Today the forecasts called for one last windy session. Underground Weather said 11am to 2pm was the peak. Iwindsurf.com said it was to be from 1pm to 5pm. I picked up Roland at the NEX Mall parking lot and was at Hickam Harbor around 12. The wind was swinging from the NE
I wanted to experiment with the HA925. I moved the mast up more by flipping the front washers. I also swapped out the chopped 300 rear stabilizer for the 232V2 (still with the +1.5 degree shims for a net +0.5 adjustment).
This is the fastest foil I have been on. With the 5.2m I would normally have been overpowered in these conditions - but with such a small/high aspect foil, the 5.2 was a good call.
I stayed inside for the whole session. I got in over 12 miles - going straight was challenging, both from the wind shifting and gusting, and from the nimbleness of the front foil. By the end of the session I was starting to feel comfortable with the squirrelliness.
Decent wind, just shifty and gusty. You can see the schlogging I was doing in between full throttle sessions. The biggest issue was the wind shifting direction in the middle of the harbor - it would knock me down every time.
Max recorded speed was 19.6mph - although I thought I was going faster than that by a long shot. I had a few runs where I'd line up with another winger ahead of me, then I'd just put the pedal down - I'd end up catching them and still pull ahead. Transitions were hard - too much speed coming in to the turns made for a bunch of botched tacks and jibes. I did get several in, but I was batting less than 50 for sure.
All said, this front foil is awesome!!! It is going to take some work to get used to it, but I can tell it is going to be an incredible ride!
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