Evening Foil Drive Session - 4/22/2025

Good energy in the water today (101 kJ being reported).  Unfortunately it was a pretty low tide.

Roland and Marvin out Foil Drive-ing!!!

And today was the first day I Foil Drove with the AFS Enduro 700 (Mahalo to Mark for letting me borrow it).

Using the last setting from Sunday's winging session, I looked at the differences in the Enduro 900 positioning - wing and FD - and used that to position the mast for the first run.

We all headed out - but Roland and I had to turn back because our drives weren't picking up throttle signals.  After resetting the batteries, we headed out again.

I rode the E700 as is for several waves - but it had that same sense of "stickiness".  I pulled it back a 1/4" and it felt much better.

I was hooking some good turns with this foil - tomorrow I'll try again and push the rear stabilizer up to the forward position and see if that helps loosen up the turns. 

Roland is getting more rides every session.  He was on the Vyper today and he didn't get thrown/bucked off once.

17 rides for me in under an hour.

Epic!!!!

W:31/FD:59/PW:1/S:4

Evening Foil Drive Session - 3/26/2025

Perfect conditions for Foil Drive-ing this afternoon!

Same gear as last time - in fact I hadn't taken the gear apart since the last session on Sunday morning.

Norm and Marvin came out also.

The waves had a distinct westerly flow to them.  And towards Campgrounds, long runners were stacking up vertically - in fact they would have been super fun on a shortboard.

I used the standard Max battery and easily got over an hour.  And I was practicing efoiling.

I was having trouble at the front end of the session on the break in front of the pavilions - there wasn't a lot of energy there so the rides were shorter.

Eventually Norm and I migrated over towards CG where the waves were breaking - and that's when the fun really began in the stacked up runners.

I got 16 rides in over the course of an hour.

Tomorrow should have similar conditions!

W:22/FD:47/PW:1/S:4

Dawn Patrol 2/2/2025

Dawn patrolled WP this morning.  Tide was high (and eventually drowned out the small waves).  Minimal wind.

Norm and Marvin also came out.

Same gear - no surprises.

I did bring the GoPro 12 Black to test out angles and a new floating selfie stick.

Lining up shots was not easy.  And trying to get pics of other people if they are any more than 5' away is not really an option. 

When I FD with Marvin and Norm, I don't get a lot of mileage - they burn through their batteries too fast.  I'm used to foiling with Dennis and Kalani where I have to be thrifty with the throttle to stay out for 2 hours.

When in Rome...

Despite the waves being small, I got plenty of rides in - and there was a pattern (I like it when there are ride patterns).

Those longer rides towards the end of the session were recycles powered by the battery.  I'll call this 15 rides - not bad (and continuing the streak of increasing ride counts)

Fun session this morning!  I think it'll be rest day tomorrow.

W:8/FD:22/PW:1

Evening Session - 1/28/2025

Shifty winds this afternoon = Foil Drive session.

Small waves, medium tide at 0.7'

Marvin and Norm were out also.

Everyone was on their normal gear.

Except I switched to the Magic Hub - just to remember what characteristics it has.  Those would be more torque and less top end speed.  Basically I need to remember this would be best for bigger waves.

Not bad run time - considering I was trying to mix in efoiling between waves.  I still feel more comfortable with my normal mode (lower throttle, prone - then gun it to catch waves).

There were some fun waves mixed in with the small stuff (where you were just trying to keep moving).

A few of these I was able to get some good turns in.

I'll call this 18 rides - but a couple of handful of these were just pickups and pumps. 

Always fun on the Foil Drive!!!

W:8/FD:18/PW:1

Evening Session - 1/26/2025

I went with La to Waimanalo this morning to look at plants that we will likely be purchasing in the near future to redo our yard.  She was also going to go over to KYC to help out with an event - and Marlon wanted to check out the surf shops so he headed out to Kailua.  They did a high 5 to swap me out and then I found myself in a position to get a second session in.

Same gear - I didn't break it down from this morning.

Marvin and Norm were in the parking lot when Marlon and I pulled up.

The waves were still there - and the tide was lower than this morning's session.  This was one of Marlon's pictures!

The wind was a little stronger, and it was blowing offshore so it slowed you down (going right) - but with the lower tide, there was more workable face (which is a relative term - I don't think surfers could have been on these waves).

You can see somewhat of a pattern.  What I like the most was the length of the rides this afternoon

And just when you think you broke a record, you can quickly do it again.  This session was way shorter, but I rode 16 long waves.  It felt like I was in constant motion.

I ended up with a short session because the charge on my remote ran dry.  I think I stretched the charge out over 4 sessions.

Super fun day!!!

W:7/FD:17/PW:1

Evening Session - 1/24/2025

Headed out to the Pavillions area for an afternoon Foil Drive session.  There was a fisherman who had lined up poles all across the launch/landing zone - so I kept going down to the Bunker's parking lot.

