Dawn Patrol Foil Drive-ing - 4/28/2025

Two battery dawn patrol at Hickam this morning!!!

First session - super glassy conditions and the swell was pushing good energy into Firsts!!!

I used the same setup as yesterday, but swapped out the Silk 142 rear stabilizer for the HA40.  I left the mast where I had marked it from yesterday.

And what a difference!!!  This setup was perfect in every way!!!  Super hard turns and fluid transitions.

After yesterday's adjustments, I was a little puzzled by the position the Silk 850 ended up being in (further back than the Enduro 900).  I stuck with it and with the HA40, it was spot on target!

You can see all the turning I was doing and even that they were tight.  It is amazing what changing one small detail can do!

13 rides by speed and distance measures.

And while I was in for a battery change out, I went ahead and switched out the foil to the Enduro 900 (with the HA40 rear stabilizer).

I originally set the mast where I had it marked off for the E900 previously.

I ended up changing it multiple times - pretty much after every couple of waves.

I did cross over to Seconds and caught some fun bombs over there.  The rest of the time I was at Firsts replicating the first run.  There was also an onshore breeze kicking up early (so not as glassy as the first session).

I had originally thought the Enduro 900 setup where I had it was the best turning foil I've ever used.  And after the final adjust I would say the Enduro 900 properly setup is one of the most versatile foils I've ever used - it turns almost as hard as the Silk 850 (and not nearly as effortlessly), and it can glide through soft sections with very little effort.  I can also pump it out way better than the Silk 850, and by the data charts - given the same conditions, the Enduro is faster.  But the Silk 850 rolls so much better than the Enduro - so the Silk takes the carving crown!!!

15 rides by both metrics.

It was a full house today!  Dennis, myself, Bill, Jesse, Grant, and Arvin pretty much spent the entire time trading waves.  Super fun sessions today!!!

I'm counting this as two sessions today even though I was at the same spot.

W:31/FD:63/PW:1/S:4

Garage Works - 4/26/2025

Yesterday I got more work on Roland's board repair.

I sanded the epoxy fill at the bottom deck nose.

Then I sanded the first fill coat on the track box replacement area.

I filled this drain hole with thickened epoxy and a fiberglass cap.

And then I got a second fill coat on top.

I have some honey-do items I have to knock out, but this afternoon I'm going to get the fiber glass patches on the top deck to reinforce the signal windows and the footstrap insert. 

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 4/26/2025

Really good conditions this morning - except the low tide.  Weekend crew out - Andrew, Mark, Kalani, Dennis, Roland, Noel, Marvin and others.

Similar size to yesterday afternoon minus the choppy drama.

Same setup as yesterday evening - I want to get this foil position dialed in.

HO battery - and I was gentle with the throttle so nearly 3 hours of runtime.

When the sets came, the waves were well overhead.  I think I need to switch out to a different rear stabilizer.  I felt like I had some good turns - but Marvin said I was turning the Enduro 900 tighter.  On the bigger ones, I actually felt that I was overfoiled on the Silk 850...

Looking at the speed chart, I got 19 rides.  I know I missed multiple waves, so not every line here is a ride.

Now looking at the distance chart, I still got 19 rides.  So this is a good way to corroborate the data.

Super fun session!

W:31/FD:61/PW:1/S:4

Evening Foil Drive Session - 4/25/2025

After missing two days because of the onshore south winds, I was going today regardless of the conditions.

The winds were there - and Roland and I went out anyways.

Nice high tide, pretty good energy levels in the water pulsing up from the southern hemisphere....

No.40 with some change outs - I used the original motor with the 15cm cable and the AFS Silk 850/142 rear stabilizer.

Once I got the characteristics of the foil down, this thing ROCKED!!!  The differences are well publicized - but you often don't get it until you experience it.

The Silk 850 is a devastating carving weapon - and it cut through big white water with zero drama.  I could feel the turbulence, but I never lost lift while moving through the aerated zone.  Not many foils out there that could do that.

The Enduro 900 also carves, but it isn't as visceral and it glides and pumps through the flats with ease. 

Today was challenging - the waves were really fat so they were hard to get on and stay out in front of.  And when I did get on them - they were jacking (and thus the opportunity to carve hard).

And Roland was finally getting up and riding using the Foil Drive.  He was getting up on both feet much faster.

He got even better (catching waves more consistently and riding) when the wind died back and we had moved over to the Cabins side.

22 rides on this choppy wave, challenging day.

I'm going to keep riding the AFS Silk 850 for a bit -

W:31/FD:60/PW:1/S:4

Rejuvenated Parawing Interest

There has been a lot of parawing development going on - and it has peaked my interest again.

I had originally planned on Foil Drive-ing - but there was a light onshore breeze that was making the water pretty choppy.

