Garage Works - 1/30/2022

The wind did not pickup to the point where it would have been fun to wing - so after running errands today, I came home and knocked out some projects in the garage.  

First I took the deck pad sections I had templated and cut out from raw EVA foam sheeting, and used the bench sander to chamfer the edges.  Then I stuck them on the new wing board.  I didn't take pictures of this because Noe was the only other person home and she was taking a nap.  There are pictures of the board below, but it is underneath the other project I was working on today.

Prayot was having issues with his 5.2 wing.  I swapped out the center strut bladder and all is good (kinda - there is a slow leak in the main bladder somewhere also...). 

I also fixed the 5.2 bladder and an extra 6.0 strut bladder so he can use them as spares.

Did you see the deck pads on the new wing board?

I also trimmed some of the lifting grip deck on the skinny 4'10" and changed out the rear deck pad.  I had gotten a new wide Creatures of Leisure one at the Kailua HIC today.  

I also mowed the lawn, weeded part of the back lawn and cleaned up the garage.  Funny what you can get done when the wind is down.

Dawn Patrol - 1/30/2022

Dawn patrolled again this morning - the swell that started hitting yesterday was still here (for the first half of the session).  Marlon brought his Submoon.  I took out the same setup as yesterday (trying to get it dialed in).  I didn't leave anything in the bed this time (peace of mind).

The waves were slightly smaller than yesterday, but it was choppier today.  I caught some really fun ones - but the repeats were fewer than yesterday.  After the first hour, the waves dropped in size and the chop subsided.

I was having a hard time making the drop and bottom turning onto the wave faces - so I moved the mast forward.  That seemed to lessen the issue - but I'm going to have to keep working on this.  Truthfully I should have had the 980 on, but oh well.

Kalani was on the beach!!!  He's on the road to recovery and getting out there on a longboard was a great leap forward!

Had to run errands today so I called it around 8:30.  Fun session!!!

W:3/F:10/S:4

Wing Foiling Session - 1/29/2022

The wind that was forecasted did come - but it was several hours late.  I got to Hickam at 11:30 and was in the water by 11:45. There was strong wind coming in from the ESE.  I pumped up the Reedin SWX 5.2, put on the harness line and setup the WWFB with the PNL185.

It felt awesome to wing again!!! I took it easy and decided I needed to practice transitions today - outbound tacks and jibes, inbound jibes (I think I tried to do an inbound tack - ahh it doesn't matter - there was strong wind!!!!).

You can totally see the different angle of the wind.  I did not even want to try and get out through the channel to get to Firsts.

I checked the weather sites and the gusts weren't out of control.  The 5.2 was super powerful (it is everything I was afraid the OR A 5.0 was going to be) but on a day like this, this wing performed flawlessly.  When the wind was just lighter than optimal (this wing has a pressurized point where it'll just pull you up onto foil - I think it is 15mph), you could synchronize your board pump (sliding the foil forward as opposed to straight up and down) with the wing pump and in three cycles you were up on foil.

I got the PNL185 up above 23mph - I think it was the SWX.

I don't know why we've had this long streak of no winds.  I am thankful that there has been surf on the south shore - but I really miss winging.

W:3/F:9/S:4

Dawn Patrol - 1/29/2022

Dawn patrol on Saturday morning.  Roland had been talking up the wind and how it would be on early - so I brought my winging gear.  But I also didn't want to get skunked - so I brought my prone setup too.  The problem is this is White Plains... you are not supposed valuables in your cars for a reason.  One of these was going to get left in the truck bed...

Marlon didn't have this problem - good ole trusty blue longboard -

Well - the wind was not up yet, but the surf was - prone foiling was the call.  Takuma Kujira 1210 on the Project Cedrus 75cm mast with my surf rear stabilizer.  This was actually the first prone foil session I had in several days - and I felt a little rusty on the first several waves.  I did find my footing and I got some really long rides and pumped back out to the lineup multiple times.

Nice session!  Glad to have waves at WPB in January!

W:2/F:9/S:4

No.23 is Actually Finished

Lots of sanding, filling, sanding, filling, sanding - you get the picture.

