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

Moving West - Day Three

Looking at the forecasts on Monday morning, the wind had turned easterly, and their was hope that on the western side of the gorge there would be rideable conditions.

We stopped at Viento State Park (Oregon) - and there was wind.

There was also a bunch of other people all looking for the same thing - on a Monday morning!  There were a lot of wind-foilers and more kiters than I thought could launch from such a small takeoff spot.

And the wind and current were aligned - so conventional wisdom took over (stay up wind).

Last session (for a while) on No.34

I used the Silk 1050 and BRM S3 5.3 to make sure I didn't drift downwind.

This was a surprisingly fun session.  Not much wave action, but being surrounded by a bunch of like minded individuals was pretty cool.

This is Nick's GoPro shot of me (upper right hand corner).

The gorge walls were much steeper here - no real downwind recovery - so no margin for error.

The wind had a bit of up and down - but it was good fun.

The guys said it was time to keep moving west -

And they were right as the wind started to drop

PF:11/W:3/PW:98/FD:61/S:25

We drove through Portland to head over to Manzanita Beach out on the Oregon Coast.

The drive over was nice (tight winding road - not so good for dragging a camper trailer through, but beautiful old growth pine trees).

When we got to the beach, the wind was strong and side onshore from the NW.  But the water was cold - too cold for my 3/2.  And I didn't necessarily want to get the gear all salty again so I passed on this session.

This is Kevin on a 7m Cabrinha Drifter, and Nick and Dennis on 5.5 wings.  They both said they should have been on 4.2 wings and Kevin said he was good.

This made me want to kite on a directional in surf again...

Nice group to foil with!!!

At this point La and Teresa picked me up and we headed back north!

Awesome first trip to the Gorge and the Oregon Coast!!!!

Late August Gorge Trip - Day Two

This was the beginning of Day Two.

Wind was still up from the previous day, but it was forecasted to drop off.

Dennis and Kevin checking the conditions -

I took out the same setup from yesterday as the wind was still up.  And again the BRM S3 3.4 was perfectly powered.

Headed downwind a bit more than yesterday afternoon - but honestly the waves were best up towards the campsite.

I didn't stash the parawing much this session - the waves were too short and only in the couple of spots today that it didn't make sense to take it down.

Dennis mid-tack.

The wind got really strong so I went in for a break.  The launch-landing spot was so easy (not as easy as Hickam - but pretty close).

After snacks, I headed back out but switched to the Silk 1050/152.

I got up and had some rides, but the wind started to fall off so I went in - twice - to size up the parawing.  But in both cases (4.2 then the 5.3), it was too little too late.

We broke down camp and prepared to head off west in the morning.

Pretty incredible that the wind can be nuking in the morning, then glassy a few hours later.

The camp site was really nice - clean bath house, no bugs, nice quiet location - made me really miss the Trail Manor.

PF:11/W:3/PW:97/FD:61/S:25

Late August Gorge Trip - Day One

La and I took a trip up to the PNW.  First stop was dropping me off at the eastern part of the Gorge.  Nick was camping with some other friends from San Diego - and he said crashing was not a problem!

Driving through the Gorge was pretty cool - lots of beautiful scenery and the wind on the water looked nuclear!

And the water was not that cold (at this time of year).

We pulled up to the campsite, offloaded my stuff and I was assembling the parawinging stuff.

AFS Silk 850/USurf 135/Standard fuselage on the Cedrus Evolution Surf mast all bolted on to No.34

I had the BRM Maliko 2.9 and S3 3.4 in th3 pouch.

This has been on my bucket list for quite some time - and having Nick as a guide made the learning curve go quick.  With current opposing wind in a narrow channel, there were some things to work out.

The front half was really cool - after getting my bearings, I followed the other guys downwind.  Waist high swell in a river headed up current.  Normally you'd want to go upwind to develop your margin of safety (and not have to walk back) - here the current will take you back upwind if you have issues getting up on foil.

Riding swell in a river with the parawing put away is definitely a different experience - especially with uber nuking winds at your back driving everything.

The back half of this first session was super challenging - the wind was shifting and trying to get up in short period chop is not the easiest thing.  But I eventually made it back to the launch.

The swell bumps were not evenly distributed across the river - on this run the rides were better on the Washington side 

Admittedly I spent most of this session trying to get back to the launch - the winds were really strong and towards the Rufus side they were shifting.  I broke out the Maliko 2.9 but even that was a little too big.  I left the Flysurfer POW V1 1.7 and 2.5 back home (not thinking I would need them due to the declining wind forecast).  But the real issue was the shifting direction and not the parawing size.

This time of year it stays light until around 2030 - so after resting, catching up and waiting for the wind to settle, we went back out for a second session.  I took the same gear and used the BRM S3 3.4

With the wind more consistent, this was a much better session.  I still got some retracted parawing rides in, but the swell wasn't as ride focused.  In fact I didn't see the need to go far downwind and was happy just doing the run in front of Maryhill.

The S3 3.4 was perfect as was the Silk 850/USurf 135

The wind was up all night - no glass off.

What a Saturday!!!

PF:11/W:3/PW:95/FD:61/S:25

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 8/21/2026

Dawn patrol with Stu at Hickam.  Phil was also there - Bill came when we were finished (he did a first session at Bunkers).

Pretty much zero wind, glassy conditions.

Waves were small at Firsts -

Same gear as yesterday - except I used the second can with the blue props (which worked out way better for these shoulder and lower waves)

Stu was trying out his new Silk V2 750 - it looked like it was getting him up faster than the other foils he has been using.

I headed out low and slow - only burned 5% on the way out.

Stupid asshole SUP guys would drop in... jealous fakas -

So - to stop that from happening, I would just head right for them so they knew I was stopping them from dropping in.  I hate it when I have to do things like that - but it's better than getting hurt because someone doesn't know what the other person is going to do.

Besides that, the waves were good fun!

The USS Inouye came back into port - and delivered some decent wake to surf!  I knew it was their wake because the direction was different.

16 rides - but spread out more (1:43)

Off to the Columbia River!!!

PF:11/W:3/PW:93/FD:61/S:25

Garage Works - 8/20(21)/2026

I've been putting clear coat on No.44 so the wear layer is built up.

This was post session yesterday.

I did notice a couple of spots on the bottom deck that showed deformation from sitting on the rack.  I sanded those down and got more clear coat on today (Friday).

I also got the deck pad on.  I may need to put augment pieces up front - but I'll wait until after I get this out for it's first session to determine if that is necessary.

So while I'm away for this next week - No.44 will get all settled and will have time in the garage to harden up.  I still need to open up the tracks - but that can wait until I get back (from the Gorge!!!)

Evening Foil Drive Session - 8/20/2026

It was small yesterday afternoon - which made the session an exercise in efficient foiling.

Kalani was already out when I got to the parking lot.

Same setup as the recent runs -

The battery on my watch was running low (as my charging cable has not been cooperative) and I think this set of weird data was from the low battery.

Ignoring those straight lines, the session was more like this -

I would probably not even paddled out if I didn't have the foil drive.

But with it, the session was salvaged and I got several really fun waves - with banked turns and rebounds.

Roland and Prayot came out, Scott was out with another prone foiler, and Ben was setting up when I was leaving.

16 rides in an hour!

PF:11/W:3/PW:93/FD:60/S:25