Parawing Session - 7/19/2026

I've grown tired of the up-down/swirly wind runs of late.  I've been looking at the airport anemometer readings and the direction seems to be a little more stable.

I had to stop into work anyways, so I did a Hickam session

And since I was at Hickam, I figured I'd work on dialing in the Silk 1050 and getting the Flysurfer POW V2 sorted out.

I started with the Silk 1050/152 and the BRM S3 5.3

I kept the mast in the same position to see how the foil behaved in flat water.

The wind - better than what I've been parawinging in - still had holes and swings.

The S3 did get slightly overpowered once, and twisted me off the board three times.  But each outing under these conditions is helping me to develop a coping mechanism (what that is I don't know yet - maybe use the Foil Drive and screw the parawing). 

The 1050 seems to need more runway (or board speed) to get up on to foil.

But there was plenty of wind (even if in spurts) that I headed out to Firsts.

There were a couple of surfers out at Seconds so I stayed away from there.

This was the part of the session that the direction swings made riding difficult.

Even if the meter read east, the wind felt totally offshore outside.

And it was strong, so I headed back in to swap foils and parawings.

On the inside, I botched and tack and moved the mast forward to see the difference.  The balance point was obviously different, but it was definitely over the nice balance point.

I'll drop it back again next time - I think the real issue is the quality of the wind we've been getting (sucks).

I'm calling this two sessions because I changed up the foils.  The Enduro 1100 got up faster, and I started with the Flysurfer POW V2

Lots of chatter on the web says "the Flysurfer POW V2 4.0 pulls like a 5.0" - I do not agree with that assessment.  It pulls like a 4.0 to me.

It also seems to power up when pointing more downwind (30 to 40 degree off the beam) with a smaller sweet spot.

Where this parawing absolutely shines is in transitions - it tacks so easy and jibes are no brainers.

Once up and running, it is stable (still has some jitters, but is fine) and you don't need much wind to stay up on foil.

With more time with this parawing and figuring out where it powers up, this should be an awesome surfing parawing!

I could feel the wind starting to slow down so I called it.

So I definitely had a less frustrating time today, but I'm really going to have to work out jibing the S3 when the wind turns north...

PF:9/W:3/PW:81/FD:53/S:20

Parawing Session - 7/18/2026

Norm, Stu and I did the WP to -

PV run yesterday.

The wind looked really good, but that was at the ends.

There were some good sets coming through also.

I took out the same setup as the past couple of days.  I also brought both the BRM S3 5.3 and the Flysurfer POW V2 4.0

Norm brought his Ozone PR 5.0 and the 777 PT Skin 7.2

Hard to trust the wind this summer.... (foreshadowing) 

The wind was switching directions and up-down the whole way.  I paddled out and put up the Flysurfer.  Launching took a while because the wind was slightly less than what I needed to get up, but once up I immediately caught a head high wave, retracted the PW and scored a really good ride.  The Silk 1050 is pretty darn good in this application (but I'm wondering if I could still optimize the position).

At this point I was at the Cabins and the edge of the dead zone.

The wind would actually go dead and the parawing would fall out of the sky.  What was really frustrating here was the direction shifts.

You can see I would get up onto foil, then suddenly stop - that was the wind shifting while I was trying to jibe (and then getting field stripped off the board). 

At Campgrounds the wind filled in better and I was able to get up and stay up (and turn without the PW twisting on me).

Needless to say this was pretty frustrating.

I did line up with a macker wave at PVs - well overhead and a deep pocket that I just sat in - so awesome!!!  Again - the Silk 1050 V1 for the win!!!!

PF:9/W:3/PW:79/FD:53/S:20

Parawing Session - 7/17/2026

The wind was better this afternoon - still and down and swirly, but stronger.

Norm and I did the WP-PV run.

I took out the same board-foil as yesterday and the BRM S3 5.3 for power.

And with better wind, there was better foiling.

The wind was shifting east to north.  But it seemed as if whenever the waves were present the wind was north (the hardest direction for me to retract the parawings).

This is Hickam's chart - it was probably 5mph less at WP-PV

I made two adjusts on the mast to get rid of the backfoot pressure.  It still feels a little suboptimized - might need to do a Hickam session to get it dialed in.

The back half of the session was much better - a lot of it was the wind, but perhaps the foil adjustment helped.

Will push tomorrow's session to 2pm to get the wind when it is stronger again.

PF:9/W:3/PW:78/FD:53/S:20

Prone Foiling Session - 7/16/2026

Wind was forecasted for this afternoon - and when I got to the beach, it looked like it was doable.  But this was onshore.

And I broke my cardinal rule - I changed more than one parameter.

I got the Silk 152 rear stabilizer in the mail today - so I paired that with the Silk 1050.  And I don't recall using this foil on No.34

Then I also got in the Flysurfer POW V2 4.0

So I changed up three things -

The POW V2 flies so nicely - I just didn't have enough wind to get up on foil.

I floated around for quite a bit of time.

At least I didn't drift so far downwind to make this a miserable paddle back.

In fact - just so I wouldn't get skunked, I tried catching waves and riding prone.

I don't know why I have a harder time catching waves when paddling this board in...

But I finally caught one and rode it in.

Hopefully the wind comes back tomorrow...

PF:9/W:3/PW:77/FD:53/S:20

Garage Works - 7/16/2026

Another day when the garage was empty when I got home - I need times like this to get work done on the boards (because La doesn't like foam dust on her car).

I worked on roughing in the bottom rocker

Didn't get a lot done because....

La came home!

I'll have more chances over the weekend to get the rocker tuned.

Garage Works - 7/15/2026

I didn't feel like going to the beach today -

Having had plenty of marginal days, I figured I should wait for better conditions and rest up in the meantime.  Plus I had to pull some creeping lavender weeds from my lawn and La needed to run some errands.

I did get into the garage for a bit - 

I got this setup - the Foil Drive Mini Pod on the Foil Cedrus Evolution Surf mast.  It fits really secure.  I also got it fitted onto the Cabrinha Apex mast - really nice fit on that mast.  

And I got the mast track box all measured out on No.44

I decided to not touch No.45 until this parawing board (No.44) is finished.  It's better to focus on one board at a time.

I also received the Cabrinha Tweaker 160 Rear Stabilizer in the mail today - this will allow me to play around with different shims to change up the feel of the setup.  More positive shim will mean a little more front foot pressure (perceived "more lift").

Garage Works - 7/14/2026

Rest day (errand day also - I mowed and edged the lawn).

But I had the garage all to myself (both cars out) so I felt compelled to get the templates on the two blanks dialed in and the decks skinned.

And that's the point I got to on both.

I'll try and preserve a majority of the thickness in these two blanks - and the majority of the shaping will be in the rails.

The difference in these from the others to date (and the main reason for me shaping them) is the introduction of tail rocker - and more so than No.34 and No.40

When I get working on these again (maybe tomorrow???) I'll redraw the center line on both top and bottom decks, get the track box location situated, and start removing the rail meat.  I am going to focus on the longer one first.  If I finish this one in the next couple of weeks, I can put it through it's paces and decide if this one or No.34 will be going up to Rufus.

I'll wait until after that trip to work on the shorter one.  I'm still debating if I want to make this one a shallow trench or just a straight prone board.

Parawing Session - 7/13/2026

When I got to the beach, there was wind.  It was further out, but there was wind and whitecaps.

There were still some decent sized waves breaking and the tide was super high.

Despite what I saw, I did not trust the wind.

I rigged big - AFS Enduro 1300/HA43 with the BRM S3 5.3.

But even that gear could not make the swirly wind any easier to get up on foil with.

Prayot came out with parawing and paddle.  Alex was out on Foil Drive.  Brent was out prone foiling.  And Derek was launching his Manta when I was packing up.

The wind just plain sucked.  Both too light and too swirly.

I did manage to get up, but it was work.  If anything, I'm getting more experience using the BRM S3 in underpowered conditions and getting up.

This is Hickam's chart.  The wind at WP follows this pattern but is often a touch lighter and a hair more north.

That is a long-worded way of saying it sucked.

At least I did not get skunked and the wind picked up enough at the end to get me back to the launch point.  In that regard this was a successful session!

I am going to take a rest day and work on the boards.  But I'm also going get the Foil Drive ready to go.

PF:8/W:3/PW:77/FD:53/S:20

Parawing Session - 7/12/2026

Got out later today (got to pick up Noe at the airport!!!!)

Wind was up and down and swirly.

Tide was high and there was some swell pushing through.

Mark, Eddy, another winger I didn't know, and Kalani on parawing were all out.  Later Derek and Roland also came out.

I used the same gear as yesterday (BRM S3 4.2)

Strong north component to the wind again.  Definitely made using the parawing difficult.

In fact - on one of the earlier runs I had overshot the wind line on the inside and had to keep going out because there wasn't enough wind to complete a turn.  When a slight gust finally came, I jibed but botched the turn - I had to wait a while for the next gust to come through.

I did retract and ride a few times - but with the wind as fluky as it was, this was more risk than reward.  And with the AFS Enduro 1100, I got left behind on a few waves I was try to ride.

Frustrating...

At least I didn't have to paddle in.

Yup - the 4.2 needs 17+ mph to power up.  You can see the holes and the direction shifts on the chart.

Pretty much the same wind profile that has been coming through for the past several weeks.

I actually started thinking I should probably bring a wing next time...

More of the same forecasted for the week ahead.

PF:8/W:3/PW:76/FD:53/S:20

Parawing Session - 7/11/2026

Needed to hit the grocery store, so I pushed my water session to the afternoon and went to Hickam.

Zach, Naomi, and Matt were in different stages of coming in.

There was some texture on the water - and Zach said it was blowing east.  But you could tell it was up and down.  And I had my suspicions that it would twist.

I wanted to test out the Flysurfer POW V1 2.5m so I used No.34 with the AFS Enduro 1100/HA40 on the 80cm UHM mast.  For backup I took the BRM S3 4.2m

Yes - I did say Flysurfer POW V1 2.5m

I found a great deal on the 2.5 and a 1.7 from Greenhat Kiteboarding - and I picked these up for the Gorge trip in late August. 

I started the session with this PW up, but the wind was not materializing for the 2.5

I swapped it out for the BRM S3 4.2

There were holes in the wind, but for the most part, the 4.2 was perfect for the wind today.  And I bet it would have been nicer to fly in yesterday's session also.

I really appreciate how stable the 4.2 S3 is - it really is a magic size (just like the Triple Seven PT Hybrid 4.3 is magic).

I forced myself to start tacking again.  By the end of the session I was jibing dry on the outside legs, and still getting field stripped on the inside.

Those points are tacks.

The wind did not feel this consistent.

So a few of these down slots are my botched jibes, but some are also the wind holes.

And the run I made outside to Firsts - I tried catching two waves but the wind was not cooperating, and I didn't want to risk that paddle in.

I like the AFS Enduro 1100 with the HA40 - the Mako Carve Pro Medium was a little pitchy for this setup.

I may go back again tomorrow (depending on Noe's arrival time).

PF:8/W:3/PW:75/FD:53/S:20