Funny you mentioned those dims and that’s what I have landed on. Frank is actually in the process of making a custom for me at 7’2 x 17.5 at 90L, though I will be using it for DW runs as well as SUP surf. Final weight will be around 10lbs and should have it in a couple weeks, can drop an update after a few sessions on it.
1 Like
That should be an awesome setup, yes please report back once you’ve had a few runs on it!
Thanks for those details. That was a really good read. I agree that Appletree feels like nothing else. The closed I’ve gotten is my Armstrong MLs, but the Appletrees are still stiffer and more responsive…
In regard to paddling up the Frank DW board. So you think it was the extra volume and length? Or was it the over all shape? I have an 8’2" 121L KT Dragonfly V1. Yeah, it paddles fast, but I do think the newer shapes might be better. I think that board is hard to paddle up in the flats.
I’ve been toying with the idea parawing / sup board, but I think the compromise would be too big, I’m 80-82kg and I find I like 80L or so for parawing. 85L works well too, but it’s starting to feel corky at that point. But to SUP, I would need at least 95-100L or so. I’m thinking I’ll keep them separate. I may wing and parawing during the same session, but don’t usually SUP and wing during the same session. So I’ll likely optimize my parawing board and eventually optimize my SUP board.
1 Like
That’s great, I know I can ramble on a bit getting all the overly analytical thoughts and feels out of my head sometimes 
Funny you mention that comparison. Before I got the Slice V4 50L as my wing board I rode a Armstrong Surf 48L. I really liked that board a lot (more than the slice v3 I had tested at the time) but the V4 takes the win for me now, again due mostly to that “feel” but surprisingly the new construction actually ended up lighter than the army.
With the frank (and also using experiences I’ve had on other DW SUP’s) I’d say it was nearly all to do with the extra length and skinny width more so than the volume. If I was to get a frank I’d actually get the 100L version as I’m generally more stable when boards don’t feel “corky”
This long length really keeps the board going in a straight line (which is also why I’ve never really gelled with DW style for surf usage it took me an age to spin it around when a wave was coming but that could be helped with technique) but it did mean every paddle stroke went into accelerating the board forward where on my shorter boards I lose a fair bit to the nose pivoting on each stroke.
Skinny is obviously super efficient and 16" is the skinniest I’ve ridden and if I recall correctly the banana shape along with other features of the frank allows you to remain fairly stable.
I’d actually really like to try a Kalama Gator in my dims and see how that feels to surf but we don’t have many of them floating around down here.
I can also kind of touch on the PW/SUP board compromise as that’s what the 87L ML currently shares duties doing. It definitely works and is convenient but I also don’t think it’s optimal.
My “perfect” sup dims I’m landing on are longer/bigger than I’d really like my PW board to be.
I currently feel my SUP is a tiny bit small but too big for PW (if I want optimal performance in both)
For now I’m not buying a dedicated PW board as I’m hoping with time/practice it becomes feasible for me to use the 50L slice v4 as my primary PW board.
So from my experience if it’s economically possible keep them seperate especially so if you have a pretty good idea of what your optimal and final dims would look like for each discipline.
Heh, you have a lot there, but right all on points.
- I have an Appletree Pro foil V2 and an Armie 36L Surf - They weigh about the same.
- The KT V1 8"2" 121L is too wide. (21" IIRC). Older shape. It’s stable, but I’d like something else.
- Yes, compromising sucks. 1 board and you have too big a PW board, yet too small a DW board.
- I have a Slic3 V3 50L. I really like it. But yeah, the V4 looks so much better. Mine’s not heavy. I’m happy with the weight.
I flipped by a post on instagram showing the winning of a recent supfoil race standing by a blantant gator knockoff branded Axis. But it had a dug-out deck, which looked like a nice improvement to keep it a little thinner underfoot with more volume forward and aft of the standing area. I can’t find it again, maybe someone could post it here