Last Sunset of 2024

And I got home just in time to unpack the truck, pack the truck with beach chairs and family, then head right back to Pavilions.

We went to take Holiday pictures and enjoy the last sunset of 2024 together!

And there it is -

So relaxing!!!

Aloha 2024!!!

Wing Foiling Session - 12/31/2024

I was hoping to get out of work early today - that did not happen.  And I had to make a pit stop at Home Depot - so since I had all my gear with me, I headed straight to the beach.

Norm said he was going to Pavilions, so off I went.

The wind seemed a little light and the direction seemed to be side-offshore.

Same gear as yesterday, but I swapped out the AFS Enduro 700 for the 900.

Today's session was actually really fun.

I pulled upwind to Fenceline and got to surf a few waves with Roland.  Then I took my time and headed back down to Campgrounds.  I surfed there for a bit - then kept moving down.

The waves were small, but shifting to a downwind mentality and looking for bumps to pick up and stay on was a different type of fun.  It's not that I haven't done this before - it's just been a while since the swell was tiny.

Norm was demoing a Code 1130 setup from Robby.  He looked like he was having a good session on that foil.

The wind had a few holes in it - but not like yesterday.

The wind chart and my speed graph correlate almost perfectly today!

2024 has been a good year.  I accomplished my goal of being comfortable with my toe-side tacks.  I built several boards.  I rekindled my love for surfing.  And despite the multiple scars I got from the reef and foils, I'm in good health and so is my family and friends (did have a scare with Roland).

I am looking forward to 2025 and being able to parawing, maybe get a snowboarding trip in with the family (but only after I get the house painted and more bills paid off), and to continue to be happy with life.

Happy 2025 everyone!!!

W:157/PW:2/FD:102/F:5/S:29

Wing Foiling Session - 12/30/2024

The forecast called for strong winds today - but during the timeframe I could be out on the water, it was supposed to be a really low tide (0.3') - that means going to Hickam (or Pavilions)

Mark let me borrow his AFS equipment while he is out of town so....

First up at bat - the AFS Enduro 700

In a nutshell - this foil is incredible!!!

And the engine for today - the trusty North Nova Pro 5.0

This was a good call as the wind was really up and down.  And the low end on this wing really helps with the smaller foils.

I wanted to get the session in and then get packed up in order to beat the traffic home.  These are good stats for the pinched session.

With the wind as up and down as it was, I did not see the need to go outside - and there weren't any waves anyways.

As long as there is wind, this foil stayed up.  Tons of glide - but just not big enough to pump (and least not during the first run).

It does tack decently easy (again as long as there is power to be tapped) - and jibes were really fun.

Good wind when it wasn't lulling.

And in flat water sessions, the speed runs - 

This is where this foil shines - fast but not too jittery.

Fast, but not noisy.  And you don't feel like you are going as fast as you are.

This is also with no footstraps - but where this foil balanced out, I could have used the footstraps (unlike yesterday with the bigger foil - and F One foils like to sit further back than the AFS foils).

This foil is a pleasure to use - but first impressions are that this feels a lot like the F One Eagle 890 and 690 - and those two foils are faster.  I'll need to do more testing on this foil - but knowing what I know, I think the Silk 850 would be a better foil to own (unreal surfing/carving ability - unlike any other foil I've used).

W:156/PW:2/FD:102/F:5/S:29

Crossing Paths

And Matt setup No.35 -

I couldn't help but line up No.39 to see where my head was at these different points in time. 

This picture is interesting - No.39 follows the same general shape as No.38 (Norm's FD board), No.37 (the FD board Marvin bought) and No.36 (the last pure wing board that I built).

No.35 follows No.34

Both these shapes get off the water quickly - but what I can't say is which gets off the water fastest.

This is where No.40 is going to come in - it will follow No.34 and No.35

Since No.39 and No.40 will be the same length, I can look at whether a flat/rectangular tail works better than a V'd triangular tail - for both winging and Foil Drive-ing.

From this angle, No.39 reminds me of the KT Super K with the Drifter 4 bottom.

And I went ahead and cut out the template from the blank for No.40

This is going to be 5'7" x 19.5" - again with the volume pushed forward.

I may still put footstrap inserts in - but just the front ones.

These mid-length boards are really fun to build and ride!!!

Wing Foiling Session - 12/29/2024

The wind was forecasted to fill in today.  The forecast has also downshifted from nuking winds to comfortably wingable.  It's still wind so you take what you are given and you are grateful.

When I got there I checked the conditions and Matt walked up.  After catching up a bit, Zack and Naomi also arrived so there was a quorum.  By the time everyone had chatted up, the wind had filled in nicely.

I specifically came to Hickam to get the Eagle 1090/DW210 setup on No.39.

