Evening Session - 10/5/2022

Evening session - surf came down, tide was dropping and the wind was gone.  I decided to take a different approach today - I used the 4'6" prone foil board and bolted on the GoFoil GL180.

Just like all the other times I switch foils/boards/masts/fuselages/etc - it took a couple of waves to get my bearings.  And seeing as how I changed up pretty much everything, it took a couple of more waves to really get adjusted.

This board is noticeably lower in volume than the 4'8" I usually use.  Next time I setup the dunk tank I'll measure the volume of it, but for now I'm guessing this is in the 34 liter range.  Taking off on this board also challenged my muscle memory - it is narrower and shorter than my normal ride and when I got to my feet, they were not automatically falling in the sweet spots.

Then there was adjusting to the lift characteristics of the GL180.  In its day (which was probably only 18 months ago), this was one of the most progressive front foils available for surfing/downwinding/winging.  I could still get 2 for 1s (I actually got a lot of these today), but I could feel the thickness of both the front foil and the rear stabilizer.  Compared to the Axis ARTs, I had to work a lot harder to get the same runs. 

 

I used my gauge to get the mast positioned.  It was pretty close - I didn't move it, but I think it could have gone forward a 1/4".

Roland was out - and he made sure to do a flip right in front of me.  Tomorrow I'm probably going to skip beach time and work on the two boards sitting on the rack.

W:96/F:83/S:28

Dawn Patrol - 9/12/2021

Marlon and I hit the dawn patrol on Sunday.  The swell was supposed to be even bigger than it was on Saturday - which it was.  But there was texture on the water and a weird chop.  The tide was really high, so I wasn't worried about grounding.  I caught a bunch of waves, but was having a hard time staying on them.  First off, I ended up adjusting the mast position.

Ended up being here (which is weird because it was further up than the HS1050 - which by the way is very similar).

I did get some fun rides - I don't want to paint the picture that this session sucked - but it definitely was challenging.  This weekend on the water... some days you win, some days you pay taxes.

Dawn Patrol - 8/29/2021

Marlon and I were on the dawn patrol again this morning.  The surf was bigger - chest high+ on the sets.  There was no wind to speak of and the tide was rising to a high of 1.6'.  Marlon brought out his longboard again - I changed things up again.  I brought the 4'6" and started out with the CF1200 on the 72cm mast and chopped 300 rear stabilizer.  I cannot say how good the combo is - on good waves, this thing absolutely rips!!!  I caught a bunch and then headed in to switch this setup out.

There is a lot of hype out on the High Aspect foils so I decided to break out the HA925.  I rigged it the way the guys on the internet said to - 85cm mast, small drag free rear stabilizer.  That said - they also said this foil does not like turbulent water (and it doesn't), and that it has a high stall speed (and it does).  It is going to get some getting used to to find the cadence and feel for this foil.  I did catch several on it - it is really fast.  It is also really unstable.  Next go I'll use the 72cm mast and the 232 rear stabilizer.

When I got home, I discovered that the HA925 was stuck on the fuselage.  I spent the next few hours getting both this foil and the GoFoil GL210 unstuck from their respective masts.  It felt good to get the 210 unstuck - now I can use the NL160 and PNL185 on that mast to experiment with those foils on the wing.