Foil Drive Session - 7/25/2025

First session since getting back.

Hickam was breaking nicely and the wind was manageable.

Bill and Phil were out when I got there (I dropped stuff at work and got gas for the truck).

Same gear - on No.40 (didn't get the prospective void cover made yet for No.41)

This session was really fun!

Head high waves on the sets - long lines to carve!

Cool pattern today - mostly left runs with tight turns back and forth on the sections.

20 rides today!!!  I know I was gone only 10 days, but man I really missed this!!!

W:51/FD:95/PW:18/S:4

Unboxing the BRM Paia 6.1 Dual Skin Parawing

Yesterday I received the BRM Paia 6.1 Dual Skin parawing

This is double the material, at least double the wind range as the single skin parawings.

And it flies differently - 

I'm definitely going to have to get used to this one.

And I also put up the Maliko 5.1 to note the differences.  I actually flew both twice to get the feeling of flying each a little more engrained.

For now the single skin parawing is easier (more intuitive) to fly.  But the wind was a bit on the light and inconsistent side.

More to follow

East Coast Visit (with Noe and the BRM Maliko 5.1)

I spent the past couple of weeks back on the East Coast.  Half for work and half for visiting my Dad.

I didn't bring ocean going stuff - I had looked at the forecast and it was not calling for much if anything (except for Cape Hatteras - but I didn't have the time to swing by this trip - plus it is the middle of the summer mad rush....)

This was the North End of Virginia Beach - tiny surf.

Mermaid's purse.

One thing that was new - there is a Wegman's in Virginia Beach now!!!  I wish I had a kitchen in my hotel... pan fried crab cakes...

This was South Gate on Dam Neck - one of my favorite VaBch surf spots!

And then I had a ground handling/adjusting session with the BRM Maliko 5.1 parawing.

I'd fly it, adjust the bridle positions, fly it, adjust, then start over.  The end spots are slightly different than the 4.0 bar mods, but the size differences alone warrant those.

Then Noe arrived!!!  She checked out Old Dominion University and once I was done with the work trip, we also checked out Duke University.

This was the Buc-ee's in Florence, South Carolina - "Fresh Brisket on the Floor!!!"

This was at the biggest tourist trap known to mankind - South of the Border in South Carolina!!!

This place used to be open 24/7/365.  Now they close at 8pm.

We eventually got down to Jacksonville, Florida.

Here I am flying the 5.1 at Mayport Beach.  This is near the spot where I learned to surf.

Ground handling the parawing is pretty fun in itself.  Definitely helps to develop muscle memory for flying it on the water.

At Lolo's house!

The rest of the trip was eating - this is Seafood Kitchen

This was at a place that my Mom liked going to - Cap'n D's

And this is another one of my parent's favorites - Sonny's Real Pit BBQ

This Marbled Beef Brisket was so decadent...

And my Dad really likes the St Louis Sweet and Savory ribs

Good trip back to the East Coast!

Morning Foil Drive Session - 7/13/2025

This was Sunday's dawn patrol.

A little more wind on the water than Saturday.  Waves were also a tad smaller.

Same gear -

A little later than a dawn patrol.  At first I wasn't going to go - but La was out the door and I was already packed for my trip so what the heck!

First wave I caught turned into a double dip.  And there were more behind it.

The swell angle really accentuated the peak when going right - so much fun to whack the hook and bounce off the left.

15 rides

This is my last session for a bit - headed to the east coast for work and to visit my dad.

W:51/FD:94/PW:18/S:4

Garage Works - 7/12/2025

Long story, but I got my BRM Maliko (v1) 5.1 back -

And I went ahead and got it fitted to the Carbon-EVA bar - feels so good in hand!

But I also set it up for the 2-1 purchase retract.

Easy enough to get it put together -

And after swapping out the small ring I originally bought for one of the rings I salvaged from the windsurfing sails La cut apart, it worked flawlessly.

But without the benefit of steady winds to test the balance of the bridle lines, I wasn't able to get the level of control I wanted from this setup.

I got it changed back to direct connection to the bar.

I'll work on getting the bridle lines balanced and getting a better understanding of how the B line settings work.  

And also getting a harness line setup (I'm picking up a new chest harness that I think may work better for parawinging).

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 7/12/2025

Good waves and clean conditions this morning!!!

I shifted back to No.40 - I didn't feel like experimenting/tuning this morning.

I came in with 30% battery - pretty efficient use of the battery. 

I was way outside everyone else.  The nearest person was halfway back to shore.

With the lower tide, the energy in the waves allowed for super long rides.  The wave shape was not particularly carvy - but still super fun.

Mostly lefts today.

19 rides.  One was a triple and there are a couple more double dips mixed in.

Roland was out on FD.  Noel was out on his SUP foil - but none of the other crew were out.  Too bad for them - this was a really good session!

W:51/FD:93/PW:18/S:4

Parawing Session - 7/11/2025

Surf seemed a little smaller today (but it really wasn't).

Tide was nice and high.

Wind was up, and seemed more steady than yesterday - but it had it's ups and downs still.

View from the start.  Wind line was kinda out there.

When Norm and I pulled up, Prayot was finishing his water time - DW SUP foiling in the surf, and I think he tried his PW.

I had the same PW and gear from yesterday.

View from the finish.

My gauge to size which PW to take is whether or not there are white caps.

White caps - take the Maliko V1 4.0

No white caps - take the Ka'a 4.8 - today was a Ka'a day 

Decent stats today - but if you read between the lines, you see some interesting things happening.

On the surface this looks like a great run.  Lots of time up on foil with a handful of times where I had to reset and start again.

Here's where things get interesting - the peaks were at 15mph or so, and really the gusts were what got me up on foil - but the lulls were pretty deep.

And here is the real kicker - this is the speed chart.  The blue is decent - up and foil and moving along at the speed you'd expect from a 1300 front foil.

You can now see the handful of starts were actually pretty long.  The chart doesn't point this out as all that was happening was I was moving slowly.

Same session but now looking at the distance covered - looks more like a winging session with a speed data set.  But this basically says I was covering decent amounts of ground before getting off foil. 

I landed before the wind dropped off - and didn't have to swim much at all.

Norm said he wasn't able to get on foil at all.  He was struggling to find the sweet spot on the board he got (just a couple of days ago).

Fun session!

W:51/FD:92/PW:18/S:4