Prone Foil Session - 12/15/2022

Waves were much smaller today.  There was no wind so super smooth surface.  I wanted to test the 17" pumper rear stabilizer on the Eagle 1090 setup from yesterday.

Pretty much the same results that I got yesterday.  I caught several, but they were really weak so not much energy to milk.  I should have used the Viking...

Next time I'm going to put the XXS fuselage back on.  I think the longer aluminum fuselage is better for winging.

Still - a nice morning to be out in the water.

W:124/F:98/S:41

Evening Session - 6/4/2022

I pulled a second water session today - was meeting Erik out at WPB to give him some pointers on prone foiling.  While I was waiting, Marvin drove up - he said he wanted to give his new to him 1440 another run.  The waves did come down even more than it had (comparing yesterday to this morning) - made me even think about not going out.

Then Derek H drove up and I said screw it - if he is going out winging in this light wind and small waves, then something good will happen and I should be out there to pick up the scraps.

Here is the 1440/17" rear stab/stock Takuma fuselage on the 75cm Project Cedrus mast.

I pulled the mast back in the tracks and even took off the PPC shim (as I recall riding this setup without the big shim).

And here's Marvin setting up his board/foil.

I caught waves and even had several double and triple dips - but this session was frustrating (too many wavestormers who don't know the surf etiquette).

Oh well - you need small days also (I guess).

W:44/F:57/S:17

Evening Session - 5/26/2022

Conditions were a little bit better today.  The wind was still wingable (but on the lighter side, and it would swing all over from SE to NE), the swell had a bit more consistency and the tide was fuller. 

One thing that was different was the water activity below the surface - much more than recently.

 Marlon used the drone for nearly the entire time I was out (but he was chasing Eli who was on his 7.0 BP Alien).

I did place the mast base shims on - but I still had several waves where I felt like something was off.  I think next session I will swap the 17" Foilparts.com stabilizer for the Kujira 218 and see if that cures the issue I've been having.

I did manage to catch several long waves where I'd carve back and forth on infinity turns - I used the 1440 again - same setup as yesterday - super fun glide.  And I got multiple double dips - amazing what a set of shims will do for your foiling!  

W:44/F:50/S:15

Evening Session - 5/25/2022

Totally got it backwards - I should have prone foiled on Tuesday and winged on Wednesday.  Got it even more backwards by forgetting to shim the front of the base plate.  After the third takeoff and asking myself "why am I constantly hitting the nose of the board" - I had my ah-ha moment and remembered I had been surfing the ART999 for a bit.  Oh well - 

Marlon came and longboarded for a little.  Then he switched over to flying the drone.

W:44/F:49/S:15

Wing Foiling Session - 5/14/2022

Went for an afternoon winging session.  The wind had been blowing so I loaded up the 6.1, the 5.2 and the 4.7.  As typical - when I pulled up to the parking lot, the wind had fallen off.  Derek was grabbing a bigger wing from his van.  The coconut palms were moving, just not as strong as I thought they would be.  There were also no white caps out at sea. Not much debate - RS 6.1 it is.

La and Marlon came out to meet with some friends from Mississippi - she took some pictures of us - this one is me mid jibe.

And here I was going downwind on the inside (just before the surfer line up) surfing the unbroken swell before it stood up.

I got in 13.3 miles and spent most of my time at Coves/Fenceline (the wind was light and I didn't want to get stuck in the dead zone in front of the cabins).  It was tempting to ride the transitioning swell in through the line up - but definitely not worth the pain if I got stuck.

Glad I had the 6.1

The RS 6.1 is an amazing wing - in this lighter wind, I was totally able to stay up on foil for long runs.

Marlon taking a break from teaching some old friends how to surf.

That's me in the background!!!  The wind is forecasted to drop off to nothing - there is a trough settling in.  I'm glad I got some winging in over the past several days.

W:41/F:44/S:15

Wing Foiling Session - 5/10/2022

After work session again.  This time the wind was a bit stronger - pumped up the Reedin SWX 5.2

And bolted on the Kujira 1210.

I made a beeline for Firsts and managed to pick up a bunch of unbroken waves.  I was mostly jibing because I didn't want to drop off foil.

That solid mass of color was 30 minutes of uninterrupted wing foiling -

I caught several in the bowl next to the channel - if the waves had only been a couple of feet bigger.  I could have also easily been on the SWX 4.2 while on the outside (that changed once I started heading in - 5.2 even wasn't enough at times.  Hickam can be so up and down.

Take a look at the solid blue - my hair and surf trunks actually got dry as I was out of the water for that long.

I tried to toe-heel tack again - it was not nearly as easy as yesterday's attempts.  Hard to say for sure that it was the RS 6.1, or the Kujira 1440 - but I made them consistently yesterday and had a hard time today.

Still a really fun session despite the lack of tacks.

W:39/F:43/S:14 

Wing Foiling Session - 5/9/2022

After work session at Hickam.  Wind was light - some texture on the water, but not much.  I set up the WWFB with the Kujira 1440 and pumped up the RS 6.1 - perfect for today's conditions!

Harris and Jim were out at Firsts by the time I got down to the launch.  I made a beeline out there and caught a few waves.  The 1440 rides well in smaller waves - didn't over lift and still turned well for its size.

