Wing Foiling Session - 11/5/2021

Hit WPB again.  Wind was whitecapping when I pulled up to the parking lot - but by the time I was ready to launch, it had dropped a little.

Rigged exactly the same as Thursday - OR5, PNL185, WWFB.

The waves did pick up.  Long walls that reeled on for hundreds of feet.  It would have been absolutely perfect if the wind had filled in just a notch higher.

 

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I did catch a few waves where I dropped the wing - so much fun!  The PNL185 showed its limitations on these rides - the NL160 would have been better for this kind of riding.

Funny thing is today is supposed to be the windiest day of the weekend... even with the fluky winds, you can see I was able to pull upwind with the new wing.

Wing Foiling Session - 11/4/2021

The trades finally came back today!  I've had the Ocean Rodeo Glide 5.0 in full aluula for a bit now.  So long that I had a chance to inflate test it, found a leak in the strut, sent it back and had a replacement sent out. The wind has been down for almost 2 weeks... needless to say I was really excited to be able to get the new wing out to test it.

The tide was favorable for winging at 1.3' and there was some background energy rolling through - maybe thigh high - but I'm not complaining.

Marlon came out and took drone footage.  WWFB, using the PNL185 and obviously the OR Glide.

The wing pulls upwind so well.

Most of the time I did not see any whitecaps.

You can pretty much correlate the lulls with the black spots in the speed graph below.

For as inconsistent and fluky as the wind was, it was totally awesome to get back out and to try a new wing (that does not suck).

Tweaking New Gear

I spent yesterday afternoon working on stuff that has piled up on me and also tweaking some new stuff.  I helped Marlon fix a ding in one of his boards.  Then I sealed up the trailing edge of the HS1532CS (that I sold - the customer wanted it sealed up a bit more).  Then I got to the good stuff.

Having sold the Ensis 6.0 and 5.2, I had been looking for a replacement wing.  It needed to be powerful, not have any windows, be lighter, have handles and have the range of both of the Ensis.  That is a lot to ask of one wing - but here it is - the Ocean Rodeo Glide 5.0 in A (full Aluula) Series.

This is actually the second one - the first came in earlier this week, but when I ran it through the pressure test, the boom would not hold air.  For as much as this thing cost, I went ahead and asked for an exchange - I got that yesterday.  This one held pressure (and it is still inflated in the living room).

I am really excited to put this wing to the test.  I know it will not have the get up and go grunt that the Ensis does, but what is a few more pumps to gain a wider range, almost no weight, and an ultra stiff frame that translates much more power (instead of losing it to flex and deformation).

With this wing, I have the goal of only having three wings - 5.0, 4.2 and a 3.6.  Those ranges (hopefully) will go from 12-25, 18-30, 25-??? respectively.

Now we just need the trades to come back (still a week away).

I also shimmed up the Takuma Kujira 75cm aluminum mast.  I got this mast from Jeff along with the Kujira 1210 so I can prone foil the Kujiras (as I'm still waiting for the Project Cedrus 2021 Takuma adapter). 

Shimming the Takuma is pretty important.  If you don't the load is only on the bolts and any vibrations the rig endures will start to loosen the bolts.  For all the complaints I see on the web, I would say nearly all of them are a direct result of not shimming the parts that get joined together (fuselage where the front foil meets; fuselage where the mast slips in).

I can't wait to try this foil out!!!