Garage Works - 1/25/2025

I got the boxes epoxied into place this morning.

I used fins to make sure the boxes lined up.

Lined up

And lined up

I'll let the epoxy harden overnight.  Then I sand the area that will be under the carbon cap sheet, tape up the boxes, and laminate the carbon on.

While waiting on the epoxy to harden, I also tuned in this fin.  The base pin wasn't allowing the fin to sit correctly in any box.  I filed the pin back -

And now it fits!

If this one works nicely, I'll probably order the thruster set.

Tuning Foils

I skipped out on beach time today - I was kinda tired and I also wanted to get some projects started/finished.

First up was tuning the AFS Pure Race 50.

The trailing edge of the front foil had a couple of chips and an edge that was less than perfect.

I used the wetsanding regime and got a Donaldson Trailing Edge on the front foil.

The trailing edge is nice a tuned up now.

With stronger winds coming later this week, I'll get to test this again.  I may make two runs at this - first will be No.36 but without footstraps (or maybe not as I don't want to necessarily have to reset the footstraps), and second - using No.34 to address the balancing issue (smaller foil - set more forward, needing my feet further forward to balance out the foil).

If the foil still sings (and mind you it wasn't that bad - especially compared to the F One Eagle 1090 I first tried - the foil screamed), I'll address the rear stabilizer.

Fine Tuning the Vyper 170

I let Roland borrow this foil yesterday.  He wanted to see if the additional 20 square inches of surface would make a difference in low end.

When turning it over to him, I saw some scratches (I did buy this one used).  When I picked it up today, I figured I should clean this one up and get it back to top performance shape.

I used the solid paint pen, filled in the scratches and let the paint dry.

And I actually just finished sanding the foil.  I went with 600-1000-1500 on both sides to get an even surface finish.

Better than new!!!

This is one of my favorite front foils for prone surf foiling in sizable waves.  It carves like no other and I can even pump it back out.  Super progressive lift so I can takeoff in critical sections without having to worry about a blow up.

I want to see if this will translate over to Foil Drive prone surf foiling... unfortunately for that plan, the wind is forecasted to get stronger over the next several days - wing, wing, wing!!!

Garage Works - 7/20/2023

I got some work done yesterday on equipment in addition to the winging session.

I sanded the ART999

And got the mast track reinforcement block epoxied into place.

I actually sanded down the HPS 700 also.

More Front Foil Tuning

And I couldn't help myself.  I went ahead and got the fill coat on the spots where I had used the solvent based fill (which dries red) on the HPS700, and some uneven spots on the ART999 tips.

I'll wet sand these tomorrow.  Looking at these two front foils, I'm pretty disappointed with the sanding job I did previously (the work I just did on the HPS980 is way better - I'll get these up to par tomorrow).

Knowing the conditions of the other foils I use, I'll likely be doing this on the following:

- scratch fill on the Progression 170

- scratch fill on the Vyper 170

- Donaldson Trailing Edge on the Eagle 890 (this foil sings pretty loud)

- scratch fill on the Eagle 1090

- scratch fill on the Kujira 1210

- scratch fill and Donaldson Trailing Edge on the ART 1099

There are times when I wish I weren't so OCD/anal.  But after these are done, I'll definitely be glad that I am!

Tuning Up Front Foils

It's no secret that I can't stand scratches on foils.  Well - having bought this HPS 980 used, it wasn't really finished to my preferences - but neither did I have the time to getting it dialed in.

On the Sunday run at Hickam, launching from the boat ramp I inadvertently assumed I was in deep water a little bit too early.  I ended up with a couple of really minor scratches (which in turn activated my OCD and then I looked very closely at the subpar finish).

With the weather turning south (at least less than ideal).  I went ahead and used the solid paint marker I had bought and used it to fill the scratches that I placed on the foil along with the other minor scratches from the previous owner.  These were all really minor and wouldn't affect performance in the range these foils are usually used in - but these represented things I needed to tune up (I've been an engineer for way too long).

This evening I wet sanded the foil through 400-600-1000-1500 grits.

This is way smoother now.

And I even placed a Donaldson trailing edge on.

Since I proved to myself I can pump this foil back out after riding a wave through the good parts, I want to go back to the ART999 and see the differences.

I'll actually go through and use the solid marker on both the HPS700 and the ART999 this evening and sand those in the next couple of days (as the surf is forecasted to drop).

Dawn Patrol - 3/26/2023

The tide was low this morning, so for the dawn patrol, I decided to do some fin testing.

There was actually some fun surf.

I took the NVS Webber Transformers out and installed the Endorfin Twins.  The next couple of pictures show the difference between the two fins.

The Endorfin Twins did not have the same grip, drive and release that the Webber Transformers have.  I caught a handful of waves with the Endorfins, then I went in and changed out the fins back to the Transformers.

I paddled back out and proceeded to shred - the Transformers have a permanent place on the Sweet Potato.

I'm not giving up on the Endorfins - I think they will have a place in the Cymatic.  The bottom details on the Sweet Potato are way different than the Cymatic - pretty much flat compared to the deep channels in the Cymatic.  I think those channels will work better with the Endorfin Twins profile.  More to follow...

W:29/F:20/S:18

Wing Foiling Session - 1/11/2023

The wind was forecasted to be up today (unlike yesterday where it came up with complete disregard for the forecast).  The wind was supposed to shift to more of s trade wind pattern - but instead it stuck from the NNE.  The strength was good, but it was still up and down.  The tide was really low... glad I had time to go out at Hickam (instead of having to paddle way out at WPB on a really low tide).

