Got my hands on an early 7’3 x 22.5’ x 109 ltr Appletree downwind board, model is called Skipper Downwind and will be released soon. Don’t have a lot to compare with except my home built 6’5 x 23.5 x 115 ltr dw board which works well.
Must say I really like the 7’3, the extra length seems to improve ease of paddling straight and helps avoid nose or tail dipping during paddle ups. Flat rocker line and a canoe style nose/tail makes it glide really well through the water and release is effortless during pop up.
Surprisingly the 7’3 doubles up as a very nice sup-foil wave board for mushy Swedish surf and also super fun to use on solo wing downwinders, the added length & volume allowing to use 1-1.5 m2 smaller wing and gets up on foil in ridiculously little wind.
Riding it mostly on Axis ART 1099, 75 cm all mast and 350p tail, I’m 78kg.
Love the direction of these new boards and my next DIY board project will fore sure take some learnings from this one.
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