Parawing Session - 9/1/2026

Fun session today - but the winds were lighter than yesterday so there was a bit more waiting to get up on foil.

The waves were pretty close to yesterday.

Tide was lower in the afternoon (and will keep getting lower as the week goes on - this is the first signs that Fall is approaching)

Same gear as yesterday (and I love this stuff!)

Kalani was already out when I pulled up to the parking lot.  He had his 777 PT Hybrid 5.7m up again (but probably warranted with the winds today).

Despite having to wait every now and then for a gust to get up on foil, the rides were really good - I feel like today's rides were longer and had more opportunity to carve top to bottom - SO GOOD!!!!

And I felt like I had more rides and a higher redeploy rate today.

I also got some drop straight in tacks - these are pretty intense...

I rode this up and down madness on the BRM S3 4.2m (riding the gusts).

Stu showed up on wing - and he did a downwinder to PVs.  Roland came out late - and on wing today instead of his parawing (probably needed a small victory today).

The forecast for tomorrow is all over the place - might actually be a good day to go surf (before the crazy wind shows up on Wednesday-Friday)

PF:11/W:3/PW:104/FD:61/S:25

Parawing Session - 8/31/2026

I usually take Mondays and rest - but the conditions were too good to pass up.

Head high surf, stronger - mostly steady easterlies.

Decent high tide so no scratch-em conditions.

I opted to use the Cabrinha Prestige 905/160 Union Rear Stabilizer/78cm Apex mast.

With the whitecaps - the BRM S3 4.2 provided the power

This was another session where over 80% of the rides back out yielded a rideable wave at the end of the run.  And a lot of those waves were really long rides -

And I got in multiple tacks onto peaking waves - I don't know why I lost my tack for a while... I'll just have to keep doing them to make sure I don't lose them again.

Most of the inbound runs were prone foiling runs with the parawing retracted and in hand.

This latest run of wind and surf has been phenomenal!!!

PF:11/W:3/PW:103/FD:61/S:25

Parawing Session - 8/30/2026

I hit WPB in the late afternoon.

Whitecaps were blowing when I pulled up to the parking lot.

And there were chest high waves breaking!

AFS Silk 1050/152/80cm UHM mast bolted onto No.44

With the whitecaps, I packed the BRM S3 4.2

This was a very good session.

Got up on foil easy and took off on some larger waves - maybe head high and rode those with the parawing retracted.  I think I got three long rides with successful redeploys.

After initially taking off - I stopped and shifted the mast back - the Silk 1050/152 was perfect after that. 

Some waves I just drifted the parawing -  

There were some ups and downs - so I would just wait for the gusts.

Roland came out a lot later.  He had the Foil Drive again.  I needed to go some errands and work around the house, so I caught a gust and a wave, fully stashed the parawing and rode the wave in (with a fair bit of pumping).

There should be similar wind the next few days (before the next Hurricane starts to influence the weather).

PF:11/W:3/PW:102/FD:61/S:25

Parawing Session Two - 8/29/2026

I don't usually count back-to-back sessions separately, but I changed up the foil and the parawing (so I'll take the extra session designation).

AFS Enduro 900/Mako Carve 130 and the BRM S3 4.2 added to the stash pouch (with the 5.3 still in there also).

Knowing the differences between No.34 and No.44 - I put some concave in the deck, there is more tail rocker, and the bottom deck of the nose is flat (same as a standard surfboard) - No.44 does get up on foil much faster than No.34

But I seem to be over rotating it during my tack attempts.  This may be just getting used to a new board, and not the board (deck concave).

The waves had flattened out a bit on the second session.  I did go out for a look, but decided my time was better spent working on transitions on the inside.

I did manage to get a bunch more tacks (fully dry) in.

Like the Enduro 1100, I felt the 900 needed to be moved back a touch.  Gonna have to work on the Enduro positioning...

I split the time on both parawings - taking each out twice.

Also of note - Kalani and I got to watch Roland get up on foil using a parawing (F One Frigate V1 4.0).

He had the Foil Drive bolted on just so he wouldn't have to paddle back.

He got up three times on heelside, and once (with an assist) on toeside.

PF:11/W:3/PW:101/FD:61/S:25

Parawing Session One - 8/29/2026

I took Kalani and Roland onto Hickam yesterday.  I wanted to keep on dialing in the foils on No.44 and also wanted to give Roland a chance to start his parawing journey (without having to contend with waves).

