Wing Foiling Session - 9/4/2021

Today the forecasts called for one last windy session.  Underground Weather said 11am to 2pm was the peak.  Iwindsurf.com said it was to be from 1pm to 5pm.  I picked up Roland at the NEX Mall parking lot and was at Hickam Harbor around 12.  The wind was swinging from the NE

I wanted to experiment with the HA925.  I moved the mast up more by flipping the front washers.  I also swapped out the chopped 300 rear stabilizer for the 232V2 (still with the +1.5 degree shims for a net +0.5 adjustment).

This is the fastest foil I have been on.  With the 5.2m I would normally have been overpowered in these conditions - but with such a small/high aspect foil, the 5.2 was a good call.

I stayed inside for the whole session.  I got in over 12 miles - going straight was challenging, both from the wind shifting and gusting, and from the nimbleness of the front foil.  By the end of the session I was starting to feel comfortable with the squirrelliness.

Decent wind, just shifty and gusty.  You can see the schlogging I was doing in between full throttle sessions.  The biggest issue was the wind shifting direction in the middle of the harbor - it would knock me down every time. 

Max recorded speed was 19.6mph - although I thought I was going faster than that by a long shot.  I had a few runs where I'd line up with another winger ahead of me, then I'd just put the pedal down - I'd end up catching them and still pull ahead.  Transitions were hard - too much speed coming in to the turns made for a bunch of botched tacks and jibes.  I did get several in, but I was batting less than 50 for sure.

All said, this front foil is awesome!!!  It is going to take some work to get used to it, but I can tell it is going to be an incredible ride!

Dawn Patrol - 8/29/2021

Marlon and I were on the dawn patrol again this morning.  The surf was bigger - chest high+ on the sets.  There was no wind to speak of and the tide was rising to a high of 1.6'.  Marlon brought out his longboard again - I changed things up again.  I brought the 4'6" and started out with the CF1200 on the 72cm mast and chopped 300 rear stabilizer.  I cannot say how good the combo is - on good waves, this thing absolutely rips!!!  I caught a bunch and then headed in to switch this setup out.

There is a lot of hype out on the High Aspect foils so I decided to break out the HA925.  I rigged it the way the guys on the internet said to - 85cm mast, small drag free rear stabilizer.  That said - they also said this foil does not like turbulent water (and it doesn't), and that it has a high stall speed (and it does).  It is going to get some getting used to to find the cadence and feel for this foil.  I did catch several on it - it is really fast.  It is also really unstable.  Next go I'll use the 72cm mast and the 232 rear stabilizer.

When I got home, I discovered that the HA925 was stuck on the fuselage.  I spent the next few hours getting both this foil and the GoFoil GL210 unstuck from their respective masts.  It felt good to get the 210 unstuck - now I can use the NL160 and PNL185 on that mast to experiment with those foils on the wing.