Tech talk: Is the board important in your foiling set up?

25.04.2022

Welcome to another tech talk video. My name is Wieger, co-founder of Appletree Surfboards. Today we are going to talk about a topic that we get a lot of questions about, and that is, is a board important in your foiling set up?

It’s a bit of a no brainer answer for us. Of course, as a board brand, we will tell you that a board is super important when foiling. But still people do think that the foil is way more important and that the board really doesn’t matter that much because it’s only for getting up. And once you’re up, you’re on the foil and it’s the foil that matters. But we’re here to tell you that it’s the complete opposite and the board does matter quite a lot.

What makes a foil board, a good foil board

So there are a few things that make a foil board, a good foil board. Either for kite foiling, wing foiling or surf foiling, they are similar things. I think number one of a good board is the right shape. The right shape for the right conditions, a flatter wider board for freestyle winging like the Jazz wing foil board. Or a V hole bottom board that we use for the Pro Foil V2, our allround surf foil board, really helps in paddling or small kite boards that are really designed for proper touchdowns.

How to choose the best construction for your foiling board?

Number two why it really matters, is the construction. And construction, is our main thing that we do at Appletree Surfboards. So for foil boards, you will see in our collection that we only use carbon fiber. We have experimented quite a bit with glass fiber foil boards, but in reality, glass fiber is too flexible. It doesn’t translate the forces and the energy and the feel of the foil through to your feet.

Interested to know more about the construction of our foil boards? Check out the foil technology page.

FOIL TECHNOLOGY

What are the most important features of your foiling set up?

The board is in between you and the foil. So it’s super important that the board is stiff, light and responsive. So you can feel what the foil is doing. If you have a super nice carbon mast, carbon foil, and you pair it with a floppy board, you’re just not gonna get the most out of your board. So if you buy your foiling set up and get a good foil, please invest in a good board and get something that’s stiff and nice. That will give you that control, that really matches your board.

Foil boards need to be strong

Lastly, strength. The boards do take quite a beating while foiling. Imagine when you’re up high on a foil and you breach and you’re gonna slap down. The forces that are on that box connection to your foil are huge. A weak board will just buckle or snap in half or slowly the box will work its way out.

Now we put a lot of effort in designing our boxes in our boards. So in our boards, the boxes are set in an internal plate of PET foam. Inside of that, there’s another layer of carbon fiber and that’s wrapped around the boxes. Then it’s layered with multiple layers of carbon fiber to distribute those forces. So imagine the forces are in the mast, they go into the foot of the foil and they have to be distributed into the board evenly. All these built up layers and the complete fusion of the boxes with the foam and the entire board gives you that direct feel and that strength and that stability.

Foiling set up
Dylan rocking the Pro Foil V2

Most common damages foiling set up

In all the years that we’ve been designing and building foil boards, we’ve never had a foil box break. Seriously, not a single foil box has broken, boards have broken, not many, but some have broken, but as you see in a lot of boards where the foil box looks intact, but it’s actually loose from the board. In our boards it never happened before.

Good quality boards, good strength, good stiffness and lightweight. That’s what makes the board different from others and that’s why boards really matter. A lot of people tell us when they upgrade their foiling set up to one of our boards, they can pump further. It feels like they have a lighter foil. It feels like it has more control. It has more flexibility.

So give it a try. Find one of our boards at your local dealer, or give us a ring or an email. We’ll hook you up with a demo and convince yourself to upgrade your foiling set up.

That was it for today. Hope to see you next time. We’re gonna make a lot more videos this season, so hit the subscribe button. Make sure you follow us on our social media channels because we’ll be back with a lot of cool new products this year, and a lot of cool new videos. See you next time. Thanks.

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