O&E Apex Cover Review

"The biggest game-changer in surf travel since the invention of the airplane"

Check out the Apex range here!

Overview:

This is the most excited I've ever been about a new product so not quite sure where to begin, but here goes...

Packing surfboards for your overseas holiday is always a nerve-racking experience. We spend most of our working lives dreaming of those few magic weeks of surf trip bliss, and any injuries to yourself or equipment that reduce precious water time are a devastating loss. Baggage handlers are notoriously maniacal bastards spawned straight from the fiery depths of hell, and surfboards are famously fragile - that's a dangerous combination. Ocean & Earth have designed the new Apex range to solve this very problem - no stuffing your cover with extra bubble wrap, no damaged boards & no travel stress. 

O&E very kindly lent me a 6'4 Quad Apex to test out during my Fiji trip in March and it certainly lived up to my extremely high expectations. This was the first trip where I haven't put a single bit of bubble wrap in a cover, or some carefully folded cardboard around swallow tails which happily turns packing into a 2 minute job instead of 30. My boards flew around the islands with not so much as a scratch, fins & leggys were easy to pack and secure away from my boards, the new should strap is great to carry and the waterproofing got a couple of thorough tropical downpour testing sessions.

I'd done a few of my Pack-N-Drop tests at home on the concrete garage floor, before I left so knew how heavy duty the protection is. This made handing over my boards at oversize baggage a stress-free occasion for the first time ever.

Lifetime Warranty:

It's great to see so many recycled, upcycled & renewable materials making their way into the surf industry. But if the product serves up its lifecycle and then ends up in landfill afterwards that's still not great... A lifetime warranty across the whole new O&E cover range is about as sustainable as it gets and goes to show how much they back the quality of the products. Your new Apex or Hypa cover will be with you for life, and on the off chance something fails in a few decades, the south-coast core lords will fix it for free.

*Obviously wear and tear damage isn't covered, be reasonable people.

Features:

O&E spent 2 years developing the Apex range and the attention to detail is baffling. As such there are a tonne of features which I will now painstakingly copy and paste...

XPS Extra Protection System

Structured outer shell strategically positioned at the nose, tail & rails to protect against high impacts

• Custom Wheel System - Heavy duty inline bearing system, positioned on the end of the cover for each dragging or stand the cover upright to roll into lifts.

• External Compression Straps - Minimise board movement in transit.
• Contoured Rail Gusset - Designed to fit rocker curve, providing a secure and protective fit during transport.
• Padded Fin Pouches - Positioned in the rail of the cover for you to stash and separate your fins from your delicate boards. Each pouch has separate sections, so your fins don't touch each other. 2x fin pouches for the double covers & 4x in the 3, 4 & 5 board covers.
• Anti-Shock Shoulder Strap - The stretchy shoulder strap offers flexibility and comfort, adjusting effortlessly to your movements. 
• Skid Plate - Reinforced fabric skid plate to protect board tails/rails. Slide or drag your board bag and take the load off your shoulders.
• Top Load Handles - Strategically positioned handles to help baggage handlers move your prize possessions with ease through the airport.
• Heavy Duty, Lockable Zips - Large lockable zipper heads. Extra security for your boards.
• Hanging Hook - Patented removable hanging hook. Hang your cover with ease.

Normal reviews are boring to write, but I'm so frothing this was fun - Tim Dickson.