The wind was up today. And after work, so was the tide. And the surf was also up - both the declining South Swell and the wind swell from the ENE trades. All that combined made for interesting riding conditions today.
Mix that in with taking the Triton X-1 out in surf for the first time - today was awesomely challenging! Roland was out also. He said it was definitely down from yesterday (which was good because it was still big - on one wave I had it was overhead and I was high up on foil already).
Jibing the X-1 is pretty easy - it naturally wants to roll over. I actually got tired because I was having to constantly manage the pitch. It was not bad, but without a stabilizer I definitely had to pay attention to what was going on.
This foil isn't a replacement for conventional foils - it is an alternative to mix it all up - something to make you think and expand your horizons to what is possible.
I was perfectly powered (a little on the overpowered side - but again that what this foil likes) on the SW2 4.7. If I was on the Eagle 1090, I would have been on the SW2 4.2.
Considering yesterday I was on flatwater at Hickam, it made sense that I went a little slower today. The cross chop and faster period wind swell really made riding fully powered down the wave faces super challenging. I ended up breaching a few times.
I took advantage of the low speed aspects of the X-1 - stalling to allow a bigger wave behind catch up - then I would apply front foot pressure and accelerate.
From my heartbeat tracking, you can see I was more excited at the first half (not having taken this foil out in the waves) and more calm at the back end.
The wind is going to be around for a few days - so more testing to come!
W:39/F:32/S:27
No comments:
Post a Comment