Dawn Patrol - 1/5/2025

Hit the dawn patrol today to see if there was any West Wrap coming in to WPB.

There was - but the Kona winds made for excessively choppy conditions.

Marlon and I were there - so we figured we might as well go out.

Same gear as yesterday.

This was one of the hardest days to get decent rides.

The chop made catching waves difficult - and riding any length after you got up (if you got up) was hard with all the disturbances.

I did manage to get some rides - but I came in a little earlier than I could have because I really wasn't in tune with the ocean this morning (it really was chaotic).  I figured I should quit before I got hurt.

Marlon said he was also having a hard time on the inside.

I'll give myself credit for 10 rides in the chart below.

Might be time to rest up a bit... I've been going non-stop for a long stretch -

W:1/FD:4/PW:1

Dawn Patrol - 1/4/2025

Hit the dawn patrol at WPB with Marlon this morning,

Nice conditions!  High tide, low wind and fun sized swell.

Marlon opted to foil this morning!  He said he got several rides!

Same as what I've been setting up as of late - but moved it up a notch - which ended up being perfect!!!  Time to mark this setting for the Spitfire 960.

These conditions are really good for working out mast positioning.

When the water is this smooth - I get more battery life.  I actually got out of the water with 40% after this longer session.

Zero pattern - I was just chasing the swell where the high tide would allow it to develop a pocket.

18 rides this morning - good fun!!!

There may be a chance of west wrap coming through tomorrow...  I may bring a surfboard in addition to the Foil Drive just in case it is that good.

W:1/FD:3/PW:1

Foil Drive-ing - 1/3/2025

I helped Marlon take his car to get fixed today so I couldn't hit the dawn patrol.  Once we got some errands and some work done, I got him back home and then I went to WPB to get a Foil Drive session in.

Same gear as last time - but I did move the mast and FD back a 1/2"

The foil is now neutral footed - it's lift profile is progressive instead of front foot heavy.

And there were waves - you just had to be patient.

There are 15 rides in here - and some were really long.  Lots of hook turns, bouncing off sections - in fact walls were uncommon today.  If you focused on what was in front of you, the rides were really fun - if you were looking too far ahead, you would be disappointed.

There are a few botched rides in here also - still getting used to this setup - particularly the board considering the amount of time I've spent on No.34

I think I need to bring the mast forward a tiny amount to get the setup perfect - that's for tomorrow.

W:1/FD:2/PW:1

Parawing Humble Pie - 1/2/2025

And in the afternoon, the wind was blowing through the neighborhood - enough to pique my interest.

I had originally planned on using the Foil Drive again - but I went ahead and brought the parawing and the KT Dragonfly.

It was whitecapping at Pavilions...

Norm setup his winging gear - so I set up the parawing gear.

KT Dragonfly + BRM Maliko 5.1 + AFS Enduro 1300

Here is where the mast/foil balanced out on the board.  I used the shorter 75 cm mast

This was pretty much a humble pie eating session.

There were enough waves coming through that it made staying up on the board challenging.

I did get up once - but again with the waves, I wasn't able to stay on foil long.  But I did get up!

From this I am finding that I need a solid 15mph to get up.  Flatter water would also be nice - until I get the technique down. 

And heading back goofy was an immense challenge.

The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single footstep -

You eat the elephant one bite at a time - 

These and more were bouncing around in my head while I was struggling.

W:1/FD:1/PW:1

Dawn Patrol - 1/2/2025

The wind forecast is getting iffy and after today the wind is supposed to be pretty much gone.  I figured I'd get a dawn patrol session in early in case I end up doing other things this afternoon.

Conditions were nice - slight side offshore breeze, really high tide and even some waves to ride! 

I setup No.39 with the starboard foot strap in place so I could see if it is out of the way when Foil Drive-ing.

And I also brought No.39 out to continue getting more used to it (No.34 is just too easy).

Pretty typical session - but definitely was better earlier.  Matt, Chris and Kamaka were all out.  And there were two other guys out towards the end of my session (and they were pricks - taking off behind me and cutting me off - but whatever, I can catch anything).

No patterns today - also no recycling trips.

I did miss a couple and got bad foot placement on a couple more - so I'm calling this 18 waves

Good first FD session of the year!!!

W:1/FD:1

Wing Foiling Session - 1/1/2025

After running errands with La and Noe I noticed the wind was up, I got home, loaded up the truck and hit the beach to get in a wing session.

The tide was low.  The waves were small (but bigger than this morning).  And the wind was up and down.

I setup the same gear as yesterday - and added a single front foot strap (port side) so I could lift the board with my foot when headed in.

And I paddled out -

Prayot was on his way in.  Roland had just paddled out ahead of me.  Kalani and Eddy were both outside and riding.

