Looking for some commentary and reviews on favorite performance prone foilboards. There are a lot out there now, and most seem to be converging on a narrow board with a concave deck. Let me know what you think!
Amos raptor & spitfire
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How do you like them? Curious as to how they compare to Amudson super model.
Havent tried the super model, but in comparison to some of the other amundson models, they seem more solid / stiff. I like the rails more on the amos too. The amundsons are great boards though.
Yep have the 4’4 x 27 litres paddles fast and takes critical drops with ease and likes waves small or bigger, looks great and nice and stiff🔥
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The best thing about the JS Bennetts boards is the narrow width at your back foot. Pretty much if you’re bogging rail your toes are getting wet 
(you intuitively know where the rail is).
Really happy with the Amos boards I’ve been on before this one too. Beautiful boards and really light.
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@Vegan_freefoiler and @Bradinperth how do you like the length and liters of that board? They seem to go slightly longer per literage of volume, so not sure if I can get away with less volume, to be on a board with a length I prefer (4’4"-ish).
@ChrisP , I have a 34L Amos Raptor and 31L JS Bennetts. Weigh 85kg, and have surfed for quite a few years before foiling.
After learning on a 40L board two years ago and stepping down to the 31L, that’s the lowest volume I will likely ever go.
For slow and easy take offs lower volume would work fine, but for tiny shore breaking beach break take offs when prone downwinding, or for taking off on faster moving waves in Margaret River, something just over 30L feels like the ideal size.
I’m watching the ‘mid-length prone board’ thread on this forum closely to see what people are doing in that space too.
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Okay how do you guys use performance boards?
I was riding a 4’2 NSP for a year. It was good. I switched to a 4’6 Amudson Super Model five sessions ago and it’s been hell. The Super Model has more volume, less weight, and paddles faster but I can’t catch any waves on it!
Do you have to take off in green water to make these kind of boards work? The narrow outline and lack of roll stability means that whitewash pop ups are extremely difficult. I fall down in all the bad scary ways that I did in my first few sessions of foiling.
If I’m out of the whitewash then it’s good. But taking off in green water is always difficult because you have to get into the surfers territory.
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Foam takeoffs are hard, I have a 16" wide board and tricky inside washy takeoffs is my main gripe with it, they are way harder.
If a big whitewash you’ll have too much power, you need to drag your feet out sideways while trying to keep your weight forward (not easy), and then takeoff once you’ve slowed down a bit.
If weak, then taking it slower and making sure you nail it, using the momentum of popping to try gain some altitude, but without stalling. A broken wave has lost most of the energy, and so you need to get the timing right.
If you’re just falling over, then try go a bit slower would be my advice.
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I just bought a 4’6 34L Amos Raptor and I am really liking it after 4 sessions, very light stiff and strong. I’m impressed at how easy of a paddle it is also, I think I could have gone down to 4’4 size even however my local spot gets a lot of smaller less steep waves so I wanted a size that would ensure higher wave count so I am currently happy with my choice to go bigger. I’m 77 KG.
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I had the same struggle as you going to a narrow board. Everything that makes them more sensitive it turns makes them more sensitive on the take off and pop-up too. That means that all of the tuning needs to be more dialed in and my form needs to be perfect if I’m going to use my narrow board. Its up to each person to decide if the performance gains are worth it.
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Heard before they float feel.slighly bigger than their litres because of wide points under chest , maybe a litre or so but I’m only 70 kg and feels.spot on and like it narrow for paddle speed