the three are now preparing to leave the landlocked capital and relocate to Mooloolaba, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. "We've been rounding up some money in Canberra and putting the whole thing together and now we're in the process of moving to the Sunshine Coast," Mr Mundy said.

The team's website spunsports.com has already created intense interest in the twin-tail design with outlets in the US and Canada queuing up for sample boards.

"Just 10 per cent of the US market is 200 per cent of the Australian market so there's a lot of potential for the business to do well overseas," Mr Mundy said.

By Rod Smith