Evening Session - 4/18/2026

I had wanted to go parawinging this morning over at Kailua... but the wind did not get to doable levels.  Skunked.

I came back and La and I went and checked out some places we had talked about going to (Kawamoto Orchid Farm, food places in Waialae, eyeglass place).

And when I got back, the wind seemed to be blowing - seemed.

The thought crossed my mind that I had all the parawing stuff still packed in the truck - but I knew better.

And that last thought was backed up by Roland sending an in person report - head high waves, nice and clean conditions.

I grabbed the Machadocado with the NVS Wolverine fins -

I caught six waves in an hour - and three of them were really good.

Late takeoff, dropping into the slot and ripping some really good turns along the length of the wave.

This board can handle!!!

PF:5/W:2/PW:31/FD:30/S:13

Evening Foil Drive Session - 4/17/2026

Charged up a battery and got in an afternoon session.  Waves were "slightly" bigger than yesterday, but less frequent.

Tide was nice and high at 2.0'+

Focusing on No.39 and getting the foils dialed in (preparing for the potential El Nino swells) - I bolted on the Enduro 900 with the Mako Carve 130

And considering I took a nice nap when I got home, this was destined to be a shorter session.

There were some really nice sets - but the waves were on the slope-y side - glad I set up the Enduro 900

I made one mast adjustment (back) and this is where the bolts ended up for the balance point.

Roland and Norm were out went I got to the beach.  Prayot had been out on SUP foil, but swapped for a longboard.  Duke came out later and Ben rounded out the foil crew.

You had to be patient, but when the waves came, they were super fun.  Hard carves off the top and deep digging bottom turns - 

14 solid rides, with a few missed waves.

Totally worth getting up from the nap!

PF:5/W:2/PW:31/FD:30/S:12

Evening Foil Drive Session - 4/16/2026

There was "annoying" wind this afternoon - pretty much thermals going straight on shore.

High tide, small swell running were the pluses.

Choppy surface conditions and wind not strong enough to get up on foil were the minuses.

These two were chillaxing this evening -

And having a fully charged battery that I needed to discharge, I opted to experiment today.

I want to start using the AFS Silk 650 on the bigger days - but in order to do that, I need to get it dialed in.

And to get up on foil more efficiently, I need to build board speed - so that meant No.39 (fastest board I've ever made).

I used the wing screws so I could make adjustments and get the 650 dialed in.

I ended up moving the foil back and forth to get the "balanced" feel.

And eventually I remembered the main issue was this is a 650 - and I need speed to keep this foil moving.

For those days where the swell is sustained this foil is going to infinitely rip.  Today I had several waves where it was working and I could tell when I was hitting the stall speed.  For sure I had it way forward (too much lift and I was having trouble keeping the foil down).  I had made adjustments and finally got to the point where it wasn't lifting me with subtle foot pressure.

So forward a couple of notches it went and now everything seems balanced.  I rode several waves and the "nervousness" that this foil always seemed to have when I used it, started to give way to the solid carving that I seem to get consistently from the bigger Silks.

21 rides.  The first half was mostly falling - while trying to get the foil dialed in.

Interestingly the foil settled in behind where I had marked the Silk 850.

Next time I Foil Drive I'll start the Silk 850 back a 1/4" and see if the way I use the foils has changed over time.

The waves look to be getting a tad bit bigger tomorrow.  I think I'll surf the Revo Max... And even better news - there is supposed to be wind on Saturday morning...

PF:5/W:2/PW:31/FD:29/S:12

Dawn Patrol - 4/15/2026

Today is my beautiful and wonderful wife's birthday!!!  And she likes to sleep in SO....

I had the opportunity to get a dawn patrol session in!!!  She pre-approved this so no issue - 

It was another one of those days where it was breaking way the heck outside, but inside it was kinda closing out.  The swell was coming in from 178 degrees (almost straight South).

The tide was low....

All those factors (time crunch, low tide, epic closeouts) - I chose to use the Firewire Cymatic 5'10" (I had traded the 5'9" I had bought new for this one to gain a few more liters volume), with the Kohola Thruster fins.

