Garage Works - 6/3/2026

This was the valve I glued on two evenings ago - nice and tight repair!

I got the leading edge bladder reinstalled with Marlon's help.

And it held pressure....

Until I heard a slight leak from the center strut...

I pulled that bladder -

And got the valve glued up.

It's been glued together - I'll let it cure for a day and get it back in the strut sleeve.

At this rate I should probably just glue the last two strut valves and then this kite should last another several years.

Wing Foiling Session - 6/3/2026

It seemed like the trades were filling back in - but it was kinda up and down (mostly down).  And with the big surf rolling in, I had originally thought PVs would have been a safer bet (not having to paddle through breaking surf).

My mistake was overestimating the wind strength and putting on a foil I have not yet gotten wet (Cabrinha Whippit 850/Tweaker 390/140)

Norm made wiser calls on wing and foil size (and he had a great session).

I on the other hand spent my session trying to make it back to dry land in one piece.

I did get on foil early on.  The foil felt squirrely so I stopped to move it forward.

If you stopped, the longshore current would grab you and drag you down the coast pretty fast.  By the time I figured that out, I was already in front of the Coast Guard Admin Building.

I tried paddling back, but got disheartened seeing despite my best efforts I was still getting dragged out and over.

Just to my right was double overhead pitching waves (which I had intended on staying on the inside to avoid).  To my left was a shallow reef (but lucky for me it was a full high tide).

I was drifting towards Bunkers when a gust blew through.  I had stopped recording so the track below was filled in by me.

I rode that gust as far I as could looking for a filled in area of wind - if I botched the jibe.... who knows how I would have gotten back to shore.

I made the first jibe and was trying to pull further upwind.  I saw I was back at the Admin Building, so I opted to jibe and head back out.  The wind was better so I took the line further out to gain more ground.

I made my outside jibe and headed back in - I made it to the first breaking line and a wave stood up in front of me.  And I got backwinded.  At least by this point I was inside the first breaking line and the current was not as bad.

I took a few whitewater walls to help push me even further in.

I got to the flats and started paddling in hard.

It seemed like the wing was a large part of the problem - I could actually feel the wing pulling me back when the less than strong wind was blowing.  And it is nothing but pure drag when paddling.  I felt like I was working triple duty and barely moving.

The peaks above 15 were where I was able to get up on foil.  

So now I know this foil needs a lot more wind than the Prestige does.  I am going to try it out next on Foil Drive (where I think it will excel).

I still like winging - but it's sessions like this where I question my judgement.  It would have been way less stress on Foil Drive.

PF:8/W:3/PW:55/FD:41/S:18

Evening Session - 6/2/2026

Noe is home from school - so we took a field trip to WP to see if her spirit animal was hanging out -

And it was!

The surf was big and pretty unruly.  I spent my first 30 minutes just trying to get to a stable lineup.

I brought the Firewire Machadocado 5'10" with the NVS Wolverines screwed in.

I caught two really good (for today's conditions) waves, and another where my feet got wrapped up in the leash.  Not many options given the conditions.

Before going to WPB, I did check out PVs to see how it was handling the swell - if the wind were stronger, it would have been fine for parawinging/winging.  The break is offshore much further and there is sufficient runway to get up on to foil.  That may be the call for tomorrow -

PF:8/W:2/PW:55/FD:41/S:18

Garage Works - 6/1/2026

I got the valve repair placed back in the leading edge of the kite I have in the garage for repairs.

It held, but then I could hear the valve on the other side of the kite leaking. 

In order to get to that valve, I had to pull the center strut valve and the main fill valve.

The center strut valve was also coming off the bladder.

It looks like someone already fixed the main inflation valve.

I'll let these sit and cure for 24 hours and then get the bladder reinstalled and pressure tested.

The valves in the struts don't have nearly as much room to move around - so those typically don't let go like the leading edge valves.  But we shall see.

Garage Works - 5/31/2026

Back in the garage today to get progress on some of these projects.

