Evening Foil Drive Session - 1/7/2026

Marlon and I hit WP this afternoon - both foiling.  Light wind, low tide and when the sets came through, good waves.

There were a ton of kooks out today.

I specifically needed to Foil Drive today so I could take pictures of where I place my feet.  I need this info to set the foot straps on No.43

This was one of the better waves today.

Here is the picture I need - now I can line up where I need to place the divynicell blocks

There was a lot of water moving around and both Roland and I would get randomly ejected.

Marlon got up on foil three times.

13 rides

Fun session even though it was more like getting cracks

If the conditions tomorrow are like today, I may surf -

PW:3/FD:2/S:1

Parawing Session - 1/6/2026

The wind was blowing all day -

I got home and packed up the parawinging gear.  No.34 with the AFS 85cm UHM mast, Enduro 1300/HA43, short fuselage.

Power courtesy of the BRM Maliko (V1) 5.1m

Roland came out (but later).

Wind was largely perfect for the Maliko 5.1 - save a lull that kept me down for a bit. 

The waves were head high on the sets - not sure where they came from but what a gift in the middle of winter.

I had a handful of waves where I doused and rode for a really long time - this is one of the reasons why I parawing.

The Maliko does not have the drift that the Flysurfer has.  When the waves weren't big enough to carry me without the PW, I would ride and keep the PW high, but it pulled more than I would have preferred.

Lots of parallels between the two charts.

Fantastic session!!!!

PW:3/FD:1/S:1

Evening Session - 1/5/2026

I helped La put away the Christmas decorations today after work.  Then I headed to the beach for a late (and quick) surf session.

I wanted to try the Seaside and Beyond with the Machado Quads.

The surf was typical WPB - there was a side on wind and it was pretty overcast.

The waves were thigh to belly high.  If you chose your spot in the lineup well, there were good takeoffs to be had.

My first wave was my best - nice drop, bottom turn and setup for an off the top.  The second one was fun but I didn't have much length on that wave.  And the third was even shorter.  By that time the sun was dropping behind the horizon and light was fading.

I can see the Tappy Quads working well in this board.  And even the heel side Ryan Burch Asymmetric fins would go well on this board.  More experimenting!!! 

PW:2/FD:1/S:1

Garage Works - 1/4/2026

Lots of rain today.  La and Noe and I ran some errands - but when we got home, I got more work done on No.43

Marked up the blank for where the top deck foam block (glued to the top of the reinforcement block for a direct connection) would go.

Then I routed out the reinforcement block slot.

Followed by the top deck block slot.

Here's the blank with the two slots cut in.

Mast Track Block gets glued in first -

Followed by the top deck block.

Picture of the top deck block getting glued in.

Tomorrow (or whenever I get to work on the board again) I'll plane off the excess top deck block foam, do the final fine sanding (to blend in the two blocks), and get the foot strap inserts prepared.

If all goes well, I'll be laminating by this weekend.

Fishing Trip - 1/3/2026

Saturday surf and wind were forecasted to be meh -

I got a text from Norm asking if I wanted to go fishing - twist my arm!!!

And I brought Marlon along.

The trip yielded two smaller mahi and this perfect eating sized striped marlin!!!

The first mahi was a double strike - but the second one came off the hook.

The second strike was a double again - two marlin!!!

The second one came off also - but that was a blessing in disguise (handling two is a handful - handling one is a handful).

The marlin ran twice.

Then the pole it was fighting cracked near the upper 1/4th.

Then after missing it with the gaff twice, the line broke and Norm just had it in his hand.

It took everyone in the boat but we landed the marlin!!!!

Epic day of fishing!!!!

Mahalo Norm for the day of fishing!!!

Parawing Session - 1/2/2026

Strong wind at the Plains today!

Tide was still on the low side - had to paddle out past the breaking waves line to get deep enough to flip the board.

Small waves locally generated by the wind.

