Wood construction?? Intriguing.
Wanted to test the wood board concept along with the skinny ding board and a simplified shape! Came out a little heavy but should be sufficient to test the shape concepts. If Iām happy Iām going to do one in HD foam sandwich construction(also hollow). EPS is a garbage material and an environmental disaster and has no place in my program.
Cool, that is exciting. Need some more pics!
I basically agree. But dunno about hollow. Appletree or Dark Arts would be the companies Iād give my money too if I had any.
āEPS is a garbage materialā agree
āand an environmental disasterā strongly agree
āand has no place in my programā unfortunately my skills donāt extend beyond it
Id love to try apple tree but Iād really need to know more about whatās inside beyond what is published on their site inorder to trust my money to my level of abuse.
For prone board Iām on a solid divinycell board thatās almost 3 years old and had felt with an insane amount of abuse(Iād estimate enough to kill half a dozen EPS boards)
If you havenāt heard it already, thereās an interview with Appletree on the Generic Foiling Podcast that also talks about their board construction - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/19-wieger-buurma-appletree-surfboards-founder/id1637901696?i=1000600497302
They start talking about foil boxes about 52 minutes in and continue to talk about foil boxes for another 20 minutes.
Eric Antonson (progression project) and Portal have been in front of the āmini-meā downwinder board design. He and Portal shaped the below board for me this past winter (5ā6ā and 19.5 wide about 58 liters). I havenāt used my other wing boards since (75 and 50 liter armstrongs). The board gets up in almost anything and wings (and prones) really well. I hearā that Portal is going to make a number of them ,ā¦
Starting rumors again Greg . Itās amazing the use youāre getting out of that thing!!!
When packing for a road trip I recently packed my 7.5āx22ā kalama, and a prone board, leaving my 60l wing board. I can see downsizing the dw board a tad and just having the two for everything.
My 1.5 yr old Appletree wing board has seen quite a bit of use and hasnāt even a pressure ding anywhere. It is 70L and 12# though so hardly an ultralight. Did hear theyāve gone to a lower density foam so canāt speak for the newer ones. I have an Omen 60L (also a mini Dwinder) on the way (made by Atree) and opted for the 150gm carbon instead of 200gm. Board should be closer to 10#.
Quickie review of the Omen Flux 60L board, 5ā3 x 21". Not sure of the thickness but thinner than anything Iāve ever used (and less volume). Long story short, LOVE IT! You may as well stop reading now⦠BTW, I pay retail for all my gear
My previous higher wind board was also an Appletree built V1 70L 4ā9 x 24. Not only is the smaller flux easier to balance on my knees, it gets up on foil about twice as easily as my old 70L. Then it really gets interesting once up on foil. My stance has been about as offset as I could get it on the 70L with my 97 and 99cm span foils (Lift 150X and 110X). With the 21" wide board of course thereās the physical constraint but I see my front foot is now basically centered on the board and I have arguably better roll authority than previously. Probably this is due to a combination of things, slightly more deck concave and itās a thinner, lighter board. Then thereās the clearance at higher bank angles, I could lop about 8" of mast length off and still have the clearance I had w/ the 24" wide board. A stiffer, lighter, lower drag mast is never a bad thing (until you have to pay for it). Touch downs are pretty much unnoticeable, in fact I could blur the line between foiling and planing while riding waves much more easily. Iāve got about seven hours on it now in three sessions, mostly 2.8 and 3.5 with an hour of hyper powered 4.5 yesterday. Obviously top notch Atree construction, thereās also a lot of new things going on here in the bottom shape and overall dimensions. Highly recommend giving the Flux a try
I can highly recommend the omen flux as well (i pay for my own gear). Iāve had a good amount of time on the 84l and one session on the 48l. Iām 80kg. The 84l feels like cheating. It gets up on foil so easily, but it still rides like a smaller board than my prior fanatic sky wing 75l. The one session on the 48 was similar. It gets up on foil like a bigger board than it is, but rides like a small board once on foil.
Iāve also had a few sessions on the omen 1050 foil and Iām equally impressed. It instantly improved my riding
Their foils are top notch as well. I only rode the 1050 for maybe five miles in light conditions but liked itās early start and turning. The 850 Iāve spent a lot of time on now as an extended demo and donāt want to return it (would rather not pay for it though). Super turny, fast and really good glide. Itās also the most forgiving 9.5AR wing Iāve ridden, recovers from any mistakes instantly.
Iām gonna spread some rumours here but since I said it on the interwebs itās obviously true. Itās clear Kane had significant input into the design of the Omen foil gear but at some point they parted ways. Look at his instagram from earlier 2023. He did a sub 30 minute Maliko run on the 850 and it sure looks like thatās what he was riding to win this years Maui to Molokai (Hmmmm, a self designed 850HA). He goes out of his way to not mention Omen but the pictures tell the story. https://www.instagram.com/p/Co_W_EKLHBe/?img_index=1
Do your own due diligence and youāll come to the same conclusions. I appreciate the fact that Kane rides whatever seems to be appropriate for the day, no allegiances (except to his tails). He rode Go Foil for the Gorge paddle challenge.
working on something similar here. not for Sup but for lightwind winging and catching non breakable wave on pronefoil
6.0 19 4.9 73 litres +10 weight
Could be wrong, but my understanding is that whatever heās riding most recently was developed with Allure. Im sure whatever it is shares a lot in common with Omen, given his input in development there, but I doubt its the same given how much he tweaks gear. Likely more of an evolution than a redesign.
Probably right for the wing he used for M to M, that was pretty recent. That pic I linked to though is clearly an Omen 850. I was just doing a little math on his stats from that sub 30 min Maliko, his fastest Km averaged, AVERAGED⦠a little over 25mph. Thatās almost 90 seconds averaging 25+mph. Some amazing decision making there in course selection downwind through the waves.
The current foil Kane used for M2M and M2O is self designed and doesnāt have the same upturned tips that the Omen has. Confirmed by people on Maui for the races. Recent instagram post shows that Stringy and Allure foil helped him piece together all the other parts. So Iād guess Allure mast and stringy fuse with his own front and rear foil.
But yeah he was definitely working with Omen in the design phase. Then they parted ways before release.
Clemop,
That looks perfect for your intended application. Seems like everybody is going with wide point a little forward these days.
Thatās a sexy stick! I recently had a Kalama custom 7ā6"x 20" 80L and it was a ripping wingboard in all conditions. Slight sinker for my 84KGs but not a problem. Dave built it for himself 4 years ago as a Gorge prone DW board(orange one in pic). He told me it was an early Barracuda. He asked to buy it back when I was done. We ended up trading for the 8ā4" (blue). Very similar looking bottom and dims to yours. Have fun with it!