Garage Works - 1/31/2024

I was tired after work, so I skipped the surf session and I hit the garage (after my nap) and got No.34 outfitted.

I got the vent install and opened up the insert holes for a handle (if I end up using one).

Then I cut out the deck pad, stuck it on and made sure to get the insert holes marked on the deck pad.  Blogger has been giving me grief lately with picture orientation... these next three are supposed to be vertical -

I also chamfered the edge of the deck pad on this one (and I think I'll do some maintenance on the past couple of builds and do the same - this is just a nice touch).

Here is the finished top deck.

And here is the bottom deck.

With this board, the goal is to be able to use smaller wings for a given wind strength - more so than with No.30.  I installed 16" track boxes so I should be able to use all the front foils - from the HPS700 all the way up to the HPS980 and Eagle 1090.  I also want to use this in waves - if you recall the Instagram post that inspired this board, winging with this style of board and being able to use a smaller wing - I think this is a break away from the conventions of winging thus far...

Now we just need some wind!

And since I didn't go surfing, I encouraged Marlon to get some progress done on his board.  He wiped the top and bottom decks down, added his logo stickers, and then we sanded down the previous repairs to the tail/boxes.

Now he will use Posca pens and add his art - then we will place another fill coat top and bottom to level out some spots and protect the posca pen work.  That will be followed by some sanding, maybe some more filling/sanding, then hopefully he can FINALLY surf this board.

Garage Works - 1/30/2024

I got the clear coat on the bottom deck -

And the top deck today.

Tomorrow I'll outfit the board with deck pads and other accoutrements.

No.34 is almost done! 

Evening Session - 1/30/2024

Marlon and I hit the beach later in the afternoon today.  There were good sized, clean waves breaking - definitely a West wrap!!!

Marlon brought his longboard - and he caught some fun waves.

I brought the Volcanic Sweet Potato -

And I replaced the Wayne Rich Nightmare Twins with the Britt Merrick Twins.

These fins made this board more playful than it had been with the other fin selections.  It is never easy to get the comparisons down with differences in swell, wind, crowds, and even time between usages.  I recall the Nightmares having more drive and hold, yet I could make a top turn and wrench the board around with the ability to recover on the rebound.

These BMTs trimmed off the sharp edges of the movements and made everything more fluid.  Kind of like the feelings I have when I wing foil with the Axis Spitfires (more visceral and snappy) and the F One SK8 (more fluid and flowing).

I caught some gems today - takeoffs were awesome, I got in lots of fun turns and made some long runs.

I love experimenting with fins on the Sweet Potato!!!

Roland was on his mini longboard (T&C) and Prayot was out on a shortboard.  Fun day!

W:8/F:13/S:5

Garage Works - 1/29/2024

I got through the sanding regime on No.34 this evening.

I had a picture of the top deck also, but blogspot isn't liking it (keeps turning it on its side).

This board's primary duty will be as a wing board.  It may look like a shrunk down down wind foil board - and that's because it is.  I'm anticipating this board to move fast when powering up, which in turn will get the foil to lift way sooner.  

Secondarily it will be a Foil Drive Max board - in an effort to extend an already long battery life.  

I may also try to prone foil this board - at which point it may become a quiver killer, but for now I'll just focus on winging first. 

Dimensions below.  I'll get the wear coat (acrylic clear coat) on tomorrow - and maybe even cutout the deck pad and get it stuck on.

Now we just need some wind -

Wing Foiling Session - 1/29/2024

I hit Hickam after work and got in a quick session so I could still get on the road before traffic got too bad.  With the current run of SW winds and a lower tide in the afternoon, I didn't want to get beat up trying to get to deep enough water to launch without grounding over at WPB - it's good to have options. 

I setup small gear today - the SW2 4.2, No.32, the Spitfire 840/350P combo and to crown it all off - the Evolution Wind mast (I love this thing!!!).

Easy launch today - I was up pretty quick.

I made my way out to Firsts expeditiously and got to surf the wind swell.

This is actually really good considering the short duration I was out.

