Parawing Session - 7/1/2026

Chest to just overhead waves were breaking at the Plains

High-ish tide

Funky winds.  Prayot was out already when Kalani and I were setting up.

I thought I was bringing out the AFS Enduro 1100 - nope, what I had grabbed was the Enduro 900

I figured what the heck - might as well spend more time on this foil on parawing.

I needed slightly stronger gusts - but getting up onto foil was not too dramatic.

Where this foil shined today was in ripping up the waves when I was able to pick up rides on the bigger waves.  After retracting the parawing, I could carve and ride just like I do on this foil while Foil Drive-ing - this is seriously closing the gap on the foils I could get away with.

The shallow (relative term) spot that triggers the waves to stand up and break that is in front of the shack/tower was working brilliantly today.  The whole break would bowl and I came at it riding left.  That allowed me to retract the parawing more easily and setup for carves, glides and hook gouging!!!

As good as the rides were, the wind was wonky and I hardly picked up redeploys.

And you can see the long blue lines where I had to schlogg my way back out.  Perhaps if I had the Enduro 1100, I could have gotten through some of the dead wind alleys better.

This was the wind at Hickam - so we had it probably 5mph less.  I was definitely at the upper range of the BRM S3 5.3 at times - it was just the takeoffs that perplexed me.

Almos tall of these down periods were from me running into a dead wind zone - which again was baffling when you looked around and saw all the wind signs.

The next few days are shaping up to be similar to today...!!!

PF:8/W:3/PW:67/FD:52/S:20

Afternoon Parawing Session - 6/24/2026

The wind line was further off shore... signs that the wind had a lot of north in it.

There were some good sized waves still coming through. 

No.34 with the Cabrinha setup - Apex 78cm mast, Prestige 905 and the Union 180 Rear Stabilizer.  I wanted to try the 180 with the 905 to see if this setup was more balanced (compared to the 160).

Prayot and Kalani were there when I parked.  Roland came out later.  There was a debate about which size PW to take out.  I opted for the BRM S3 4.2, while Prayot took all three of his out.

The wind was not as strong as the forecast said it would be.  And it was way up and down (where the forecast called for steadier winds).

The flavor of the day was to ride out, catch a wave and retract the parawing.

We all had some bomber waves - overhead in the breaking area.  I had a few waves that went on for really long rides.  One of these I miraculously was able to redeploy in light wind and rode back to the outside.

If the wind had materialized as forecasted, this would have been epic.  It was still a great session, but getting a no stress, good wave riding day at WPB would be nice sometimes.

The peaks were definitely the long rides.  Flying along pretty much prone foiling on waves you would have never been able to catch paddling in -

Hopefully the wind fills in solid -

PF:8/W:3/PW:62/FD:52/S:20

Afternoon Parawing Session - 6/22/2026

The forecast was calling for the trades to fill back in.  And on the drive home after work, there were signs the wind was blowing.

This is just as I got to the parking lot - nice texture on the water.  The wind line was a bit further out than normal, and the waves were about chest high.

AFS Enduro 1100/Mako Carve Pro Medium, Short fuselage, 80 cm mast all bolted on to No.34

BRM S3 5.3 was the engine of choice.

As usual - the wind shifted around as I paddled out.

Prayot came out after and had his Vayu 6m.  He had a few points where he was down - but he was having a much better session than I was. 

I did not get skunked - and I used the time that I was up on foil to get the mechanics of takeoff, riding and transitioning back down.

The wind had a hard north component and that made for difficult retracting.  I tried twice but it wasn't worth it.  The botched redeploys added insult to injury.

The wind strength explains a lot.

And with the larger waves still breaking outside - it made me think today would have been a good day to burn a battery on Foil Drive.  I'll keep a closer eye on the conditions tomorrow.

I don't mean to sound down on today's session - it was nice to be out on the water.  The time up on foil was a bonus.

PF:8/W:3/PW:61/FD:51/S:20

Parawing Session - 6/8/2026

I was going to rest today, but the wind started blowing around the house - I figured I'd at least check it out.

Robby was in the parking lot - working on a call he got, and not really looking like he was going to be able to head out.

The wind line was further out - and it looked doable.

BRM S3 5.3 and the Cab setup on No.34

The wind actually sucked.

I was hard pressed to connect my runs because the wind would not allow me to jibe.

The whole session was really just trying to get up on foil (which I probably did because of the S3)

At least I didn't have to paddl back in.