The surf was smaller - half the size of yesterday's session.  When Marvin and Norm pulled up, we figured Bunker's was the most consistent.

Same gear on my behalf (and Norm's - and even Marvin... good ol'e Kujira 980!!!)

The time at Bunker's was actually pretty slow.  There were waves, but they were small and the section they were peaking at was shallow.

After a few waves there, I saw Swabbie's starting to work so I headed over.

I got to ride a few waves and the classic takeoff closer to the reef followed by a run to the left and getting to push hard off the building left peak - it doesn't get much better than this!!!

Then Norm pushed through to Pavillions and we all followed.  By this time the waves were actually picking up a bit.  We were at the western end of Pavillions so I could head to the right and get super long rides.

Pretty cool image - riding three sequential breaks!!!

Swabbie's and Pavilions are quickly becoming some of my favorite breaks - especially when that west moving block comes through and runs perpendicular to any south swell coming through!

I'll call this 17 rides today - riding with a couple of friends, no kooks around to drop in on you, and bathymetry that keeps the waves running - what more can you ask for???!!! 

Awesome session today!

W:6/FD:15/PW:1

Evening Session - 1/22/2025

The FD crew hit Swabbie's/Jetty's/Bunker's this afternoon.  Marvin just got back from business travel and Norm is about to leave.

Initially the wind was dead calm, but while we were setting up, it kicked up from the West, and it rotated coming from the North by the end of the session (at which point it died back down).

There were some fun waves - small but shaped nicely and they ran for a considerable distance.  This spot was probably better than most on the South Shore today.

Same gear - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Knowing that Marvin and Norm would both be efoiling in between rides, I was a little harder on the throttle (so I wouldn't be the only one out after they burned down their battery).

Most rides were butted up against Swabbies - that reef looks really shallow.  The waves would stack up against the reef and you could stay outside the shallow spots as the wave went down the line.  Pretty fun set up!

I'll call this 15 rides.  Pretty typical for a FD session (5 or 6 waves every half hour).

Fun!!!!

W:6/FD:13/PW:1

Evening Session - 12/19/2024

Introducing the AFS Enduro 1300/HA43 combo - 

I wanted to test this out... and the guaranteed way was with the Foil Drive.  This will eventually support my parawinging - but I'll still Foil Drive with it to get the feel of this foil down and then wing with it to get the foil position set on the Dragonfly.

I had the HA43 on the longer fuselage position - I'm going to switch it to the shorter position next session.

This foil can glide - when I got up and settled, I did not have to pump much if at all and I was getting long rides.  The HA43 stab did make it a little hard to get push out of the pumps I did do, but I think that has more to do with getting the feel of the foil.

I could turn the foil, but again I think it will be easier when I move the stabilizer forward.

The west wind was actually wingable - especially with the Enduro 1300.  But I always look at the thermals as suspect - and they can drop out at any time.  They actually stuck around today - it would have been nice to fly around with the wing.  I'm going to keep an eye on the wind... but the forecast says Monday and then the weekend after Christmas. 

I think there are 11 rides in this.  I did have a lot of false starts, and had to make a lot of adjustments on the foil position.  The foil ended up forward of the Spitfire 960 position.  Might be the Center of Lift location on the narrower chord E1300.

Hopefully the west wrap keeps getting bigger...

W:152/PW:2/FD:94/F:5/S:29

Evening Session - 12/18/2024

Yesterday's session involved watching Robby tear it up!!!  Norm and Marvin were also doing well.

The swell was bigger - with the wrap coming in from the west, it definitely changed the mechanics of the break.

I did try to motor back out while standing.  Not easy... or maybe mentally I don't want to do it... either way I wasn't good at it.

With the additional energy coming in from around the point, the rides were fun, steeper and definitely challenging.

I'm going to call this 12 rides (with some misses due to me still getting used to the new board).

Uber fun!!!

W:152/PW:2/FD:93/F:5/S:29

Evening Session - 12/17/2024

Went back to Pavilions today - Marvin and Norm were there also.

The waves were slightly bigger than yesterday.

The water was really clear - and it kinda made it weird foiling and being able to see the bottom so clearly - threw me off a bit.

With the additional traction, there was no slipping off the board today.

Stayed out an hour and came in with 34% battery.

We went straight for the outside break today.  I caught several longer ones - but they were still weak - so not much pumping back out.

I even tried the middle break over a bit towards the east.  This wave seemed to bowl a little more.

I caught at least 10 longer rides.  There were still some fat waves hanging around - and those ended up being shorter rides.

There is a large swell forecasted to hit the North and West shores starting tomorrow (and likely peaking this weekend).  Hoping for some wrap so Foil Drive-ing will have some more excitement.

W:152/PW:2/FD:92/F:5/S:29