AFS Foils Chipri Pro 4’4 2023
Reviews / Surf Foil
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At A Glance
We’ve reviewed many of AFS’s existing products, so you’ll know about the French brand. The Chipri Pro is Chipri Courde’s pro model board; if you haven’t heard of him, I highly recommend you check out his socials. He’s got a unique style that is exceptionally fast and features incredibly aggressive turns. A lot of that style and turning ability is, I believe, down to his offset stance, and that’s where the Chipri Pro comes in.
The unique T-Tail design has been added to provide added width for riding ‘off-set’ or off-axis, which gives Chipri the ability to connect turns rail to rail in that aggressive manner.
The Chipri Pro is an innovative, versatile prone foilboard designed to revolutionise surf foiling across disciplines. Its progressive shape accommodates a range of foil shapes and brands, offering a unique and responsive riding experience. Drawing inspiration from snowboarding, the board features a camber underfoot for increased responsiveness and pop. A pronounced double concave at the front has been designed to add speed in takeoffs.
The board's construction boasts a triaxial carbon design with optimised placement, making it stiff, light, and responsive. It includes a double carbon/core cell stringer and high-density core cell carbon for the US box, enhancing stiffness and durability.
On The Water
When the board first arrived, it stood out to me as quite different from most foil boards. Firstly, the sunken deck where you place your feet and extra buoyancy up front is so much more exaggerated than any board I’ve seen. Secondly, the pin tale on the base of the board, transferring to a wider deck, I was super keen to find out how both felt.
Paddling out to the lineup felt a little strange. The extra buoyancy in the nose means you can feel it on your chest; it’s obvious that you’re not paddling a flatboard. I thought about this for a while and whether it bothered me; ultimately, I concluded that you get used to it pretty quickly, and it didn’t affect my paddling ability.
When paddling for a wave, the abovementioned shape meant I could get my weight far forward, leading to more control over the foil. I took some of my steepest drops on the board, combined with the Silk 850, and was in enough control to get away with it; it's always a satisfying feeling!
At 19”, the width is pretty standard amongst typical foil boards. The Chipri Pro, however, keeps its width right to the tail, which allows you to ride in an off-set position. As I dropped into my first decent wave on the board, I attempted to do just that (it’s tough to change your riding style with something like this, but I certainly tried!). As you’ll see in the video, I was nowhere near as off-set as I felt, but I rode more off-set than usual, and it felt good. For me, it's the transition between bottom turn and top turn when I’m riding frontside that I noticed the most. It just meant I could link that turn a little faster and do it more confidently. It’s made me question whether I should adopt this style full-time.
I enjoyed the sunken deck. I’ve mentioned this in several reviews over the years, but this is by far the most extreme shape I’ve ridden. The reason for doing this is to get the feet as close to the base plate of the foil as possible for a more direct feeling. And let me tell you, AFS has certainly done that. The foil I was on, the Silk 850, was pretty twitchy, but I felt in full control of it; for me, that has to be down to the connection from my feet to the foil.
Overall
The AFS Chipri Pro will turn heads as you walk down the beach. The unique design is at the forefront of prone foil shapes, and it’s hard to tell where the design is going in the future. What I love, though, is that AFS is leading the way and trying everything. I think they’re onto something with the Chipri Pro, but only time will tell.
I enjoyed riding this board; it challenged me to try a new style of riding that rewarded me with some new feelings on the wave. I’m keen to get on it more and see where it takes me!
This review was in Issue 18 of Tonic Mag.
For more information visit AFS FoilsRelated
By Jack Galloway
