Parawing Session - 8/9/2026

WP crew shifted east today - Hickam!

Norm and Prayot were already out when Stu, Kalani and I pulled up.  Brian had already finished a parawing session and was going back out on wing.

The wind was nice and strong, and pretty consistent.

If your timing was good, there were some good-sized waves coming through.

AFS Enduro 1100/HA40 powered by the BRM S3 4.2

This was a really fun session - totally the opposite of the last two days.

Fastest 5 miles was 23 minutes - pretty much on foil the whole interval.

I did come off foil a few times.  Once was outside at Firsts and the wind slacked, so I was grounded for a bit.

I felt compelled to work on tacks so I got through a few of them at Firsts - felt good.

I would zoom over to Seconds depending on how the wind was blowing.  I did catch a decent sized wave over there - but Prayot caught the wave of the day.

I got one wave at Firsts where I stashed the parawing and got in some turns on just foil power.  The rest of the time the wind was blowing too hard straight offshore.

Back on the inside I got several more dry tacks in.  I tried to do the behind the back jibe and blew that hard (I'm going to have to watch more videos)

That dip was below the S3 4.2's get up threshold.

Felt good to be up on foil for the majority of the session!  It also felt good to be on the right sized parawing.

PF:11/W:3/PW:92/FD:58/S:21

And Stu paid the tab at the Lanai post session!  Mahalo Stu!

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

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

Parawing Session - 7/25/2026

Hit Kailua this morning - I specifically wanted to see if the wind was shifting direction over here (like it has been on the south shore)

5 meter wind - chest high waves at Jump City

It's always a good sign when the Iwa are flying

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

Speaking of BRM - demo day at Kailua.

Good, strong wind coming from mostly one direction.

I made 90% of my jibes and when I was down, getting up was not difficult.

I tried a few tacks, but it seems like I need to work on keeping the board under me so I don't get stripped off at the apex.

There were some waves coming through, but they were on the smaller side.  I did get a few long retracted rides.

I tried to be more methodical with getting the parawing put together so I could ride without it tangling on me, and that seemed to help with the redeploy.

You can see the rides I came out of powered, and the ones where I dropped off foil (blue tails).

This wind was just on the other side of perfectly powered.  I think if I had a 4.7, that would have been enough to get up, and wouldn't have needed to be depowered so much while riding.

I think during the gusts the 4.2 would have worked nicely, but getting up would have been harder.

It's been a while since I've had a speed chart like this (way more up than down, and when down short recovery time).

Fun session!!!

PF:9/W:3/PW:84/FD:55/S:20

Parawing Session - 7/19/2026

I've grown tired of the up-down/swirly wind runs of late.  I've been looking at the airport anemometer readings and the direction seems to be a little more stable.

I had to stop into work anyways, so I did a Hickam session

And since I was at Hickam, I figured I'd work on dialing in the Silk 1050 and getting the Flysurfer POW V2 sorted out.

I started with the Silk 1050/152 and the BRM S3 5.3

I kept the mast in the same position to see how the foil behaved in flat water.

The wind - better than what I've been parawinging in - still had holes and swings.

The S3 did get slightly overpowered once, and twisted me off the board three times.  But each outing under these conditions is helping me to develop a coping mechanism (what that is I don't know yet - maybe use the Foil Drive and screw the parawing). 

The 1050 seems to need more runway (or board speed) to get up on to foil.

But there was plenty of wind (even if in spurts) that I headed out to Firsts.

There were a couple of surfers out at Seconds so I stayed away from there.

This was the part of the session that the direction swings made riding difficult.

Even if the meter read east, the wind felt totally offshore outside.

And it was strong, so I headed back in to swap foils and parawings.

On the inside, I botched and tack and moved the mast forward to see the difference.  The balance point was obviously different, but it was definitely over the nice balance point.

I'll drop it back again next time - I think the real issue is the quality of the wind we've been getting (sucks).

I'm calling this two sessions because I changed up the foils.  The Enduro 1100 got up faster, and I started with the Flysurfer POW V2

Lots of chatter on the web says "the Flysurfer POW V2 4.0 pulls like a 5.0" - I do not agree with that assessment.  It pulls like a 4.0 to me.

It also seems to power up when pointing more downwind (30 to 40 degree off the beam) with a smaller sweet spot.

