Garage Works - 7/1/2025

I went ahead and repaired the crack in No.41 yesterday evening.

You can just see the crack here -

Not sure why I added this picture - kinda the same thing as the first.

And this is the peel ply over the 2 ounce patch placed on with epoxy.

I already pulled the peel ply this morning, sanded the repair and sprayed replacement clear coat.  I'll post more pictures of the completed repair shortly (since the wind is in that "in between" level - I figured I should rest up today after yesterday - that way when the wind comes up tomorrow, I'm better prepared - I'm not doing anything else... might as well oogle over the board and stick some more stickers on). 

Evening Foil Drive Session - 7/1/2025

Marvin, Norm and I did a Foil Drive afternoon session at Pavilions.

Wind was rotating back to trades, but they were light.

Medium high tide (I just followed Norm out - he's the guru for this place and he hardly hits bottom - unlike me - I can easily find the high spots...)

And if you were patient, the sets were still good sized.

Same setup as yesterday.

I nudged the foil up a notch - and it was perfect!

I nabbed several of the set waves - and they were well overhead and pitching lip.  With the Evolution Cedrus Surf mast and the AFS Enduro 900/HA40 - I would bank off sections and take the line just below the white water.

Until it wasn't.

I took off with my feet in the wrong place on one of the bigger waves and I ended up in a bad wipeout.  I got hit by the foil and the board (it's Taco Tuesday isn't it???)

I ended up cracking the carbon up near the nose - probably with my knee as it is swollen.  My right toe and my side also got hit by the foil/mast.

Dinging a board in it's first few outings is a sign that you are pushing it as hard as you can!!!

14 rides with a few failed attempts.

I got some legit double dips.

I think to get the board to move faster, I'm going to have to cover up the front of the trench.  I can feel something going on in that area that is slowing the board down.  It only makes sense - void near faster flow = low pressure area (basic fluid dynamics).

I'll dig out some rigid plastic sheeting and make a cap sheet that I'll keep in place with aluminum tape.

W:48/FD:92/PW:13/S:4

The Anointment of No.41 - 6/30/2025

Hit Pavilions today with Norm to properly anoint No.41

Slight onshore wind, lots of rain pushing through, decent high tide (but not high enough... I touched the bottom twice), and the big surprise - overhead waves on the sets!!!

No.41 paired with the Evolution Cedrus Surf mast (so I can bolt it to the Foil Drive Max unit to make adjusting easier), the AFS Enduro 900/HA40 rear stabilizer - doesn't really get better than this!!!

Super fun session today - getting to know No.41 and how it handles, especially compared to No.40.  Riding a shorter board definitely impacts your takeoffs (takes more effort).

You can see a lot of curvy lines in the track - that's turning with the Evolution Cedrus mast!

15 rides by both counts.  There were some legit fast moving bomber sets coming through.  I caught a few of them and those waves made my day!

Norm was catching some big ones also.

Tomorrow I'll set up using the original bolts - to determine if the wing screws were causing the drag I was perceiving.

Another successful anointment!!!

W:48/FD:91/PW:13/S:4

Garage Works - 6/29/2025

Got No.41 done!!!

Started off this morning by sanding the top deck - 40-80-120-180-220-320-400

Then I sprayed the top deck with regular gloss.  I let that dry while I got my hair cut.

This came out really nice!

I'm going to let the deck pads settle in for a day (so the bond is good and there is no slippage)

No.41 all pau!!!

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 6/29/2025

Dawn patrol at WPB again.  There was a north wind (so the surf should be cleaner) and a slight bump up on the swell.

Same gear as yesterday - but the Enduro 900 was filled and sanded yesterday to negate the reef scratches.

Pretty good job if I do say so myself - although the AFS foils do not sand as nicely as the Axis or F One foils did.

Best conditions across the last several days -

This session turned out to be really fun.  The tide-wind-and waves all combined to present super fun rides.  Some were really long as well.

Lots of great runs with tons of carving turns today.

16 rides by the distance chart.  I know a few of these peaks are aborts.

I'm glad I went early this morning!!!

W:48/FD:90/PW:13/S:4

Garage Works - 6/28/2025

And also from yesterday - I spent some time in the garage trying to get No.41 over the finish line.

After remembering I had a trench in this board, I looked to see if the area I cut to place the back foot strap was clear of the trench - NOPE.

That made my decision to fill and patch easy - so no foot strap inserts on No.41 

After thinking about the repair, I figured it was easiest just to fill with milled fibers/epoxy, then add carbon patches above the cut areas.

