Wing Foiling Session - 6/30/2023

I headed over to Hickam after work (mahalo Marlon for bringing my stuff).  The wind was really up and down.  And there was no surf to speak of.

I set up the Reedin SW2 5.2

That wing with the F One Eagle 1090 has definitely been my low wind equipment as of late.

I did not have my watch so I used my phone.  You can totally see the wind swinging north.

And you can see the big lulls in the graph below.

This was definitely a "what the heck do I do when there is no surf and the wind is flakey".  I had fun, but I was concerned about making it back without paddling.  I got saved at the last minute with a decent gust.

W:62/F:58/S:28

Evening Session - 6/29/2023

Headed out to WPB for an after work prone foiling session with Marlon.

Waves were small, and the wind would often reach winging speeds - but today was a day for Marlon to progress.

And progress he did - catching several waves and getting up on foil (although I think the mast could have come forward a notch so he would have been up higher on foil - but it's best to let each rider mae the call for when they are ready to take the next step).

I caught a bunch, got several recycles, some really sharp carving turns, and some fast downwind down-the-line runs.  The Progression 170 is such a great foil!

W:61/F:58/S:28

Wing Foiling Session - 6/28/2023

The wind was up and down yesterday - great when it was up, pretty bad when it was down.  Tide level was dropping from a pretty good high tide.

Eagle 1090 and the SW2 5.2 saved the day.

I actually stayed up on foil for pretty much the whole session.  Save for two touchdowns - one from a big lull, and the other tripping on the foil during a tack.

I did tack onto waves a lot this session - and in lighter winds.  Muscle memory....

The graph is from the airport - but you can still see the deep lull.  Nice to know the 1090 and 5.2 SW2 can carry in such light winds.

I think these solid blue speed charts are so cool -

Almost 19 miles on a light wind day - not bad.

The waves are forecasted to get smaller - and the wind forecast doesn't really take into account the thermals... maybe on eof these mornings it'll be a good time to go fishing...

W:61/F:57/S:28

Garage Works - 6/25/2023

Tim asked if he could come over so I could fix his Ensis V2 6.0

There was a relatively small tear on the leading edge and the bladder was leaking air.

We pulled the bladder, patched that up, and then patched the leading edge.

The repair came out pretty good - looked nice and tight and held air under pressure without herniating.

He also bought the two Takuma RS wings that I had.

Wing Foiling Session - 6/25/2023

Lots of wingers out today at Hickam -

Wind was up and down (surpisingly).

I wanted to have a different experience today, so I setup the Triton X-1.  The Stringy adapter worked perfectly!!!  I'm going to need to shape a new board and place the boxes further forward (I had the mast pegged all the way forward and it felt like it could use more lift still).

I thought it was going to be nuking - so much so I didn't even bring the 5.2

The X-1 definitely makes sure you are awake and paying attention.

Today was definitely a mellow day - when the wind backed off, I ended up just waiting for the next gust.

Though if I knew the wind was going to be this up and down, I would have bolted on the Eagle 1090.

Quick session - but got what I was looking for!!!

W:60/F:57/S:28

Race Day!!!

Roland and I participated in the Voyager x Wetfeet Downwind Challenge race today.  Lots of competitors.

I wasn't sure about the finish line and whether there would be coral heads or not - so I opted for the Takuma Kujira 980/178/Stringy Direct Bolt fuselage on the 100cm Project Cedrus Clydesdale mast.  The wind looked pretty gnarly so I also picked the Reedin SW2 5.2 wing.  

This was the short stint out to the start line.  There were some waves breaking in the area near the channel - I had to sampo a couple of them.

This was a "everyone sit on your board, wings and paddles down" start.  After I got up, I pretty much stayed in the regular foot stance for most of the race.  The long mast really helped - I fell 3x, the first being a lull in the wind, the second was a ventilation, and the third was getting caught in really crossed up chop.  I did switch to goofy as I was closing in on Diamondhead - I figured I had a good line on the finish buoy and could lean over more when I rounded the buoy.

I swear I was going faster than this...

This was the wind at the airport - I think it was blowing much hard between HK and Suis.

The finish line was getting swamped with big sets coming through - timing was everything.  I made it through without incident and even got to ride a wave in - but there were wingers that missed the channel and needed to be pulled off with a jetski assist.

Roland finished the race also.  He didn't use his tall mast, but wished he had.  He switched tactics midstream and just started to ride the swell and flag the wing.

Fun day!!!

W:59/F:57/S:28

Wing Foiling Session - 6/23/2023

Stronger winds today - 

Same gear as yesterday

I could have been on a 3.6 -

Such great surfing equipment!!!

