I hit the beach pretty late today - I wanted to avoid the "not quite winging" level wind and I also wanted to avoid the crowd that WPB has been generating lately. The wind was down by the time I got there (about 6pm) and the tide was high heading down (peaked at 4pm at +2.3'). What was a surprise were the waves - on the sets they were almost chest high. The forecasts were calling for a drop...
I wanted to switch things up again - I put the 4'6" board away and broke out the skinny 4'10". I haven't had either of the 4'10" boards out in a while - I wanted to see the difference in paddling power coming off the 4'6". What I found was this board had a ton of volume. I felt like I was bobbing like a cork (although when I was sitting in the lineup, I was sinking this board below the water's surface). It did make paddling easier, but punching through white water was way different than I remember it being with this board.
I also brought out the Go Foil NL160 that I just repaired (and waxed). I set the mast up right in between where I had the GL140 and GL180. I caught my first wave and decided to move the mast up just a notch. I caught my second wave and noticed the board seemed to be riding a hair nose up and my front foot was way forward of where it normally was. I caught several more waves where I would carve up the wave going in to the beach, then pump back out. I just adapted my riding to these two issues. Back on the beach, here's what I saw - it looks like I need to shim the back screws of the mast plate to close the gap between the front foil and the bottom of the board. Oddly enough this is the first time I've seen this on this board.
While I was foiling on this board, I started thinking that I should try to wing on this board. I was also thinking that the NL160 was too big for the conditions today. I would not have thought either of these things 6 months ago. I don't know if it is the weight I'm losing, my skill increasing, or my sense of getting the equipment into good trim - but it is absolutely fulfilling to be able to foil on smaller equipment and not feel lacking for lift or power.
I think I'm coming up to the end of my second full year prone foiling - what an incredible journey this has been!
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