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January of February if I remember correctly... Either way, these conditions don't happen often in this bay, the wind was coming straight SW, whereas mostly you get N or E winds.

Thank you for the nice comment! I have to say, it's not often you get conditions like this there! This was a rare SW wind direction, usually it's N or E. With N wind you can get nice conditions in Tonel beach (Sagres) but it can be tricky to get out if the waves are too big. Lot's to explore!

I had the FIRST production board of the Appleslice V2, and they've slightly changed the design since (even narrower at 22.5" now, mine was 23"). I believe the tracks are also slightly more forward now too. I think if you ride a wider stance (back foot more back) you would also ride the mast more back in the tracks. But because I have a super narrow stance I like it all the way forward. And Appletree build quality is MILES ahead of anyone else.

dont know, but im sure Appletree will be happy to answer if you contact them directly 🤙

I have 75kg and surfing experience.

@@joaomendonca Hi Joao!! Where in Portugal are you? I have some Portuguese friends from when I lived there (I was there 6 months, the winter of '21-'22), all over Portugal all doing wingfoiling!! A good set is a rental set, because you need a big board to learn for the first 5-10 sessions, and after that you will want something smaller. Let me know and I can hook you up with some guys there perhaps 🤙

@@greg.ocallaghan Hi thanks for your quick answer. I live near Ericeira, west coast 40km from Lisbon.

@@joaomendonca Ahh ok!! Unfortunately I don't know that area that well.. I spent some time around Peniche, then the Obidos lagoon is best place to learn. And I spent some time in the Algarve, then the Lagos lagoon is the best place to go to learn. I think around Lisboa/Ericeira, best would be to go to a kite school, but not on the Atlantic coast but on the Tagus river side, where there are no waves. They'll for sure help you out 🤙

@@greg.ocallaghan Obidos lagoon is not so far. Thanks I Will go try there.

definitely not full on sinker start with feet in straps, it's got too many liters for my weight (80kg) to do that. I like to "semi-sink" it which means I put my front foot in the strap and my back knee/shin down across the board, from there pull the wing overhead and get going. Or a stinkbug start, which is a knee-start essentially.

@@greg.ocallaghan thanks for the insight. I’m 68kg moving down from 98L. I just started tacking, feel it’s ready to move down. I was thinking this board in 60 or 70. I want to be able to get going quickly in waves so I’m worried about going too small as I know it will be challenging. What would you recommend?

Thank you!

Pretty sure it does! I ride Armstrong exclusively which likes to be ridden all the way forward in the boxes, but I have lots of friends on F-One foils and Appletree boards and no problem! I think they're mostly somewhere in the middle of the boxes with their masts.

Thank you! Appreciate the compliment 🙏

Greg what's the name of the song?

Thank you! I do my best trying to shoot cinematic footage with the drone, even if it's action sports. Appreciate the compliments 🙏

hard to give definite answer! the faster you go the smaller the wing can be, but you'll have a higher stall speed so you gotta keep the foil in the energy part of the wave. There's guys out there riding miniature foils (<800cm2) in tiny waves, but they're experts at drawing lines to keep the foil at speed. There's nothing wrong using a bigger front wing though, you'll just reach max speed earlier and you'll have to "fight" the foil to keep it down (well balanced tail/shim is important then, to ensure even foot pressure and pitch stability as you increase speed). Advantage of bigger front foil is that you can go slower before you drop off foil. What front foil wings are you considering?

