Parawing Session - 9/26/2026

Dawn patrol at Kailua to get into some Hurricane Nolo driven winds

It was nuking!!!!

I watched the conditions for a while before deciding on using the AFS Ultra HA 750/UGlide 141 Rear Stabilizer mounted onto No.44 via the UHM 80cm mast.

I put up the Flysurfer POW 2.5, the BRM Maliko 2.9 and the BRM S3 3.4m parawings

Even though the wind was super strong, I opted to go with the BRM S3 3.4 as it was the most stable when the gusts would come ripping through.  It also depowered enough that I could handle the gusts since I had the small foil bolted on.

There was a lot of chop on the surface - and that made it hard to get situated initially.  But I got through the acclimation quickly and into doing laps

At the top of the course, retracting the PW was pretty easy.  And the DW ride on the swell was phenomenal!!!

I was 50-50 on the redeploys.

The BRM S3 3.4 was the right call.

The wind started to swirl so I figured I should call it before I got hurt.

Super fun session!!!

PF:11/W:3/PW:120/FD:65/S:25

Garage Works - 9/26/2026

This was a rush repair order - the seam opened up on Prayot on Friday afternoon

I had to wipe the saltwater off and dry it

But it held up to Hurricane Nolo today at Kailua!

And this evening I went ahead and got the fiberglass patches on this ding repair order.

I'll sand this one tomorrow and get started on the SUP board repair

Parawing Session - 9/25/2026

Afternoon session had a nice high tide again - waves every now and then, but

the wind was all over the place.

When I first went out, I had the BRM S3 5.3 because the wind was light.  By the end of the day, the 4.2 I had brought out was starting to get overpowered.

I bolted on the Cabrinha Prestige 905/Union 160

And the honest truth is I didn't feel the back foot pressure in my knee like I normally do with the AFS foils.  Yet another amazing trait from this foil!

The next three pictures are when I had the BRM S3 5.3 up

A few retracted PW rides in there

I think the waves were smaller than yesterday (thus the slower top speed) - and having to contend with a too big parawing for the conditions

Wide range between the background wind and the gusts

This was the ride with the BRM S3 4.2 up

I had a little trouble dousing the PW - the wind was taking the PW as I was bringing it down.

The downs in this chart are mostly botched redeployments (wind shadows, poorly wadded up PW, too much wind)

I think I could have used the 3.4 easily today - 

PF:11/W:3/PW:119/FD:65/S:25

Parawing Session - 9/24/2026

Mega high tide - chest high surf on the inside - and a strong wind line outside.

This feels like the start of the Hurricane Nolo effects.

No.44 with the AFS Enduro 900/HA38 (for better glide).

I packed the BRM S3 5.3 in a plastic bag and had the S3 4.2 at the ready.

There was a lot of water moving around - producing chop on the surface and pull below.

Stu and Norm were headed to PV on a downwinder.  I opted to stay up at WP and ride the bigger waves.

Prayot came out later - and Derek came out even later.

I nabbed some really good retracted parawing rides.

And I was less meticulous about the pack down - and redeployment seemed to be easier and more successful.

Some solid wind on the outside - but if you rode too far in, chances were you had to schlogg back out to the wind line.

There were definitely times I could have used the 5.3, but conversely there were also times I could have used the 3.4 - so the 4.2 was a good split.

The 5.3 stayed almost perfectly dry in the plastic bag inside the stash bag.  Nice insurance policy to have that available.

That 21.2 mph run was on a giant (for today) wave.  Well overhead drop - phenomenal experience!!!!

Awesome session today!

PF:11/W:3/PW:117/FD:65/S:25

Parawing Session - 9/23/2026

The wind was a little squirrelly this afternoon, but Norm and I went ahead and did the WP-PV run.

Nice high tide and mellow waves.

Big stuff today - AFS Enduro 1100/HA40

I used the same spacing that I adjusted the AFS Enduro 900 the other session for the Enduro 1100 (it was perfect!!!!)

BRM L1 6.5 for power

The wind was really light.  Strong enough to get up on a gust, but you definitely had to pay attention so as to not go down.

During the initial part of the session, I had questioned whether we should head down to PV.  But after getting into the wind line and seeing the long fetch inbound from Hickam, I told Norm I'm going to turn downwind and head to PVs.

I didn't dawdle between the last cabin and Campgrounds - the wind was already light and this zone is usually where the wind dies off.

The waves weren't really big enough to push with the PW retracted - and I didn't want to come off foil. 

This combo of equipment definitely is making me think I really don't need the Enduro 1300

Fun light wind downwind session!!!

PF:11/W:3/PW:116/FD:65/S:25

Parawing Session - 9/22/2026

Winds were up this afternoon!  So was the tide.

Waves were on the small side, but good fun on the sets.

BRM S3 5.3m - probably a little bigger than what I needed, but -

It was easier to control the S3 5.3 since I bolted on the AFS Enduro 900/Mako Carve 130.

I ended up adjusting the mast position once - to get more front foot feedback.

Really fun session!

I was able to retract the PW and ride the waves four times or so. 

The wind was a bit up and down.

But some of the off foil times were blown redeploys. 

Add 5mph to this and that was the wind.

Norm made it out - he had the Ozone Pocket Rocket V1 5.0 and the Flysurfer POW V2 5.5

Roland came out later (wind was almost gonee) 

Super fun session!!!

PF:11/W:3/PW:115/FD:65/S:25

Garage Works - 9/21/2026

I decided to take a rest day today, and also wanted to get some things done that I have been thinking about doing for some time - like waterproofing the parawings

I did some research and felt this was as good an option as any.

And I decided to spray on the waterproofing first on the S3 that has seen the most use - the 5.3

Then I used the rest of the can on the 4.2

I'm gonna hit the beach tomorrow to test the waterproofing.

Parawing Racing at the KWA Fall Classic

Yesterday was the Kailua Windsports Association Fall Classic 2026

I signed up for the short and long course parawing class races.

Was really cool to see this many kites out all at once - this is a pretty rare site (at least when I'm at Kailua).

Prayot, Stu and I were out repping Ewa Beach -

The races were fun (mostly - more on that in a second), and the crowd was really cool to hang out with.

Podiumed on both runs!!!

The bad part about the day - on both runs the wind crashed just when the parawing starts were happening - and the races were basically who got up first.

This was the short course run -

And you can see exactly when we started because that's when the wind lulled out

And this was the long course run.

Another perfectly timed lull - and I actually took off and headed towards the mark while schlogging just so I could make some head way.  This was totally who got up first (again).

Interesting that changing out to a bigger foil didn't make a difference here.  Not sure if the wind just sucked more (which is a very real possibility) or if the Prestige is just plain faster and easier to get up with (not sure we will ever truly know... a genuine mystery of the universe).

Super fun day hanging out with cool people all enjoying a really beautiful place!

PF:11/W:3/PW:114/FD:65/S:25