Garage Works - 9/15/2024

I got the coarse sanding (maybe the only sanding) done on No.38

This is the top deck

And this is the bottom deck

I'll cut in the slot for the track block tomorrow and get it glued in.  Then I can get started on glassing this blank.

I also got the patch completed on No.34

The enamel clear coat didn't like something on the repair - that's fine, I don't need to chase ghosts.

And while the crew was winging today - every time I passed Prayot, it sounded like a 747 was going through a landing sequence.

And here it is going through a tuning to try and get rid of the really loud noise.

There were a couple of deeper gouges - I filled these (some twice) and sanded to 1000

And here it is all sanded.

I'll look at the front foil (AFS Pure 900) tomorrow and see if it needs some sanding.

Wing Foiling Session - 9/15/2024

I'll post on the Garage Works next, but after shaping No.38 (Norm's Prone Foil Drive board), I hit WPB to get in a wing foiling session.

The wind was on shore - so it was less windy than it looked.

Kalani was already there when I parked.

I set up No.36 with the 85cm Project Cedrus mast and Prayot's AFS Silk 1050.  And I pumped up the North Nova Pro 5.0

And just as I was finishing setting up - the guys hanging out at the pavilion behind me in this picture were pointing and headed out to their cars (they said the road in was about to be closed).

Prayot and Roland made it through the blocked road and we pretty much had the break to ourselves!!!

Since we couldn't leave, we settled in for a long session - almost 3 hours for me and over 30 miles.

We the inner break mostly empty, I spent a lot of time riding this area (where I normally would turn off to not interact with the surfers).

I still rode several waves from the outside breaks - and every now and then there was a good sized wave.

There were ups and downs in the wind.

And this is where the discussion on the AFS Silk 1050 begins -

This foil turns really well - on par with the Silk 850.  And it also gets up and stays up in lighter winds - so I was up through the lulls and with the tight canopy in the North Nova Pro, I was up and riding in winds I should not have been.

I'm going to have to sell some stuff... the AFS foils are that good -

And after 3 hours I was more than done.  My arms, back and right knee were screaming "enough already"

The fire seemed to be out (no more thick black smoke) so I made a run for it.  It was the homeless camp in the brush (where the old magazines were).  I think this land was recently transferred to the City and County from the Navy (or maybe this parcel is still the Navy's because the State turned it down because of the environmental liability) - but there are a lot of people living back in this area.  I hope nobody got hurt - 

Incredible session!

W:120/PW:2/FD:66/F:4/S:18

Garage Works - 9/14/2024

I sanded the ding (which really wasn't that bad - but I would dwell upon this until it got fixed properly) yesterday.

And in the evening I went ahead and placed a carbon patch.

Since I'm writing this on 9/15/24, I've already sanded the patch and am getting ready to place another layer of epoxy.

And the other thing I did yesterday was give the Silk 850 and HA Ultra 750 back to Prayot.  And at the same time I picked up the Silk 1050. 

He had the solid paint marker all over the bottom of the foil and stabilizer - so I sanded it off, got a Donaldson trailing edge on both, and then sanded everything down to 1000 grit.

Hopefully this thing runs super silent.  I mainly want to see if this will work with the Foil Drive and not consume a lot of voltage coming up to foiling speed.  But that'll have to wait until No.34 is fixed. 

Wing Foiling Session - 9/14/2024

Today's session was at Hickam to test out the characteristics of the AFS HA Ultra 750.

There was wind, but it was up and down.

Miles was already out when I pulled up.  Matt and Mark (lifeguard) were chatting on the overlook.

I had dinged No.34 yesterday trying to get it up on the wash rack - so I used No.36

And I pumped up the Nova Pro 5.0 again

This was the second time I used the HA Ultra 750 - but today was enough time to get a really good feel for this foil.  At an AR of 14, what I would have guessed was this foil would need high speed to take off, and that it would have a super high stall speed.  I would also guess that the turning would be stiff and if kept at high speed, this foil would glide forever.

What I found consistently was as long as my wing was powered up, the foil would takeoff pretty easily - this was the biggest surprise.

This foil also could get through the lulls because it had a low stall speed (and it didn't drop out like the Armstrong foils consistently did), as well as the ease of how it pumped.

The turning was closer to what I thought - stiffer than most of the foils I currently ride, but I could still turn it without too much difficulty.  And the glide was ridiculous - this really is a downwinding foil.

At the start, I didn't want to drop off foil (and get on the struggle bus to get back up) so I jibed.  The wind was also up and down so timing was pretty important.

When the wind picked up, I headed downwind straight out to Firsts.

I surfed the small waves that were out there and got to become familiar with the turning, takeoffs, glide and pump.  I am really impressed by this foil (but I don't downwind - so despite how sexy this thing is, I do not think I'll be adding this to my hanger).

Looks like I was out when the wind was at its best -

Honestly, this is where I was disappointed with the performance of this foil - I would have thought it would have easily gone over 25mph.

Also, it was singing loudly above 20mph (pretty high pitch too).  When I get to borrow this foil again, I'll tune it so it runs silent.

Good run today!

W:119/PW:2/FD:66/F:4/S:18

Wing Foiling Session, Part 2 - 9/13/2024

Pulled a second session to test the Silk 850 in WPB wave conditions.

This wing is going to be my go-to for quite some time.

The Silk 850 is the best surfing foil (on wing power) I've ever used -

And here's where I had the mast placed

The waves were better than the day before and the wind a hair stronger and more consistent.

I rode closer to shore because this foil in those waves was so good!!!

Prayot, Duke, Roland and Kalani were all out.

I'm wondering why the speed was more limtied on this run...

I think I'm going to have to sell off a bunch of stuff to get some AFS goodness...

W:118/PW:2/FD:66/F:4/S:18

Wing Foiling Session, Part 1 - 9/13/2024

The trade winds finally came back!!!  Prayot let me borrow his AFS Silk 850 and HA Ultra 750 and I got to run some testing yesterday.  

I focused on the Silk 850.  I ran it on both masts - first was the Project Cedrus Class 85.

Here's where the mast settled out (actually mounted further back than the Eagle 890).

And here's the Silk 850 on the Evolution Wind mast.  I placed it in the same position and it worked flawless.

Here's the wind during the "lunch" outing. I had plenty of power on the North Nova Pro 5.0 (I'm liking this wing more and more).

Decent mileage for a shortish session.

First run.  The Silk being a wave riding foil isn't the fastest for its size - but what it's missing in speed it more than makes up for in carving maneuverability - 

Nice wind direction and while the tide was rising, there was some fun sized surf.

It has speed, but not blistering speed

Second run (and this one is where I was testing something on the Evolution adapter).

Slight wind shift, but similar conditions to the earlier run.

The Silk is well behaved in transitions - my first turns were back to back tacks.

More testing to follow -

W:117/PW:2/FD:66/F:4/S:18

Garage Works - 9/12/2024

And when I got back from winging, I spent a little time finishing these board repairs.  I plugged the leaking footstrap insert holes and capped them with fiberglass.  I should be able to get this back to Roland tomorrow.

Despite letting this board drain, it still feels like there is some water still inside.

And I finished sanding the repair on Rick's prone board.  I think I'll be able to get this board back to Rick on Saturday.

And the major activity today was dialing in the shape for Norm's Foil Drive prone board.  I got this through the coarse shaping.  Tomorrow I'll get the fine sanding done and mark out the track box location.