Foil Drive Session - 8/6/2026

The waves were a little bigger than they have been - so I figured I should go.

And as luck would have it - the wind seemed to be strong enough to parawing...

I brought the Foil Drive.

AFS Enduro 900/Mako Carve 130 - on the AFS UHM 75 cm mast.  No.40 had board duty.

I paddled out with Robby - and he went in before I did.  Prayot was out on his DW/Surf SUP.  And Roland was finishing his setup when I came in.

There were some decent waves if you were patient.

But it was rather choppy from the wind.

And with the shorter mast on the system, I found myself wiping a bit more than I normally would have.  2 inches does seem to make a difference (especially in chop).

I'll call this 15 rides.  I know I had a few shorter ones, and even some wipeouts.

The forecast looks doable for parawing tomorrow!!!

PF:10/W:3/PW:90/FD:58/S:20

Parawing Session - 8/1/2026

I forgot my watch again - so no session data.

I brought Kalani and Stu on to Hickam.  Prayot met us (and was out with Zach at Seconds when we pulled up into the parking lot).

There was good texture on the water and the direction seemed decently stable (ENE)

Today was a setup/confirmation session for me.

I first went out on the AFS Enduro 900/Mako 130 to validate the marked position.  I also wanted to test out the new BRM S3 3.4 - but not trusting the wind, I also brought out the BRM S3 4.2

The Enduro 900 had plenty of lift and I got up pretty easily.  I did a few runs inside then bolted for Firsts.

The waves were small, but the wind was gusting outside.  I got to a point where I stopped and swapped out the 4.2 for the 3.4

As long as the wind was gusting, the 3.4 was easy to get up with.

I had to swap back to the 4.2 (and then back to the 3.4) with the wind gusting-lulling.

I did get a few retracted rides.

Then I went in to swap to the AFS Silk 850/USurf 135.  Since I haven't been winging, I don't use this foil as much as I used to.  I got up with the BRM S3 4.2, but I did move the mast forward (quite a bit) and I liked the foil response better.

Now I feel good about bringing the Silk 850, 1050 and Enduro 900 up to the Gorge.

Not sure yet what I'll do tomorrow... parawing Hickam or WPB.

PF:10/W:3/PW:89/FD:57/S:20

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

Foil Drive Session - 6/12/2026

Today's objective was to see if the Zip Pod and streamlined bolt nuts made that much of a difference in drag.

When I got there, it looked kinda small which is what I was expecting.  But every 15 minutes or so a good set would roll through.  The tide was really high though so the beach was reflecting the wave energy.

AFS Enduro 900/Mako 130 + AFS UHM 80cm mast onboard No.43

Side note - the E900 mark is the correct mark... 

Robby, Stu, Kalani and Roland were all out on Foil Drives also.

The reflected backwash made things interesting - lots of pop tart moves (wipeouts).

More straight runs today just to make sure I didn't breach.  I had the Enduro 900 a notch too far up so the foil was a bit more lively.  I actually should have used the Whippit 850 again (it would have been better suited).  You can see the tracks don't have as much carve in them today.

Needless to say - the Zip Pod and the lower profile nuts made for way less drag.  I still felt there was some sluggishness when trying to get up to speed.  I'm wondering now if it is the 5 pounds of fat I have been dragging around lately.

14 rides.  I did miss a few due to the bogging down I was mentioning.  But I did come in with 50% left on the battery.

The surf this weekend is supposed to get up to 7' again... might be time to surf again.

PF:8/W:3/PW:60/FD:44/S:18

Foil Drive Sessions - 5/16/2026

Dawn patrolled Hickam on Foil Drive this morning.

I setup No.41 with the Evolution Cedrus Surf mast, AFS Enduro 900/Mako Carve 130

I brought Kalani and Stu over.  Phil, Bill and Arvin were also out.  And Eli (and Mark?) and Prayot when out once we had finished.  Tow Boogies and SUP DW Foil respectively.

I used two batteries.  First was the HO battery, and I had the black props on.

Waves were chest high on the sets.  I got several fun rides, but oddly enough the waves would peak outside of the breakwater, then disappear on the inside - which made catching them a little difficult.

Eleven or twelve rides this first run.  I did efoil out - but felt my right knee pressurizing so I backed off at the channel marker.  And at the end of the first run, I did go over to seconds and caught a good one.

Second battery was my original endurance battery.

I hit Seconds first (ha ha) - caught some good ones, then went over to Firsts.

Nice opportunities to carve, with the inside bowls working.

Ten rides - shorter run (with the ride out and back chewing up about 15% of the battery).

