Evening Foil Drive Session - 9/11/2025

Today the trades started back up - but I had a full Foil Drive battery that I needed to discharge to storage levels so I left the parawinging gear at home.

And as luck would have it the wind stayed up at wingable levels to despite the forecasts.  Because of that the waves were a little textured.

Taking a que from the last session, I bolted on the Enduro 900/HA40 to be able to glide through flat spots and catch the faster waves that would otherwise not pick me up.

Roland was out also - and he was saying the same thing - "it's wingable", "I need to discharge this battery", "it's choppy"

I really love the Enduro 900 - this foil can do anything!!!

Lots of carves - mainly going right today

16 rides in under an hour

Roland went in earlier than I did.  He felt his prop out of whack again.  And it broke off just before he landed.

I think it is the efoiling around that tears up the hub/bolts.

Tomorrow will be parawinging -

W:56/FD:115/PW:31/S:8

Garage Works - 9/10/2025

I skipped out on beach time today and I spent that time forwarding the two projects I have in the garage.

Dialing in the shape of No.42 was the big one.

Here's the banana board with the details all chased down.

And from the port side.

I'm still toying around with the idea of using a divynicell deck sheet to reduce some additional weight and increase the board deck skin strength.

If I work on the board tomorrow, it'll be cutting out the block slot on the bottom deck and possibly the top deck d-cell sheet.

I also worked on the mast repair Felipe asked if I could do.  I didn't take a picture, but the progress is slow and steady (to prevent any issues)

Evening Foil Drive Session - 9/9/2025

Fol Drive session with Roland, Norm and Stu (Duke prone foiled later).

The wind from Hurricane Kiko was influencing the local weather - swirling wind.

Head high surf on the sets - but pretty full tide.

Same setup as Sunday - but I switched out the HA40 rear stabilizer to the Silk 142.

I didn't scratch the Silk 850 today - I did enough of that on Sunday.  I could still put another coat or two over the badly scratched areas - but for now the repair work is fine.

The tide kept the waves from breaking more consistently on the outside.  But inside - they stood up pretty vertical (super fun to carve up).

I had to do a quick partial charge on my HO battery - so I didn't have the entire battery available.  And I also thought the boost wasn't adjusted for maximum output (from switching between the regular Max battery).  And the last excuse I'll put out there is the Silk 850 vs the Enduro 900 - the Silk picks up steeper waves better, but flatter waves slower.

Went right mostly today to avoid the surfers at Fenceline.

13 rides - and the 142 stabilizer opened up the Silk 850 even more... 

I'm going to have to move the mast back a notch if I'm going to stick with the Silk rear stabilizer (it has more down force than the HA40).

Fun session!!!

W:56/FD:114/PW:31/S:8

Evening Session - 9/7/2025

And to wash off the Garage Works (foam dust), I went back for a surf session this evening.

Surf was STACKED!!!  Overhead on the set waves and the consistency was really good.

I opted to take the J Splee Surfboards Hammah Fish.

I caught three incredible waves - head to just overhead waves that had tremendous push and didn't closeout!

Today is probably one of the best riding days I've had a in a long time!

If the swell holds into tomorrow, I may use the Firewire Revo Max -

W:56/FD:113/PW:31/S:8

Garage Works - 9/7/2025

I got more work done on No.42

Mast track aligned and marked up.

I'll probably route out the slot tomorrow.

And I refined the rocker and the tail volume some more.

It seems more balanced now (but still rearward biased).

And after a lot of wet sanding and 3 fills, I got the Silk 850 back to top hydrodynamic shape.

I could actually put a couple more fills and sand some more... but this is good enough for now.

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 9/7/2025

Foil Drive dawn patrol at PV.  The sets were gnarly!!!!

Conditions were SO GOOD!!!

Swapped out the Enduro 900 for the Silk 850 - fun overload!!!

I used two batteries - first up was the HO

I grounded the foil shortly after flipping the board over (#$@%&33!!!!!)

About 20 minutes in, a bomber set rolled through - ultra clean wrenching waves reeling left

I had some glorious rides!!!  I'm calling them head and half (while up on foil - so double overhead on a surfboard)

14 rides!!!

Swapped out when Stu was swapping batteries.

The swell was more consistent - the tide was dropping.

I predominantly went left (to avoid getting crushed going right).

10 rides on the second battery.  Incredible rides -

And to pay the taxes, I was riding to get in and I guess I didn't realize how much the tide dropped.  I grounded hard while riding and got thrown off the board.

Needless to say I did a bunch of sanding this afternoon.  Oddly enough these did not upset me as much as I think I normally would have been - these "scars" will be a great reminder of the incredible session!

W:56/FD:113/PW:31/S:7

Garage Works - 9/6/2025

I spent some time dialing in the rough shaping of No.42

Here's the result of today's effort - 

Port side looking at tail forward to the nose

Side on view

Port side nose looking back towards the tail

Starboard side nose looking back

And more starboard side nose.

I'll sleep on the shape as is for a day.  I already think I need to trim some foam from the tail (bottom rails) and clean up the top deck near the tail.  Then I'll fine tune the shape by sanding and install the mast track block.

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 9/6/2025

Mixing things up a bit.  Went to Hickam to Foil Drive with Bill and Ryan.

Near calm conditions.  But the waves were on the smaller side.

No.41 with the AFS Enduro 900/HA40

First time using the FD Split Bolts.  Lowest drag solution for securing the unit and mast to the board.

Split time between Seconds (until it got crowded) and Firsts (kinda small).

16 rides (one triple!!! and multiple doubles)

Nice catching up with these guys!

W:56/FD:112/PW:31/S:7

Parawing Session - 9/5/2025

This picture was taken at the end of the session (driven back to WPB after the DW run).  The wind had dropped off like it normally does in the afternoon.

But the waves were largely the same - small 

The wind was a different story.  Driving in the whitecaps were everywhere and the wind was hard from the SE.  I picked up Stu and Norm from PV to do a DW from WPB.  By the time I launched, I could see the wind evaporating AGAIN!!!!

I had to paddle to chase the wind line.  And I even contemplated paddling back in and aborting.  But then I said fuck it - I'm out with two Foil Drive-rs and worst case is I can ask for a tow.  Luckily for me the clouds parted and the wind came back strong enough to get a good session.

Same gear as usual

Pretty good stats considering the first 1/3 SUCKED!!!

Once I got past the CG wind shadow, I was up on foil for the remainder of the session.

I even rode several waves - and jibed straight onto the ride (jibed onto inbound rising waves).

This is Hickam's chart - but the Kalaeloa one was way off.

I didn't want to come off foil or even risk it - so I would just fly the PW in neutral while riding waves.  The Maliko does drift well while I was riding.

I'm glad I stuck it out!  Going DW definitely takes the pressure (to hold the line) off.

W:56/FD:111/PW:31/S:7