Garage Works - 1/19/2026

I finally stopped starring at No.43 and got back to work on it.

I decided on using the basalt fabric instead of carbon.  This was mainly because of the Foil Drive duty it's gonna pull.

I cut out the fabric, got it trimmed and pulled it back.

I mixed the epoxy - 18 ounces - and added epoxy to the track boxes (they had slots).

Then I placed the carbon strips back in place, covered the remainder of the board with the basalt, and started laminating.

I had to mix up another 4.2 ounces to get the laps wetted out.

Everything was nice and flat.

And there wasn't any drama with the tail.

Tomorrow I'll get the footstrap inserts set in place, cut out the top deck reinforcement patches, prep the basalt cover and laminate - hopefully.

I took a break and flew the drone for a bit.  Wanted to scare away any pigeons hanging out on the roof.

Then I tested out the new scale I bought from Costco - this thing will handle up to 30 pounds!!!

I measured the weight of the Machadocado - almost 7 pounds with the deckpad (and no fins or wax).

And I wanted to wax this board up in case the waves are decent this week.

And these are the fins I decided to try out on this board first - NVS Wolverines

I'll weigh the board again once the wax is on and the fins are in place.

Nice new tool!

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 1/19/2026

Lighter winds, higher tide, (slightly) bigger waves.

Same as yesterday - wanted to see if the performance is the same.

I was the only one out for a bit - then lots of people were out Foil Drive-ing - Dennis, Kalani, Carlo, Carlo's girlfriend (who foils better than Carlo), Noel, Ben and Roland.

Noel was getting up on waves - by the end of the session it was apparent that he needed to move the foil forward in the tracks to get the appropriate lift.

The waves were slightly bigger than yesterday, but the tide was higher.  Yesterday there were peaks to be hacked - today the peaks were a bit suppressed (higher tide).

Rides were still fun with some taller drops.

28 rides!!!  I did have the HO battery today where I had the normal Max battery yesterday.

PW:5/FD:7/S:4

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 1/18/2026

Happy Birthday Marlon!!!

We hit WP for a dawn patrol on foil.

Marlon took his prone setup and the Kujira 1095

I took the same setup as yesterday with one exception -

I swapped the mast for the Evolution Cedrus Surf 77.5 and the Zip Pod

This setup was so clean and efficient in the water - 

The real test for me was efoiling back out after riding a wave - really smooth and no drag.  Efoiling was the easiest it has ever been for me.

And it didn't shift once.  I'll use it one more time and then break down the whole setup again to inspect the parts.

And riding today was focused on the "section ahead" - don't worry about how long the ride will be, just what is immediately in front of you.

I got some serious roundhouse turns in - look at the curves in the tracks -

Despite the small waves - 20 rides

Gonna run this again tomorrow morning.

PW:5/FD:6/S:4

Garage Works - 1/17/2026

I recently sold one of my 5'6" Sweet Potato boards so I could pick up this Machadocado.

I cleaned up the board of wax and the deck pad from the previous owner.

Then I got this Firewire 2+1 deck pad placed on.  I kept it under the soft dive weights for several hours to make sure it has a good start in it service life.

Same liters as the Sweet Potato, but 4" longer.

The bottom contours remind me of the Seaside and Beyond - just more extreme.

The tail is really thin on this board - should make things really interesting.

I also cleaned up a Dakine 6'0" thruster board bag, and got the Hayden Shapes Hypto Krypto nicely tucked away in it (no pictures of this).

Then I cleaned up the fill on No.43, did the last of the fine sanding, taped over the track slots and cut the reinforcing carbon tape.  I was going to laminate the board today, but decided on cooking dinner instead. 

And while cooking dinner, I took the opportunity to put together the Zip Pod I got for the Evolution Cedrus Surf mast.

I'll test it tomorrow morning to see how it feels compared to the regular Foil Drive mast pod.

Working on these projects is pretty darn therapeutic.

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 1/17/2026

Dawn patrolled with the Foil Drive today - 

Nice high tide, light offshore (but COLD) wind, but small waves

On the drive in, the truck's thermometer read 55 degrees - BRRRRRR!!!!

I wore a long sleeved shortie and I was still cold.

I used No.39 today to get up on foil faster - otherwise everything was the same as usual.

The rides in general were shorter today.  Taking what I've learned from surfing shortboard, focus on what is in front of you and you'll have a great time (don't worry about what is beyond that).

I actually had some great turns on pop up sections!

What did make it hard to focus was the cold air temps.

Stu, Andrew, Noel (on prone foil drive), Kalani, Dennis and Ben were all out.

19 rides

There was some wind in the wingable range - which made it even colder.

And a couple of whales were breeching - pretty cool!

PW:5/FD:5/S:4

Parawing Session - 1/16/2026

Got to the beach and Derek was doing a surf check while Roland was debating what he was going to do today (wing or Foil Drive)

There was wind on the outside - which was probably good since the tide was low.

Crew setting up - Derek on tow boogie and Roland on Foil Drive.

Standard fare for me - with the exception of swapping out the main star -

The wind was way up on the gusts and the lulls were below the threshold.

But I did manage to up and riding without too much drama or downwind drift.

Shifty, hole-y wind....

Sometimes from the north, sometimes seemed like from normal trades.

I was having a hard time jibing today - might be the fact that I haven't flown this parawing in a bit.  Could also be the wind (lack of).

Not as consistent as yesterday - but still fun to be out in the water watching Derek and Roland rip it up!

Good session!

PW:5/FD:4/S:4

Parawing Session - 1/15/2026

The front that was pushing the rain and south winds passed today - and right after the winds were strong out of the NW.

I hit Kailua to get some gear to Nick (who is back on island visiting).

He was winging with the North Mode Pro 6.8

I put up the BRM Maliko 5.1 and setup the standard gear.

Really fun session!

Reverse Kailua - everything felt like it was WP (outbound tack port).

Not a ton of large waves to ride - but the swell that was there would shoulder up and you could get a good turn on it.

This is a pretty rare event - the wind almost never blows from this direction.

I could have been on a 4.0 PW...

I only went down once.

And there were a few times where I didn't want to go down (coral head garden).

It was good foiling with Nick again!

PW:4/FD:4/S:4

Garage Works - 1/15/2026

I cleaned up the glue from around the insert reinforcement blocks that I installed yesterday.

And then I routed out the slot for the inserts.  Good fitment all around.

Then I figured I should fill the voids around the mast track block.  Epoxy and glass balloons.

This is the gouge at the nose - all filled in now.

I also filled in spots where the EPS beads broke free - there weren't many, but it is good to take away reasons for laminating resin moving around.

You can also see the fill at the mast track block.

And lastly, I used pliers and a file to prepare the inserts themselves.

I was going to epoxy these in place today - but I figure I can spread out the work over the long weekend.