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... 

Surf Check - 3/19/2026

I told Noe that I was headed to check the surf and that there would be a high chance one or more of the monk seals would be chilling on the beach -

Noe did go today to see the small one up close.

Wind was onshore so the waves were pretty crumbly.

I figured I should get another ground handling session in, focusing on turning the PT Hybrid.

I got in 15 minutes before the rain started again.

Roland was just in his van - the surf didn't look nice enough to get him out.

The weather is going to start turning for the worse again - until Monday (when I have to go back to work).

Garage Works - 3/18/2026

Noe is back home (if only for a short Spring Break stint) - 

While La and Noe were clothes shopping, I hit Foodland Farms and grabbed a bento and this!!!

I haven't had kava in a long while.  I really didn't feel much - but I did notice my speech was a bit delayed and a tad slurred (I had to take a few phone calls while eating).

Anyways - back in the garage I got the patches sanded down

And the clear coat sprayed on.

Tim already grabbed the board -

And I got this in the mail - the replacement for the Triple 777 PT Skin 5.4 that Kalani bought from me - this is the Triple 777 PT Hybrid 5.7

I got to the beach pretty late so I just focused on ground handling this new parawing.

I really like how it flies!  It lofts in very little wind (probably due to the enhanced air foil section), is really stable in flight, responds well to bar pressure and collapses easily.

It was blowing light (under 15mph) while I was at the beach - this was definitely below minimum getting up of foil wind speed.

This makes me think I should put up the Paia...

Humans aren't the only creatures to express affinity for this beach -

There were two monk seals chilling on the beach

And I also got this new rear stabilizer in the mail - the KParts Mako Carve Pro Medium,

I think this will pair well with the Enduro 900, Silk 1050, and the Enduro 1100 - we shall soon see...

Garage Works - 8/14/2025

Got some cool stuff in the mail yesterday.

This 61 liter Patagonia bag - holds all my single skin parawings.

Pretty efficient!

And I got around to gluing up the blank for No.42

And speaking of No.42, I've been doing a bunch of internet scanning to get the shape refined in my head - and the Frank DW board keeps plowing its way to the front.

I haven't done a pin tail board - I think ever.  And this one will be thicker - like around 5.5" at the thickest spot (where the foil tracks are).  The nose rocker will be shallow but extends further back than what I normally produce.  And I think I'm going to flip the board some the precut nose rocker is now the tail, including the higher spot becoming part of the tail (higher than the rest of the deck).

Experimenting is what keeps this fun and interesting!

Ground Handling - 8/11/2025

I didn't feel like hitting the beach yesterday - so I loaded up the single skin parawings and went looking for a spot to do some ground handling.

I ended up at a spot near the Wai Kai lagoon.

I spent a lot of time with all three of the PWs - getting to know more what is different about each one.

Then I finally got around to adjusting the Maliko 5.1 bar to match the line positions on the Maliko 4.0 bar.

This lightened up the bar pressure somewhat, while still having a more direct feel (which I actually prefer to the "looser" feeling of the Ka'a on its shorter, 2 point connection bar).

You can also see how keeping the A and B lines closer helps improve the "stability" of the parawing (and depowering is collapsing the back of the PW - reducing the effective lift generating surface area) - none of this is new.  But I am definitely gaining a better understanding of the controlling principles. 

And thus the importance in my mind of ground handling. Make it second nature and when you are out on the water, everything will be easier (or at least you'll know what is going on and why).

Parawing Session - 6/22/2025

High noon session.  Tide was nice and high at 1.5' rising to 2.3'.  There were some waves, but they weren't crazy big. 

The wind was nuking when I got to the beach.

I decided to go a notch smaller on everything - No.34 with the UHM 80cm mast and the Enduro 900/HA40

I even went smaller on the parawing - BRM Maliko 4.0

This spot works (I guess I had tested it previously - but I don't remember...)

Things started out great!  Once I was outside the surfline, I put the parawing up and off I went!

I did a few runs and jibes and everything was on the top end of their ranges.

I went down once, got back up and hit a wind dead zone.  I tried to get back up but the wind was too light.

I drifted out - the wind had shifted north.  I saw Prayot was also stuck in the dead zone.

Eddy, Roland and Kalani were all where I normally wing and they were fine. 

I ended up paddling back towards White Plains and despite the long distance, I was making headway.  It's definitely easier when the wing packs down to a small pack - Prayot was wrestling with his wing.

A gust came through and I was able to get back up.  I was even making headway towards getting back above the line of death (minimum wind pressure gradient).  Then the wind died on me - and all that happened was I was now even further out.

I called it, and used the parawing to get me close to the launch at Campgrounds.  The walk back sucked - but it was only half the walk that Prayot had to do.  He got blown down to Pavilions...