There were a few lulls - I touched down on one near the tip of the breakwater - and I foiled through a second one - I was pointed in so I just kept on going (until I picked up a gust on the inside).  From this point, I went on a tacking spree - I nailed every toe-heel tack and followed them up with heel-toe-switch tack on the outside!  All of them were up on foil!!!  I basically made sure i had plenty of speed, leaned into the turn and shifted the wing over to the other tack.  The glide from the 1440 helped a lot.  Super big milestone today!!!

Looking at the wind strength graph, this looks like I could have actually used the Reedin SWX 5.2 - but the conditions on the water seemed much lighter than what is shown on the graph.

My watch wasn't charging in the truck so no track plots today.  Comparing the RS 6.1 to the wings that Jim and Harris had up (Alien 6.0 and SlingWing V3 5.0) - I was up and riding way more than they were - but I did have the 1440 bolted on also (which didn't loosen up at all).  On the beach, I put Jim's Alien 6.0 above the RS - the RS was slightly bigger.

The chatter was the forecast for stronger winds tomorrow... we'll see - I actually don't mind lighter winds now.

W:38/F:43/S:14

Wing Foiling Session - 5/3/2022

After work session.  Wind backed down a notch just as I drove up at 3:10pm.  There were white caps as I was passing the HIANG parking lot - and they were gone by the time I was ready to hit the water.  The surf was giant sized - I told Harris that I was going to pass and just hang on the inside to practice my toe-heel tack.

There were a bunch of people cycling through (and I bet there were more earlier) - Jim, Edmund, Harris and I - another guy Tim; then Eli, Derek and a guy named Josh (who had an epic, gear destroying wipeout on the outside), finally followed by Bill.

I am not really getting the toe-heel tack down... I need to watch more videos and dissect the turn.  I did get a bunch more turns.

I think I had the right sized wing up - 5.2 - there were considerable gusts and lulls though.

Edmund had a 5.1 Takuma RS - we had compared notes and he and Jim also noted the back winding I had experienced.  But observing Edmund - he was getting upwind just fine.  I'm going to have to put more time on the 6.1 to get the feel of it down.

I really love the Reedin SWX now - I have adapted my style to the characteristics of that wing.

Josh tried taking a really big set wave - didn't make it and got pounded hard.  Eli and Derek were out there and so was Harris - they all helped out and they made a pit stop at the beach.  Josh borrowed Edmund's 5.1 and they all took off for Iroquois Point again.

I might have gone out if I wasn't always worried whether the front foil was working itself loose or not... or maybe not ;)

W:36/F:43/S:12

Wing Foiling Session - 4/30/2022

Large part of the Hickam Harbor crew came out today - including Tim and Kalani.  Kalani wanted to get his new board (yes the one that has been "curing" in my autoclave/"garage" for the past year) in the water.  Tim declared that if he didn't get up on foil today, his gear would likely end up on Craigslist.  And I wanted to try out the Takuma RS 6.1 wing.

The wind was supposed to be down in the morning, but the forecasters were WRONG AGAIN - the wind was all over the place - sometimes not even strong enough to get up on the 6.1 with gusts into the high 20's/low 30's.

I have been having better luck with the Takuma fuselages being discipline specific now (the "shaky" one is now the prone foiling fuselage; and the less issue plagued one is the winging fuselage), so I decided to test whether the 1210 would come loose while winging.  And as you can see - I brought out the strapped wing board...

I also bolted on the 17" rear stabilizer I just got from www.Foilparts.com

The wind was way up and down - so much for light wind testing the RS 6.1

I actually got three sessions in today.  First one was in the lower of the winds today.  The RS is not like the OR and Reedins - it is closer to what the Ensis V2 felt like.  I initially had a hard time going upwind with this wing - if I pinched too hard, it would backwind, and it would be slow to recover (I would have to really pull with my backhand to get the luff to pop back out).  I also seemed to have needed to move my hands to the back of both handle bars in order to fly the wing.

I figured I had a decent feel for the wing and had gotten some transitions in - I headed straight out to Firsts.  Jim was out there with his Alien wing 6.0.  The waves were small, but rather clean.  I caught a few and then went it to check on Tim and Kalani.  

Kalani was having a hard time dialing in the foil - it has been almost a year since he was last out.  Tim had drifted down to the reef where I fish (and did the walk of shame back to the launch) - but he said he did get up on foil three times during that run.

I took a break - the RS is a demanding wing (but to be fair - I should probably have been on the 4.5 or 4.2).  I headed out for another run.  Even though the wind was stronger, I tried to use the same coping skills I figured out on the first run and it worked - the RS was a bit easier to manage and I was getting upwind (just not as closed hauled as the OR or SWX could get).  I also hadn't felt my hands go numb while winging - but the handles were stretching my hands - just like a windsurf boom.  WOndering if I'm going to need to use gloves while flying this wing.

Almost broke 20mph with the 1210.

I didn't record the last run, but Kalani asked me to take his board out to see if I could ride it (so he could tell if it was him, the foil or the board).  He had on his HPS 880.  I got up and foiling right away - that board I made is pretty awesome!  That didn't make him feel better, but a year can be a long time.

The 1210 held- except for the last screw which had loosened just a tad - way better than having to limp in on a loose foil.

I think I'm going to like the RS wing - but it is significantly different than what I have been foiling with so I'll have to make some adjustments.

W:34/F:43/S:12