There was no one around and the wind was pretty strong.  I figured I'd call it while the session was good (and also to make it off base before the traffic thickened).

On the way in, there was still swell pushing through all the way to the beach.  I stayed out and surfed the inside and it was actually almost as fun as the waves outside.  Hickam is a totally different place on SW winds (I actually prefer this - MAHALO EL NINO!!!)

I'll just post the pictures and let them tell the story -

The wind is going to slack until the weekend (when the trades return with a vengence!!!).

I may try surfing tomorrow afternoon before the west swell totally fades away.

W:8/F:13/S:4

Garage Works - 1/28/2024

It was stormy today - windy, but stormy.  The crew decided to pass on winging today.

So I spent some time going over the bike (I was actually pretty close to selling it, but all the signals are starting to go - age).  When this thing is clean,...

I didn't end up selling it.  And now I'm going to have to order some lights and install them.  I'll look for some LEDs - then I get to the point where I really shouldn't sell it...

At some point, I wanted to check the fit of the Evolution Cedrus Wind adapter for the F One Titan foot.

The Classic and Evolution adapters side by side.

Then I also carved out time to set up a template for the deck pad for No.34

I'm using the Octopus pads as a baseline.

And last, but not in chronological order, I sanded No.34 again.  And I placed a second top deck fill coat.  Then I sanded a few spots that needed attention, and even added yet a third spot fill.

It's totally worth the extra effort once it's all done, but sometimes I do wish I was less OCD.

Tomorrow I'll likely get in an after work session at Hickam (so I don't have to paddle into a headwind with breaking waves).  Then I'll carve out a little time to get the final rough sanding done (and maybe even the other grits - at this point the hard part/rough sanding is done).

Wing Foiling Session - 1/27/2024

The wind was forecasted to come up to brisk levels from the SW starting around noon.  It was actually blowing at wingable strength from early in the morning.

I picked up Roland and we headed to Hickam to meet up with Prayot (Kalani was on a plane with his family for a trip to Vegas).

When we got to the beach around noon, Arvin was out and he was coming in to switch out to a larger wing.  I took that que and pumped up the SW2 4.7 (it was still blowing hard - just from the SW and that has different flow patterns - usually stronger on the outside). 

I got in two separate runs.

The first was to try winging with the AFS Silk 850.

I set the mast forward of where I would have had the Spitfire 840 (with the Advance + Crazy Short fuselage).  And I actually didn't have to adjust it.

Getting started was a bit tough - I hadn't winged at Hickam for a while and certainly not during these SW wind runs that we've been having - so figuring out the lines took a little bit initially.

After I got up on foil, the Silk 850 was just like its name - smooth, plenty of lift and rips turns hard.  Looking at the track below, there was a lot of consistency in it as well.

I threw in a heel-toe tack in (one of the first since the SW wind run begun - I've been reluctant to do these because everything looks backwards and I didn't want to have to deal with getting back up in breaking swell).  The tack is the furthest out to the left of the image.

I headed out to Firsts to see what the Silk could do.  Super fun turns in pretty chaotic conditions - and the pattern was pretty tight.

I didn't want to hog that foil so I headed back in and swapped out to the Spitfire 960/375P and the Cedrus Wind mast.

This setup was perfect for the conditions out at First.  With the length in this mast (87.5cm + 4cm) I didn't have to worry about breaching.  And the design criteria held up again - no ventilation.  

Even though it doesn't look like it, there was some consistency in the Firsts runs also.  The wobbles in the tracks are me surfing the non-breaking wind swells.

I caught tons of waves and with the Spitfire 960 I was destroying them!  The Silk, the SK8, the Kujira 980 - the all surf really well and they are great foils in their own right - but the Spitfire is the most visceral surfing foil for winging in waves that I have used to date.  Turning this foil is just too much fun!!!

I have some errands to run tomorrow - but I'll try to get a session in.  Winds should be good again.

W:7/F:13/S:4

Evening Session - 1/26/2024

Prayot has a demo AFS Silk 850 from Jeff - and I got to test drive it yesterday.