@@greg.ocallaghan I am thinking about getting a Fluid Frontwing with approx. 1900cm2 from Gong Galaxy. But I do not know if this is not too big for about 9-13 knots and 50cm-100cm high waves..or rather a fluid with about 1300cm2..difficult decision

This was January 2022, pretty much when I uploaded the video. These were a bit of a freak conditions with winds coming from the E-SE and swell from the SW. Usually you get either N-NW winds from storms on the Atlantic and swells that wrap around Sagres, or the tail of the Levante wind (E-SE winds) coming from Tarifa and just wind chop form the same direction. Not sure what the winds are doing in Aug/Sept, but if you also prone foil southern Portugal is pretty 👌

Agree 100%! A well shaped 60L board with the volume in the right places might actually feel more nimble than a 50L board with a wrong shape. Both in terms of how it releases off the water and how it feels when flying. Glad you found the review useful 🤙

It has a very simple bottom shape, mostly flat with beveled rails, so it doesn't stick to the water at all when you touch down. It also has a fair amount of nose rocker, which helps too because you just bounce off the water. The recessed deck ensures that the extra amount of nose rocker doesn't feel weird under feet though: the angle between the deck and the boxes is exactly 0 deg.

@@greg.ocallaghan ok. Great. That’s the main point for me. Thanks for the answer.

Hi Noah, I'd say it depends on where you are in your progression, and how fast your rate of progress is. For me, after a few months of riding I was extremely comfortable on my 90L board and in hindsight I should've just bought the 80L Quattro instead of the 90L. I had never tried anyone else's "intermediately sized" boards (50-60L), so I didn't know what to go for either. But the fact that I knew how to waterstart my 35L prone gave me confidence that I'd be ok no matter what in sizing down. So perhaps for you, try out a few sizes if you have friends that can lend you theirs? On the other hand, if I HAD to give you one advice, I'd say go for the 60L. Because you'll still have your 95L board so worst case if you don't get up during a session, you can go back to that. Smaller boards are not that much more difficult to ride, you just gotta get the hang of the waterstart and "sacrifice" 2-3 sessions to get comfortable. Fwiw: I used my friends 50L Appletree Jazz a few days ago, winds were pretty marginal (11kts with 15kt gusts) and I wished I was on my 60L. I thought about going for the 50L myself, but happy I went for the 60L. Hope any of this helps!

@@greg.ocallaghan Thanks! I also prone a 43 board, so I'm not worried about the riding at all I know itll be WAY more fun. Mostly worried about the waterstarts. Actually, I still have my beginner 56L KT Drifter prone board so I'll probably try that out and depending on how hard or easy it is I'll know to go for the 60 or 60

or 70*

@@sikguystg this sounds like an awesome plan, the 56L KT would be good indication. But the Appletree is very well designed and I find that the narrow shape and pointier nose help get the board to the surface. The volume is mostly in the nose too (hence the recessed deck) so again, that helps. Let me know what you end up with!

Hi Thorsten!! Yeah nice to meet you too! Perhaps we meet in Garda some day, I'm back in Chamonix now 🤙

I have the 28/28.5 size backlands and I'm normally a 10.5 US for sneakers. I just measured my feet and they're 276mm. I would order a pair of Phantom slippers tbh, they come with the link levers, which you really really want bc that's what makes riding hard boots awesome. They're expensive but worth it!

@@greg.ocallaghan Cheers for the fast reply. I´m still torn between upgrading my softboot setup (ie. getting stiffer soft-boots and alpine bindings) or switching over to hardboot completely. I split exclusively in Japan, where the snow is deep and dry and while there are challenging mountains/conditions, generally speaking its not on the same level as Europe/North America. Much more mellow. There's also a part of me that feels the hardboot setup is really for mountaineering types, guides, and long trips. But I do get out enough to justify having a dedicated split setup. If cost isn't a huge issue, any thoughts? I am very intrigued by the weight savings and efficiency on the uphill. Bit worried about sacrificing too much on the downhill but the Phantom Slippers seem to have more or less solved that issue.