Where this parawing absolutely shines is in transitions - it tacks so easy and jibes are no brainers.

Once up and running, it is stable (still has some jitters, but is fine) and you don't need much wind to stay up on foil.

With more time with this parawing and figuring out where it powers up, this should be an awesome surfing parawing!

I could feel the wind starting to slow down so I called it.

So I definitely had a less frustrating time today, but I'm really going to have to work out jibing the S3 when the wind turns north...

PF:9/W:3/PW:81/FD:53/S:20

Parawing Session - 7/12/2026

Got out later today (got to pick up Noe at the airport!!!!)

Wind was up and down and swirly.

Tide was high and there was some swell pushing through.

Mark, Eddy, another winger I didn't know, and Kalani on parawing were all out.  Later Derek and Roland also came out.

I used the same gear as yesterday (BRM S3 4.2)

Strong north component to the wind again.  Definitely made using the parawing difficult.

In fact - on one of the earlier runs I had overshot the wind line on the inside and had to keep going out because there wasn't enough wind to complete a turn.  When a slight gust finally came, I jibed but botched the turn - I had to wait a while for the next gust to come through.

I did retract and ride a few times - but with the wind as fluky as it was, this was more risk than reward.  And with the AFS Enduro 1100, I got left behind on a few waves I was try to ride.

Frustrating...

At least I didn't have to paddle in.

Yup - the 4.2 needs 17+ mph to power up.  You can see the holes and the direction shifts on the chart.

Pretty much the same wind profile that has been coming through for the past several weeks.

I actually started thinking I should probably bring a wing next time...

More of the same forecasted for the week ahead.

PF:8/W:3/PW:76/FD:53/S:20

Parawing Session - 7/11/2026

Needed to hit the grocery store, so I pushed my water session to the afternoon and went to Hickam.

Zach, Naomi, and Matt were in different stages of coming in.

There was some texture on the water - and Zach said it was blowing east.  But you could tell it was up and down.  And I had my suspicions that it would twist.

I wanted to test out the Flysurfer POW V1 2.5m so I used No.34 with the AFS Enduro 1100/HA40 on the 80cm UHM mast.  For backup I took the BRM S3 4.2m

Yes - I did say Flysurfer POW V1 2.5m

I found a great deal on the 2.5 and a 1.7 from Greenhat Kiteboarding - and I picked these up for the Gorge trip in late August. 

I started the session with this PW up, but the wind was not materializing for the 2.5

I swapped it out for the BRM S3 4.2

There were holes in the wind, but for the most part, the 4.2 was perfect for the wind today.  And I bet it would have been nicer to fly in yesterday's session also.

I really appreciate how stable the 4.2 S3 is - it really is a magic size (just like the Triple Seven PT Hybrid 4.3 is magic).

I forced myself to start tacking again.  By the end of the session I was jibing dry on the outside legs, and still getting field stripped on the inside.

Those points are tacks.

The wind did not feel this consistent.

So a few of these down slots are my botched jibes, but some are also the wind holes.

And the run I made outside to Firsts - I tried catching two waves but the wind was not cooperating, and I didn't want to risk that paddle in.

I like the AFS Enduro 1100 with the HA40 - the Mako Carve Pro Medium was a little pitchy for this setup.

I may go back again tomorrow (depending on Noe's arrival time).

PF:8/W:3/PW:75/FD:53/S:20

Parawing Session - 7/5/2026

I went to pick up a second hand Foil Drive High Output rotor - then picked up Kalani and Stu at the NEX parking lot

I brought No.40 - which I'm thinking of taking to the gorge in August.  AFS Enduro 1100/Mako Carve Pro Medium/80cm UHM mast - power provided by the BRM S3 4.2

Another day of crazy winds - up/down - swirly and everything in between.

I spent the first runs trying to get my bearings - wind was not making it easy.

After several runs, and multiple jibes - I went out to Firsts.  The waves were supposed to be pretty sizeable.  I was able to get a few - but no retracting - wind was directly offshore.

I also worked on both tacks - and at the end of the session I was sailing out of the tacks

Crazy wind - but the 4.2 handled nicely

There is plenty of wind on the horizon... just hope it settles out and is less crazy.

PF:8/W:3/PW:70/FD:53/S:20