Garage Works - 8/5/2026

I skipped out on surfing again today.  I wanted to get further along on No.44.

I sanded the laps from the top deck lamination

And prepped the board for a fill coat.  But when I went looking for it, I didn't have any international orange pigment.  I stopped at this prep point.

I'll grab some pigment tomorrow and I'll try to get a fill coat on when I get home (then go foiling), and maybe a second coat before I go to sleep.

I'm not going to get this board to a point where I can get it wet this weekend - and the next wind window will likely be the following weekend - so I can slow down and focus on getting things perfect.

Garage Works - 8/4/2026

I got off work later than usual - so by the time I got to the beach the waves were pretty drowned out by the high tide.

I decided to cut my losses and head back home to work on No.44

I sanded the lap -

Then got the top deck reinforcement layers set up - two layers of innegra, and one layer of carbo

Then I got the top sheet of carbon placed and trimmed.

Break time - and cooked dinner.

Then 18.9 ounces of epoxy (split fast and slow hardener) to get the top deck wetted out, and another 2.8 + 4.2 ounces to get the laps and the rail wetted out.

There is a spot where the bottom deck rail wrap did not seem to adhere.  That is under the weight you see in the picture.  If it doesn't stay down, I'll cut that spot out and epoxy down a patch.

The rest of the laminate looks to have behaved nicely!

It is only Tuesday and I've gotten through the lamination.  I could do a fill coat tomorrow, the opposite deck fill coat Thursday, get a bunch of sanding done Friday while getting the labels situated and the final fill coat on one side.  Saturday would see the other final fill coat and the plugs.

So despite what I feel is faster accomplishment of activity to get No.44 in the water, I still won't have enough time to let the epoxy harden the way I prefer and 24 hours for the deck pads to set.

I think it'll be a week from now before the anointment -

Garage Works - 8/3/2026

I took a rest day from the beach - and spent it in the garage.

I got the gorilla glue trimmed away from the track block.

And I got the top deck connection block trimmed away and the top deck faired in.  I made a slight depression in the top deck to mimic the ARC - but only subtly.

I started chasing ghosts again until I said enough.

Normally I would have stopped here and waited a day to get started on the next step, but I had sufficient daylight...

Laminating is definitely tricky to get right.  Weird air bubbles that want to pop up, having to mix multiple batches of epoxy, getting loose strands to sit down - in a nut shell no time for anything but babysitting the lamination while the epoxy is hardening.

Here's the bottom deck all trimmed up.

This is 4 ounce carbon nose to tail with three strips of carbon rail tape lining the tracks and spanning where my feet would be on the top deck.

Here's the rail tape underneath.  This is what ties in the boxes to the deck of the board.

And after 21 ounces of mixed epoxy (and losing maybe 3 ounces to fast summer time hardening), here is the bottom deck laminated.

I had to flatten a few bubbles that spontaneously formed well after the epoxy application.

Tomorrow evening I'll sand the burrs on the lap and setup the top deck laminate.

I'll use carbon and innegra weave patches where I expect to be on my knees, and a nose to tail cover.

That'll have me sanding and placing the first fill coat on Wednesday.

At this rate, I may be getting No.44 anointed this weekend!!!!

Parawing Session - 8/2/2026

Did the WPB to PVs mini downwind run today.

The tide was on the low side.  There were waves, but they were small - maybe waist to chest high on the sets.

WP was a zoo - like it always is on the weekends.

This is Norm making his final approach at PVs

The wind was still up and down, but mostly in the nicely powered range for me.  There were some big gusts that came through - and after I had beached (thinking it was going to drop off) there were whitecaps everywhere for a bit.

No.34 with the AFS Enduro 1100/HA40/80cm UHM mast - powered by the BRM S3 5.3

I got there and launched maybe 30 minutes ahead of Norm and Stu.  Norm was using his new Flysurfer POW V2 5.5.  Stu was on his North Nova 4.0

I spent the time ahead of their launch riding upwind and trying to pick up some waves to ride with the parawing retracted.

I got a handful of fun ones - and I believe I was able to redeploy the parawing on all of them.  I made sure to release the parawing downwind of me and coaxed it open.

Lots of north in the wind.

When I could see Norm and Stu in the water, I started heading downwind.

I didn't trust the wind so I booked it across Campgrounds.

I'm glad I took out the 5.3 today - good size for the wind today.

When I went down - it was due to lack of wind.  Most of the session was up on foil - and super fun.

Norm was having a hard time getting up onto foil.  He was using the AFS Fire board (proper wing board).  And he was saying the POW had too much power.  I suggested using the Naish and a harness, and practice flying the POW on land because it flies way different than the PT Skin.

The wind is supposed to drop to Foil Drive levels for the next five days.  But the waves are also supposed to stay small.  I think I am going to push getting No.44 completed and get some recovery time in.

PF:10/W:3/PW:90/FD:57/S:20

Garage Works - 8/2/2026

I had some time yesterday morning and I got No.44 through the fine sanding.  I got rid of two patches where there was subtle asymmetry.

One was on the starboard side back of the top deck.  The other was on the port side of the nose on the bottom deck.

And this morning I had Marlon help me route out the slot for the track block.

Here it is dry fitted.

Nice and tight!!!

And I got the top slot cut out for the polyurethane block (used to get the track block a direct connection to the top deck).