@@benjaminturk7553 Honestly, if you're saying you're looking at upgrading your softboot setup by getting stiffer soft boots, you'll really like hard boots (with the Phantom Link-Lever, that's a must imo). You can make them more flexible than soft boots, but the whole point (and benefit) is that the flex comes from the spring in the link lever, which you can tune to preference (Phantom gives you different springs with different stiffnesses). Softboots get their flex from a soft shell that deforms, but that just means you're going to get a super stiff boot when you buy it, and it'll be a noodle after a few weeks of hard riding. So you only get the "just right" stiffness for a week or two: after you've broken them in, but before they become too soft. Before I used the Backlands, I went through multiple pairs of Fitwell Backcountry's. I thought those were the best of the best boots at the time and that I'd never want something else (I even used those at 6000m altitude in the Bolivian Andes). But hard boots are orders of magnitude better than the best softboot imo. The weight savings are insane, the boots are lighter and because you put the bindings in your backpack (so you shave weight on your feet, which is where it matters). I don't even use soft boots anymore to cruise around the resort. They carve much better than soft boots (better control, because the flex is predictable), and I love them in powder too. Especially in powder I want to have good control, because I want to dictate where my board goes, I don't want to feel that my board is directing me. I think anyone who's serious about splitboarding, and by that I don't mean riding extreme mountaineering lines, but someone who spends a lot of time going uphill and wants the best functioning system possible, will LOVE hardboots. There's this assumption that hard boots are somehow less surfy, but that's not the right way to think about it. You can make hard boots as surfy as you want. And the uphill performance gains will blow you away. Let me put it this way: I haven't heard anyone yet who has gone from soft boots to hard boots and not absolutely loved it. Haha, sorry my answer will probably make you consider opening your wallet 😆 But happy to talk more or give you any advice 🤙

@@greg.ocallaghan Naw man, thank you for all of that. I haven't deep dived any forums yet but there isn't a mountain of information online out there on softboot vs hardboot. So appreciate you taking the time to write that up and share your thoughts. I'm really leaning hard towards going for it. Re: riding, I had previously glossed over the fact that I could even "soften" up the hardboot with one of the flexier spring options. Thanks for that reminder. May very well end up getting the softest one. Cheers man, will definitely drop by again if I have more questions!

@@benjaminturk7553 check this one out: czcams.com/users/shortsu4_dje4HyyM

Hey man! Thanks for your comment. I love the Korua's for their width. I'm 165-170lbs, 5'10 and my feet are size 10.5. I want to be able to eurocarve on a groomed slope and not boot-out (either toeside or heelside). That for me is a good measure of "enough" width for a board, which I think is critical for riding steep exposed lines where a boot-out on an icy patch could lead to a fall. I've surfed my whole life, so I'm always looking for a surfy feeling on a board. Although I think nowadays most brands call their soft and noodly boards "surfy", but I completely disagree with that categorization. To me a "surfy" board is one that can hold an edge, has slight taper, and therefore carves well. It needs to be stiff enough too, so that you can load it up in a turn. All the Korua boards have this. Their non-carbon splits are awesome too, but I chose the Escalator+ because of the weight. It's only 2.6kg, which I think is one of the lightest on the market. The terrain we ride requires missions with a lot of elevation gain per day (sometimes upwards of 5000ft of vert per day) often at altitudes around or above 13000ft. So weight matters!

@@greg.ocallaghan hey! just curious are you still riding this board 2 years later? i want to pull the trigger and add it to the arsenal for the big big days (10K days) about to start coming up soon here in the rockies.

@@laxplaysu91 yessur, still the daily driver 💪

@@greg.ocallaghanhaha ok I’m convinced. Are you running phantom or Spark? Just started touring in hardboots and it has been a learning curve on the downhill. Still messing with binding angles (+9/+24) right now.

it's at the end of the video in the credits ;) Bob Moses - Enough to Believe

Thanks!

The wind a bit patchy here and there, but yes! Epic for sure

Thanks!

unfortunately, yes 😆

So happy to hear that 🙌 It's the best feeling in the world tbh, and well within anyone's reach if you're dedicated I think! I started wingfoiling 10 months ago, but was completely obsessed with it and also with the ultimate goal of riding waves. Keep at it and you'll be charging in no time!!

Phantom 1080. Slingshot guys were on Phantasm 926, I was on Armstrong HA925

Can't ignore reality 😆

a few days ago!

@@greg.ocallaghan awesome, how was water temp? Looking forward to a trip there soon!

@@keyWestLegalRum 16C