Appletree Skipper Downwind Prone Foil Board

 Apple Skipper DW prone: fast and agile

Mid-length quiver killer

Introducing the versatile Apple Skipper DW Prone foil board. This board is a mid-length quiver killer designed for small waves, light winds, heavy winds, and long paddle outs.

With DNA from our Skipper Downwind shape, it’s fast, agile, and forgiving, making it perfect for all skill levels of Prone Foils and intermediate and advanced Wingers. Fly onto foil without sacrificing manoeuvrability or stability.

Aimed to be ridden without a paddle

The Skipper DW prone board fills the gap between the smaller Skipper prone and the large volume Skipper Downwind boards. The boards design is a scaled down version of the downwind boards, aimed to be ridden without a paddle. So either prone with bare hands with hand paddles or with a wing, depending on the conditions.

Obviously this board is also highly suited for the use with a Foil Drive and similar electrical assist foil propulsion systems. 

Fast and efficient

The Apple Skipper DW prone foil board excels in clean long period swells that just crumble or that don’t even break. To catch these types of waves you need a board that is as fast as possible to match the waves’ speed. The Appleskipper DW prone is narrow and long, and at the same time it packs quite a bit of volume.

The bottom shape is derived from the downwind board range, so it’s a minimal drag design, without a planning hull. The bottom is completely rounded. This makes the Skipper DW prone extremely efficient through the water so you can reach the foil lift speed with ease. Getting onto foil well before a wave starts to break. 

Board features

Foil box moved forward

The longer outline makes for a bit more swing weight than you will have in a normal prone foil board like the Skipper prone or the Pro-Foil V2. But Appletree have moved the box forward significantly, which balances the board out quite a bit. 

Longer and narrow outline

The Skipper Dw prone can also be used with a wing, but keep in mind that the board is quite narrow, and naturally unstable, so to get going is not the easiest. The board can be ordered with inserts to make it a bit easier to use with a wing. 

Full carbon construction

As standard, the board comes in the same full carbon construction that you find in the other prone foil boards. Heavier construction as well as insert options for straps are available on request.

50K CLOSED CELL FOAM

It all starts with the core and every board Appletree make starts with a foam core of their 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 the 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 we 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 they 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 customised position wise. These blocks are also fused to the core so they never pull out.