The conditions were not nearly as good as the previous day - half and big and no where near as clean.  But when you gotta go, you go.

After 2 adjustments, this is where the foil ended up - pegged to the front of the boxes.  I think if I brought the other board that has the boxes 2" forward, I would have likely gotten even better results.

This is a really nice foil.  Feels like the best of the Kujira 980 and the Eagle 790 in one.  I mention those foils because it is smaller than I normally use in these conditions, and on multiple waves I dropped off foil (hit the stall speed).  I think the demo rear stabilizer is also a little small (for my preference).

I did a bunch of fun waves and this foil turns with the best of them.  Also - like the Kujira, this foil is smooth through the water - I never felt any turbulence.

I think this size would be great in overhead waves, and exceptional in wingfoiling during regular trades.

For normal condition prone foiling, I think I'd do better with the Silk 1050.  That said, this does not do anything particularly better than the foils I currently have - and I am focused on other pieces of equipment (Foil Drive Max) so I'll not be purchasing one for now.  Plus there are no Project Cedrus adapters for AFS yet (good thing - as I hear the mount is changing... this is the new mount - I hate it when companies do that... leaves early adopters in the dumpster)

Tomorrow the Kona winds are kicking back up - I'll try this on the wing.  But the optimum wind speed time is the bottom of low tide (0.2').  To save myself the pain of having to paddle out to deeper water in a headwind, it's time to go to Hickam!!!

W:6/F:13/S:4

Garage Works - 1/25/2024

Besides foiling, I did pick up Marlon from school (or his trip home from school).  Before going to pick him up (and then foiling after that) I did hit the garage to get some sanding done on No.34

I actually got both the top deck sanded (post first fill coat) and the bottom deck (post second fill coat).

That set me up to get the second fill coat on to the top deck.

I got the top deck decals on - waited a little bit for the adhesive to work, then added 2.8 + 3.5 ounces of aluzine epoxy as the second fill coat.

Tomorrow I sand the top deck and most likely open up the mast track boxes.

Evening Session - 1/25/2024

I got in a late session today.  Prayot was foiling the AFS stuff, so I figured I would go out and see how he was doing on that gear.

I have not prone foil in quite some time.  And whenever I jump back to a different discipline, I usually eat it a bit until I get my footing/muscle memory back.

Today was no exception. 

There was actually some size today - and the waves were really clean.  Roland made the right call and had brought out a surfboard.

I brought out the short Cedrus mast (it was a low tide at 0.5') and the Progression 170.

I did eat several up front.  And even a few of the good ones - but I did catch a few nice rides - after eventually finding my "footing".  I did have some issue keeping the nose up when taking the drop.  I'm going to have to go back through my notes to see if I need to shim the base.

Good session!

W:6/F:12/S:4

Wing Foiling Session - 1/24/2024

Winging conditions today!!!  Strong SSW winds, medium tide and some good wind swell - 

And I got to try out the Evolution Cedrus Wind mast!!!

No.32, Spitfire 840/350P on the Advance + Crazy Short fuselage all powered by the Reedin SW2 4.2m

Today's conditions were really challenging - but that made trying out the new mast even more satisfying.  With as much cross-chop, turbulence and with trying to hold a high line to the onshore wind, I would have ventilated my Project Cedrus masts for sure.  As hard as I pushed the system (board, mast, foil) I couldn't get it to ventilate!!!

The western component of the wind didn't materialize while I was out on the water.  I had the SSW nearly straight onshore wind to contend with.  I had to paddle way out to get the foil out of grounding range.  Then with the chop it was pretty hard to get up and started.

There were some solid swell pulling through.

Chest to head high on the high points of the outer breaks - fast and lined up!!!

I was nicely powered on the 4.2 - not really wanting more or less area.

West is best - but you gotta take what you can get.

I love this mast and am looking forward to pushing boundaries this year (not having to worry about recovering from ventilations - I can push the pedal to the metal!!!)

W:6/F:11/S:4