Windy Saturday, Part 1

The trades were up and strong today, so we brought the kids to Pearl Harbor to get some windsports in.  First we dropped Noe and La off at Rainbow Bay Marina where Noe could go sailing.  Then I took Marlon to Hickam Harbor to learn how windsurf.

We brought the old Kailua sailboard and the iRig inflatable sail.  You may recall seeing this inflated on a post a while back - well it has taken this long but I finally got one of the kids on it.  I originally started teaching the kids on my smallest sail - an old Naish Hokua 3.75 m2 wave sail.  That sail on a mast and boom was a little too heavy for Noe and barely manageable for Marlon.  I got the iRig, but we've all been doing other things.  With the wind up, the surf would have been a little rough - Marlon was game while Noe opted for the Laser.  I took the rig out first just to make sure it all worked (this was the first time out).  I through on two foot straps and placed a SUP paddle through them just so if something did go wrong later, Marlon could paddle back.

He took off after a short lesson and was buzzing around powered up nicely.  He was doing so well that I setup my wind foiling rig (7'4" Starboard Hypernut, 29.5"+3" Go Foil mast, Maliko 200 and Maliko tail, Naish Lift 4.7 m2 sail).  I got up a bunch but the wind was on and off.  There was a wing foiler out (Duotone V1 wing and Kalama Performance foil board) - made me wonder if it would be easier to just wing foil....

Marlon and I both finished up around the same time - and we went off to pick up La and Noe (Part 2)

Catch Up Post - Windsurf Foiling - April 13

I needed to get these photos from La, but couldn't until just now - so the few posts will be catch ups.  Last Saturday I went to Hickam to foil since the winds were supposed to be up and more easterly.  Well - the wind was up alright - too up - the gusts were way too much for sailing without a harness.

I started off rigging the 5.0 and had the Slingshot Infinity foil setup with the longer switch fuse.  It was hard to tell if this setup was better or not when my arms were getting ripped off.  I did get the whole rig up on foil, but decided it would be beneficial if I went in and rigged for less lift.

I rigged up the Naish Lift 4.7 and reconfigured the Slingshot foil back to the setup I use for surfing.  The wind got stronger and I was equally challenged (this windsurf foiling stuff on larger wings is definitely for lighter wind days for sure).  The wind was so strong I was waterstarting with ease and felt I could have been in footstraps and regular windsurfing.  I'll have to remember that next time the trades go nuclear...

Even after having my arms stretched - this is still the coolest thing out there!

Tuesday Evening Windsurf Foiling Run

I left work late so traffic was going to be bad - no problem says the guy who packed his windsurfing wave foiling gear (me - I did that).  I was on the water by 4:30pm and had rigged up a 5.0 initially.  I did manage to get up on foil despite the lack of available power.

In the picture, it looks pretty calm and glassy even.  It did get windy and I came back in after a few runs and changed out the 5.0 for the Naish Lift 5.7.  More power for sure and up on foil a bunch.  I worked on getting back into the groove of foiling while sail powered.  I had a couple of breaches and a few spinout squirticles - I think next time I will mount up the Iwa on the tall mast to see if I can shed the spinouts.  I'm thinking I'm going too fast and that when the squirticles happen - que the Iwa.

WIndsurf Foiling 3/32019

I finally went Windsurf Foiling again - just about two months since the last time I went out (and cracked the nose of the board).  I brought the Naish Lift 5.7 and 4.7, with 400 and 370 mast respectively.  I also brought the Maliko 200.  The wind was blowing stiff at the beginning of my session (1615) but rapidly dropped.  Initially the 4.7 lifted, but after a couple of runs I figured I should change out the sails.  Here's the wet 5.7

The 5.7 is a beast - lots of power.  It took a little bit to get used to the pull.  But true to the advertisements, you can dump the power when needed (duh - all sails are like that).  I was up on the foil a lot, but the earlier flights were not smooth and controlled - too much wind and too much lift from the foil.  I could tell when I was headed for a breach and a few times the mast got away from me (headed for the nose).  I checked the nose after each crash - the high density foam nose guard and the light weight mast seem to be doing the trick.  As the sun continued setting, the wind smoothed out and at just under 12 mph the 5.7 and the Maliko worked perfectly together - I got two runs with perfect control and stability.  I even tried pushing a jibe (failing in a blaze of glory).  Have I mentioned I love this truck?

I am going to rig up the Slingshot FSurf Foil with the 78cm fuselage and see if pushing the wing forward makes a discernable difference in stability.  I'm thinking it will since that is why Slingshot is selling the FSurf with the longer fuselage and calling it the FWind.  Should be able to test that setup out this week (the wind is forecasted to hold).

The other configuration I want to test out is the 5.7 and the Iwa - that might be a way to eliminate the need to fight the setup.  Stay tuned!