Garage Works - 6/29/2025

Got No.41 done!!!

Started off this morning by sanding the top deck - 40-80-120-180-220-320-400

Then I sprayed the top deck with regular gloss.  I let that dry while I got my hair cut.

This came out really nice!

I'm going to let the deck pads settle in for a day (so the bond is good and there is no slippage)

No.41 all pau!!!

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 6/29/2025

Dawn patrol at WPB again.  There was a north wind (so the surf should be cleaner) and a slight bump up on the swell.

Same gear as yesterday - but the Enduro 900 was filled and sanded yesterday to negate the reef scratches.

Pretty good job if I do say so myself - although the AFS foils do not sand as nicely as the Axis or F One foils did.

Best conditions across the last several days -

This session turned out to be really fun.  The tide-wind-and waves all combined to present super fun rides.  Some were really long as well.

Lots of great runs with tons of carving turns today.

16 rides by the distance chart.  I know a few of these peaks are aborts.

I'm glad I went early this morning!!!

W:48/FD:90/PW:13/S:4

Garage Works - 6/28/2025

And also from yesterday - I spent some time in the garage trying to get No.41 over the finish line.

After remembering I had a trench in this board, I looked to see if the area I cut to place the back foot strap was clear of the trench - NOPE.

That made my decision to fill and patch easy - so no foot strap inserts on No.41 

After thinking about the repair, I figured it was easiest just to fill with milled fibers/epoxy, then add carbon patches above the cut areas.

And here it is all patched and waiting for the epoxy to harden. 

I had already pulled the peel ply and added the fill coat last night, and this morning I sanded and sprayed clear coat - but that's for another post.

Evening Parawing Session - 6/28/2025

And having paid close attention to the forecast, I seemed like the afternoon would have been pretty good for parawinging - full tide, smaller waves and decent wind.

Everything was at the beach, except for the decent wind.

But this was Prayot's first crack at his parawing, so off we went.

As soon as we hit the water, the wind started to falter and it just kept dying over the whole session.

Prayot thought that he might have placed his keys in my truck - so he was going to turn around and drive my truck back to PV.  He wasn't really able to get going on the PW - so definitely a wise choice.

I kept going and had even gotten up on foil twice, before resigning myself to paddling in.  This paddle from outside Campgrounds to Pavilions was over a mile.

At least I didn't get skunked...

And the wind is supposed to back off after yesterday (I am writing this on Sunday morning).

You win some, you lose some.  Getting back to the beach without injury or gear issues... that's a win.

W:48/FD:89/PW:13/S:4

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 6/28/2025

Late post.  This was yesterday's dawn patrol.

Really choppy conditions. And to compound the issue, the wind came up early.

Lower tide (I touched twice).

Confused and dropping swell.

Same gear as normal.

Despite the challenging conditions, if you just looked immediately in front of you - the rides were fun!

The crew was out in force - Andrew, Mark, Dean, Makana, Tim, Rick, Derek, Noel, another guy on Foil Drive (that I didn't recognize), and Dennis.

I think I was the last person to go in...

17 rides by the distance chart.

Fun, but I ended up going in with a considerable amount of battery left - with all the chop, I didn't want to make a mistake and get hurt.

W:48/FD:89/PW:12/S:4

Garage Works - 6/26/2025

Early this morning before I went to work I went ahead and got some epoxy on the spots that needed some fill.

And since I wasn't placing deck pads on the board (because of the ongoing fills), I got a bug up my butt about placing foot strap inserts into this board.

That is so I have one less thing to worry about when I decide to take this board out to parawing with the Foil Drive.  Why would I do this??? To do it - 

Any ways I took relative measurements from this picture to develop parametric foot strap positions.

And here they drawn on to the board.

And here they are cut into the board (I haven't pulled the sliced carbon off yet).

So much for being done.  I just had to put the deck pads on...

