Parawing Session - 7/25/2026

Hit Kailua this morning - I specifically wanted to see if the wind was shifting direction over here (like it has been on the south shore)

5 meter wind - chest high waves at Jump City

It's always a good sign when the Iwa are flying

No.34 with the AFS 80cm UHM mast, Enduro 1100/HA40 powered by the BRM S3 5.3

Speaking of BRM - demo day at Kailua.

Good, strong wind coming from mostly one direction.

I made 90% of my jibes and when I was down, getting up was not difficult.

I tried a few tacks, but it seems like I need to work on keeping the board under me so I don't get stripped off at the apex.

There were some waves coming through, but they were on the smaller side.  I did get a few long retracted rides.

I tried to be more methodical with getting the parawing put together so I could ride without it tangling on me, and that seemed to help with the redeploy.

You can see the rides I came out of powered, and the ones where I dropped off foil (blue tails).

This wind was just on the other side of perfectly powered.  I think if I had a 4.7, that would have been enough to get up, and wouldn't have needed to be depowered so much while riding.

I think during the gusts the 4.2 would have worked nicely, but getting up would have been harder.

It's been a while since I've had a speed chart like this (way more up than down, and when down short recovery time).

Fun session!!!

PF:9/W:3/PW:84/FD:55/S:20

Parawing Session - 7/24/2026

 

Left my watch at home this morning, and didn't feel like taking pictures today -

So this is the only frame of reference for today's session.

Lots of wind again - but it didn't have any ass to it.  Just a lot of swirly blow that didn't easily produce any tow.

All the same gear as yesterday - but I switched out the rear stabilizer to the Tweaker 390/160 with the blue shim (standard 2 degree setting).

I got up, made some runs, got some clean outside tacks and down loop jibes on both approaches.

And there were a few times I was getting overpowered in the gusts.  I figured it would be a good time to test out the Flysurfer POW 2.5

It wasn't.  No ass in the wind (at least when I had the 2.5 up).

Well - at least I got out.  The rest of the south shore is getting hammered.

Tomorrow BRM is having a demo session at Kailua!

PF:9/W:3/PW:83/FD:55/S:20

Parawing Session - 7/23/2026

It was blowing at Hickam - but it was up and down.

The waves were gear smashing size (breaking over the runway revetment) - so I just stayed inside. 

The other lunch bunch said they were overpowered on 4.2 wings

I used the Flysurfer POW V2 4.0 for power and No.34 with the Cabrinha Prestige 905/160 rear stabilizer (78cm Apex mast).

Along with the up and downs with wind strength, it was also a bit shifty (typical - not as wide swinging as it has been). 

The down loops are great on this parawing.  The tacks in lighter wind are also good - but that wasn't the case today.  I tried tacking a few times but got slammed on the way out of the transition.

And getting up with this parawing is still eluding me....

If I go tomorrow (at lunch), I'll use the BRM S3 4.2 to see if it is different or if it is still difficult (which means it is the wind).

I'm guessing the S3 will be easier to get up with (because it has a massive sweet spot).

On foil already, the Flysurfer is pure magic.  I think I could have been on the Flysurfer POW 2.5 (which maybe that is the parawing I should use tomorrow instead of the BRM) 

These down periods are lulls below the start up threshold of the POW V2 4.0

It is really nice to have an option to just chillax when the entire south shore is getting body slammed (the last time I went out at PVs in conditions like this - it was one of those days when I started praying to get back to shore...)

PF:9/W:3/PW:82/FD:55/S:20

Garage Works - 7/22/2026

Took a rest day from the beach today.  Chilled out and watch He-Man with La.

Then when it cooled down outside, I hit the garage and got the rough shaping done on No.44

Trying to keep volume on this one

And also trying to get some more tail rocker incorporated into this one.

I am also likely to add sandwich parts to where I would place my knees to build in some more durability.

I'll likely dial in the shape over the next couple of days, then route out the slot for the track block and open up the top for the polyurethane block and the lowered deck for the divynicell sheets (sandwich) over the weekend.

Foil Drive Session - 7/21/2026

Wind was supposed to be down and surf was supposed to be up - but it was opposite.

Same gear as yesterday

Waves were breaking steeper yesterday -

The chop seemed to be a little more/bigger today

But when the right wave came through - it was still good fun!

Sixteen rides with a few missed waves

I think the wind is supposed to come back tomorrow -

PF:9/W:3/PW:81/FD:55/S:20

Foil Drive Session - 7/20/2026

The south swell showed up today!

Waves at the middle break were overhead. 

I setup No.40 with the Evolution Surf mast, the AFS Silk 850/Usurf 135.

I used the black props to have the best chance to pick up the waves.

I started the session out at Fenceline, catching waves and riding to the left.  And throughout the session I kept hopping left until I was out in front of the Cabins.