The extra volume makes this shape work better for me.  Makes paddling in way easier.  Based on this board and the Sweet Potato, I'd say my volume is now 37.5 liters.

These fins are something else also - all the drive and control you want from a set of nice, raked thrusters, but still loose enough to work around not-so clean waves.

I caught five waves and then headed in to make breakfast for La.  They were all good fun and reinforced this board is tons of fun.

Wave 1 was a smaller wave and I got a few turns in.

Wave 2 was a bomb - late takeoff and a long rippable right wall.  Good turns but I could tell my back foot was a bit forward of optimum.

Wave 3 was another late takeoff - but I was in perfect position - big turns top and bottom - long ride and mind blown (this board is staying in the quiver!!!)

Wave 4 was a big drop and closeout.  Still validation that the volume is optimized for my fat ass.

Wave 5 was one last bomb - some good turns then I headed in.

I got home before La woke up and made her a really wonderful omelet!!!

I'm thinking if the swell sticks around, I'm gonna bring out the Revo Max with the Reverse Vector 3/2 Twins... or the Great White Twin with the Rasta Reverse Vector 3/2 2+1s

PF:5/W:2/PW:31/FD:28/S:12

Garage Works - 4/14/2026

Stu smashed the crap out of his AFS UHM 80cm mast.  The damage looked more hydrodynamic and less structural - so I figured it couldn't hurt to try repairing it.

Clamped and hardening.

I'll rough shape this and see if I can get it to fit on a fuselage.

You can see the main issue below - the front end got smashed and split open.  I think the epoxy-milled fibers fill will hold - it's the reshaping that I'll have to make sure gets done correctly.

Evening Foil Drive Session - 4/13/2026

I got home from work and plugged in the Foil Drive battery to get charged.  Then I took a nap.

I woke up, looked out the window and saw there was practically no wind.

I put the Foil Drive setup together and headed out for a short-ish session.

Curt looked like he was getting his time in on the DW SUP foiling board... 

Three Monk Seals were chillaxing on the beach - so I had to start out to the right of them, and because of that I hit the stupid pipe... but I think I was lucky and didn't damage the foil or the stabilizer.

I could see the horizon today - so no seasickness!

If you were patient, there were some good sets still coming through.

Same setup as yesterday.

There was actually a slight onshore breeze - and that made motoring out and around not so smooth.  My battery consumption rate was a little high - but that was fine as time was a ticking.

I had a few really great waves - long with lots of top to bottom carving.  I really enjoy the Enduro 900/Mako Carve 130 - makes me think I need to give the Silk 650 a shot (on No.39 or No.40 to help build speed).

I count 16 rides here - but my watch stopped recording for a bit so I don't know if that's all I rode.

Coming in, I scraped up against the pipe again - I hate that pipe!

PF:5/W:2/PW:31/FD:28/S:11

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 4/12/2026

No wind this morning so the surface was just shy of sheet glass.

The current was not nearly as bad as it was yesterday.

But the bomber sets were far and few between...

With all the speed issues from yesterday, I opted to use the Enduro 900 with the Mako Carve 130.  Everything else was the same.

Despite the good conditions, the sky was full of clouds from the near stationary Kona low pressure system just north of the islands.  When the sky gets full like this, discerning the horizon from the waves gets really difficult... in fact I pretty much got seasick from not having a solid reference point.

And despite those challenges (weird migraine that I woke up with, onset of seasickness, no horizon to see how big the incoming waves were) - I got drawn out to 5-O's because of the empty breakers running out there...

And I enjoyed every second!!!

Really long rides screaming down the right breaking wall!!!  Patience paid off with overhead sets (and no one else out that far).  The waves were breaking pretty much like the western most peak of Pavilions.

17 rides and I called it (getting too seasick).  I came in with NO FOIL SCRATCHES and 63% battery still - I'll call this a great session!

PF:5/W:2/PW:31/FD:27/S:11

Garage Works - 4/11/2026

On the way out yesterday, I thought I was in deep enough water - knowing it was low tide (0.1') I even paddled out further than I thought I needed to.