At least I got up onto foil three times - that's a winner (in this otherwise punishing session and ultra walk of shame).

W:48/FD:86/PW:12/S:4

Garage Works - 6/18/2025

I haven't found a good way to dry the parawings yet.

Still looking...

And I got the nose patches on Rick's board repair.

I should be able to apply a pigmented fill coat tomorrow, and this board can go back to Rick on Friday.

I didn't take a picture, but I also placed a partial fill coat on the bottom deck towards the nose on No.41.  Tomorrow I'll be able to sand a little and apply the lables/decals.

ParaWinging Session - 6/18/2025

Waves were definitely up this afternoon.

The wind was blowing on the outside - but on the inside it was swirly again.

The tide was high enough not to easily foil a foil.

Today's session was a downwinder from WPB to PV.  Marvin and Norm were on Foil Drive.  I went on parawing.

AFS Enduro 1300/HA43/Evolution Cedrus Surf 77.5cm foil all bolted on No.34 (I wanted to start getting used to riding smaller boards)

Power provided by the BRM Ka'a 4.8m 

This was a fun run - but the wind was way up and down.

There was wind at the start - in fact I was able to get up pretty quick.  Then the wind lost its punch and I had to drift for a while (all while trying to get back up).

I'm trying to force myself to get up at least once each session going goofy.

Out in front of Campgrounds I got back into stronger wind and was able to get back up.

I made sure to try out the harness hook on the V2 bar - it did make it easier to manage a fully lit PW.

Looks like I covered more ground on foil.

I also made a beeline for the landing spot - I didn't want to get caught outside and have to paddle in.  I got greedy, pulled a jibe and headed back out.  I didn't make it too far because the wind died.

At least the paddle was relatively short.

You can see the shifty wind - both direction and strength.

So based on this chart and the track above, it looks like the beeline was quick (I spent more time lollygagging off foil. and what time I was up on foil I was booking).

There were two wingers making their way down - they were on Unifoil wings.  When I was up on the beach rising down, they were drifting on through to No Man's Land...  there is a reason why the WPB foilers say "If you can foil here, you can foil anywhere" 

W:47/FD:84/PW:11/S:4

Father's Day Parawinging Session

Happy Father's Day all you Fathers!

I spent a portion of my day parawinging - and I was able to have Marlon tail me with the drone.

I swapped out the AFS UHM 80cm mast for the Evolution Cedrus Surf 77.5cm mast - otherwise I used the same gear.

There were waves, but nothing critical.  The tide was rising, but I still had to paddle out to deeper water.  And the wind was blowing stronger than it has been and more consistent - perfect parawinging conditions!

After an initial series of unbalanced starting attempts, I finally got up.  And then it just kept getting better.

I was able to stay up for long runs and I easily pulled up wind.  I used the Stringfellow harness hook and it made a huge difference when the gusts came through.

Easily my best day on parawing.

In fact - this chart looks like I was winging.

Nothing but jibes today.  I'm just trying to develop muscle memory for staying up, pumping and jibing - I can wait for tacking.

And there is a switch start in there somewhere.

Pretty strong winds - I'm pretty sure I would not have been able to hold on to the Ka'a 4.8.  And I'm pretty sure I should have been on a smaller parawing (but I don't have a smaller one - yet).

This chart also looks like I was winging!

Prayot and Roland were out winging.

They both buzzed passed me at one point, but were mostly down in front of the cabins.  I was on the other side of Fenceline.

This is the second time I managed to stay upwind - and it was the second time I did it with the Maliko 4.0 (post bar modification).  I think there's something going on with the V1...

Great session!!!

W:45/FD:84/PW:10/S:4

Parawing Session - 6/11/2025

Wind was not as strong as yesterday - recipe for disaster...

But the waves were not large and the tide was high - I went ahead and setup to parawing.

I am forcing myself to do things I prefer not to - using the Dragonfly (7'/100L) and starting switch are at the top of the list.

Rounding out the equipment for today - the BRM Ka'a 4.8 (with the BRM rigid harness line), the AFS Enduro 1300 and the HA43 rear stabilizer.

I paddled out anyways because any experience is good experience.

The wind was actually ok when I was paddling out, but then it started to lull out a bit.  And it was blowing either E or even a touch SE, so that meant fully committing was heading out to PV.  I didn't have a ride back from PV, so I focused on not drifting too far down.

After a lot of waiting, I did get up on foil on a gust - but it was short lived

Fast forwarding, I did get up 3 other times.  And one of them was going switch (as I said something I do not look forward to doing, but I know I need to get better at this - get up on foil can get easier if you learn to incorporate the push from the incoming waves)

Really shitty wind - so getting up and going was definitely a series of victories.  I'll take them all - many small victories lead to large wins.

W:43/FD:84/PW:9/S:4