I picked up a few well overhead waves - and the Silk 850 kept me in the pocket the entire time!!!  V1 for me!

The last wave I picked up from way on the outside - I was able to ride it all the way in -

21.7mph on the Silk 850 - definitely some energy in the waves (386kJ on surfline).

16 rides today - and I came in at 45% battery.

Depending on the wind, I'll either Foil Drive again, or I may surf.

PF:9/W:3/PW:81/FD:54/S:20

Parawing Session - 7/19/2026

I've grown tired of the up-down/swirly wind runs of late.  I've been looking at the airport anemometer readings and the direction seems to be a little more stable.

I had to stop into work anyways, so I did a Hickam session

And since I was at Hickam, I figured I'd work on dialing in the Silk 1050 and getting the Flysurfer POW V2 sorted out.

I started with the Silk 1050/152 and the BRM S3 5.3

I kept the mast in the same position to see how the foil behaved in flat water.

The wind - better than what I've been parawinging in - still had holes and swings.

The S3 did get slightly overpowered once, and twisted me off the board three times.  But each outing under these conditions is helping me to develop a coping mechanism (what that is I don't know yet - maybe use the Foil Drive and screw the parawing). 

The 1050 seems to need more runway (or board speed) to get up on to foil.

But there was plenty of wind (even if in spurts) that I headed out to Firsts.

There were a couple of surfers out at Seconds so I stayed away from there.

This was the part of the session that the direction swings made riding difficult.

Even if the meter read east, the wind felt totally offshore outside.

And it was strong, so I headed back in to swap foils and parawings.

On the inside, I botched and tack and moved the mast forward to see the difference.  The balance point was obviously different, but it was definitely over the nice balance point.

I'll drop it back again next time - I think the real issue is the quality of the wind we've been getting (sucks).

I'm calling this two sessions because I changed up the foils.  The Enduro 1100 got up faster, and I started with the Flysurfer POW V2

Lots of chatter on the web says "the Flysurfer POW V2 4.0 pulls like a 5.0" - I do not agree with that assessment.  It pulls like a 4.0 to me.

It also seems to power up when pointing more downwind (30 to 40 degree off the beam) with a smaller sweet spot.

Where this parawing absolutely shines is in transitions - it tacks so easy and jibes are no brainers.

Once up and running, it is stable (still has some jitters, but is fine) and you don't need much wind to stay up on foil.

With more time with this parawing and figuring out where it powers up, this should be an awesome surfing parawing!

I could feel the wind starting to slow down so I called it.

So I definitely had a less frustrating time today, but I'm really going to have to work out jibing the S3 when the wind turns north...

PF:9/W:3/PW:81/FD:53/S:20

Parawing Session - 7/18/2026

Norm, Stu and I did the WP to -

PV run yesterday.

The wind looked really good, but that was at the ends.

There were some good sets coming through also.

I took out the same setup as the past couple of days.  I also brought both the BRM S3 5.3 and the Flysurfer POW V2 4.0

Norm brought his Ozone PR 5.0 and the 777 PT Skin 7.2

Hard to trust the wind this summer.... (foreshadowing) 

The wind was switching directions and up-down the whole way.  I paddled out and put up the Flysurfer.  Launching took a while because the wind was slightly less than what I needed to get up, but once up I immediately caught a head high wave, retracted the PW and scored a really good ride.  The Silk 1050 is pretty darn good in this application (but I'm wondering if I could still optimize the position).

At this point I was at the Cabins and the edge of the dead zone.

The wind would actually go dead and the parawing would fall out of the sky.  What was really frustrating here was the direction shifts.

You can see I would get up onto foil, then suddenly stop - that was the wind shifting while I was trying to jibe (and then getting field stripped off the board). 

At Campgrounds the wind filled in better and I was able to get up and stay up (and turn without the PW twisting on me).

Needless to say this was pretty frustrating.

I did line up with a macker wave at PVs - well overhead and a deep pocket that I just sat in - so awesome!!!  Again - the Silk 1050 V1 for the win!!!!

PF:9/W:3/PW:79/FD:53/S:20

Parawing Session - 7/17/2026

The wind was better this afternoon - still and down and swirly, but stronger.

Norm and I did the WP-PV run.

I took out the same board-foil as yesterday and the BRM S3 5.3 for power.

And with better wind, there was better foiling.

The wind was shifting east to north.  But it seemed as if whenever the waves were present the wind was north (the hardest direction for me to retract the parawings).

This is Hickam's chart - it was probably 5mph less at WP-PV

I made two adjusts on the mast to get rid of the backfoot pressure.  It still feels a little suboptimized - might need to do a Hickam session to get it dialed in.

The back half of the session was much better - a lot of it was the wind, but perhaps the foil adjustment helped.

Will push tomorrow's session to 2pm to get the wind when it is stronger again.

PF:9/W:3/PW:78/FD:53/S:20