Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 9/7/2025

Foil Drive dawn patrol at PV.  The sets were gnarly!!!!

Conditions were SO GOOD!!!

Swapped out the Enduro 900 for the Silk 850 - fun overload!!!

I used two batteries - first up was the HO

I grounded the foil shortly after flipping the board over (#$@%&33!!!!!)

About 20 minutes in, a bomber set rolled through - ultra clean wrenching waves reeling left

I had some glorious rides!!!  I'm calling them head and half (while up on foil - so double overhead on a surfboard)

14 rides!!!

Swapped out when Stu was swapping batteries.

The swell was more consistent - the tide was dropping.

I predominantly went left (to avoid getting crushed going right).

10 rides on the second battery.  Incredible rides -

And to pay the taxes, I was riding to get in and I guess I didn't realize how much the tide dropped.  I grounded hard while riding and got thrown off the board.

Needless to say I did a bunch of sanding this afternoon.  Oddly enough these did not upset me as much as I think I normally would have been - these "scars" will be a great reminder of the incredible session!

W:56/FD:113/PW:31/S:7

Garage Works - 3/5/2025

I've been work on the signal window installation on No.31 for the past few days - I just didn't post on that work.

I probably have one last day of sanding and spraying, then this one will be ready to hit the water again (when the wind dies down - lol).  The goal here is to not have to pack the tracks with foam, and to not have signal cutouts anymore.

And as a result of hitting all the high points over at No Man's Land, I had some filling to do this evening.

I filled and sanded both the front foil and the rear stabilizer already - save one spot that could use another filling-sanding on a wing tip.

I can't sleep unless scratches are filled and the universe is in alignment.

Once these projects are finished, I think I am going to work on changing out the tracks on No.32 - it never ends (but I love every minute!!!!)

Wing Foiling Session - 3/5/2025

Big highs and deep lows today - 

The wind "seemed" to be stronger today, but the direction had shifted more easterly.

The tide was really low.... more on that in a minute.

Norm and I both setup the same equipment from yesterday.

The AFS Silk 850 - the hardest carving foil I have ever used!!!  The SK8s are good also - not shabby by any definition - it's just that the Silk is that good.

While setting up, Norm was talking about how he washed down stream yesterday and was worried about having to get in at Bunkers.  He picked up a gust that had a bunch of North in it and he was able to get back to the launch spot.

He also was talking about grounding foils if you didn't find yourself near either of the channels after wiping out.

So guess what happened to me today??? 

Norm launched and his timing was impeccable - up in the first trough (that is deep enough to not ground your foil) and out into the channel.

I on the other hand - started in a slight lull and couldn't get up on foil.  Then the longshore current started carrying me west into No Man's Land, where I proceeded to hit every high point on the bottom, and even had to turn the foil sideways to avoid further grounding in thigh deep water getting pummeled by waves.

I had gotten pushed so far over that swimming back was not an option (too much shallow reef in between me and the beach with strong wind trying to push me out).

I eventually got to deeper water and the waves slacked long enough for me to pick up a gust and get the hell out of the mine field.  From there things got better.

There were some big sloped waves coming through, and when I got out in front of them (they were moving very fast), luffing the wing and carving up the face was phenomenal!!! 

I started to feel better about the conditions and then busted out tacking onto the large waves - it's hard to see in the yellow spaghetti below, but I rode four waves like this -

Towards the end of the session, the wind slacked and it actually looked like doable conditions for Foil Drive-ing.

After I made it back to Pavilions proper, I didn't drop off foil - even with the challenging conditions.  I guess my time in No Man's Land was enough to keep me motivated to not screw up.

After packing up, I drove over to WPB to see what the conditions were like for comparative purposes.  Roland was going back out after having to come in to fix his front footstrap - pulled screw.

The wind line was further out and with the low tide you had to paddle out further anyways.  It also looked like the waves were smaller.

This has been a good run of wind!!!

W:14/FD:39/PW:1/S:3

Wing Foiling Session - 12/25/2024

Yesterday the forecasts were calling for a spike of wind (in the wingable range) - so I passed on the dawn patrol (plus it was Christmas and I wanted to spend it with the family in the morning).

When I got to the beach, it was blowing - but onshore (so the whitecaps were a little deceiving).

I setup the North Nova Pro 5.0 (which seemed like it would be a little too much wing - but it was actually perfect), No.34 with the F One Eagle 890/DW190 on the Evolution Cedrus Wind Mast.

I had to paddle way out to get to water deep enough to flip the board over.  And even then I found myself in some shallow spots (and the Eagle touched down a few times - ugh).

The wind on the outside was strong - fueled by the heated land.  And it bent more eastward than SE.

The swell was small but it did offer push on the foil.  The whole session actually felt like a continuous downwinder.

I totally got the thermal at it's peak.

I was up on foil for a majority of the session - except for the gap towards the end.  You can see the drop in the wind towards the end of my session up above.  The earlier drops were me tripping on the foil while trying harder turns.

I only did a couple of tacks - with the wind direction I thought they would have been slower to execute (and would have me in the water more).

Eddy came along after I was in.  I told him it was dropping and might not be worth it since this was a thermal event.

Nice to get in a wing session when the forecast has us in a light wind period.

W:153/PW:2/FD:99/F:5/S:29