But eventually you get to a point where you can't chase every pinhole.  Here's the board after wetsanding.

Number 23 - this is a really short (for me) wing board.  This should still have some volume - but it is smaller than the other two wing foiling boards I've been using.  Soon I'm going to set up the volume pool to get the volumes on all the boards I have.

And here's the board after the first clear coat.

The type of resin I used for the fill coats has a purple hue to it in the sun - but it looks like regular resin under artificial lighting - the is the first board I used it on - I like it!

After this picture, I did chase a couple more issues I found - an air pocket in the tail and some low spots around the handle.  But those are all good now and I finished drilling out the vent, putting on the final clear coat, and even getting the deck pads on - Number 23 is DONE!!!  I'll post again when I take pictures in the sunlight.

Now I just need some wind to try it out.... which lately has been challenging....

No.23 through the 40 Grit Sanding

The wind was up and down again this afternoon.  Instead of winging, I picked my kids from school and then hit the garage to start sanding No.23

The funny thing is I drag my feet when it comes to sanding, but once I start, I can't stop.

I ended up pretty much getting through the 40 grit sanding.

The OCD in me sees a few spots where I could put another coat of epoxy and fill some small voids.  I'd rather do this in really good natural lighting - so I'm going to wait until tomorrow after work (or at least I'll look everything over and make the determination whether to fill or leave it as is - I could chase these little divots forever if I let myself).

The wind forecast is down again for the upcoming week - looks like I'll have this board finished sanding and outfitted (since there won't be too many distractions).  I might even sand Kalani's board while I'm at it.  The things I do when there is no surf or wind -

Wing Foiling Session - 1/23/2022

I committed an act of desperation yesterday afternoon - I went winging despite my better judgement.  From this picture it looked like a lake - flat, calm and the opposite of what you want for winging.

But every now and then a gust would pull through and it looked totally doable.  I had setup the GL210 - light wind beast (the GL240 is a monster - I've used Dennis's before - but for days like this....)

And this - the Reedin Super Wing X 5.2m.  Once you get up on foil, this thing generates so much power!  In conditions where the Ensis V2 6.0m would have been difficult, I managed to rip along at a good clip.

Mind you - this was not ideal.  There were more lulls than gusts and I spent most of the time schlogging.

The times I was up pretty correlates to the peak on the wind chart.

Good to know the low end of the X-wing.

W:2/F:8/S:4

Dawn Patrol - 1/23/2022

Dawn patrolled again.  There is still some swell coming in from the south, and there is still west wrap.  The tide was high, but at a manageable 1.6' (yesterday was 1.8' and was drowning out the swell).  With zero wind, the conditions were really good.

I brought out the same gear as yesterday, but I did shim the mast base.  One shim each under the front bolts was enough to correct the "nose-down attitude".  The mast position I had paddled out with was making my back leg a little spent - so I pulled the mast forward and VIOLA!!!  Balance was achieved!

I'm going to mark this position for this mast and the Kujira 1210.

I caught a bunch of waves both before and after the mast position change - the conditions provided opportunities for long walled up rides and hooking carves.  With the high tide I didn't have to worry too much about grounding so I was a bit more aggressive on the riding.

SO much fun!

W:1; F:9; S:4

Dawn Patrol - 1/22/2022

Dawn patrol with Marlon.  The usual suspects were there - Tim, Noel, Andrew, Richard, others...  The were waves too - some from the SSW, and some West wrap.  The tide was really high and that made for weird conditions.

Some different views this morning - not sure if these were other islands that aren't normally seen, or if they were clouds (I'm guessing clouds).

Marlon was out towards Middles with the longboard crowd.  I was over more in front of the cabins.  I caught several really fun, long rides where I could get some carves on open wave faces.  It was just a little weird that the waves weren't breaking as readily as they should have given the size.

With the extra size today, I opted to use the Kujira 1210 over the 1095.  That said, I noted a few funny things from the last time I used this front foil.  

1.  With the longer Project Cedrus mast, I felt like I was riding with a nose down attitude.

2.  The setup today was a little up and down on the takeoffs

3.  With the foil buried deeper by the longer mast, it is harder to pump this front foil

I am waiting for a 68cm Project Cedrus mast - that should make things right regarding pumping.  I may still have to shim under the front mast base regardless of mast length to correct the attitude.

