I skipped winging yesterday - the wind was fluky, there were weird clouds out, and I figured I should help La run the errands she was asking me about. With break day over, I headed straight for the beach as soon as I got off work. I got to the parking lot at 3:20 and was launching around 3:40. I set up the board with the HS1850 and took it down to the launch. The wind was there (definitely more so than yesterday), but it wasn't blowing crazy speed. I got back to the van and pumped up the 5.2.
As soon as I got to the water's edge with the wind in hand, the white caps started filling in. I thought to myself - as long as it doesn't get stronger than this, I'll be perfectly powered with this gear. I took off and headed straight for the first channel marker. Mark was out with his 5.0 Swing (his 4.0 got torn up at another break) and it looked like he was slightly overpowered. He was catching waves and taking them from the peak closest to the channel and riding them in to the inside channel marker. The wind really filled in and I was wishing I had pumped up the 4.5 instead. I headed over to the right side of the break and tried to ride the inside bowl. I caught a few really fun waves, got chased by a few bigger ones saying "don't look back" and focusing on not tripping on the front wing running through the turbulent white water. My last wave was a long one and coming down the peak, I got up to 17 mph. It was starting to get puffy, so I headed in to play in the flatwater (and not get stuck outside).
I am landing more on my inbound tacks now - mainly because I'm pushing the wing through the turn and not allowing it to stall mid tack. I also switch my feet on at least two inbound jibes - both while out surfing the break. If can get my success rates on these turns up more, I may be able to stay up on foil continuously.
The waves and wind were both excellent for improving my wave riding, my inbound tacks and jibes, and also getting some good flatwater speed runs. Super fun session today!
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