Monk seal enjoying the beach -

Same board and foil as yesterday - switched out the parawing to the BRM Maliko 5.1

The wind was really good!  But the swell was not big enough to carry me on foil only (so no retracting the parawing). 

The Maliko 5.1 was slightly overpowered for about half the session.  And it was underpowered for about 10% of the time (lull about the middle of the session).  Perhaps the POW 4.0 and/or the Enduro 1100 would have been better to handle today's conditions

I tried to get some tacks in - but I wasn't able to complete them.  I did get a down loop jibe in.  The Maliko has pretty direct steering (compared to the Flysurfer POW) - I'm not sure why I can't get tacks (again).  I'll have to get to Hickam and practice again.

But it felt good to get a down loop in.

There's that lull -

Days like this have been rare as of late - 

PW:2/FD:1

Parawing Session - 1/1/2026

The wind was starting to fill in... and I got out for a second session today!

The waves were even smaller than this morning.  The wind at the beach was not as strong as I thought it would be.  It would gust and fill in nicely - then drop off and stay low.

No.34, AFS UHM 85cm mast, AFS Enduro 1300/HA43 on the short fuselage.  Flysurfer POW 5.0 for the motivator.

It was good to get out for a second session, and one on the wind.

With the ups and downs, I was riding the gusts.

It was pretty hard to get the parawing to turn a few times - ending up getting stripped off the board.

I tried to tack toe side to get around the light wind issue - but that didn't end well.

I tried a heel side tack on the outside.  I did get the parawing and board around, but came down and the wind wasn't enough to get me back up.

 

When the wind was up, this was a really fun session.

We'll see what the weather does over the next week.  Lots of variability...

PW:1/FD:1

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 1/1/2026

First dawn patrol of 2026!

Marlon and I stayed on shore until the sun came up.  It was cold (by our standards) - 65 degrees.

The usual suspects were all out doing the same - Dennis, Noel, Kalani, Derek, Makana, Ben, Andrew, and John.  The swell was really small.

Marlon brought his longboard -

I brought the same gear as yesterday.  And I didn't change out the rear stabilizer - AGAIN - and I had the same lack of glide to get me through the flat sections.  When I had a peak to turn on it was great to have the Mako Carve bolted on - but the rides in general were shorter.  The HA40 would have been the best option.

Still got an hour and a half long session.

With the waves as small as they were, the takeoff spots were concentrated. 

And I had a bunch of false starts - 19 rides mixed in these peaks.

Nice way to open up the New Year!!!

FD:1

Evening Foil Drive Session - 12/31/2025

Last session of the year!  304 all in - that's 83% of the year!!!

Similar conditions to yesterday - except it was cleaner due to the wind swinging more north.

I actually brought nearly everything - parawings, wing, the Foil Drive, 3 foils and one board (No.40)

I opted to Foil Drive - Norm and Stu were out at the same time.

There were some good, fun waves if you were patient.

Hard turns and decently long runs.

19 rides (I missed 3 waves).

Looking back at 2025 - learning to parawing was definitely the biggest challenge I had this year.  The last half of the year was dominated by parawinging.  But this was also the year I remembered how much fun surfing, winging and prone foiling can be.

Next year will see more technical foiling under parawing, a lot more surfing, and a resurgence in prone foiling.  Happy New Year!!!

W:59/FD:145/PW:75/S:21/PF:4

Evening Session -12/30/2025

Yesterday evening - I was hoping the wind would be up, but it wasn't.

And the tide was pretty darn low... I opted to surf.

I decided to go mid-length - the Firewire Seaside and Beyond

I had the NVS Ono Convertibles in the board (I thought the set I had in the board was the Bissell Quads or the Machado Quads)

I caught several waves - they were all less than waist high.  This fin set felt a little stiff - but then it can be that the waves were small...

I know I keep saying this but - I forget how much fun surfing can be!

Roland and Derek were both out with their Foil Drives.  I didn't want to have to manage a foil on low tide though.

W:59/FD:144/PW:75/S:21/PF:4