Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 8/24/2025

Nice conditions this morning on the dawn patrol.

Super light wind (at least to start with).  Mid tide (so paddling out was not too bad).  And there were still some really fun waves coming through.

I realized last night that I hadn't gone out to get some more duct tape - which means I really couldn't take out No.41.  So I figured I'd mix things up a bit - No.34 with the AFS HA Ultra 750 with the Glide 41 rear stabilizer (set in the rear position).

I made an initial guess on the mast position - and after each of my first three waves, I made an adjustment and got the setup dialed in.  There is just a hint of front foot pressure - but without it the foil tended to drop out.

No surprise - just like when I've winged with this foil there is a ton of glide.  No real work is needed to extract the glide - especially from a tuned setup - just occasional pulse or tap.

After I got the foil dialed in, the wind picked up and it was strong.  The erst of the session was spent wondering if I could get on foil with a parawing.

Lots of curves on the tracks - that's me surfing this foil!

I'm gonna call this 13 rides.  I know I missed a few, not innately knowing how this foil would behave.

This foil definitely occupies a different space than the Silk 650 and the Enduro 700.  I'm going to continue using this foil while Foil Drive-ing in the immediate future.

W:56/FD:106/PW:26/S:6

Wing Foiling Session - 7/5/2025

Yet another day of weird wind - if you looked at the water's surface, you would have thought a 4.5 would have been perfect.  But that was an illusion and the direction was shifting a lot.

There were waves at Seconds and the tide was favorable for not hitting stuff underwater.

I brought several boards (to give Miles a chance to figure out what he is looking for in a board) - I used No.40

I wanted to test out the positioning for the AFS Silk 650/HA38

And to compensate for the small foil, I pumped up the North Mode Pro 5.5

As I took out two foils - I put the wind chart up first to cover both

The issue with the first session was the lack of wind.  Yes - lack of wind.

Long blue line - most of the session I was just drifting.

Eventually the wind came back at a level I could get the Silk 650 up.

This foil does not have the weird hesitancy that I was experiencing with the F One SK8 750 - but I do need some wind to get this foil going.

While up - I figured I should just get back in.  I did go down on the way back - but I was lucky to have enough wind to get back up.

Once back on shore, the wind seemed to straighten out.  And everyone was headed out - Mark, Harris and others.  I went back to the truck and swapped out the foil and adjusted the mast.  

The AFS HA Ultra 750/HA38 was bolted on!

With the wind straightening out, the Ultra 750 was spot on!

When I got out to the surf - I ended up spending most of the time at Seconds.  It was breaking harder than Firsts and only Zach was out (and he was windsurfing).

Overhead breaking surf!  Not as big as 2 days ago but still super fun!

The wind was still a little shifty - but I could pump through with the Ultra 750

The big gap was when I went down on the inside of Seconds - I didn't want to try and takeoff over the reef so I paddled back into the channel.

Super fun session!

W:51/FD:92/PW:13/S:4

Wing Foiling Session - 6/14/2025

I originally was going to wing over at Kailua Beach Park, but there was a canoe race and I didn't want to deal with the crowd.

I eventually made it out to Hickam for an afternoon session.

There was wind, but it was tough to zero in on where it was coming from.  Tide is never really an issue here.  And the waves were far and few between.

Knowing the conditions, I setup the same exact gear as yesterday - I figure the Ultra 750 would eat up any excess power from the North Nova Pro 5.0

This is a mean setup!

I did get a late start, so I kept an eye out for the wind faltering.  When I got to the parking lot, Zach and Naomi were packing up, Matt was out on the water and Ken was setting up.

It's been a while since I really put the Ultra 750 through its paces.  I started out running through both tacks and both jibes, and eventually headed out to Firsts.

I nabbed a few waves and checked out Seconds.  I got a couple of decent waves, but it really wasn't breaking.  I headed back in to make some speed runs.

For its size, the Ultra 750 gets up pretty easily, and it stays up as long as the wing has power.  There were a few times when the wing didn't have power and I had to wait for gusts to get back up.

I think the span of this foil limits its top end - 23mph is pretty good, but at 750 square centimeters, you'd think this one would go much faster.

I called it early to avoid having to paddle back (and I'm glad I did - the wind continued to drop).

Fun session!

W:45/FD:84/PW:9/S:4

Wing Foiling Session - 6/13/2025

After work winging session.

Norm was already pumping up his wing when I got to the parking lot.

The wind was blowing hard north - it was actually pretty good for Foil Drive-ing...

I pumped up the North Nova Pro 5.0

No.40 with the AFS Ultra HA 750/HA38 - I didn't give myself options, just brought this foil (I was being optimistic).  Knowing the waves would be small and the wind not conducive for parawinging, I still wanted to do something different - I figured using this foil would be challenging.

Norm was on the AFS Enduro 1300 - so he was up on foil more than I was.