Now the timeline includes routing out the insert slots, gluing in the reinforcement blocks, routing out the insert slots into the reinforcement blocks, epoxying in the inserts, capping the inserts with carbon football slices, fairing everything in, and placing the deck pads.

This should actually go pretty quick - I'm thinking Sunday I'll be able to get the board in the water.

Evening Foil Drive Session - 6/26/2025

Weird conditions today.  At the airport it was blowing strong - 22 gusting to 29 mph.  At the Plains - not so much.  In fact it was glassy on the inside.  But once you got out to Foil Drive Country, it was blowing.

The tide was high and there was a lot of backwash in the water because of it.

And there was still some swell coming through.

I had originally brought the 4.8 and 5.0 wings - but after looking at the conditions, I went back home and grabbed the Foil Drive.

Set up the same equipment as the last session.

It was windy enough to make foiling challenging - definitely had several chop initiated wipes.  But if you chose wisely, there were some great rides to be had.

The lefts were super fun - the rights were bowled out more.

16 or so rides.  I know several of these are wipes or aborted takeoffs.

It would have been hard winging also - I think I chose well.

W:48/FD:88/PW:12/S:4

Garage Works - 6/25/2025

The wind was in that blah zone - too much for good Foil Drive-ing and not enough to wing.  Instead of dealing with it all - I went ahead and committed to sanding and getting No.41 over the finish line.

First up was sanding - I started with the plugs and worked over the rest of the board.

Then I wiped the board down and started the clear coat spraying.

Oh - and here is the signature block.  I don't know when this got smaller than 5'0"...

And as luck would have it, as I was trying to flip the board into this position, I dropped it onto the metal square that I was going to balance it on to get the remainder of the decks sprayed.

Yes there is a small ding - but that actually convinced me to go ahead and install foot strap inserts before I place the deck pads.  It'll only be my strong side (regular stance) and it'll primarily support using this board with the parawing and Foil Drive simultaneously.

With the footstrap inserts now going in - this will be a few more days before this gets in the water.

Garage Works - 6/24/2025

I came home late and wanted to get out to the beach to get some of this swell - 

So I measured and drilled out the holes for the plugs, then packed for the FD session.

And when I got back I set the plugs in place with epoxy.  0.7 ounces with aerosil for both plugs.

Tomorrow will definitely be sanding and clear coat spray.

Evening Foil Drive Session - 6/24/2025

The swell was peaking this afternoon.

Coupled with a mega high tide and light side off winds, today was pretty good fun!

Definitely over head on the set waves!

Trust worthy equipment - No.40 (for quick takeoffs on foil), the AFS Enduro 900/HA40/UHM *0cm mast - can't beat this setup!!!!

I didn't want to spend too much time out today - being hard on the throttle I still came in at 50% after an hour.

The right walls headed towards Coves were phenomenal!!!

17 or 18 rides depending on how you count.  I know I missed about a handful...

Marvin was also out on FD.  Roland was out on one of his surfboards - which arguably I need to start doing more of - but today was glorious on Foil Drive!!!

W:48/FD:87/PW:12/S:4

Garage Works - 6/23/2025

I didn't feel like hitting the beach this afternoon... all that paddling yesterday kinda spoiled it for me.  So I decided to make a big push on No.41 

I got the rough sanding finished and noted that there were a few spots that needed some fill - the transom and the walls of the trench in addition to those on the bottom deck. 

Slow and steady, with light pressure when using the random orbital sander makes for great results. 

 The sanding looks really good - but there's more to be done.

I just got in from placing the fill in the trench walls.

I used aerosil and milled fibers to get the epoxy to thicken (so it would hold on the vertical walls).  And I got the low spots on the bottom deck filled with another coat of epoxy.

After sanding, I'll get the plugs installed (and I'll likely go surf tomorrow).  So that leaves sanding the plugs on Wednesday and getting the 2K clear coat on.  Thursday I'll get the deck pads on and then No.41 will be finished!

Whew!