I had a heck of a time getting to where there was enough wind to get me up.  The AFS Enduro foils need more wind to get going - with a good gust, a couple of slow long pulls on the wing, and a proper coaxing of the foil and you get up pretty quick.  As long as you have that good gust -

You can see how far I made it out before I picked up that gust (green circle).

After that it was almost one long single ride.  The wind did have holes in it and on one of them I ran out of juice and came down.  With the marginal conditions today I really should have setup the KT Dragonfly and the AFS Enduro 1300 - but the fact that I got the performance I had from No.39 and the AFS Enduro 900 - that's a testament to the glide and power of the 900.  I would have used the F One Eagle 1090/DW210 if Mark hadn't loaned me his AFS setup.  

There was wind blowing - but it didn't have guts in it (little power for the perceived amount of movement).  It also felt more easterly than the chart above shows.

Pretty close correlation between the two again.

Note the top speed.  This is something that I'm noticing about the AFS Enduro foils - the top speed is not as high as you would think based on the performance.  You feel like you are going faster - I would have thought I was much closer to 20mph.

Based on the F One foils I already have, and the faster top speeds from them, I think I am going to skip out on the AFS Enduro foils for now (and buy Marvin's AFS Silk 850 from him - that foil is the best wave carving foil I have ever used).

If the wind comes up tomorrow and the waves are as small as they were today, I'm going to bring out the Dragonfly and the parawing.

W:1

Last Sunset of 2024

And I got home just in time to unpack the truck, pack the truck with beach chairs and family, then head right back to Pavilions.

We went to take Holiday pictures and enjoy the last sunset of 2024 together!

And there it is -

So relaxing!!!

Aloha 2024!!!

Wing Foiling Session - 12/31/2024

I was hoping to get out of work early today - that did not happen.  And I had to make a pit stop at Home Depot - so since I had all my gear with me, I headed straight to the beach.

Norm said he was going to Pavilions, so off I went.

The wind seemed a little light and the direction seemed to be side-offshore.

Same gear as yesterday, but I swapped out the AFS Enduro 700 for the 900.

Today's session was actually really fun.

I pulled upwind to Fenceline and got to surf a few waves with Roland.  Then I took my time and headed back down to Campgrounds.  I surfed there for a bit - then kept moving down.

The waves were small, but shifting to a downwind mentality and looking for bumps to pick up and stay on was a different type of fun.  It's not that I haven't done this before - it's just been a while since the swell was tiny.

Norm was demoing a Code 1130 setup from Robby.  He looked like he was having a good session on that foil.

The wind had a few holes in it - but not like yesterday.

The wind chart and my speed graph correlate almost perfectly today!

2024 has been a good year.  I accomplished my goal of being comfortable with my toe-side tacks.  I built several boards.  I rekindled my love for surfing.  And despite the multiple scars I got from the reef and foils, I'm in good health and so is my family and friends (did have a scare with Roland).

I am looking forward to 2025 and being able to parawing, maybe get a snowboarding trip in with the family (but only after I get the house painted and more bills paid off), and to continue to be happy with life.

Happy 2025 everyone!!!

W:157/PW:2/FD:102/F:5/S:29

Wing Foiling Session - 12/30/2024

The forecast called for strong winds today - but during the timeframe I could be out on the water, it was supposed to be a really low tide (0.3') - that means going to Hickam (or Pavilions)

Mark let me borrow his AFS equipment while he is out of town so....

First up at bat - the AFS Enduro 700

In a nutshell - this foil is incredible!!!

And the engine for today - the trusty North Nova Pro 5.0

This was a good call as the wind was really up and down.  And the low end on this wing really helps with the smaller foils.

I wanted to get the session in and then get packed up in order to beat the traffic home.  These are good stats for the pinched session.

With the wind as up and down as it was, I did not see the need to go outside - and there weren't any waves anyways.

As long as there is wind, this foil stayed up.  Tons of glide - but just not big enough to pump (and least not during the first run).

It does tack decently easy (again as long as there is power to be tapped) - and jibes were really fun.

Good wind when it wasn't lulling.

And in flat water sessions, the speed runs - 

This is where this foil shines - fast but not too jittery.

Fast, but not noisy.  And you don't feel like you are going as fast as you are.

This is also with no footstraps - but where this foil balanced out, I could have used the footstraps (unlike yesterday with the bigger foil - and F One foils like to sit further back than the AFS foils).

This foil is a pleasure to use - but first impressions are that this feels a lot like the F One Eagle 890 and 690 - and those two foils are faster.  I'll need to do more testing on this foil - but knowing what I know, I think the Silk 850 would be a better foil to own (unreal surfing/carving ability - unlike any other foil I've used).

W:156/PW:2/FD:102/F:5/S:29