Wing Foiling Session - 9/24/2021

This afternoon the signs indicated marginal winds.  But after yesterday's session (and the strong winds that materialized from the same marginal signs) I thought I should set up to wing.

HS1850 on the 95cm mast, chopped 300 rear stabilizer and the Ensis 6.0

Marlon came out to practice some more with the drone.  It was perfect flying conditions for him, but what started out as marginal quickly dropped to the impossible range

Eli can conjure up his own wind so he was cruising the whole time.  Roland and I are not nearly as good as Eli is, so we got stranded when the wind stopped.

You can see the large amount of "blue", or me drifting around in the image below.

It is hard to call this marginal wind...

And to boot, there was more north in this wind than there was east.  On the runs I did get, I kept trying to pinch upwind - but alas it was not to be.  I ended up having to swim a good deal in and at the last second was able to ride to the lone cottage.

Roland was closer in when the wind died - he paddled the gap and was in well before I was.

I really should have listened to my gut and prone foiled.  It would have been much less work.  Tomorrow on the dawn patrol - going to go prone surf foiling.

Wing Foiling Session - 9/22/2021

With the 85cm mast out of commission, I broke out the 95cm mast.  I used the 60cm original fuselage with the +1 titanium shim.  The same foils went on - the HS1550v1 and the chopped down 300 rear stabilizer.  The wind seemed slightly stronger than yesterday and from the beach, the waves out at Firsts and Seconds looked more developed.

I'm jumping ahead, but after I shimmed the front of the mast base, this seemed to be a great setting for this foil combo.

When I got to the beach, Jim and Harris were already out.  I assembled the foil/board, carried it to the beach and figured using the 5.2 would be the best bet.

I used the electric pump again (4th time using it - trying to see how many inflate cycles I get out of a single charge)

I actually made two outings.  The first was to make sure the foil was properly set - and seeing as I was real close, I went ahead and headed out to Firsts.  The waves seemed cleaner, bigger and more organized today.  The tide was still high so that did slow the action down a bit.  I was able to get several waves where the face had some vertical to it and I luffed the wing.  Riding this way has always been harder for me at Firsts - but with the practice at WPB, it is getting easier over here.

I did head in because I noticed the board was riding nose down.  I grabbed the shims from the truck and got them bolted on.  The shims seemed to somewhat correct the attitude issue, but just a hair short of perfect.  I may try using the other shim from Wizard Hat.

I seemed to be going faster the second half of the session.  I think with the longer mast, the additional drag slowed me down considerably.  Pumping and taking off were also more difficult compared to the 85cm mast.  That said - I did not breach or pop the tail once.  The extra 4" of height also made it seem like I didn't have to think about the foil's position relative to the surface - I was there just to ride the wave.

I think as I use this mast more, it'll become a better experience.  I have used it in the past - but with the HS1850.  I'm going to try this mast with the HS1250 on a windy day - would be interesting to see the difference.

Wing Foiling Session - 9/21/2021

Roland and I hit Hickam this afternoon.  Perfect 5.2 wind (see graph below) and a high tide to make launching even easier than normal.  Lastly there was a south swell starting to show.  I had a great session until my last run - tried to jump, botched it and ended up jacking up the mast and the fuselage.  I don't really know how I bent these parts (no broken bones and just a scratch on my foot), but I did.

I wasn't sure at first, but this titanium core fuselage is definitely bent and the back of the mast cracked open.

Roland also had a great session until the last run.  All session he was trying out his new Naish S26 board.  He even went in to swap out his foils and adjust the mast.  On his last run, he blew out the stitches on the front wing handle - he was just trying out some tacks.

Anyways - enough about paying taxes.  I made a beeline out to Firsts and rode for over an hour.

Here is a little bit more detail on the wave riding session

I knew I was not maxing out today - only hit 17.5mph according to the watch.

If I go tomorrow, it'll be with the 95cm mast and the old 60cm fuselage.  Hopefully I'm done paying taxes....

Wing Foiling Session - 9/17/2021

Went to Hickam yesterday after work.  The wind was supposed to be nuking - but it was far from it.  Good thing I brought the bigger wings (since I don't trust the forecasters).  I bolted on the HS1850 and pumped up the Ensis 6.0 - session savers!!!  

I was going to just stay on the inside since the wind looked light - but Harris was already out, had come in and said it was blowing better outside.  We made a beeline for Firsts.  The waves were small, but every now and then there was a good set pulling through.  The wind was steadier outside - stayed out there for about 40 minutes before it looked like the wind was dropping.

You can see the drop in wind around 4:30pm.  I could have used the 5.2 - but since La had repaired the 6.0, I have been wanting to test out the patch.  Glad to report its all good.

And from the watch track, you can see the wind dip also.  For the most part, I was up and riding - down only on botched transitions.

Towards the end of the session, I did try and do some flatwater jumping.  Its hard to tell for sure since you can't see under the board, but I did feel like I broke free of the water.

