Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Evening "Foiling" Session - 6/29/2021

I got home from work and asked Marlon if he had time to get an afternoon session in - he said he was finishing up his math studies and had a few minutes on another assignment, but that after he could go.  I told him to take his time because I wanted to put stickers on the 4'8" and also needed to get it setup with the foil.  He asked if today would be a good day to learn to foil - and I figured it was so I setup up the 5'2" for him.  The tide was super full.  The waves were around belly to chest high,  The wind was up - not enough for winging, but enough to churn up the surface.


I put him on the Iwa - since he was able to handle it last time we were on Prayot's boat.  I put the HS1532CS front foil on and got the foiling wingnuts on - I figured I could get the adjustment of this front foil down faster if I could change the position without getting out of the water.

Marlon did well for his first time.  He was falling properly (away from the foil), catching waves and popping up.  When he was up and riding, he would get over powered.  I reminded him to put a lot of front foot pressure since that foil was thick.  

I caught a bunch and after every other wave, I made an adjustment to get the position dialed in.  The waves were funny today - duck diving, you'd feel a secondary drop/push as the wave rolled over.  This same effect made riding really challenging today.  I guessed that the shims needed to go back on since that was what made the HS1250 sing, but I took them off towards the end of the session - there was just way too many waves where I was fighting the board on takeoff.  I had to put too much rear foot pressure to get the nose up - rear foot pressure means the front wasn't generating enough lift - but with the forward adjustments I had already made, I wondered if it was the shims.

I took those off (and got hit by a few waves in the process - thank goodness I didn't lose any hardware) - and the board came to life!!!  I got a double dip early on, but after I took the shims off, I got a triple dip!!!  I still felt a little rear foot pressure - made one more forward adjustment and then I felt the board-foil was perfectly balanced.

Too much fun getting board-foils dialed in.  Makes me feel like I actually know what I'm doing with regards to trimming and adjusting to maximize performance and efficiency!!!


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