Trap wind - the gusts make it look doable, but the wind really isn't there

It was still good to get the work day off with time in the water.

Might be time for FD -

PF:8/W:3/PW:60/FD:41/S:18

Parawing Dawn Patrol - 6/7/2026

The forecast for Kailua led me to head back this morning - better than most other spots for parawinging.

But driving through the H3 tunnel, there was thick cloud cover on the freeway, which meant the wind was going to be less than stellar at the beach park.

Yesterday was better -

With the breaching yesterday, I decided to try out the Evolution Cedrus Surf 77.5cm mast - when measured against the other masts I've been frequently using, this is actually the longest.

With the small variance in mast height, I'm thinking it is less the mast height and more the particular situation that led to the breaching.

I went ahead and setup the Cedrus today to see how it differed.  Otherwise everything else was the same as yesterday

With the wind down a notch from yesterday (despite the forecast that called for much stronger winds), I did not bring out the S3 5.3 - I did have the S3 4.2, so today was a test of it's lower end and how to get up in less than ideal conditions

The wind was flukey the whole session.

It was ok at first but then fluttered just above 4.2 doable range.  Then a giant squall came through and made me glad I had the 4.2

The wind then shifted to the north and I could not for the life of me get up.  I was downstream of the higher pressure area (you could see if blowing about a hundred feet north) and just bobbed around.

Eventually a solid gust came through and I got up headed in towards the beach, did a quick jibe in the surf and headed out only to BREACH.

I drifted for a bit again - eventually repeating the pattern but this time I got out into the cleaner, more consistent wind (which had started to blow normal again) and I was able to make it back to the launch. 

I didn't catch many clean riding waves.  They weren't as big as yesterday and the wind was really swirly.

The Waimanalo meter at Bellows is down and the site I pulled this from does not have the higher resolution.  It did not pick up the northerly shift.

I did manage to complete three tacks near the launch (so heel side).  I did not foil out of them, but I did pump the parawing to keep going on two of them.  Progress!

The forecast looks like there will be wind this week and the weekend will see slack wind (so Foil Drive time again)

PF:8/W:3/PW:59/FD:41/S:18

Parawing Session - 6/6/2026

Dawn patrolled Kailua -

Wind was definitely up!

From the beach the waves at Jump City didn't look too big.

Setup the Cabrinha Prestige!

And I wanted to give the Larrabee Stash Belt a try with using a smaller parawing - BRM S3 4.2

Kalani came over to do the dawn patrol also.

Jump City was actually pretty good - all the riding was geared towards riding those waves (triangle course).

I picked up a few just over head waves, but most were chest high.  Long rides with the parawing retracted.

Most of the redeployments were drama free (credit to the S3 design).

I did try tacking at the Park buoys - but the wind was gusty and I got it around (but didn't sail out).

This was the MCBH meter - Kailua was higher by about 5mph.  For this first outing with the BRM S3 4.2, the wind range tested the low and high ends.  There was a lull where I had to wait it out, but for the rest of the session the parawing powered well based on what wind was there.

I did breach three times riding waves - I may have to use the prestige with the Cedrus mast to gain a little more mast height.

You can see where I breached, where the lull was and even the rides (speed spikes) - such a cool way to look at the chart!

Super fun session!!!

Will probably go back tomorrow morning (using the smaller Maliko parawings and the Cedrus mast).

PF:8/W:3/PW:58/FD:41/S:18

Parawing Session - 6/4/2026

After work I picked Stu up and we hit Hickam.

The wind would fill in, hang out and then drop off. When it was on, it was nice and strong.

I bolted on the Prestige 905/160

And I took the BRM S3 5.3 out using the Larrabee stash belt/pouch.  There was a little more room in this pouch than I had initially thought.

Today I just wanted to go out and rebuild my confidence - after yesterday, I really didn't feel like taking too many risky challemges.

I mostly practiced my transitions - down loop jibe, regular jibes, and tacks both ways.

I also tried speed run on the inward tack.

s

Typical Hickam wind - way up.... way down.

I did confine myself to the inside - but I didn't think any less of the exercises I was running.

And when it lulled - it was really light.

Stu did a series of jibes so he checked off an objective.  He did drift downwind at one point - but he picked up a gust and ultimately didn't have to paddle in.  Winner winner, chicken dinner!!!!

PF:8/W:3/PW:56/FD:41/S:18