Ultra nuking winds again today!!! You could see the tops being sheared off the big waves rolling through. I thought the wind would be down a notch - so I setup up the Reedin 4.2. I was wrong - just as windy as Saturday. Even though it was nuking, I like riding powered and the 4.2 helped in the lulls/dead zones (hard to believe with as much wind as there was - the spot by the second red channel marker through to the takeoff zone was super light).
This session actually turned into another testing session. I wanted to get Marvin's Takuma back to him - so I needed to figure out which rear stabilizer I would be using going forward. First trial was the rear stabilizer that came with the 980 - I think it is the 178 (projected area - which should be close to 178 since it is pretty flat). I got up on foil without any issues, but with the small stabilizer, there was a lot of pitch sensitivity and very little yaw resistance. Super maneuverable (which would be appreciated while prone foiling). While outside in the waves, I'm pretty sure I breached the tail - but I didn't drop out like I normally would have. My GPS watch was running out of battery - so the track info is a bit off (I was screaming most of the time).
Incomplete data - at times there were waves forming from the gusts pulling through - I'd say 40mph gusts. Most of the time it was 25 gusting to 30+
This was a short first session - really just wanted to confirm the rear stabilizer was better for prone foiling. It is cool to see a solid blue session though. With as much wind as there was - I'd say topping out at 21mph is form factor driven.
I came in and swapped out the 178 for this bottom mount 15.75" crepe spatula tail I recently finished.
This was actually a really good fit. It did not hamper the turning ability of the 980 front foil at all. It definitely helped the glide during lulls and it had plenty of heaving force when I would pump. I'll keep using this stabilizer until I get the 1210/220. On the outside I was able to slingshot into some waves - nothing but goodness from the stabilizer. I could tell it wasn't as fast as the 220 - but I've got another rear stabilizer blank on the bench that drops 0.75" off the span. I'll also thin that one out in the tips more and see if I can pick up some more speed.
If the wind drops on Monday, I'll try the 1210 front foil with this rear stabilizer.
Winging on days like this really make me feel alive!!! SO MUCH FUN!!! Unfortunately these events only come every so often - don't let opportunity slip by!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment