Evening Session - 1/16/2025

The forecasted south-west swell did start to show this afternoon.  This picture was from when a set was hitting.

It was a rising tide - but overall it was still on the shallow side.  There was some onshore flow - and I think I could have been up and going on the AFS Enduro 1300/KT Dragonfly/North Nova Pro 5.0 - but I opted to Foil Drive. 

And this was to be a testing day to see if the additional signal window makes an additional difference in signal transmission.

Axis Spitfire 960 and Skinny 365 rear stabilizer.  I actually got the spacing spot on.

So here is my feedback on this board.

- the signal did transmit better, but still not a good as the basalt laminated boards 

- despite being 50 liters in volume, this board takes more energy to get up to planing speed.  Steeper waves help to get to planing speed faster/easier

- once up on foil, this board is a blast to ride, but you do have to be further forward on the board when motoring around

I left my watch at home, so the phone came out with me.

Norm was out on FD also.  Prayot was prone foiling and Roland brought out his trusty mid-length.

Norm had his new, dialed in Code Foils setup - and he was getting three-peats continuously.

I would get really fun rides, but only if I was able to get up - which wasn't as much as I would have if I were on one of my boards (which I now can confirm are faster on top of the water).

I got a handful of rides somewhere in the graph below.  Most of the peaks are failed attempts to get on to unbroken swell.

I think if I had the power settings on high things may have been easier.  I'll give this feedback to Marvin.

The swell should be better established tomorrow -

W:5/FD:7/PW:1

Garage Works - 1/11/2025

It's actually been a while since I've made a garage works post.

It's not that I haven't been working in the garage - but more that the repairs I've been doing have all been the same - front foil and rear stabilizer repairs.

I've fixed Mark's AFS Enduros (since he was nice enough to let me use them while he was on vacation off island - I fixed them for free) - front foils and the stabilizer.

I rebuilt Marvin's Takuma 178 rear stabilizer.

And I've been contemplating the build out of No.40.

But here is this year's first Garage Works post.

I had tested Marvin's Majek FD board and I thought it worked perfectly.  But Marvin wanted to see if the connectivity could be enhanced so if water covered the top deck, that the signal would persist.

Here's where I figured the best chance of resolving the signal issue would be.

And this is the epoxy fill.

Tomorrow I'll sand this just slightly lower than the surrounding deck, and then epoxy on the cap sheet.

There is still wind forecasted for the next few days, so it will be a bit before I take this back out for another test run.

Morning Foil Drive-ing - 1/9/2025

La signed up for sailing lessons and this morning she had her first session.  Noe had a dentist appointment this morning, so I took La over to Hickam....

And since I was there, I figured I could try out Marvin's latest Majek foilboard.

This is the board I put three windows on.  He said when he used it, connectivity was tricky (when the board went underwater).

There was a gaggle at the boat ramp when I got there - Bill (who had been out twice already testing the AFS and comparing it to the Code), Mark and Arvin on SUP foils, Mark's wife on the Foil Drive and Jesse on tow boogie.

Marvin's board is shorter and wider than the boards I've been using lately - so the battery consumption was higher.  But when I got it up on foil, it was really fun to lean into and crank turns.

I got four proper waves - it was tiny and as the session went on it continued to get smaller.

Marvin wants another window put into it to help improve the connectivity - I think it should go in on the top, near the nose.  I'll get it installed and take the board back out for a spin.

W:2/FD:5/PW:1

Garage Works - 7/10/2024

I wanted to get these boards finished and out of the garage.

First up was Marvin's Majek-Appletree.

Here's the bottom deck window.

And here's the top deck window.

This is the nose job on Zach's prone board

And here is the finished ding repair on Zach's wing foiling board

And last but not least (actually probably the hardest repair of this group), Prayot's AFS Pure 900 tip repair.

Done - done - done - and done!

Garage Works - 7/8/2024

Lots of action in the garage this afternoon.

Guest shaper at the Velasco Garage.  Prayot is making a 5'7" wing board based off the new KT Dragonfly Surf.

He got it rough shaped in about 2 hours.

Zach also stopped by to get some dings fixed.  I got the boards sanded and the dings filled already.  I'll sand these tomorrow and get the fiberglass/carbon patch placed.

And Marvin got his new Majek-Appletree C@$h prone Foil Drive board

He picked the spots where the windows would be placed and I started drilling.  As of this writing, both windows are filled.

I also worked on Prayot's AFS Pure 900.  First up was looking at the rear stabilizer - it was on backwards.

Then I asked him if he was good with the fill as is or did he want additional carbon on - we're sticking with thinner.  I'll sand this down and run it through the sanding regime.

And Marlon got some work done on the board he is building.  He is getting more comfortable with the tools now.

Moving lots of projects through!

Evening Session - 4/16/2024

The crew was buzzing about the afternoon session - reports of good sized waves and light (to no) wind... all I could think about was getting the Foil Drive setup and hitting it!!!

The tide was low (so I had to paddle a ways out to get to deeper water) but that made for some exciting wave shape (steeper faces and some lip thrown).

I setup No.33 with the Spitfire 960/375P.  This unit and mast position is perfect!

I was on the throttle for almost the entire session - keeping position on the outside was challenging as the big sets would force you to go further out (to not get clobbered), while the smaller (head high) sets had you more inside to pick them up.

The wind also picked up mid-session - it was pretty much wingable strength.  But that also drove a side chop, which when mixed with the air-entrained water made for hard riding conditions.

That said - I did manage to snag several fun waves.  Prayot was also on the outside on his regular SUP surfing equipment.

From the graph, I picked up 17 waves in 72 minutes 

And this is the 4th time Marvin was out - and this is the 4th board he had out.

This one was a looker for sure - 17.5" wide at 45 liters.  He said he wasn't jiving with it (borrowed from Paul Cooper).  We'll see if tomorrow has good conditions to go back out - otherwise I'll probably wait for the wind to come back and get some home stuff done.

W:47/FD:24/F:4/S:9

Garage Works -11/11/2021

After foiling and breakfast, I headed to the garage to knock out some progress on the projects.  I sanded the HS1532CS trailing edge for a third time and placed a third coat of epoxy on.  After it cured I sanded it down yet again, and later this evening I'll get the last coat on, and get that through the whole sanding regime.

Then I sized up the latest ding repair job.  Went ahead and drew out what I thought needed to be cut out.

Taped off the deck so the wax job doesn't get gummed up.

Cut out the ding.

This looks like 100% fiberglass - no carbon...

And then I spliced on another piece of EPS.  I may get this dialed in this evening (cutting off the excess and sanding it down so the fiber can be laminated on).

Then I got the fiberglass cut out that will live at the bottom of the divynicell sheeting.

And I epoxied it in place.  The glass was 6 ounce fabric under the front decking and 4 ounce in the rear foot decking.  I mixed up 4.2 ounces of resin in order to make sure the cloth was saturated (the glass only weighed 1.5 ounces - so almost a 3 to 1 ratio.

The last thing I did in the garage before lunch was to sand Marvin's 15" rear stabilizer through the 40 grit sanding.  Lunch and errands are ongoing now - but I'll likely hit the garage again once I get back home.