I picked up Kalani and we headed to Hickam. He uses ikitesurf.com for forecasts and they were saying it would be good from 2 to 4pm today (using the Kalaeloa location). They were correct (relatively speaking)!
We pulled up and just like always, it looked wind on the drive over to the parking lot. When I checked it out at the beach, Jim was out on his 6.0 - which meant I needed to pump up the 6.1. I decided to counter the big wing with a medium sized front foil. I bolted on the Kujira 1210 and the 14" stabilizer.
This confirms what I've been feeling - this setup rides a "hair" nose down (I think one shim plate should correct that - if it even needs correcting - I've been riding this shim free for a long time now).
The RS is a really good light wind wing - lots of low end to get started (but gives up the high attack angles to get upwind - in fact it can backwind pretty badly if you are too careless with it), it moves quickly through a transition (so much so that I spin it during a jibe because it gets over to the other side much faster than a conventional jibe), and it is just really fun to use.
I spent a lot of time working on glide and efficiency going through transitions. I was getting totally dry tacks on the outward runs, and spinning the wing (like I had discussed earlier) through jibes on both legs.
I did take a jaunt out to Firsts. I caught three fun waves and figured I should go back in with the shifty wind strength.
I was out from 2:15 to just about 4pm - and I was fortunate enough to hit the launch just as the wind died off.
I was able to coax the 1210 to over 20.8mph (and covered 17.4 miles). So despite the gray, cloudy skies - this was actually a pretty good session! Bonus - today was also the Summer Solstice - so the sun starts its journey southward again and we settle into summer. As long as the wind and waves keep coming, I'm happy!
W:53/F:60/S:17
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