When the wind was blowing, this foil was fun - fast, still turns well (not carving like the Silk 850, but still turns).

Doesn't get more north than this.

This session was an exercise in getting up on foil in lighter winds, staying up on foil once up, and finding the lower limits of this foil.

I was able to tack this foil - as long as I had enough speed.

Definitely lighter than I thought it was going to be

Again - fun when there was a gust to get me up on foil.  No surprise that the Ultra 750 has tons of glide.  I'm going to have to use this foil a lot more to see what the upper limits are.

Another thing I noticed is this foil did not take a toll on my right knee.  Probably foil placement...

Once last note, on one jibe going in back to out, I was not able to switch back to regular foot - and I ended up riding switch back out.  I've only done this a handful of times and it feels awkward as heck - but probably something I should continue to do (in addition to getting up on foil from switch).

W:44/FD:84/PW:9/S:4

Wing Foiling Session - 4/12/2025

Headed to Hickam to avoid the low tide shenanigans.

Wind was strong but swirly and full of holes.

There were waves at Seconds and occasionally at Firsts.

Zach, Matt, Prayot, Arvin, and others were out enjoying the conditions.

I did some research today.

I started with the AFS Silk 850 and the rebuilt 142 rear stabilizer.  I wanted to see if the slight ridges would make a difference in the resonance.

And after the first session I changed out the lower set to the AFS Ultra HA 750 and HA38 rear stabilizer to see if the balance point I defined last time I had this foil out was still valid, and if the tuning on the HA38 worked (the goal is to run silent).

And the wind was strong when I was setting up - not strong enough for the North Nova Pro 4.2, but plenty for the Mode Pro 4.8

Lots of ups and downs

First session running the Silk 850

The stab felt fine, but it did make some noise.  Next time I mix epoxy, I'll place some to get rid of the slight depressions/ridges where I had to splice on the carbon.

The waves were breaking better at Seconds today. 

Towards the end of the session, I did a few speed runs - this was a surprise.

And this was the second session.

Looks like I could pull a higher angle to the wind with the Ultra (not a surprise).  The other thing I wanted to get a better sense of was how well the Ultra surfs.

The Ultra can surf - but it is not nearly as fluid as the Silk (or even the Enduro).  If you are wondering - it's glide is off the charts.  That would make downwind runs a dream with this foil - but it is good to know it doesn't take ridiculous amounts of wind to get this foil up and that it can surf.

And this is a surprise - same day, nearly the same time and the Silk went faster.

I found out later than Prayot put his stabilizer into his wing strut while jumping.  He had to paddle for the taxiway, climb on and get his board secured, then went back for his wing.  Long walk.

W:28/FD:54/PW:1/S:4

Wing Foiling Session - 4/5/2025

Trades finally came back!!!

And the tide was supposed to be low all day - so I hit Hickam.

Lots of people cycling through today -

I brought No.25 so Miles could try it out (he wants to order a custom)

I brought Kalani on -

Jim, Harris, Zach, Naomi, Grant, Matt, Ken, and...

This guy!

Besides the low tide (and saving myself for a long paddle out at WPB), I went to Hickam to get a couple of foils dialed in on No.40

First up was the Enduro 900 - which I have already been using on this board - but mainly with the Foil Drive, so the positioning is way different (has to carry more weight).

Hickam is almost always shifty and gusty - so I wanted to save myself some trouble and I pumped up the North Nova Pro 5.0

This first run, I did my normal warm ups (tacks and jibes both directions) - the foil performed exactly like I thought it would.  On wing, I got to look over at the foil running in the water and while doing some 'S' turns, I could get the tips out without losing any stability.

Then I took it out in the small surf at Firsts.  Surfed just like it did on Foil Drive (but why wouldn't it).

I think I need to move the mast just a notch back to get the foot pressure balanced (it feels a tad bit front foot heavy).

Not the fastest this foil has gone - but with the lack of waves, it was wind alone.

Speaking of wind, here's what was blowing through.

I went in and switched out the foil to the Ultra HA 750/HA38

I had a lot of fun on this foil.

I've used this foil before when the AFS demo was at Kailua, and when Prayot let me use his.

I got the positioning right at the first setting.  This foil is surprisingly easy to get up on foil - granted there was a good amount of wind, but there were lulls also.

This second run, the waves got even smaller - so I didn't spend a lot of time out at Firsts - but I did get a bunch of speed runs in.

I thought I got this foil up to a faster speed - but obviously I didn't.  Where this foil did surprise me the most was at the low end of its range.  I could keep the foil up in the lulls with a little input from pumping.  The reviews of this foil note the tubercles helping with low speed lift.

Between the Ultra HA 750 and the Pure Race 560, the Race went faster - less surface area means less drag and the smaller span likely factors in as well. 

It's good to get on wing again!!!

W:23/FD:53/PW:1/S:4