I felt redeemed at peace with the Ocean.  I'm hoping I paid my dues the last few sessions.

Fixing Rear Stabilizers

Tim called me after the Saturday dawn patrol - he grounded his foil on the way in and the rear stabilizer (Armstrong V 200) lost a tip and some of the material where it wasn't supposed to come off (inside the "cut" chop shop line).  I told him to bring it by so I could look at it.  This tip was not salvageable (like Harris' stabilizer was). 

I took the rough edges off, balanced the other side and poured some epoxy.  I let it sit over night, then started to rough shape.  Here's the initial result.

I asked if he wanted the tips to be sharp - he said no.  I dulled them down (just a slight rounding), then wet sanded the affected areas.  At this point I also wet sanded my chopped down 300 to get the reef rash off (had to balance the other side as well).

Wet sanding works miracles!

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.

Wing Foiling Session - 9/11/2021

I got my ass handed to me on Saturday afternoon.  While I was setting up, the wind was blowing nicely and the waves were borderline too big to foil (lip pitching when they broke).

It did seem a little on the light side as I was setting up.  I figured I would use the HS1550V1 to surf the waves, but pump up the 6.0 to compensate for the smaller front foil.  Used the Scoprega pump - this is a good unit - heavy, but after the warranty service to fix the stripped drive screw, it works brilliantly.

Well, it all went downhill fast.  I was able to get out through most of the breaking waves area.  Once deep enough, I flipped the foil into the water to prevent the wing from having a chance to get ripped.  And just as I was getting set to wing the rest of the way out, I got picked up and thrown backwards by a wave.  The foil board went upside down at some point, and when I got resituated, there was a smaller hole on one side of the strut, and a large rip on the other side.

Then the wind died and I had to make the call to paddle in.  I picked up a gust to foil through the break zone, but I was way down wind of Fenceline (pretty much at the last of the cabins).  There is a shallow reef ledge in this area so I knew getting back on land was going to have it challenges.  I was making it fine, until the last 10' - a wave came up and I was sure all my gear was going to get chewed up.  I still need to triple check, but upon inspection I only had a spot on the rear stabilizer that got scratched up.  I had not done the walk of shame in tons of sessions.

I definitely paid taxes today - but it certainly could have been worse.

Wing Foiling Session - 9/8/2021

Went winging with Eli and Roland today.  While getting setup up just after 4pm, the wind looked really good - like 4.5m good.  But just in the short time setting up, the wind dropped down to good 5.2m.  HS1550 and chopped 300 rear stab on the 60cm fuse and 85cm mast.

It was perfect 5.2 conditions - and pretty steady.  As I type this, my arm injuries that I have been contending with aren't even sore!  And I caught a few standup, drop the wing and carve up and down waves.

Then the wind died

And after a long lull - there was a puff that let me ride for a little bit longer.  I figure it was only going to get worse from this point so I took a wave in.

Here is Roland coming in after staying out another 30 minutes after I came in.

Right to the beach!

Looks like the wind is forecasted to be much weaker for the next several days - maybe Sunday will be the next winging session.  I'll take what I can get and be thankful for it!

Wing Foiling Session - 9/3/2021

The wind was forecasted to be really strong this afternoon - the forecast was not wrong.  There were some big swaths of white caps blowing around and there was also a sizable swell.  I rigged up the same foil setup as yesterday, and opted for the Ensis 4.5.  I picked this wing over the Reedin 3.6 because it seemed to be a notch below the "are you  nuts?" level.

I forgot my GPS watch so no data from today's session.  You can see the wind was really up, but that there were still some lulls.  There were some really big waves coming through.  I jibed to dropped into a handful - talk about tapped the energy source!!!! That didn't mean today's session was without its challenges.  The chop was really big - and it made riding swell very difficult.

You win some, you lose some!

Wing Foiling Session - 9/2/2021

I pulled a later afternoon winging session today - had gotten wrapped up in time sensitive errands.  I was rigged and in the water by 4:20pm.  There were white caps and definitely some swell pushing through.  I pumped up the Ensis 5.2 and bolted the HS1550 onto the NWFB - same setup as last time.

From the overlay, the wind was definitely from the ENE.  With the swell pushing from the SSE, you would have thought the luffed rides would have been awesome - and I did get a couple of really fun swell riding runs, but with the wind really up or really down, most of the slingshot jibes onto incoming swell ended up with a drop off foil because of the lulls.  Was actually kind of frustrating.  You can see my drops on the overlay because they are colored blue.

Still - not having wind over the past several days, anything was a welcome sight.  I got in a total of 17.5 miles with a top speed of 17.8 mph.  While the wind was up, I was up on foil without issue - but when I hit a dead wind zone, I was schlogging

.

Tomorrow is supposed to be 21 to 27 - I'll see if there is enough wind to put up the 3.6, or if the 4.5 will carry the day!  I'm also contemplating using the HS1250.  Iwindsurf.com is calling for stronger wind, while surfline.com is saying it'll be a notch stronger than today.  We'll see...