The Anointment of No.44 - 8/28/2026

Yesterday I got in an afternoon session at Hickam to anoint No.44

Earlier in the day I opened the tracks and got a leash cord placed so the board was ready to get wet!!!

I set up the AFS Enduro 1100/HA40 on the 80cm UHM mast and used the setting from No.34 to start off.  

There was wind but it wasn't whitecapping - so I packed the BRM S3 5.3

Matt had just packed up (and said it was up and down), and Harris was launching.

I stayed inside today as I didn't trust the wind and I really wanted to focus on getting the feel of this board.

Taking off on this board is perceptionally different compared to No.34

With the nose and tail rocker - it seemed to release a lot earlier.

I tried all the transitions I was proficient with and the heelside tack kept throwing me.  I'm gonna say that the wind was shifting and that was why I was botching those -

I'm gonna need to run the foils to get the markings all set - but that's fun to do (not tedious).

This is going to be a fun board!!!!

PF:11/W:3/PW:99/FD:61/S:25