And here it is all patched and waiting for the epoxy to harden. 

I had already pulled the peel ply and added the fill coat last night, and this morning I sanded and sprayed clear coat - but that's for another post.

Evening Parawing Session - 6/28/2025

And having paid close attention to the forecast, I seemed like the afternoon would have been pretty good for parawinging - full tide, smaller waves and decent wind.

Everything was at the beach, except for the decent wind.

But this was Prayot's first crack at his parawing, so off we went.

As soon as we hit the water, the wind started to falter and it just kept dying over the whole session.

Prayot thought that he might have placed his keys in my truck - so he was going to turn around and drive my truck back to PV.  He wasn't really able to get going on the PW - so definitely a wise choice.

I kept going and had even gotten up on foil twice, before resigning myself to paddling in.  This paddle from outside Campgrounds to Pavilions was over a mile.

At least I didn't get skunked...

And the wind is supposed to back off after yesterday (I am writing this on Sunday morning).

You win some, you lose some.  Getting back to the beach without injury or gear issues... that's a win.

W:48/FD:89/PW:13/S:4

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 6/28/2025

Late post.  This was yesterday's dawn patrol.

Really choppy conditions. And to compound the issue, the wind came up early.

Lower tide (I touched twice).

Confused and dropping swell.

Same gear as normal.

Despite the challenging conditions, if you just looked immediately in front of you - the rides were fun!

The crew was out in force - Andrew, Mark, Dean, Makana, Tim, Rick, Derek, Noel, another guy on Foil Drive (that I didn't recognize), and Dennis.

I think I was the last person to go in...

17 rides by the distance chart.

Fun, but I ended up going in with a considerable amount of battery left - with all the chop, I didn't want to make a mistake and get hurt.

W:48/FD:89/PW:12/S:4

Garage Works - 6/26/2025

Early this morning before I went to work I went ahead and got some epoxy on the spots that needed some fill.

And since I wasn't placing deck pads on the board (because of the ongoing fills), I got a bug up my butt about placing foot strap inserts into this board.

That is so I have one less thing to worry about when I decide to take this board out to parawing with the Foil Drive.  Why would I do this??? To do it - 

Any ways I took relative measurements from this picture to develop parametric foot strap positions.

And here they drawn on to the board.

And here they are cut into the board (I haven't pulled the sliced carbon off yet).

So much for being done.  I just had to put the deck pads on...

Now the timeline includes routing out the insert slots, gluing in the reinforcement blocks, routing out the insert slots into the reinforcement blocks, epoxying in the inserts, capping the inserts with carbon football slices, fairing everything in, and placing the deck pads.

This should actually go pretty quick - I'm thinking Sunday I'll be able to get the board in the water.

Evening Foil Drive Session - 6/26/2025

Weird conditions today.  At the airport it was blowing strong - 22 gusting to 29 mph.  At the Plains - not so much.  In fact it was glassy on the inside.  But once you got out to Foil Drive Country, it was blowing.

The tide was high and there was a lot of backwash in the water because of it.

And there was still some swell coming through.

I had originally brought the 4.8 and 5.0 wings - but after looking at the conditions, I went back home and grabbed the Foil Drive.

Set up the same equipment as the last session.

It was windy enough to make foiling challenging - definitely had several chop initiated wipes.  But if you chose wisely, there were some great rides to be had.

The lefts were super fun - the rights were bowled out more.

16 or so rides.  I know several of these are wipes or aborted takeoffs.

It would have been hard winging also - I think I chose well.

W:48/FD:88/PW:12/S:4

Garage Works - 6/25/2025

The wind was in that blah zone - too much for good Foil Drive-ing and not enough to wing.  Instead of dealing with it all - I went ahead and committed to sanding and getting No.41 over the finish line.

First up was sanding - I started with the plugs and worked over the rest of the board.

Then I wiped the board down and started the clear coat spraying.

Oh - and here is the signature block.  I don't know when this got smaller than 5'0"...

And as luck would have it, as I was trying to flip the board into this position, I dropped it onto the metal square that I was going to balance it on to get the remainder of the decks sprayed.

Yes there is a small ding - but that actually convinced me to go ahead and install foot strap inserts before I place the deck pads.  It'll only be my strong side (regular stance) and it'll primarily support using this board with the parawing and Foil Drive simultaneously.

With the footstrap inserts now going in - this will be a few more days before this gets in the water.