Parawing Session - 10/5/2025

Did a bunch of yard errands around the house and got some long term 'to-do's" finished... all the while the wind was blowing...

I got the green light to go ahead and get a parawing session in!!!

When I got to the beach, it looked bad - light wind...

I stood and watched it for a bit and periodically gusts would come through - it had a bunch of north in it so that explained the "light wind" look.

I figured this is all I got - might as well go out...

Same gear as the past several sessions

This session was actually pretty fun!

I had to look for gusts to get up onto foil, but I could feel the threshold that I needed to cross to get up was getting lower. These last several sessions having a go in lighter winds is starting to pay off.

I also got in several takeoffs going goofy in swell

Lots of north is an understatement

Definitely a low wind session - and definitely pushing the lower threshold.

Prayot was also out - and he got up on foil multiple times, but with a smaller foil and smaller parawing, he was not up on foil as much as I was.

The front end of the session turned out to be the better part.

The second half the wind was twisting and faltering - jibes were hard to get the PW to bank - but I ended up back where I started so this was a good session. 

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The wind is supposed to back down for the coming week, and the surf is also supposed to be smaller.  I'll likely finish fixing Felipe's mast and finish No.42

And my golfer's elbows could use the rest.

W:56/FD:122/PW:47/S:8

Parawing Session - 10/4/2025

After getting the fill coat on, the wind was blowing around the house.

I packed up the gear and decided to try Hickam (because I didn't want to deal with the weekend crowd at WPB).

There was some wind at Hickam - but it was up and down and on the lighter side.

Same gear as of late - big stuff for the light wind.

And it was pretty fun!

I am getting the hang of jibing the Flysurfer POW 5.0 - and the more I do it, the more fun it is becoming.  Getting the 5.0 to bank over gets pretty exciting - often with the parawing falling back in the wind window as I'm passing the board underneath it.

And to make it undisputable, I made a run out to First, jibed on a wave and rode it back inside. 

I did try to tack one - but I botched it and it was ugly.

I had moved the rear stabilizer into the forward position.  The foil felt livelier - 

And I also got three goofy starts in - all without drama.  I'm going to need to go to Kailua and try the goofy foot start out there to see if it is really sticking.

Most of the drops below are due to the lulls and not botched jibes (although a few are).

Super fun session!

W:56/FD:122/PW:46/S:8

Garage Works - 10/4/2025

I got the top deck and rails sanded to even out the high - low points.

Then I got the top deck fill coat on.

Then I added spot treatments in the pukas on the port rail.

I'll do another sanding tomorrow to see if I have to add more fill.

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 10/4/2025

Dawn patrolled WPB this morning with the Foil Drive.

Smaller waves, lowish tide and light offshore wind.

Most of the usual suspects were there -

I bolted on the Enduro 900 because the waves were small and flatter.  I also pulled out No.40 for the board speed.

Mark was catching smaller bumps on his Kalama Barracuda with the Enduro 1100

Andrew was out on his new to him Starboard 140 DW board.

I caught the set waves on the outside.  Some would run through to the inside - probably belly high (while up on foil).  Lots of carving opportunities on these.

Others would pop up and flatten out.  A few turns and done.

Then there was the efoil guy... zooming all around and inside the grumpy crowd... I didn't want to be associated with that guy so I went in...

14 rides and I came in with 60% battery

Might be some wind later today...

W:56/FD:122/PW:45/S:8

Garage Works - 10/3/2025

And I got some garage work done as well - 

Before heading out to foil, I sanded the bottom deck on No.42, cleaned off the dust and then applied the label decals (Mahalo Helen!!!)

I let those set in place for a few hours.

Then after dinner with La, I applied the fill coat.  6.5 + 3.2 epoxy on the first placement, then 2.5 + 1.00 on a follow-up batch for the rails and the decals.

I really like the iridescent decals!

Tomorrow I'll get the top deck fill coat in place and add more thickness to the rails (more fill added).

I'll likely be sanding on Sunday.

Evening Parawing Session - 10/3/2025

I was going to Foil Drive this afternoon, but the SE wind was blowing pretty hard.

I even did some ground handling before putting everything together just to make sure the wind was strong enough to parawing.

I set up No.34 with the AFS Enduro 1300/HA43 and flew the big Flysurfer POW 5.0

Onshore winds can be tricky...

And realistically my entire session was spent trying to get up on foil.  The wind was just under the get up threshold.  Too much for good Foil Drive-ing, and not enough to get up on parawing.

After resetting my watch 3x I was just about to call it a skunk - but...

Close in to shore, where I knew there was a trough in the bottom and I wouldn't hit bottom, I picked up a gust and got up on foil!!!

I had to do an immediate jibe - which oddly enough I made smoothly - then headed out to get some ground made up.

I had to do an outside jibe - where the parawing almost came back on me, but I was able to pull it off.  I rode some swell and headed in.

However short, this counts!

I'm glad I have been practicing taking off goofy foot - that was probably the sole reason I was able to get up on foil.

I'm stoked to not have gotten skunked!

W:56/FD:121/PW:45/S:8

Evening Foil Drive Session - 10/2/2025

Slightly smaller than yesterday - but still fun.

Large crew out today - Brent, Prayot, Roland, Robby, Stu and me

And this guy - 

I swapped out the foil to the Silk 850/142 - I LOVE THIS FOIL!!!

Similar stats to yesterday - but I had better battery usage today.

And even the track pattern was similar to yesterday.

Lots of hard turns today with the Silk 850!!!!

And some rides were ridiculously long.

I know I had a couple of missed waves - so I'm calling the wave count at 18 today.

Fun session!  And I talked board building with Brent afterwards - 

W:56/FD:121/PW:44/S:8

Evening Foil Drive Session - 10/1/2025

Roland and I were Foil Drive-ing the second reef breaks at WPB today.

There were some fun waves on the sets.

Medium tide, slight texture on the water.

I set up the Enduro 900/HA40 on No.41

And I used a smaller ABS plastic sheet to cover the trench void

For some reason I burned through the battery pretty quick today.

Lots of carving on taller faces - so much fun!!!

20 rides in an hour!!!

When the waves are flatter, the Enduro 900 really shines.  Any bigger and the Silk 850 would kick in.  Maybe tomorrow....

W:56/FD:120/PW:44/S:8