Interesting first day back on foil (it's been several days since we've had wind). I ran the same setup as the past several sessions - WWFB, Axis ART999/HA420 stab, PC85 mast, and the OR5.0
Wind was pretty good. I made sure I could tack and jibe on a couple of inside runs - then I headed out to Firsts. There weren't visible waves, but I figured the wind would be stronger out there.
The wind was stronger, and there were bumps rolling through. I caught several and saw Brantley headed out to get some waves too.
That's when things got interesting... On one wave, I wiped and the next thing I know is my OR A series 5.0 is tumbling full speed downwind - without me. I started paddling but knew the wind had gotten a hold of the wing. Brantley pulled up and yelled "take my wing and go chase yours down - I don't think I can do it for you". I did just that (you can see all of this on the track chart below). After two jibes I was on top of my wing and got a hand on it. I tied it off then took a breather. I decided to deflate my wing (since it didn't have a boom to deal with), but trying to pack a wing down while out on the water is not the easiest thing to do.
I actually managed to get the board up on foil twice, but knew that I was not going to be able to get back to the starting point. I figured once Brantley got in range of signaling the lifeguards, they'd launch the skiff and come get me - so I decided to just sit on the board and keep the wing up so the lifeguards could see it.
It was taking a while for the boat to come out, so I started to run through how I was going to land a foilboard and two wings possibly in surf, and in waters I have not landed in before and started to use Barntley's wing to head towards Iroquois Point Beach. Shortly after, I heard a whistle and looked back - the lifeguards from Hickam were headed towards me with the boat.
What I didn't know was that Brantley had paddled part of the way in, signaled Arvin that I was out to sea with her wing trying to chase my wing down and to go get the lifeguards. Just then the wind died and they weren't moving either. Then Harris heard and started to head to shore. The wind came back up - Arvin landed at the Harbor and told the office, Harris landed at the beach and told the lifeguards there.
The lifeguards weren't sure what to look for - a flipping wing in the wind, someone who had gotten separated from their gear, or worse - but the office radioed the boat and said to look for a guy with two wings on a board - and because I had the wing up in the wind, they were able to spot me.
Looking at the two bump ups in speed to the right, those were the runs where I was able to get up on foil to see if I could make it back on my own (not - too much stuff to manage). I stopped the watch tracking once I was up on the boat.
When I got back to the beach, I got resettled, thanked Brantley, and pumped up my wing again. I headed back out to shake off the unsettledness and ended up getting some good runs in.
I'm starting to get more dry tacks in - and the power of this OR wing is its ability to use apparent wind - if you get moving, it wants to stay moving - and I've been able to make runs with multiple transitions without touching down.
So I dodged a huge bullet today. I'm going to have to rethink how I rig my equipment and what I carry for safety. Thank you Universe!!!
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