I pressure tested the wing I go tasked to fix the strut bladder on.  I ran the test twice - this one is good to go!

And I looked over the Cabrinha Apollo 7m wing - the bladder has been taken out but there are no valves on the bladder.  I'll ask the guy who ordered the repair if he wants me to order the valves, or just return the kite as is.

I'll need 6 valves to get this kite repaired.

With the Apollo on the backburner, I took a look at the last kite.  This one had the leading edge bladder detached from the valve stem feeding one of the struts.

The culprit.

This one slid clean off the bladder.

Here are the two pieces all glued up.

And pressed together for gluing.  I'll let this stand for 24 hours or so and run the pressure test on this kite.

And lastly, I used the planer to get No.26 all prepared to be glassed.  I took off the excess plastic from around the new tracks.  Then I sanded the perimeter where it is likely for me to place reinforcements.

Everything is nice and level now.  I've already placed the carbon reinforcements.  I'll need to add a cap sheet of basalt.

If I can focus, this modification should be done in a couple of days.

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 5/31/2026

Big swell pushing up from the Tasman Sea -

Low tide and some wind - all made for challenging conditions.

No.40 (for waterline to build speed)

AFS Silk 850 v1 modular on the standard fuselage paired with the new USurf 135 rear stabilizer.

Good trustworthy gear is important when the surf gets big -

And big it was - just paddling out you could feel the longshore current take you westward.

And the sets were no joke - the biggest set had well over double overhead height and they were throwing big lip on the third reefline... scary stuff if you are on the wrong end of the wave.

Save a few waves where I was trying a later takeoff and the wind coming up the face of the standing wave would blow me off my board, I had some really great rides.

Long runners where I got to carve way up, and way back down the faces.

This was the perfect conditions for the Silk foils - I never felt like the foil was going to blow up on me and it did everything I asked of it.  

Kalani was on the Code 1075 - a little too big.

Marlon was out on his longboard earlier - then switched to flying his drone to film Robby.

I was able to get twelve rides in today - each a thrilling run!

I feel like using some of the surfboards that work better in energetic conditions is in my immediate future.... Album Twinzer Twinsman....

PF:8/W:2/PW:55/FD:41/S:17

Garage Works - 5/30/2026

Spent a little time in the garage - it's actually been a little bit...

I started with installing the AFS USurf 135 onto the Silk 850/Standard fuselage setup.  Going to take this out tomorrow to catch some bombs!!!

I took on a few repair jobs - first up is an older strut bladder repair.  I took the bladder out and found I needed to re-glue the valve stem on.

Made marks to make sure everything goes back on correctly

High strength, flexible glue on the bladder

And on the valve foot.  I got these put back together, but I'll go through the full cure before testing it.

And I even placed some epoxy - this is the tracks getting epoxied into place.

I will do some sanding to get the bottom prepared for more carbon fiber.  And I'll likely get the carbon overlays epoxied into place as well.

Foil Drive Session 1 and 2 - 5/30/2026

Burned two batteries this morning.

Swell was big on the sets - seemed to be coming from straight south (and closing out the break just west of Campgrounds).

Tide was low, but Norm didn't want to deal with the crowds at WPB - so Norm, Stu and I Foil Drive-d Pavilions 

After yesterday evening's session, I wanted to start today with the AFS Silk 1050/142 

And this foil surprised me yet again!

After watching the break towards CG closing out, I trended towards going left towards Tails/Swabbies (to avoid the closeouts).

16 rides this first session.

These rides had more than sufficient glide and the turns were good.

Went back in to swap batteries and changed the Silk 1050 for the Silk 850.

Turns were much better than the 1050 - rail to rail, bouncing back and forth between peaks. 

But the odd thing was this was foil didn't go as fast as the 1050.  Might have been the waves I was riding...

10 rides the second go around.

These last two sessions has made me think I need to use the Silk 1050 for parawinging...

PF:8/W:2/PW:55/FD:40/S:17