Evening Session - 8/31/2024

I'm behind on posts - our internet at the house has been up and down.

This is yesterday afternoon's session - Foil Drive with Marvin.  There was a pretty strong onshore flow - probably a land breeze due to the land getting heated up with the nil trades.  The tide was high and the waves were on the small side. 

Marvin used No.37 for the second time - and he really wanted to buy it.  He said it was the perfect Foil Drive board and now he understands why/how I Foil Drive the way I do.

I continued the streak of using No.34

When these are placed close together, neither looks too much bigger/smaller than the other.  But the volume distribution makes these feel different (with No.34 getting up on plane faster - even on nothing waves; No.37 uses wave energy to pop up, and is easier to turn because it is more compact.

I agreed to sell it (bye bye No.37 - you are a great board).

This was a short session.  I used the throttle just to make noise since Marvin and I were over towards Coves (and that's where Tony hangs out).

This session obviously focused on No.34's ability to handle choppy water.  Which will likely be the scenario when I would break out the BRM Parawing.

I'm calling this 11 waves in 40 minutes.  I had a blast!!! 

Marvin got a Man O War hit on the way in.  There were two kids at the showers that were also "discussing" their Man O War interactions.

You hardly see Man O War at WPB.

W:112/PW:1/FD:60/F:4/S:17

Evening Session - 8/30/2024

Traffic sucked coming home from work.  And to wash off the long work week, I hit the beach for a Foil Drive session.  It's actually been a bit since the conditions to Foil Drive have been around.

The tide was high, the wind pretty light and if you were patient, fun waves yet to be had.

As I hinted at yesterday, I setup No.34 with the Foil Drive.  This is Part 1 for getting the BRM Parawing dialed in.  If I use the Foil Drive when learning the parawing, who cares if I get blown down wind - I'll just motor back upwind.  And if the wind lulls out, I'll put the parawing away and Foil Drive prone.

But it all starts here with getting No.34 dialed in with a larger foil - and looking around, the Spitfire 960 has all of a sudden become my biggest foil (1200 sqcm)

This board glides in!!!  So much so that I'm catching nothing waves without burning through the battery. 

The rides felt more like snowboarding - carving hard back and forth to stay in the powered spots

Kalani was out - he has been out almost exclusively on the Code now.

The first few waves I picked up, I overfoiled.  Then I pulled the mast back and the rides were awesome.  I don't know why I didn't do this before now.  I'm trying to recall - but I do think I did try it once before and it wasn't a good session.  Today changed everything and I'm now positive that this setup will get me going with the parawing.

There are at least 10 rides in there - about a third of the spikes (the smaller ones) were over foils or me trying to get my weight distribution correct.

W:112/PW:1/FD:59/F:4/S:17

Wing Foiling Session - 8/29/2024

The wind was blowing at the house this afternoon so I figured I'd give winging a shot.  I actually thought I should have taken No.34, set it up with the Foil Drive, packed the parawing and taken that out to get the mast position worked out, and if the wind picked up go ahead and try out the parawing again.

I didn't listen to my instincts and instead setup No.32 with the F One SK8 950/C200 and pumped up the SW2 5.2

Koa had just come in and said it had been dropping off.  This was about the time I had considered packing everything up and going back home to grab the Foil Drive.

But instead I figured the wind would pick up - and I paddled out.

I did a lot of sitting on the board and resetting my GPS watch (since I wasn't really moving).  But after what seemed 30 minutes, I was able to pick up a gust and got up on foil

There was enough wind to get up and go, make a solid jibe, then make it back in.

The wind died again after that puff.

And with that, my shortest ever session came to a close!

Tomorrow I'll definitely bring out No.34 and the Foil Drive.

W:112/PW:1/FD:58/F:4/S:17

Wing Foiling Session - 8/26/2024

Spicy riding today - first this....

Then getting out through the white wash to find bomber sets rolling through.  There was wind, but it felt thin and didn't have the push it normally does (Hurricane Hone winds have seemed this way for the past several days)

I used No.36/Spitfire 840/325P/Project Cedrus 85cm mast and the Reedin SW2 5.2

Not a day to get stuck outside - Kalani, Duke and Prayot all came out to revel in the large surf.

