Wing Foiling Session - 2/2/2025

I took La to an event she needed to go to today - and she suggested that while I wait for her, I should go winging.

Twist my arm -

There was a light breeze - I figured I'd set up the biggest stuff I had

North Mode Pro 6.8 - KT Dragonfly - AFS Enduro 1300

And I needed every square cm -

I could get up in the gusts - and stay up as long as there was some wind, which ended up being the issue - no wind.

The lulls were almost calm.

Regardless, I did get up on foil and even went pretty fast.

This was totally an exercise in seeing how light a wind I could go out in.

Looks like about 12 mph is needed to get up and stay up - hard to tell with the widely spaced data points.

This session does count - I was up on foil multiple times.

W:9/FD:22/PW:1

Garage Works - 1/28/2025

This first picture is from yesterday where I placed the fill coat on the modified area,

And this evening I routed out the slots and rough sanded the modified area.

All that's left on this one is more sanding and spraying the clear coat on.

Out of curiosity, I'm going to take this one out for a spin tomorrow on the wing! 

Wing Foiling Session - 1/25/2025

I had planned on winging today, but the forecasts got revised with lower winds.  I went ahead and started charging my Foil Drive battery and then the trees started moving.

I figured the waves were small and there would be fishermen on the shore - and I went ahead and drove to Hickam.  It looked like the wind was going to stick around, but it would be light.

I set up the current light wind equipment - Nova Pro 5.0, KT Dragonfly and the AFS Enduro 1300.

I also bolted on the North Shiftlock Camera Mount.

Side note - I couldn't get the GoPro Hero or the 12 to power up - I think I'll have to charge the cameras up right before using them.  They may be smart batteries (and self discharge if not used to preserve the health of the battery).

Any ways - the mount is pretty cool and I didn't feel the weight of the camera.

The picture is the back half of a heel side tack 

The session started out well - I made a bunch of runs and transitions despite the lower wind levels - this equipment is good for wind in the 10ish to 15 mph winds.  Just need a puff to get up off the water.

Unfortunately, the wind dropped out and I spent most of the session waiting for that puff to get up.

Pretty tight correlation between the wind speed and my speed.

I'm glad I did get up on foil, got some miles in and got to try out the camera mount.  Despite the long back half, today was good training (for the parawing - the more I know how to coax this board up on foil, the better it work for me when parawinging).

W:7/FD:15/PW:1

Wing Foiling Session - 1/19/2025

I skipped the dawn patrol this morning to sleep in - the forecast indicated that there was going to be some wind.

I had to go to work also for a bit so it made sense to wing at Hickam.

When I pulled up, the wind was light but periodically there were some decent gusts.

I had originally planned to do a back-to-back test of the AFS Enduro 1300 and the F One Eagle 1090.

I had thought the wind would increase over the course of the day so I started with the AFS Enduro 1300.

I also wanted to use the AFS UHM mast.

For Oahu, this wing has proven to be such a great wing.

I stayed out for an hour.  There were gusts, lulls, and the wind would bend from the North down to East.  Definitely made for a good :stay on your toes" session.

You can see the wind bending (changing directions)in the chart below.

Lots of tacks and jibes today.

I would say I was out at nearly the best conditions - and since the wind was getting lighter, I figured I'd bail on the testing and just enjoy the gliding along.

Some good correlation between the wind and my speed again.

And I'm pleasantly surprised at the top speed.

Brantly came out while I was finishing off my session and Ken arrived as I was finishing packing up.  The wind was still enough to get up, but it was turning into one of those days that you didn't want to fall.

W:6/FD:10/PW:1

Wing Foiling Session - 1/13/2025

I got to the beach late this afternoon - work ran later than normal.

When I got there, the wind was still blowing nicely.  The tide was on the low side (but higher than it has been).  The waves were pretty tiny.

I pumped up the North Nova Pro 5.0 again.

And as insurance against a sudden drop off in the wind, I brought the KT Dragonfly 100l board.

I wanted to see how the AFS Enduro 1100 worked, so that rounded out the gear selected for today's session.

And here is where the mast was set (balanced out).

I had to paddle way out to get to the point where I could launch without grounding.

Duke was setting up the same time I was and with his shorter mast, he blitzed out way faster than I did.

The wind felt side on shore - you can see from the track is was predominantly coming from the SE.  And it was fun for a while... until the wind dropped off.  You can see the single (but long) blue line where I was drifting around waiting for a gust to pick me up. 

And I just barely got that gust - whew!!!!

I would have probably made it through the lull if I had the Enduro 1300.

Roland came out later - and had to paddle in.  He got up a few times, but once that lull set in, it was all over for all of us.

With that last gust, I got spared from paddling in.

W:5/FD:6/PW:1

Wing Foiling Session - 1/10/2025

The forecasts kept changing throughout the day.  I ended up doing a bunch of errands around the house and even cut out a window on Marvin's board.  Eventually the wind did start to pick up, so I went to do more errands (dropping off mail at the Airport Post Office) and then swung over to Hickam to get in a light wind session.

This gear gets it done!!!