I got in a bunch of tacks onto oncoming waves.  And on one jibe, a hammerhead was cruising close to the surface - by the time I saw it, there was no way for me not to hit it.  It freaked out and I went down - and I told myself to just get back up on the board and sail away - there was plenty of wind and if I remained calm, we both can call it an accident and just go our separate ways.  On the beach, Roland said he saw a shark also in the outside part of the breaks.  Probably the same hammerhead.

And I forgot to mention this yesterday - the monk seal that has been hanging out on the beach ended up swimming away whie I was on an inbound run.  I started talking loudly to it and it was listening.  Pretty cool wildlife interactions these past couple of days.

A little more north in the wind today and the windline was a little further off shore.  Roland and I were out prepping for the downwind race tomorrow.

It gets hard to go fast when there is a bunch of chop and turbulence in the water.  I thought I was going faster than this (everything is relative - or maybe my GPS is slow)

Wanna take a guess at what time I hit the shark?

This was a really fun session!!!

W:58/F:57/S:28

Wing Foiling Session - 6/22/2023

And here is the repaired mast (and the rest of the gear I setup).

The wind was blowing nice and strong - I pumped up the SW2 4.2.  I figured with the smaller wing, I could just use the Eagle 1090.  And it all tied together with the just repaired 85cm Project Cedrus Mast.

This picture was after I came it - and the wind did die down a notch compared to when I was out and riding.  The waves were still really small - but that just forces you to try out other things - like doing high speed tacks onto waves just starting to stand up.

The predominant direction seemed to be NE trades.

Gusts touching 30!

I didn't feel compelled to head back up to Hau Bush (considering the events of yesterday, and I didn't have time today to pick up a knife), so I wasn't pushing the mast to the point of ventilation.  But over all the mast did feel a tad bit more user friendly.  Again - this is likely a figment of my imagination, but I never felt the onset of the mast ventilating - not even once.

Really fun session!

W:57/F:57/S:28

Mast Repair

I emailed Kyle and he said to use urethane adhesive to fill the cuts after cleaning the frayed material away.

And I did just that.

The repairs went pretty quickly - and I think they turned out well.

I can see and feel the repairs, but I actually like the fact that they are on the mast - just like cool scars!!!!

I'll write more about this in the next post, but I actually think the mast moves through the water better than before.  That probably just me thinking the repairs help shed any potential low pressure points by introducing just enough turbulence.... but who knows???!!!!????

I glad it's fixed!

Wing Foiling Session - 6/21/2023

There were whitecaps when I showed up.  I didn't trust the wind strength - this is the first day the trades are supposed to be back and filling in - so I had setup my lighter wing foiling gear.  Then when I was paddling out it started to back off (glad I pumped up the 5.2 instead of the 4.7).  

The SW2 5.2 was the right call for most of the session - could have actually used the Takuma RS 6.1 at a couple of points.  The Eagle 1090 was perfect.

The tide was high and the waves were largely flat - so launching was pretty easy.

The wind had some north in it, so it was natural to end on a line that pulled high along the coast line.  I had figured I could ride up past Hau Bush and then do a mini downwinder to practice for this Saturday.  The plan was going well, but then the board got yanked out from under me.  I originally thought it was the wind dropping off, but at one point my leg felt something - it was some really thick fishing line.  I went under to check it out and the foil had picked up a lot of braided line - really thick stuff like 200 to 300# test.  It took a bit, but I cleared it and made an attempt to get back up on foil and outta there.  I wasn't getting up and it seemed like I was still stuck so I checked again.  I was now dragging a big plastic bottle that was being used as a float for more fishing line.  This looked like a setup that uses the wind to bring a line way out. 

Well - I cleared everything and finally got back on foil.  Then I noticed there were two pretty good gashes on the mast - AUTHENTIC BATTLE DAMAGE.  These slices into the leading edge were making a lot of noise and causing turbulence while I was up and riding.  It became smooth again as I rode way up on the foil.  When I dropped off foil a good distance away, I checked to make sure I wasn't still dragging line.  The pictures below are the two damaged sections.

I emailed Kyle from Project Cedrus to get his opinion on a repair.  I think I can just trim off the bad stuff, and use Flex Seal to make the damaged area smooth again.  Or even trim the bad stuff, stuff it into the slots from the fishing line, then use a heat gun to soften the flexible PVC back into the original condition.  We'll see what Kyle says.

This chart tells the story - the dark blue was the first time I went down.  The light blue is the second.

I did head back to WPB and proceeded to ride the tiny swell for a bit.

Shakey wind - but it was ridable for the most part.

More telltales...

Funny what getting tangled in fishing line a bit offshore will do to your heartrate.

Short session, but understandable given the circumstances.

W:56/F:57/S:28