Appletree Apple Skipper Prone Foil Board
The high performance Apple Skipper prone foil board: thinner, stiffer, more connected.
Surf foiling rapidly evolves and so should your equipment. Advanced riders in Appletree's pro and ambassador team were ready for the next step in performance so they designed the Apple Skipper prone.
Skipper concept
The Skipper concept revolves around a new hull concept. The boards are thin throughout, giving a connected feel to the foil. Under the front foot, the bottom features a unique “bulge” that actually sits slightly lower than the foil box. This bulge displaces water upon touchdown and it makes the board “skip” back up. Ideal for foam bashes and more radical foil surfing. The Skipper prone features grab rails in the nose area, these really help holding on to the board when duck diving.
Tight turns in the pocket
The outline of the board is much narrower than the other surf foil boards Appletree make. Perfect for tight turns in the pocket and harder carves without the risk of the rail touching the water and slowing you down. Finally the foil boxes are placed slightly forward and they feature the all new Appletree long boxes for more foil placement flexibility.
Stick your landings
There is also more rocker in the boards bottom, while keeping the deck as flat as possible. This helps sticking landings and it forces the board up when paddling in. You do lose a bit of early planing, but this is a board for experienced riders, who should be fine with a little less volume and paddle power.
Lighter and advanced riders
The lineup in the Skipper prone is compact throughout. Starting at a 4’5” in 28L. Ideal for lighter and advanced riders. Sizes up do not go up much in length, but more in thickness to gain volume. Stock sizes are 28L, 34L and 40L. In between sizes are available as custom orders.
The skipper prone comes as “board only”. Inserts and pads are available as custom options.
Dylan Wichmann on the skipper prone 28L:
“Being much thinner than the other models, the connection to the foil is much more direct. I really like the outline, being narrower and having a more pulled in tail allows you to turn that much harder, without having to worry about a wide tail catching on the water.”
“I also really like the rocker in the nose, while keeping the rest of the board flat. This means you will still be standing parallel to your foil but be less likely to have the nose catch on the water when touching down. I think all surf foil boards will start to look more and more like this model.”
50K CLOSED CELL FOAM
It all starts with the core and every board we make starts with a foam core of our very own 50K closed cell foam. This foam is formalised exclusively for Appletree, it is not used in any other board in the market.
The foam can withstand 50.000 kg per square meter, while staying very light, and most of all very flexible. Another plus of our 50K foam is that it is closed cell, meaning that the foam will not take in water, and the board will not blow out when it gets hot.
100% CARBON FIBER CONSTRUCTION
All Appletree foil boards are produced in their 100% carbon fiber construction. You want carbon fiber in a foil board for its stiffness and strength. A stiff board will give you the best control and response from the foil. Also stiffness will make pumping the foil much more effective. With carbon fiber Appletree are able to make the board extremely strong while really light at the same time.
The most stress in a foil board is in the connection of the foil to the board. So this is where they put extra care and attention to make it the strongest connection available. The foil mount is CNC cut with the board, for the highest precision. Appletree only use FUTURES oneshot boxes as they are the strongest in the industry. The boxes are placed in a panel of ultra high density PET honeycomb. This PET honeycomb itself is sandwiched in carbon again. Meaning there is carbon fiber both inside the board and outside. The honeycombs open structure ensures a solid connection between inside and outside, fusing everything together into a solid block.
Appletree lamination is completely different as well. They use a vacuum technique developed in house, where they layer all the carbon fiber, and reinforcements on the board dry. Then extract all the air from the bag and inject the epoxy resin under pressure. This results in the tightest lamination possible, with the best ration between fiber and epoxy. It also gives 100% connection to the core so the boards do not delaminate. Extra patches under the feet prevent heel denting.
Inserts in the Appletree foil range are made from blocks of high density material. And can be customized position wise. These blocks are also fused to the core so they never pull out.
