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

Foil Drive Session - 5/29/2026

Nice high tide - but that was reflecting the waves off the beach and introducing a warble on the rides.

Big surf on the outside - well overhead!!!

And there was some wind - kinda like yesterday - which made me glad I was Foil Drive-ing this afternoon!!!

I thought I grabbed the AFS Silk 850 from the garage - but it was actually the Silk 1050 (Norm pointed that out).  I only had the Silk 132 rear stabilizer - but Norm let me use his 152 (as he was using the Code 980S).  Session saver for me!!!

The warble on the surface made things challenging - but the odd thing I would not have anticipated was how well the Silk 1050/152 combo worked for me in these conditions!!!

I even got the foil setting correct on the first shot -

Obviously the Silk 850 turns harder, but the 1050 felt really good under foot.  It even seemed to balance out my weight perfectly on the efoil runs I made after coming off a ride.

I needed to go back to Ala Moana Beach Park to pick La up from an event so I headed in at 37%.  With the warble in the water, my energy consumption rate was a little higher than normal (which worked to my advantage today).

The last wave I took in was huge on the outside - and I just rode it all the way in.

Twelve rides in under an hour - phenomenal!!! 

That last wave was from all the way outside to all the way inside -

Dawn patrol tomorrow morning - two batteries all charged up!!!

PF:8/W:2/PW:55/FD:38/S:17

Parawing Session - 5/28/2026

Same thing as the last post, internet issues so this is a day late.

There was wind at the airport, and clouds moving in and out of the WPB area - so it was going to be a crap shoot.  Curt decided to just go out on his regular SUP.  No one else came out for wind powered activities. 

Good thing because I was doing more waiting than riding.  And there were some decent waves coming through so timing was everything.

I used the insurance policy - AFS Enduro 1300/HA43 with No.34 and the BRM S3 5.3

I sat for about an hour before the wind filled back in enough to get up on foil.  Once on foil I didn't have a problem staying up.

Honestly I was just glad to not get skunked.

The Enduro 1300 is such a beast - I could slow down to almost nothing and it still doesn't stall.

And it looks like I got lucky with a push of rideable wind pulling through.

The wind is starting to fall off and will be lighter for several days.  Probably good - so I can recover and rest (Foil Drive-ing doesn't use the same muscles!!!)

And I just got the BRM S3 4.2 - I'll have to wait several days before I can take that parawing out.  Time to Foil Drive - 

PF:8/W:2/PW:55/FD:37/S:17

Parawing Session - 5/27/2026

Our internet service was spotty yesterday evening, so this is a catchup post.

Did the WP to PV run yesterday afternoon.  Was pretty challenging with the up-down, shifty winds.

It looked lighter than it was -

BRM S3 5.3 - slightly to definitely overpowered on the run.  Then at times I couldn't get up.

I had the Cabrinha setup on No.34

When I was up on foil, it was fun despite having to deal with the extra power.  And what made it worse was the fact that the BRM S3 4.2 I just ordered (after selling a bunch of other gear I wasn't using) was at Walgreen's waiting to be picked up... that parawing would have been perfect.

Lots of north in the wind.

I had to make some adjustments - switching to the S3 from the Maliko V1 was not an instantaneous transition.  But eventually I got the muscle memory back.

Norm had the Triple Seven PT Skin 7.3 up, and he was fighting his gear...

Stu had his North Nova 4.2 up and was up and down with the wind.

Despite the challenging conditions, parawinging is still the way I prefer to spend my time in the water (as long as the wind is up).

PF:8/W:2/PW:54/FD:37/S:17