Instead of heading home, I went to Pavilions to check out the conditions there (I was talking to Scotty about it when he was at the house picking up the big board).

And I decided to breakout the parawing and fly it.  

It's hard to break this out instead of a wing when the conditions are supportive of flying the PW.  But again with all the videos coming out of people doing pretty much the same stuff they do on wings with the PV, it has been drawing my attention.

I did make a commitment to myself that I was going to learn to parawing this year... probably time to start acting on that.  I need to remind myself it is ok to suck at something if it helps me develop more. 

Garage Works - 4/24/2025

I got this board back out to its owner today.

And then turned my attention to getting Roland's board all fixed up.

I sanded the epoxy work from yesterday (2 windows and a footstrap insert on top, window on the bottom), then added a fill coat of epoxy on the bottom work.

I also found some cracks up near the nose and got those opened and filled.

Here's the first fill coat on the bottom work.

I'll do another sand and fill tomorrow.  I'm hoping to get this one back to Roland by Sunday - I've been formulating No.41 in my head and want to start shaping it.

Garage Works - 4/22/2025

I spent a little time this afternoon working on the repair boards.

Here are the tracks opened up on Roland's Orca board.

And here are the tracks opened up on Uncle Joe's board.  I only need to sand and spray clear coat on this one and it is done.

And I have been researching the parameters to try and get better prints from PETG - this driver holder actually came out really nice.

Behind it is a whistle - but it isn't as loud as the description made it out to be.  Going to have to print out a bunch of the other one I printed so the downwind crew can be all whistled up (for safety).

Evening Foil Drive Session - 4/22/2025

Good energy in the water today (101 kJ being reported).  Unfortunately it was a pretty low tide.

Roland and Marvin out Foil Drive-ing!!!

And today was the first day I Foil Drove with the AFS Enduro 700 (Mahalo to Mark for letting me borrow it).

Using the last setting from Sunday's winging session, I looked at the differences in the Enduro 900 positioning - wing and FD - and used that to position the mast for the first run.

We all headed out - but Roland and I had to turn back because our drives weren't picking up throttle signals.  After resetting the batteries, we headed out again.

I rode the E700 as is for several waves - but it had that same sense of "stickiness".  I pulled it back a 1/4" and it felt much better.

I was hooking some good turns with this foil - tomorrow I'll try again and push the rear stabilizer up to the forward position and see if that helps loosen up the turns. 

Roland is getting more rides every session.  He was on the Vyper today and he didn't get thrown/bucked off once.

17 rides for me in under an hour.

Epic!!!!

W:31/FD:59/PW:1/S:4

Garage Works - 4/20/2025

Instead of dawn patrolling this morning, I went ahead and got the board repairs in the garage forwarded.

I trimmed the slot in Roland's board so the mast track reinforcement block would fit.

Then I laminated a layer of fiberglass at the bottom of the slot.  And I went ahead and got the block epoxied in place.

While that was hardening, I sanded the big board and got one last fill coat in for good measure.  I'll sand this tomorrow and open up the tuttle and the track slots.

After that, this one should be done.

And after the winging session, I found myself back in the garage.

I used the small Bosch electric planer and got the corners faded in and the lip on the tracks removed.  I used the sander and took down the remaining high points and got this ready for laminating.

Nicely faded in

Same lamination schedule I've been using recently.

And here it is all laminated.

I'll drill in the bottom deck signal window tomorrow.  I'll also sand the edge of the carbon and fill the signal window and the drainage hole Roland cut into the tail.

Then there are the fill coats, sandings, cutting open the tracks, footstrap inserts on the top deck, signal window up top, sanding, filling, sanding, and clear coat.

Probably will be done by next weekend.

Wing Foiling Session - 4/20/2025

The wind came up early today - when I got to a stopping point on the garage work, I headed over to Hickam (since the tide was pretty low).  I also wanted to dial in the AFS Enduro 700 -

This is where the foil balanced out for me.  I had it set further forward for about half the session - but it seemed like I was having to exert some front foot pressure.  I didn't want to make the adjustment earlier because I didn't want to have to deal with the up and down shifty wind to get back up.  But eventually I did pull the mast back and what a difference!

Getting up on this foil did take a little more effort than the Enduro 900 - but that's to be expected.  As long as the wing was powered, it wasn't an issue.

I had actually wanted to cycle through the stabilizers to see what would work best for the E700 - but I just used the HA40 in the rear position.

The E700 surfs - no surprise and no complaints.  I think next time I'll push the stabilizer up to the short fuselage position to see if it loosens up. 

Pretty up and down.  But at least there is wind that is wingable.

I think with the HA38 I can get this foil over 25mph.

The 23.1mph came from the inside speed runs.

Fun session!!!

W:31/FD:58/PW:1/S:4