Wing Foiling Session - And the Anointment of #20

Hit Kailua this morning - it has been a while and this was the first time winging.  Actually pulled up while it was still dark.  The wind was blowing in at 13 - 17mph, but every now and then gusts would blow up just past 25mph.  I figured its better to be overpowered so I pumped up the Ensis 6.0m.  This was also the anointment of #20!  I setup the new board with the HS1850 and the mast jammed all the way to the rear as the starting point.

The launch here is very foil friendly - sand, sand and more sand.

I went out, then came in to adjust the mast, and repeat that four times.  It was hard to tell if the adjustments were making a difference because there was a lot of motion going on in the layer of water the foil was interacting with - and a lot of up and down with the wind swell coming through.  I was out for a while and got 14.59nm in.  You can see I spent a bunch of time at Jump City.  There were rollers running through and they were a ton of fun to catch.  I would depower the wing and just pick up a ton of speed from the wave.  I think if I had the HS1250, I might have broken 20mph.

Hit 17.1mph on the HS1850 - not too bad.

Kailua is a pay chart on iwindsurf.com - so the forecast below shows Kailua, but the actual chart is from Kaneohe.

This board was doing everything I shaped it to do - 

And here's where the mast ended up.  Even here it seemed that I was still putting more back foot pressure than I would have liked.  I think I'll take it to Hickam next to really get it dialed in on the flat water.

I might also move the front foot straps forward a notch - the additional weight forward will be a tell tale whether the mast needs to come up or not.

Number 20!!!!

Second Time Out on the Hypernut

I took the Hypernut out to Kailua today.  Lots of kites piled up on the beach when we arrived (lull in the wind).

I wanted to test the stability of the board with the foil inserted.  It was pretty stable - I didn't have an issue paddling it around.  I felt that I could have paddled into a wave - which is good news (this board isn't too small for me at 189# - it isn't a no-brainer, but it is on the doable range of paddling.

So after paddling around a bit, I came in and put the sail on.  I used the Naish Boxer 5.8 and I had plenty of power - so much so that I was even water starting.  Uphauling this rig on this board was challenging, but it was doable.

I even got up on the foil a couple of times - this being the first time on the board with the foil, and the first time with the board and the foil and a sail, my foot placement wasn't quite right and the foil would get away from me.

The wind got weak on me and I figured it would be best if I headed in - I ended up downwind of where I started so I took a short walk of shame.  But that said, I am hopeful that I can get more practice under my belt and with the additional experience, this will all start to click.

Not bad for a first outing!!!  And it felt good to windsurf Kailua again after all these years.

All the photos were taken by La with her new DSLR camera ;)

Hanging Out on the Log

I took Marlon to orchestra practice yesterday and had a few hours to burn.  I drove over to Kailua to check out what was going on. 

There were a few kiters out on foils and a couple of windsurfers (also on foils).  The wind was marginal - maybe 10 kts.

There are a few logs set out at the western side of the beach park - a place where people have sat and checked out the conditions or taken in the jumps the kiters were making.  The logs are timeless.

I took pictures of the boards when the riders came back onto the beach.  The foils aren't too different size wise from the one I finished building... hmmmm

Foil Research

Checked out the Kailua shops on Saturday...

Meanwhile at the Naish Shop, they had some of the 2019 equipment in stock.  The combo SUP/SUP Foil/Windsurf Foil boards really caught my attention... One board, two foils, and my old windsurfing gear - and I can cover everything - is this the holy grail of windsports????

This is the Large Surfing Foil 

This is the XL Surfing Foil (downwinders on a shortboard, surfers over 200 pounds)

This is the Windsurfing Foil

And the tail of the Large Surf Foil

Things that Make Kailua Kailua

I've been driving past this fence for the better part of almost 25 years. 

Master Blaster from the Past

This guy and I learned to kite together over 20 years ago - and here we are still playing in the water together!

The equipment has changed (for the better), the crowd on the beach is different than when we first started, and we are both grayer, but that's about all that has changed!

Pretty epic session - but an odd thing happened - we both ended our sessions with equipment failures.  I lost the screws on my left foot strap and Nick split his foilboard in two.

Time to break out the sander!!!!

Kiting Again

Oh yes it has been awhile - but I finally broke the dry spell.  I pressure tested both the 16 and the 11 Crossbows and there were no issues.

Back when we lived in Gulfport, MS I was actually kiting a fair bit.  The kids were much younger and they always took shelter from the wind under the kites - as soon as I had these pumped up - that's where they went.

The next day, I got a call from a friend and we headed over to Kailua.  I put the 11 up and used the twintip.  The wind was just a hair too strong, but I depowered the kite and stayed out for a couple of hours.

I truly missed kiting - this is something I'm going to have to remedy although living in Ewa Beach makes any kite outing a good haul (Kailua or Mokuleia...).  I'm also gonna get my directional ready.