AFS Enduro 1300/HA43/Short Fuselage

Evolution Cedrus Wind Mast and the KT Dragonfly 100 liter DW board

With the efficiencies gained on the board/foil side, I can use a much smaller wing that I would have in the past - the North Nova Pro 5.0 does such a good job at the low end, while still having good performance when moving at speed.  This has become my favorite wing -

Despite the light wind, I had a really fun session.

I primarily wanted to take this board out to start getting muscle memory established with it - so when I take it out with the parawing, it will be second nature.

But in doing that, I got to throw in a bunch of transitions.  Even toe-side to heel tacks were made without drama today.

I also headed out to Firsts.  Tacked onto waves and got in some turns on the microwaves.

I don't think I could have gotten the same rides out of the F One Eagle 1090/DW210 - that combo needs a tad bit more power to get up.  I'll have to do a back-to-back to resolve this question.

The big Enduro actually rolls decently.  I never felt locked in.  This was with the stabilizer in the forward position.  Dropping it back will be another test.

Generally this foil wanted to stay in the 18 mph range - which is different than the Eagle 1090.  What the Enduro lacks in top speed it makes up for in lifting speed.

My right knee (strong side back leg) is still pretty sore so I am not pumping hard.  That is where I was able to get the 1090 to lift faster than it would on its own. 

Tomorrow and Sunday will have similar wind so I just left everything in the truck.

Monday should be stronger wind.

W:3/FD:6/PW:1

Wing Foiling Session - 12/28/2024

The wind was forecasted to come up today - but only to marginal conditions for winging.  Which was fine for me as I have been wanting to get the AFS Enduro 1300 and the KT Dragonfly together in preparation for parawinging.

Hickam has long been my testing grounds for getting equipment setup - 

And here is the setup I've been waiting for (so I can begin my parawing journey).

This is where the foil balanced out with the board initially.  I eventually moved it forward to get a tiny bit more front foot pressure - but it's all settled now.

The winds were really light - and the Nova Pro worked perfectly!

This was a good session to get this equipment dialed in.  There were lots of holes, and I got to pump through a few of them, but several didn't have to push to keep me above the Enduro 1300's stall speed.

Still lots of North in the wind.  I stuck with jibes mostly just to make sure I didn't come off foil - but I did get in a few heel-to-toe tacks.

Not ideal by a long shot - but it was good to know I can go in this level of light wind.

You can see the correlation pretty well between the run and the reported wind speeds.

Now I can bring this set of equipment out to parawing - 

W:154/PW:2/FD:102/F:5/S:29

Wing Foiing Session - 11/8/2023

Hit WPB again after work.  Norm was already finishing up.  He said it was really North...

I ended up setting up the same exact gear as yesterday (since the conditions were pretty much the same).

I'm really getting to like this board!  I don't think I would want a longer one - but at 7' this is about as long as I would prefer to use.

The wind was pretty much a carbon copy of yesterday - but it did seem to lighten up before normal weather patterns

Longer runs today.

I was out on the Nova Pro 5.0 - a little small for the really light winds - but good to know I could use it to get up on foil.  Beyond that, it was big enough to keep me going (just not as efficiently as the Mode Pros or even the Ezzy's I've been testing).

Despite the light offshore winds - today was actually fun!

Hoping to get some more wind tomorrow.

W:137/PW:2/FD:80/F:5/S:19

Wing Foiling Session - 11/7/2024

The winds were forecasted to come back today.  They were actually back at WPB yesterday - but today was the forecasted arrival.

I think everywhere else was cloudy and rainy.  At work the wind really wasn't blowing and there were no moving trees along my route home.

But once I got into Ewa, the signs changed.  Blowing trees and clearing skies -

I had planned to test this KT Dragonfly and get the foil settings dialed in.  Using the wing first is faster to do that, but ultimately the goal with this board is the parawing.

Kane's method actually worked perfectly on this board to balance out the foil. As this is generally a lighter wind board, I'll likely use larger foils - this is the F One Eagle 1090/DW210

With the low tide (it's that time of year where the afternoons will tend to be low tides) - I also opted to use the shorter Project Cedrus masts - this being the 78cm.

The winds were not what they were forecasted to be.  In fact, it was coming hard out of the north (NNE).  That made for unusual conditions - perfect for testing out light wind setups!

Normally I would have needed the North Mode Pro 6.8 to get along efficiently in the wind conditions present today - but with the 100 liter Dragonfly, the energy from the wing went straight into developing forward speed (and not having to get a sinker up and out of the water).  So I pumped up a smaller wing to test the postulate (and spoiler - it worked).

Today's focus was getting used to the Dragonfly - which didn't take too long.

If this doesn't say north winds, nothing will.  It isn't that often that I get to do runs out to Shark Country and back to WPB without a single transition.

With the wind being offshore, I'm not sure the magnitude is correct (this is the Kalaeloa tower) - regardless, it was challenging to ride today.

The Dragonfly definitely floated me, with extra capacity.  It was a joy to ride!  If the forecast calls for questionable winds - this will definitely be on the shortlist of boards to use.

And there were times I was waiting around for a gust to come along.

Kalani was out with his 8'2" Dragonfly.  Duke and Roland were out on wing also.  Zach got there later and opted to prone foil.

Good first session with the KT Dragonfly!

W:136/PW:2/FD:80/F:5/S:19