I had checked the water depth, flipped the board over and was even just getting situated.  The longshore current was kicking and I got pulled over to a different spot from where I checked the depth and I was no longer in deep enough water.

The foil stood up twice on the bottom.

It eventually happens to every foil if you are a White Plains foiler.

Yesterday evening I got to work on not just addressing the scratches from that day, but also tuning the foil.

I notice this more with AFS foils - lately there are tiny voids where the carbon and epoxy don't exactly press fully into the mold.  These are nothing major, but since I had to fill minor scratches, I figured I might as well take care of these and tune in the trailing edge.

After a couple of hours of filling and sanding - all done and better than new!

Unfortunately I did not get to use this foil this morning - the swell is starting to back off.

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 4/11/2026

First time in 4 days that I paddled out - the 2026 Kona Low Round 3 saw more rain and lots of south winds so there wasn't much quality to miss.

This morning saw some size still - and the south wind swung around.

Unfortunately it was low tide and with the large waves there was a strong side shore current.

I did hit bottom twice paddling out.  And on the AFS Silk 850 V1.... 

Long session today - but that was more because the good sets were infrequent.

It was pretty darn good very early, then it backed off once everyone came out.

And the waves were off - there was size and carveable faces, but the clouds covering the sun made everything look the same.  With no contrast, it was hard to tell how high up the mast I was, where the face ended, and if there were any surface warbling.

And because of those factors (and perhaps a bit of shaking off some rust), I ate shit burgers multiple times.  Foil breaches at speed and with a big wall of water behind you can hurt.

I did get in some turns, but this session didn't shape up to my expectations.

19 rides and multiple missed waves.  They were moving too fast for me to efficiently catch them on No.43 (No.39 was probably the board to take out today).

Despite the challenges, this was still a super fun session!

PF:5/W:2/PW:31/FD:26/S:11

Evening Session - 4/7/2026

Same pattern today - came home from work, took a nap, then headed out to get a few waves.

It was breaking overhead out at Foil Drive Country -

I was debating about which board to bring - I ended up deciding on the Machadocado with the NVS Wolverine fin set.

I caught three good ones.

The first was a long right and I got in several good turns.  This board and the fins are a great pairing.

The second wave I was getting stalled up at the top, but the wave doubled up and I got an elevator drop on an overhead wave.

The last wave was another right with a few turns.

I'm happy!  Especially since wave choice becomes critical when the waves get this height and larger.

Marlon was out on his longboard (and the fin bolt got loose); Roland was out on his longboard (mid-length); and Duke was SUP foiling outside. 

The weather is going to take a turn for the worse for the rest of the week... might be a good time to get the tow boogie completed.

PF:5/W:2/PW:31/FD:25/S:11

Evening Session - 4/6/2026

I took a nap after I got home from work...

After I got up, there was still plenty of sunlight - I figured I'd get another day of playing in the water before a third round of Kona Low storm comes through this week.

And I figured I'd breakout a surfboard to get back into that groove.

5'6" Firewire Sweet Potato with the BMT fins and a tiny True Ames trailer.

I got several waves - three really fun ones with lots of turns and decently long rides.

Robby and Roland were out on FD (and it looked fun on the outside) - but I felt like I needed a change of pace.

Tomorrow may still be clean enough to surf (and bigger... Album Twinman Twinzer, or the Great White Twin - hmmmm)

PF:5/W:2/PW:31/FD:25/S:10

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 4/5/2026

Waves were better this morning - but also more crowded.

Seeing Stu riding the AFS Silk 850 yesterday, I brought mine out today

And I tried out the K2Parts Mako Pro Medium rear stabilizer

Today was carving day - the Silk 850 delivered in spades!!!!

With the steeper faces and cleaner conditions, multiple hard carving turns felt so good...

And it was actually getting crowded with people who were riding the wave I was on (I don't like the possibility of getting into a collision so I prefer to ride solo).

23 rides - 

I had left already, but Kalani was hanging out and this crew took over the beach!

Happy Easter!

PF:5/W:2/PW:31/FD:25/S:9