The wind was good and there were waves out at Firsts and Seconds.

I started out with the Enduro 1100 in the same spot I had it previously.  For power, I packed the BRM S3 5.3

And what a good session this was!

I got up and was warming up with transitions, then headed out to Firsts.

I was able to douse the parawing and ride a few really fun waves early on.  Then the wind was getting a little much to douse.

I did get a few tacks on the outside - so I'm ditching that skunk.

I'm thinking I should move the mast back a notch to get a more balanced pressure profile.

Solid session!!!

PF:11/W:3/PW:100/FD:61/S:25

The Anointment of No.44 - 8/28/2026

Yesterday I got in an afternoon session at Hickam to anoint No.44

Earlier in the day I opened the tracks and got a leash cord placed so the board was ready to get wet!!!

I set up the AFS Enduro 1100/HA40 on the 80cm UHM mast and used the setting from No.34 to start off.  

There was wind but it wasn't whitecapping - so I packed the BRM S3 5.3

Matt had just packed up (and said it was up and down), and Harris was launching.

I stayed inside today as I didn't trust the wind and I really wanted to focus on getting the feel of this board.

Taking off on this board is perceptionally different compared to No.34

With the nose and tail rocker - it seemed to release a lot earlier.

I tried all the transitions I was proficient with and the heelside tack kept throwing me.  I'm gonna say that the wind was shifting and that was why I was botching those -

I'm gonna need to run the foils to get the markings all set - but that's fun to do (not tedious).

This is going to be a fun board!!!!

PF:11/W:3/PW:99/FD:61/S:25

Moving West - Day Three

Looking at the forecasts on Monday morning, the wind had turned easterly, and their was hope that on the western side of the gorge there would be rideable conditions.

We stopped at Viento State Park (Oregon) - and there was wind.

There was also a bunch of other people all looking for the same thing - on a Monday morning!  There were a lot of wind-foilers and more kiters than I thought could launch from such a small takeoff spot.

And the wind and current were aligned - so conventional wisdom took over (stay up wind).

Last session (for a while) on No.34

I used the Silk 1050 and BRM S3 5.3 to make sure I didn't drift downwind.

This was a surprisingly fun session.  Not much wave action, but being surrounded by a bunch of like minded individuals was pretty cool.

This is Nick's GoPro shot of me (upper right hand corner).

The gorge walls were much steeper here - no real downwind recovery - so no margin for error.

The wind had a bit of up and down - but it was good fun.

The guys said it was time to keep moving west -

And they were right as the wind started to drop

PF:11/W:3/PW:98/FD:61/S:25

We drove through Portland to head over to Manzanita Beach out on the Oregon Coast.

The drive over was nice (tight winding road - not so good for dragging a camper trailer through, but beautiful old growth pine trees).

When we got to the beach, the wind was strong and side onshore from the NW.  But the water was cold - too cold for my 3/2.  And I didn't necessarily want to get the gear all salty again so I passed on this session.

This is Kevin on a 7m Cabrinha Drifter, and Nick and Dennis on 5.5 wings.  They both said they should have been on 4.2 wings and Kevin said he was good.

This made me want to kite on a directional in surf again...

Nice group to foil with!!!

At this point La and Teresa picked me up and we headed back north!

Awesome first trip to the Gorge and the Oregon Coast!!!!

Late August Gorge Trip - Day Two

This was the beginning of Day Two.

Wind was still up from the previous day, but it was forecasted to drop off.

Dennis and Kevin checking the conditions -

I took out the same setup from yesterday as the wind was still up.  And again the BRM S3 3.4 was perfectly powered.

Headed downwind a bit more than yesterday afternoon - but honestly the waves were best up towards the campsite.

I didn't stash the parawing much this session - the waves were too short and only in the couple of spots today that it didn't make sense to take it down.

Dennis mid-tack.

The wind got really strong so I went in for a break.  The launch-landing spot was so easy (not as easy as Hickam - but pretty close).

After snacks, I headed back out but switched to the Silk 1050/152.

I got up and had some rides, but the wind started to fall off so I went in - twice - to size up the parawing.  But in both cases (4.2 then the 5.3), it was too little too late.

We broke down camp and prepared to head off west in the morning.

Pretty incredible that the wind can be nuking in the morning, then glassy a few hours later.

The camp site was really nice - clean bath house, no bugs, nice quiet location - made me really miss the Trail Manor.

PF:11/W:3/PW:97/FD:61/S:25