Yesterday I saw iwindsurf.com was predicting some winds that would be wingable at midday today. I woke up to the sounds of wind - so I passed on the dawn patrol and worked around the house until it was time to go.
The winds were as forecasted - and at Hickam it was almost straight onshore. I had brought the North Nova Light Wind 8.0 and the Takuma RS 6.1 - the wind was strong enough to use the 6.1.
I brought the 1090/210 and the 1099/460 with the intent to use both in a back-to-back test to see which setup has the most glide. But I just stuck with the 1090/210 because it was a pain in the butt to get out to where the wind line was.
And before leave the house, I had been doing maintenance on the gear in the garage. One of the bolts securing the mast base plate was not releasing. I was eventually able to break it free, but I decided to setup the Clydesdale instead - I got the mast so I could do downwinders - might as well start getting used to it (and do a downwinder).
Getting the foil to lift with another 4" of mast was a little more difficult than normal (with the 85cm mast). But riding was actually easier - I had more mast to use and I stayed up on foil for much longer.
Not having used the RS wings in a bit, I was pleasantly happy with its performance - for lighter winds I really enjoy the 6.1 and 5.1. They have lots of power and are very controllable within their range.
When I first started, I paddled straight out into the wind trying to get to the line where the wind was not interacting with the shore. I had a couple of false starts, but eventually got into the active stream of wind.
It did take a little more finessing to get the foil to lift, but after a while it was second nature (but the gusts did help).
After a running the inside for most of the session, I did get an angle on the channel so I made a run to Firsts. The wind was fluky out there - I didn't think it was worth it. I rode one of the waves that showed itself and it was all chopped up from the onshore wind - I took that into the channel and rode back to the inside.
The wind meter at the airport is still not working properly - but I think the Nova LW 8.0 would have been too much today.
The secret to today was not going down!!! You can see all the runs I made where I completed the jibes - one after another after another.
I had placed one of the Dakine Supremo footstraps on to make sure I got it positioned correctly. I am getting the urge to start jumping again and wanted to dial this in at Hickam (too hard to go in and out at WPB). I ended up making one adjustment on the water - now its all good!!!
On my last run in I tried a tack (and was actually all the way around) but I breached the foil and figured I'd call it good.
I'm glad I got to go out today! This was a fun session on the tall mast.
W:28/F:16/S:13
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