I went back to Hickam today - specifically to get more practice in on starting goofy footed and jibing (with the Flysurfer POW 5.0)
Wind was up and down (I sound like a broken record on this topic).
Same gear as the second session from yesterday.
I took a different perspective on parawinging today - this is less like winging and more like kite foiling. With that mindset, a lot of today's actions were easier.
I slowed down the transitions and had a better success rate. And I practiced the heck out of starting on starboard tack (goofy foot for me on the south shore). I will admit it is getting easier - hopefully that will be the case at WPB-PV so I don't have to venture way out to start.
I had to remind myself that a bigger parawing is usually the better bet than what you would think initially - the trees were moving around nicely, but the wind wasn't really visible on the water. Based on the trees I would have packed the Ka'a 4.8. But I ended up taking the big one - the Flysurfer POW 5.0
And I never felt overpowered. In fact for periods during the end of the session, I was perfectly powered and not even hooked in to the harness line. I really like the Flysurfer POW 5.0
Midway through the session, I saw a guy in the water and an efoil motoring away from him. I knew I'd lose a bunch of ground, but when someone is in trouble the law of the sea is you help. I had to chase his board down and it too forever to catch (it was still on and running in gear). I caught it and started heading back to him.
After that, I had some ground to make up. I drifted a bit waiting for a gust - and once I got up on foil, I was close to the reef line. With the high tide I just went over it and wanted to ride it out a bit. I ended up riding to inside Firsts. I jibed on a wave and rode back to the inside harbor area.
First to parawing Firsts!!!!
I worked a lot on my jibes. I made some really ugly crashes and got yanked off the board trying a high-speed tack. I got wrapped up in the parawing a couple of times. So there was a lot of bad.
But through all that, I think I got some muscle memory developed on the good jibes. Because this POW 5.0 is a bigger wing, it is harder to initiate the turn. But combining back stalling with a pivot turn (of the PW, not the board) had a bit better rate of success for me today. I'll take that as a win with all the shifty wind out there.
And the floaty feeling the foil and parawing had chasing tension and drift - what a cool sensation!!! This never happened in winging - everything was "tighter". Wondering if I'm going to come out of a jibe moving is the exciting part!
Parawinging rules!!!
W:56/FD:115/PW:41/S:8
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