Hickam is great on those super low tide days!!!!

PF:8/W:2/PW:43/FD:37/S:16

Comparing Foils

This is the AFS Enduro 900 on the standard fuselage with a Mako Carve 130 rear stabilizer.

This is the foil I use the most for Foil Drive-ing.

This is Cabrinha Prestige 905 with the 160 rear stabilizer.

This is the foil I have been testing/demo-ing.

I can't believe that I can prone foil this...

It also works great on Foil Drive, but once the waves get bigger than chest, I think there are better foils to use that handle the additional energy present (AFS Silk 850 and 650, and the Cab crew says the Whippit 850)

These foils are similar but you can see the obvious differences.

And even profile wise - similar but different.

The big litmus test for whether this foil will be added to the hangar is under parawing power.  If I can get up on foil in the same conditions where I normally use the AFS Enduro 1100, I have to sell a bunch of stuff and pick this up.

Having a smaller foil to ride waves - with a parawing deployed or retracted would be awesome.  But it needs to be able to get up quickly.

We shall see very soon... 

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 5/9/2026

Beautiful conditions this morning!  Not totally glassy, but the wind had enough North in it to keep the surface clean and groomed.

The tide was low, but the swell was really good!

Well overhead on the sets!!!

Prayot was using the Cab Prestige - so I bolted on the foil that I have used as the standard to measure all other front foils by while Foil Drive-ing - the AFS Enduro 900

I kept No.40 in the rotation to get a comparison to yesterday.

But I did swap out the blue props for the black props.

Long paddle out this morning to get to deeper water.

Less discombobulation on the inside (compared to yesterday)

The swell on the outside was behaving perfectly!

I caught one monster wave - taking off late and immediately got lined up on the pit!!!  Well overhead, throwing lip and I got to ride just ahead of the chaos.  Stu bore witness to the spectacle!!!!

Lots of big carves using the whole face.

With the black props I was not taking off too early (ahead of the wave picking me up).  So that tells me I should use the blue props on smaller days, and the black ones when the energy is there.

I only had a short window this morning - I was going to grab the Cab Prestige back from Prayot (in preps for the wind that should arrive tomorrow - and testing that foil for parawinging).  And I needed to get home to run some errands.

Eleven rides - most were really long... I really love being able to ride this spot consistently!!!!

The Can Prestige is shaping up to be a great Jack of All Trades, where the Enduro and Silk are specialists.

Tomorrow on parawing will be the test -

PF:8/W:2/PW:37/FD:36/S:15

Evening Foil Drive Session - 4/28/2026

I'm feeling a lot better.  And looking at the weather forecast, there is likely to be a week of good winds coming up.

I had a fully charged battery that needed to be brought down to storage levels.

When I got to the beach, it was about as flat as you can get without it being completely flat.

If you waited a bit, there were ridable waves.

Nice high tide.

And for once a decently high tide.

Everything the same as last time - I had the FD system already built up.

It took me an hour to get the battery down below 50%

And I had to do a bunch of things I normally wouldn't do - like donuts, a bunch of efoiling and heavy throttle motoring to get it there.

A few of the rides were actually fun - walls and bowls to carve up.

17 or so rides, with a few missed waves or wipes at takeoff.

There were a few periods where the wind did seem strong enough to parawing (for sure wing).  I had thought about going in and getting the BRM Maliko 5.1 and seeing if I could deploy it and use PW pull only.  But then I remembered that wind was not steady and I'd be out longer than I needed to be to get the battery to storage levels.

Something to try another day.

PF:6/W:2/PW:33/FD:33/S:14

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 4/25/2026

The wind materializing with any real certainty was a 50-50 today.  And with the errands I had planned on running with La, I needed to be back relatively early.

So I figured I'd cut my losses and Foil Drive (even though the tide was real low - negative 0.2')

At least the wind was down.

I also wanted to try out the new low range propellors from Foil Drive.  So to make the comparison to the black/standard props, I kept everything the same as last session and just changed out the prop blades.

I'm not sure if it is because they are new, or if it is because they are better balanced, but these feel really smooth to run.

The waves were meh -

Every now and then a nice wall would run and bowls would peak up - slash and burn!!!

I could feel the additional low end push from these blades.  And I tested the run up to catching waves by progressively reducing the throttle time and starting with the wave closer.

So as advertised - lots of low end grunt.

And because of that, I oddly missed fewer waves....

I would have thought the black blades would have let me catch more - but maybe the way the waves break at WPs...

14 rides in a short session.

More compare and contrast coming!

PF:6/W:2/PW:32/FD:32/S:14