Parawing Session - 9/25/2026

Afternoon session had a nice high tide again - waves every now and then, but

the wind was all over the place.

When I first went out, I had the BRM S3 5.3 because the wind was light.  By the end of the day, the 4.2 I had brought out was starting to get overpowered.

I bolted on the Cabrinha Prestige 905/Union 160

And the honest truth is I didn't feel the back foot pressure in my knee like I normally do with the AFS foils.  Yet another amazing trait from this foil!

The next three pictures are when I had the BRM S3 5.3 up

A few retracted PW rides in there

I think the waves were smaller than yesterday (thus the slower top speed) - and having to contend with a too big parawing for the conditions

Wide range between the background wind and the gusts

This was the ride with the BRM S3 4.2 up

I had a little trouble dousing the PW - the wind was taking the PW as I was bringing it down.

The downs in this chart are mostly botched redeployments (wind shadows, poorly wadded up PW, too much wind)

I think I could have used the 3.4 easily today - 

PF:11/W:3/PW:119/FD:65/S:25

Parawing Racing at the KWA Fall Classic

Yesterday was the Kailua Windsports Association Fall Classic 2026

I signed up for the short and long course parawing class races.

Was really cool to see this many kites out all at once - this is a pretty rare site (at least when I'm at Kailua).

Prayot, Stu and I were out repping Ewa Beach -

The races were fun (mostly - more on that in a second), and the crowd was really cool to hang out with.

Podiumed on both runs!!!

The bad part about the day - on both runs the wind crashed just when the parawing starts were happening - and the races were basically who got up first.

This was the short course run -

And you can see exactly when we started because that's when the wind lulled out

And this was the long course run.

Another perfectly timed lull - and I actually took off and headed towards the mark while schlogging just so I could make some head way.  This was totally who got up first (again).

Interesting that changing out to a bigger foil didn't make a difference here.  Not sure if the wind just sucked more (which is a very real possibility) or if the Prestige is just plain faster and easier to get up with (not sure we will ever truly know... a genuine mystery of the universe).

Super fun day hanging out with cool people all enjoying a really beautiful place!

PF:11/W:3/PW:114/FD:65/S:25

Parawing Dawn Patrol - 9/19/2026

Hit Kailua with Stu on the dawn patrol.  Needed to get a session in with the wind being opposite to the South Shore before the race tomorrow.

Wind was 15 to 20mph.  Initially it was from the NE, but then it got shifty.

Same board and lower foil set as the previous several runs.  Switched back to the BRM S3 5.3m

Had some good retracted PW runs at Jump City.  And I had some good redeploys.

But I also had one that made a birds nest, and a couple that field stripped me off the board.

And with the possibility of the race course being the opposite of what I usually do on any given Kailua Bay day, I wanted to at least see how running opposite would feel and what angle I'd have on each leg of the course.

We'll see how that all shapes up tomorrow.

Good wind - but there were still a handful of times I had to wait for a gust to get up onto foil.

I did try to get some tacks in, but I wasn't able to sail out of them.  It is so odd that I can't consistently tack here.

Good session!

PF:11/W:3/PW:112/FD:65/S:25

Parawing Session - 9/18/2026

It was windy today - strong, solid wind!  I used the BRM S3 4.2 - was overpowered early, but by the end of the session, I needed the gusts to get up.

The waves were getting big also - well overhead on the sets.

Same everything as the past couple of days - just downsized the parawing to the S3 4.2m

With the size of the waves adn being overpowered, the front half of the session had a lot more wipes than I would have preferred.

But after I adjusted to the conditions, I was staying up more.

I had more retracted rides today, but they were not as fun as the few that I got yesterday - the chop and the size made things challenging.

In fact - on one wave that was almost double overhead, I was going so fast down the face that the Cabrinha foil was screaming - never did that before.

I think I'm going to move the front lines back to the forward position on the parawings.  I guess I got used to the original configuration.

Pretty exciting days on the water!

PF:11/W:3/PW:111/FD:65/S:25

Parawing Session - 9/17/2026

Gusty conditions today - I opted to rig for the lulls and took the BRM S3 5.3m with the modified D handle.

Surf would get good on the sets.

In order to isolate the difference the modified D handle would make, I took the same gear as yesterday.

And it was a really good session - until the wind just dropped off (rain clouds shut it off)

I had a few phenomenal retract and surf rides.

Prayot and Kalani were out ripping also.  Duke was learning to handle the parawing, Roland was out on wing and Norm came later with his Foil Drive.

I had to paddle in after the rain clouds settled in.  I tried catching a wave and riding prone - but something about longer boards and riding prone don't mix in my head.  Or it may be the water entrained parawing on my back throwing my balance off.

Kalani managed to catch one and ride it in.

This was Hickam's wind chart - WP had it more from the north and higher differences between the gusts and the lulls.

Flying the modified BRM is different - with the front lines back it feels more like the modified BRM Maliko V1.  It also felt more like a straight bar and less like the D handle.

Not better - not worse, but different.

The good thing about this setup is you can actually move it back to the forward position.  I'll do that after several more runs with the fronts pulled back so I can get a better feel for this.

Fun session!  The wind should get stronger and more steady over the next several days.

PF:11/W:3/PW:110/FD:65/S:25

Parawing Session - 9/16/2026

Fun conditions this afternoon - decent trade winds, good sets coming in every now and then, and a medium tide.

BRM S3 5.3m for power

No.44 with the Cabrinha Prestige 905/160 Union Rear Stabilizer

Perfect equipment selection for the conditions present.

I tried getting some tacks in, but I guess the wind direction had a bit more north in it.  I got around on only 2 attempts.

I did retract on three waves and rode them for a considerable length and got a lot of carving in on these waves.

The wind was up and down - but the waits were not that long.

This is the Kalaeloa anemometer (which is generally 5mph low) 

Some nice correlation going on -

Really fun session today!

Wind may be a tad stronger tomorrow with a slight uptick in wave height.

PF:11/W:3/PW:109/FD:65/S:25

Parawing Session - 9/4/2026

I got off work a little early today and the wind was blowing nicely.  The surf was breaking over the revetment at the end of the runway - so it was a good call to go to Hickam (and not have to paddle out through the whitewater and breaking waves at WPB).

Matt and Harris were also there setting up.

Same gear as the past few sessions - Cabrinha Prestige 905/160 and the BRM S3 4.2m parawing.

So not bothering with going outside into the smash fest, I focused on executing tacks.

You can see the ones I made on the outside turn - and the more I did them the easier it was getting (same discussion as many times before - its just weird how this same move can always seem difficult without practice).  I also made sure to try several tacks on the inside turn.  I got a couple of those as well.

The wind was acting up - a big hole on the outer edge, and lots of commotion on the water with not a lot of push (swirly and gusty).  The 4.2 was the right call even though I could have been on the 3.4 and the 5.3 at times.

It is fun getting the muscle memory down for both tacks! 

PF:11/W:3/PW:106/FD:61/S:25