From my experience on the KT Dragonfly, The F One Eagle 1090 sits a notch further back than the AFS Enduro 1300 - which on this board is getting critical (as the 1090 is sitting almost at the very back of the tracks).  This is where the board-foil balanced out, and I did not change it during the run.

This wing is quickly becoming my go to daily driver - light wind (with floaty board and big front foil) all the way to just under nuking, the Nova Pro handles it all!

And today I brought out the GoPro Hero 13 that I got for Christmas!  This is such a small action camera - I haven't used it much (this is the first time) but I love it already.

The take-away from today's session is I don't need the footstraps on this board - which is a shame because of all the extra work that went into placing the inserts into the build.

I may still place them on the board if I'm going to be using the tiny foils (as they usually get a little twitchy).

The waves were tiny - wasn't worth being out at Firsts when I could do the same stuff (transition practice) on the inside.  I did get to ride some of the micro waves - always fun!

The rest of the time I was just working on getting the feel of the Eagle 1090 on No.39

Some correlation - but not exact today.

After I got back home, Mark called me asnd asked if I would like to borrow his AFS stuff - I said yes and headed over to pick it up.  I really only needed the Enduro 700 - but we were both pressed for time so I just took everything.

Tomorrow may see the Enduro 700 in motion....

W:155/PW:2/FD:102/F:5/S:29

Wing Foiling Session - 12/28/2024

The wind was forecasted to come up today - but only to marginal conditions for winging.  Which was fine for me as I have been wanting to get the AFS Enduro 1300 and the KT Dragonfly together in preparation for parawinging.

Hickam has long been my testing grounds for getting equipment setup - 

And here is the setup I've been waiting for (so I can begin my parawing journey).

This is where the foil balanced out with the board initially.  I eventually moved it forward to get a tiny bit more front foot pressure - but it's all settled now.

The winds were really light - and the Nova Pro worked perfectly!

This was a good session to get this equipment dialed in.  There were lots of holes, and I got to pump through a few of them, but several didn't have to push to keep me above the Enduro 1300's stall speed.

Still lots of North in the wind.  I stuck with jibes mostly just to make sure I didn't come off foil - but I did get in a few heel-to-toe tacks.

Not ideal by a long shot - but it was good to know I can go in this level of light wind.

You can see the correlation pretty well between the run and the reported wind speeds.

Now I can bring this set of equipment out to parawing - 

W:154/PW:2/FD:102/F:5/S:29

Dawn Patrol - 12/27/2024

Waves were slightly bigger, but also less consistent than yesterday.

Tide on the paddle out was a little fuller (so I didn't hit bottom today).

Same FD gear as of late - in fact I haven't broken this stuff down in the last 3 sessions (but I did today).

Today's session was a lot of fun!  Although there were more surfers/SUPs on the outside than normal (and today is a Friday), there were still plenty of waves for everyone to have their own rides.

And the swell seemed to have west wrap in it.

It was breaking steadily early on - but then it backed off considerably.

At this point I started moving back to the inside and picked up waves again.

I'll call this 13 rides today.  Less than normal, but quality is always better than quantity.

Wind is in the forecast for the weekend... it is just a matter of when -

W:153/PW:2/FD:102/F:5/S:29

Evening Session - 12/26/2024

I got in a second session at Pavilions with Marvin and Norm.

Same setup as this morning.

The wind was light, the tide lower than this morning (but this place is still deep enough to foil without grounding - most of the time).

Fun session!

There were a few guys over at the break towards Swabbies using tow boogies.

The waves here are shorter than at WPB (deeper water), but if you were patient, a nice chest sized set came through and gave long rides (going right)

I came late so I was trying to burn through my battery.

15 rides in under an hour.

W:153/PW:2/FD:101/F:5/S:29

And Norm was super kind sharing some fish he caught yesterday - dinner was yummy!!!

Dawn Patrol - 12/26/2024

Marlon and I dawn patrolled WPB.

There were nicely breaking waves, but the tide was pretty low.

Marlon brought his longboard (Jackie) and I brought No.34 with the Spitfire 960/Skinny 365 combo on the Project Cedrus Aluminum mast.

I had a blast!  And several of my rides were 3/4/5 recycles (mostly 3s, but I did get in a solid 5).

The only downer was on one of my repeats I got inside pretty close to shore.  I thought I was still in deep water, but when I came down I ended up grounding and teetering (ugh).  I got the stab at one of the tips and the trailing edge of one of the front foil sides.  I already fixed/sanded these (along with the Eagle 890 where I touched bottom paddling out yesterday).

Those loops towards the left are some of the recycled rides.

18 rides - I love this shit!!!

W:153/PW:2/FD:100/F:5/S:29