And I kept plowing forward - both blocks are gorilla glued in place.

I'll let the glue harden overnight.  Once that is done, I'll trim off the excess, get both sides faired in and start preparing the laminates.

My guess is that I'll be sanding fill coat by next weekend.

Parawing Session - 8/1/2026

I forgot my watch again - so no session data.

I brought Kalani and Stu on to Hickam.  Prayot met us (and was out with Zach at Seconds when we pulled up into the parking lot).

There was good texture on the water and the direction seemed decently stable (ENE)

Today was a setup/confirmation session for me.

I first went out on the AFS Enduro 900/Mako 130 to validate the marked position.  I also wanted to test out the new BRM S3 3.4 - but not trusting the wind, I also brought out the BRM S3 4.2

The Enduro 900 had plenty of lift and I got up pretty easily.  I did a few runs inside then bolted for Firsts.

The waves were small, but the wind was gusting outside.  I got to a point where I stopped and swapped out the 4.2 for the 3.4

As long as the wind was gusting, the 3.4 was easy to get up with.

I had to swap back to the 4.2 (and then back to the 3.4) with the wind gusting-lulling.

I did get a few retracted rides.

Then I went in to swap to the AFS Silk 850/USurf 135.  Since I haven't been winging, I don't use this foil as much as I used to.  I got up with the BRM S3 4.2, but I did move the mast forward (quite a bit) and I liked the foil response better.

Now I feel good about bringing the Silk 850, 1050 and Enduro 900 up to the Gorge.

Not sure yet what I'll do tomorrow... parawing Hickam or WPB.

PF:10/W:3/PW:89/FD:57/S:20

Odds and Ends

Other things going on -

I have a new surfboard inbound.  The shaper is going to put the canard inserts in and needed to know what fins I had.  I thought the canards I had were angled - nope - dead flat.

So he needs to install angled inserts.

Robby had already finished his session when I pulled into the parking lot yesterday.

He is on a tiny front foil now - 475

Ridiculous!!!!

Kalani is building these boom boxes in his spare time now -

And La fixed Prayot's Larrabee stash pack.

My machine can't sew through layers this thick.

Parawing Session - 7/31/2026

Strong winds today!!!

But the same thing that happened yesterday started to happen again (wind drop before I paddle out).

I did not trust the wind so I brought both the S3 5.3 and the 4.2

Kalani only brought his 4.3 - he got up pretty fast, and I was overpowered on the 5.3 (and almost immediately stowed it and brought out the 4.2)

Trying to make sure I have the Silks dialed in for the upcoming Gorge trip!

Silk 1050 with the 152 rear stabilizer.

Today was actually really good for riding powered, jibing and retracting, riding with no wind power, and trying to redeploy.

I was batting maybe 50% on the redeploys - but Prayot said he was getting 90%.

More east in the wind!!!  And not as much swirling (still some).

The waves were chest to just overhead on the sets.  I think we all caught a few bombs each.  The Silk 1050 is so forgiving - and rips so hard at the same time!!!  When the faces have some steepness, the Silks are it!

I actually could have used a 3.4 (which I just received from BRM today - I'll definitely try it tomorrow).

The falls were almost all botched redeploys.  I am working on how to manage the lines after initial takedown.  Once I get that squared away, my redeploys should be much better.

I'm just happy to get the super fun, uber long prone rides (without paddling to get into the wave)!!!

Smaller foils and smaller parawing testing tomorrow!!!

PF:10/W:3/PW:87/FD:57/S:20

Prone Foiling Session - 7/30/2026

This was the beach when I first arrived - whitecaps everywhere!!!

I thought I had made a mistake by bringing the AFS Enduro 1100/HA40.

But I had this sneaking suspicion that something would change...

Side note - I ordered this version of a retractable leash.  Going to have to attach this in different places to find something that feels like I'm not wearing a leash.

So this was the biggest bait and switch I've seen in quite some time.

As I paddled out I could see the wind evaporating.

There was a breeze still blowing on the water to make things worse.

I bobbed around for an hour hoping the wind would pick back up.  It never did - the picture below is trying to show just how little wind there was.

And there is the inflection point where the wind died off to below BRN S3 5.3 levels.

What a difference 30 minutes can make....

I had thought if I could just catch one wave and ride it up on foil, then I would be avoiding the skunk session.

After a few attempts - I did catch one, popped up on foil and did ride it most of the way in.

I'll take the win with the prone foiling ride on the big gear!

PF:10/W:3/PW:86/FD:57/S:20

Garage Works - 7/29/2026

I took a rest day yesterday and got some stuff done around the house - like mowing the lawn and changing the filter on the AC.  But I also got some work done on No.44

I used the fine blade microblade surform to get the shape refined.  The I used the sanding block and sanding screens to dial it in.

It's probably at 95% -

This is the port side of the bottom deck

Starboard side of the bottom deck

Port side of the top deck

And starboard side of the top deck.

This one compared to No.34 has more tail rocker and the bottom deck leading up to the nose is flat.

I used the same template as No.34 - but I want to see if these changes help this template pop up onto foil easier (or bogs it down).

I'll get the mast track slot opened up, and the top deck opened for the top polyurethane foam block (to "connect" the track block to the top deck), the laminates for the bottom deck prepared and the final sanding done this weekend.