I did not throw a single tack today - the turns were actually pretty critical today.  Miss one and you could get bowled over.

And the Spitfire was acting wonky today.  It wasn't getting up as fast as it normally does, and it was really twitchy.

I'm not sure if I've been spoiled by the F Ones, or if today had a lot of turbulence on the top layer of water - all I know is it was exceptionally challenging today.

I did catch a handful of bomber waves - when the waves broke the whitewater was way overhead (and I was up on foil).

I came in because I felt the pressure gradient drop.  I did not want to risk having to paddle in on a day like today.  Take enough - don't be greedy.

W:111/PW:1/FD:58/F:4/S:17

Garage Works - 8/26/2024

This was work in the garage over the past couple of days.  I'm trying to get these cleared as I've got a few more repair orders to get to.

I'm not going to narrate these - they are kind of self explanatory - I'm just keeping these online to catalog the repairs.

Wing Foiling Session - 8/25/2024

I hit the dawn patrol at Kailua - I was going to let Donnel borrow my travel bag (for winging gear) so I figured I might as well flirt with Hurricane Hone at Kailua.

Lots of iwa cruising around (really nice to see).

The wind was super nuking - I originally pumped up the Cabrinha Mantis 2.5 and went out (but came back in because it wasn't enough).

I setup No.36 with the F One SK8 750/195 Carve.  With the Reedin SW2 3.6, this setup was perfect!  For the foils smaller than the Eagle 890, I am noticing that the footstraps are not forward enough - I may move the footstraps forward on this board, and then use No.32 for the larger foils.

I love this wing!

Check out the average speed - I think this may be my fastest (definitely in the top 3).

The waves were not breaking across the entire reef.  I had to go deeper towards Castles to pick up the steeper sections - but it was totally worth it!

This was the graph from Bellows - I think it was stronger at Kailua, but the relative trends should be the same. 

The regulars were all buzzing about the nuking conditions.  And half of them were breaking out the sub 3m2 wings and others were preparing to have their arms ripped off (4.5m2 and bigger).

W:110/PW:1/FD:58/F:4/S:17

Garage Works - 8/24/2024

I usually leave a board alone to dry out any water/water vapor after I open it up.  Today was fill day.

Zach's windsurfing board - got fill in the open blistered spot and the two deck ding areas.

I'll still have to sand these and place a small cap sheet.  I'll use the sugar trick to get the deck grippy again after the repair.

And this is the SUP board Prayot asked me to fix.  Here is the fill.

I'll sand this down tomorrow and get a cap sheet on it.

I've got to get these completed and out of here - I've got three more behind these (Rick, Greg and Roland)

Wing Foiling Session - 8/24/2024

Hit Hickam today primarily to test the BRM Parawing 5.1

The wind was pretty up and down - and as the day went on it was spinning around from N to E and back again.

The waves were minimal and the tide was nice and high.

I had setup No.34 with the Eagle 890 with the Evolution Mast in between.  I went out first on the parawing.  I spent time getting the wing off the water, trying to figure out where the power was, getting situated on the board and how much wind was needed to get started.

I actually got moving also - but I didn't get up on foil.

Knowing what I learned, here's what I'd do differently:

- I'd use a bigger foil - the Eagle 1090 or the Spitfire 960 would have helped

- I need to aim further downwind to start, then I can turn upwind and cruise like normal

- I'm still trying to figure out how to get power out of this wing - but as gusty as it was today the ups and downs are not conducive to learning to parawing

I paddled in and switched over to the North Mode Pro 5.5

Huge holes today!!!

This was the session with the F One Eagle 890/DW190

You can see the wind shifts in the tracks.

I took a decent wave at Seconds - and a bunch of small ones at Firsts.  I got some tacks in, but with the fluctuations, I leaned more on jibing.

Holes - 

I went in and ate some manapua (Kalani brought it) and switched out to the Eagle 690

I could get the foil to lift, but the same story here - shifty winds, I didn't want to go down so I opted for the jibes.

Giant holes!  It was challenging to get the 690 to lift, but once it was up, it wasn't too bad to keep it up.

I am pooped out!

W:109/PW:1/FD:58/F:4/S:17