I had to take La to an appointment, so I had two goals today - first was to see if the Donaldson trailing edge I put on the DW210 and the Eagle 1090 worked to eliminate the high pitched tones produced by the foils at winging speed, and second was to be back on the road by 3 to get home ahead of traffic.

Offshore conditions are tough to read from the beach. 

The great news is I pretty much got rid of all the speed induced vibration noise.  I would hear a slight tone, but it was negligible compared to the three tones that were being emitted last time I winged the foil.  This foil will be ridden hard this year (now that I don't need to wear earplugs).

For such a relatively small surface area, this foil does well across a wide range.  It glides really well and that makes turns a lot easier.  I got two heel to toe (post switch) tacks in today (first ones of the year), and I could also draw out my jibes during lulls and still have enough speed to get through the turn.

I was out in the water before 2 and out 40 minutes later (I made it home with plenty of time to spare).

I felt that I was going faster than 20mph - but according to my watch that was not the case.

Glad to have been able to get out on the wing again (and that the Eagle is now dialed in).

W:2/F:2/S:6

Fairing in the Eagle 1090

This front foil has been singing up a storm.  Sometimes it emits three tones (but I think one of them was from the rear stabilizer - which I also sanded already).

The designer at Levitaz has a video out that demonstrates how to put on a Donaldson Trailing Edge on to the foil.  I went ahead and sanded this in hopes of eliminating the really loud noises.

I used 180-400-600-1000-1500-2000 grit wet sandpaper on some new sanding blocks.

I have some high hopes that this is going to work... now I just need some steady winds.

Evening Session - 6/6/2020

Marlon and I hit Pine Trees again.  The really high tide (+2.3') was washing out the reduced swell.  Every now and then a head high set would come in from the new swell that is supposed to show up later this weekend.  But it was the wind that was defining the day - it was up again and it was doing a good job of chopping up the surface and hold me back when I went right.

Marlon was picking up waves, but the wind was shortening his rides.  He stayed out half the session and paddled in to hang out at the beach.

With the same setup as yesterday - skinny 4'10", GL140, Ono Foil W228, 29.5" Mast w/track adaptor - with the GL140 sanded down and the front top deck of the board waxed up, things were more predictable today for me..  I got a few calibration rides in then started going for the bigger waves.  The drag wasn't there today, so the unsanded front wing was the culprit yesterday.  I tried focusing on the Ono Foil W228 rear wing today - I felt like I wasn't getting as much lift as I was with the other two Go Foil rear wings.  It is certainly smaller - 3 inches smaller so there is a linear loss.  But when you start to consider the the slight thickness increase across the entire width, there should be additional lift there somewhere.  It is definitely a smoother and faster responding wing.  I'm going to put the GL180 and the P18W on tomorrow (supposed to be the same height) - or I may take the wide 4'10" out.   To me it seems as if the wide 4'10" has more secondary buoyancy and with its extra weight it paddles into waves like today's much easier.  It also seems to dampen the effects of the surface chop more than the skinny 4'10".  The skinny version is better for calmer days where you don't have to fight surface texture.  Lastly the 29.5" mast does put you 5" higher than the 24.5" - that doesn't sound like much but it is a bit un-nerving at first.  After the calibration rides, I kept trying to get the foil closer and closer to the surface.  But the wave size after the takeoff almost mandated pumping - again tomorrow with the GL180 I can ride more and pump less.  More variables... more fun!!!

Processing the Feedback

This morning I went ahead and wet sanded the GL140 (400-500-1000 because that's what I had).  The surface texture is definitely super smooth now - I could feel a difference from previous usage while I was using this wing yesterday - almost like the wing wasn't slipping through the water.  I'll see how this sanding helped later this afternoon.  It could also be that I was using the Ono Foil W228 which is thicker across the chord than the Go Foil P18W and the P17.5.  That's what I get for mixing dependent variables.  I did bring the P18W with me yesterday, but it was in the van and I didn't want to walk back or leave the wing on the beach. 

I also waxed the front of the 4'10" V2 (I'm going to refer to this board as the skinny 4'10").   So I should be set for a better run on the board today.

Humpday Foiling - 9 October

I finally took out the Go Foil Iwa with the sawed off Maliko tail.  The cutdown tip to tip length of Maliko tail is almost as wide as the Kai tail, but the chord is the original width - so this tail will give more lift.

I ended up paddling in twice to change the foil position.  The first setting was back of the normal Iwa setting I use.  I caught a couple, but the foil didn't feel alive.  The after the first adjustment, I had too much lift - I had the foil set a cm ahead of the normal setting.  The second adjustment got it closer, but I felt like I had to put a little more front foot pressure (but duh - "more lift").  I'll pull it back a hair more next time.

The benefit of the change up was I felt like I did not have to pump as much.  And when I did pump, it felt like I was getting something out of it.  I even got my first legitimate 2 for 1 (well I got out to a second wave and botched the turn - I was just stoked to get this far).

I'm going to keep using this setup until the swell picks up - the kai feels more consistent, but in smaller surf this cutdown Maliko feels better on the wave.  It does vibrate so I'll probably try to fair it in after a few more sessions.

The swell was waist high and lower.  The wind was pretty much dead and the tide was dropping fast from a high of 1.9' (but I got out around 4:30 pm when it was below 1.6' and dropping).