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
Anyone here have any experience riding Appletree prone boards? Specifically the majek models designed by Glenn pang? I’m in the market for a new prone board and Iv been super interested in the js mr bennetts and the Amos spitfire but I live on the east coast of the US and right now it doesn’t seem logistical possible to get one of those. Js is sold out and they can’t tell me when/if more will be sent my way and Amos charges 800$ in shipping. Plus I know Appletree has some really good construction going into their products. I just can’t seem to find any videos or pictures of their boards besides the few photos on their site.
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Amos charges $300 in shipping not $800. Its a lot but its still comparable in price.
I know someone who rides Appletree prone boards and they like them but I’ve never seen the Glenn Pang models in person or really any reviews/info from anyone but Paul Cooper. There is barely any info on those boards, which in part lead me to buy Amos instead.
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AppleTree Pro V2 33L is what I’m riding now, been riding it from the very beginning. My only criticism is the smaller tracks. I’ll be upgrading soon to something with longer tracks so I play better with mast position.
Majek808 pretty much exists on instagram. I’m pretty sure Glenn Pang has probably shaped more foilboard design iterations than anyone else in the world, half the foilers on Oahu are on his boards and he has over a dozen models at this point. Its impossible to keep straight.
Best I can say about those models is second hand from chit chat in the line up. the Alpha is a popular model locally. and if you are at the point where you can catch waves easily it shouldn’t be too advanced for you. The C@$H is for boosting airs, the larger sizes make good sinker windfoil boards. The Essence is more for carving hard than snapping turns. I ride a Majek Flavor, which is an even more extreme version of the Essence concept. Its wild what an extra inch or two of clearance in the tail will get you in term of performance on a hard turn, but you have to be willing to lean hard on a fast turn. If you aren’t doing that its probably not worth it. It took me a while to dial it in.
Might be worth shooting Glen an email to get a shipping quote on a custom.
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Apple tree charges cheap shipping close to 300us or less. And the boards are apparently ding proof so I have been using the pro surf V2 at 41l for my first prone foil board and am very happy. Won’t be going smaller until I become better at foiling. Already good at catching waves and would like to keep it that way.
I’ve been demoing a 34L 4’4 Appletree skipper and I really like it. Board is 3.2kg weighed on scale. I’d probably like to go down to 30L at 70kg. I have it pretty much front of box on prog140 and it seems to work well there.
Comparing to a gong lethal 4’4 x 16.5" 32L, the Gong paddles better due to narrow width but the Appletree takeoff is much easier, nice stable platform for pop ups. I’ve also ridden an older ~28L Amos and I’d say the Appletree reminded me of the Amos - neither paddle as well as the Gong, but both have thin refined rails, wider point forward, takeoff easy due to the width and super stiff and light. Here is some footage fwiw
Durability seems very solid, I made a mistake strapping it to my roof and pressed it against my DW board valve and it pressed a shallow dent into the deck, but no cracks and very shallow, on my gong would have definitely just punched a hole as it is super brittle.
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