Compare this to the picture from yesterday - 1210 and 1095 have a lot of similarity - but at first glance, I'm thinking the 1095 will be better for winging, and the 1210 will be the prone foiling foil.

Here's where I had the 1210 set today.  Again - I was using a longer mast.  Not sure what was causing the yo-yoing at takeoff, especially since I didn't feel uneven foot pressure.  Hmmm - a mystery...

And here's the telling part - 1095 on top of the 1210.  Definitely narrower and longer span.

And the tubercles are less prominent on the 1095. 

Now I just need some wind so I can wing....

W:1; F:8; S:4

Evening Session - 1/21/2022

Hit the beach after work.  Bolted on the Takuma Kujira 1095 on the Project Cedrus 75cm mast (where the total height is closer to 79cm).  Lately I've been taking out the skinny 4'10" - this board catches waves so easily.  Whoever says you have to have the tiniest board to be cool, doesn't have my wave count.

The glide on the foil is really good.  Definitely better than the Armstrong HA1125 and HA925 - and I'm not just saying that because I'm anti-Armstrong - I'm trying to be objective here and the stall speed is definitely lower on the Kujira.  Out of the ten or so waves I had, only once did I lose enough speed to drop out.  That is in contrast to most times on the 1125 and 925 - almost every wave ended with a drastic drop out.

The other thing I noticed was the pumpability - the 1095 can be pumped back from the brink of drop out.  I could never really pump the Armstrong HAs - they did not respond to that type of input.  I still need to prone foil the Axis ARTs - but I want to wait for the 68cm Project Cedrus mast to do that. 

This is where I started the 1095 out - actually the same place as the 1210.

I had to move it up twice - the 1210 is medium aspect while the 1095 is high aspect - the latter needs more initial lift.  I got some really long glide out of this foil.  But the pump rhythm is quite different than the 1210 - and it actually reminds me of the PNL185.

W:1; F:7; S:4

Garage Works - 1/17/2022

After the dentist visit, I had lunch with an old friend - Dan Turner.  It was good seeing him and catching up.  He's going to retire from 29.5 years in the Navy this summer!

I came back and took a long nap, then mowed the lawn, smoked some salmon for dinner and then got some progress on the 4'8" wing board.  I opened up the foot strap inserts, took some more of the excess resin off the top deck, drilled out the holes for the vent and leash plug, epoxied in the vent plug and filled the voids that got exposed while opening the footstrap inserts.

0.7 ounces of aluzine, mixed with 3 tongue depressors worth of aerosil to set the vent in and fill the footstrap insert voids (only a few of them, so no big deal).

As I'm writing this, I'm contemplating setting the leash plug - just to get to the point where I can get the final fill coats on and get to sanding (because I love sanding - not).

2021 Session Count

I went through the blog and counted all the sessions from last year.

Final count: W-121; F-106; S-12

That translates to winging being 50% of the sessions, prone surf foiling taking 44% and surfing only taking 5%

Dawn Patrol - 1/17/2022

Marlon and I hit the dawn patrol on Dr Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday!!!  We can all strive to be better to one another.

I brought out the Skinny 4'10" and the Takuma Kujira 1210 on the 75cm mast.  Marlon brought his trusty longboard.

The surf was much smaller than the past few days - but there was no wind and the tide was on the high side (that's why I opted for the Kujira 1210 - low risk of hitting the bottom).  More people contemplating whether they were going to go out, or sit this one out.

I was able to ride several waves despite the crowd.  I mainly stayed on the inside and picked up the ones that made it through the outside group of longboarders.

I mostly pumped back out - with the 1210 it is almost too easy.

I got winded a few of the runs because of the length of the pump backs and catching the double dip.  I should start jump roping again.

Just as I was going in, Marlon paddled out to grab a wave (I guess he got tired of waiting for me - I had a dentist appointment later in the morning so I couldn't stay too long).

Harris, Noel and Andrew were out.  Andrew is enjoying his new Axis setup.

Count:  W-1; F-6; S-4