Foil Drive-ing - 1/3/2025

I helped Marlon take his car to get fixed today so I couldn't hit the dawn patrol.  Once we got some errands and some work done, I got him back home and then I went to WPB to get a Foil Drive session in.

Same gear as last time - but I did move the mast and FD back a 1/2"

The foil is now neutral footed - it's lift profile is progressive instead of front foot heavy.

And there were waves - you just had to be patient.

There are 15 rides in here - and some were really long.  Lots of hook turns, bouncing off sections - in fact walls were uncommon today.  If you focused on what was in front of you, the rides were really fun - if you were looking too far ahead, you would be disappointed.

There are a few botched rides in here also - still getting used to this setup - particularly the board considering the amount of time I've spent on No.34

I think I need to bring the mast forward a tiny amount to get the setup perfect - that's for tomorrow.

W:1/FD:2/PW:1

Parawing Humble Pie - 1/2/2025

And in the afternoon, the wind was blowing through the neighborhood - enough to pique my interest.

I had originally planned on using the Foil Drive again - but I went ahead and brought the parawing and the KT Dragonfly.

It was whitecapping at Pavilions...

Norm setup his winging gear - so I set up the parawing gear.

KT Dragonfly + BRM Maliko 5.1 + AFS Enduro 1300

Here is where the mast/foil balanced out on the board.  I used the shorter 75 cm mast

This was pretty much a humble pie eating session.

There were enough waves coming through that it made staying up on the board challenging.

I did get up once - but again with the waves, I wasn't able to stay on foil long.  But I did get up!

From this I am finding that I need a solid 15mph to get up.  Flatter water would also be nice - until I get the technique down. 

And heading back goofy was an immense challenge.

The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single footstep -

You eat the elephant one bite at a time - 

These and more were bouncing around in my head while I was struggling.

W:1/FD:1/PW:1

Dawn Patrol - 1/2/2025

The wind forecast is getting iffy and after today the wind is supposed to be pretty much gone.  I figured I'd get a dawn patrol session in early in case I end up doing other things this afternoon.

Conditions were nice - slight side offshore breeze, really high tide and even some waves to ride! 

I setup No.39 with the starboard foot strap in place so I could see if it is out of the way when Foil Drive-ing.

And I also brought No.39 out to continue getting more used to it (No.34 is just too easy).

Pretty typical session - but definitely was better earlier.  Matt, Chris and Kamaka were all out.  And there were two other guys out towards the end of my session (and they were pricks - taking off behind me and cutting me off - but whatever, I can catch anything).

No patterns today - also no recycling trips.

I did miss a couple and got bad foot placement on a couple more - so I'm calling this 18 waves

Good first FD session of the year!!!

W:1/FD:1

Wing Foiling Session - 1/1/2025

After running errands with La and Noe I noticed the wind was up, I got home, loaded up the truck and hit the beach to get in a wing session.

The tide was low.  The waves were small (but bigger than this morning).  And the wind was up and down.

I setup the same gear as yesterday - and added a single front foot strap (port side) so I could lift the board with my foot when headed in.

And I paddled out -

Prayot was on his way in.  Roland had just paddled out ahead of me.  Kalani and Eddy were both outside and riding.

I had a heck of a time getting to where there was enough wind to get me up.  The AFS Enduro foils need more wind to get going - with a good gust, a couple of slow long pulls on the wing, and a proper coaxing of the foil and you get up pretty quick.  As long as you have that good gust -

You can see how far I made it out before I picked up that gust (green circle).

After that it was almost one long single ride.  The wind did have holes in it and on one of them I ran out of juice and came down.  With the marginal conditions today I really should have setup the KT Dragonfly and the AFS Enduro 1300 - but the fact that I got the performance I had from No.39 and the AFS Enduro 900 - that's a testament to the glide and power of the 900.  I would have used the F One Eagle 1090/DW210 if Mark hadn't loaned me his AFS setup.  

There was wind blowing - but it didn't have guts in it (little power for the perceived amount of movement).  It also felt more easterly than the chart above shows.

Pretty close correlation between the two again.

Note the top speed.  This is something that I'm noticing about the AFS Enduro foils - the top speed is not as high as you would think based on the performance.  You feel like you are going faster - I would have thought I was much closer to 20mph.

Based on the F One foils I already have, and the faster top speeds from them, I think I am going to skip out on the AFS Enduro foils for now (and buy Marvin's AFS Silk 850 from him - that foil is the best wave carving foil I have ever used).

If the wind comes up tomorrow and the waves are as small as they were today, I'm going to bring out the Dragonfly and the parawing.

W:1