Dawn Patrol - 7/22/2023

Today's dawn patrol was supposed to have tiny waves.  With that forecast and the effort put in to getting the Shred Sled all set up, I went SUP Foiling with the Foil Drive.

Noel and Kalani setting up.

SUP foiling is hard.  SUP foiling with a Foil Drive is hard.  I don't spend enough time doing either to get good at it.  I thought the waves were going to be smaller than they were so I brought this setup out - ART1099/460F, 80cm aluminum Project Cedrus mast on the Slingshot Shred Sled.

I had multiple servings of humble pie.  I was falling like it was going out of style.  Amidst all the falling, I did manage to get 3 rides.

I have a lot more practice ahead of me if I want to actually be good at this.  I think I'd rather be good at kitefoiling.  I can save the Foil Drive sessions for prone foiling (which I can already do).  After I get a shorter paddle, and have much more practice, perhaps I'll get good at this.

I sucked today.  I'll go back to prone FD tomorrow to get my confidence back.

W:68/F:67/S:30

Garage Works - 7/10/2023

There was a big shark siting today at WPB.  No need to tempt fate, so I skipped today's session and instead some time working in the garage.

Kalani stopped by and dropped off another board to be repaired.  This is another of Billy's foil SUPs.  It needed a touch up repair on the starboard rear corner.

Here is the board sanded around the repair area.

I then took the Makita planer to the new wingboard and got the polyurethane block trimmed flush with the board top deck.

And I finally got around to prepping and repairing Tim's Revo

I had some leftover epoxy, so I went ahead and got the inside cut EPS skim coated.  That way further epoxy absorption will be minimized.

I'll line the slot with carbon and get the bottom deck foam block set in as well.

Here's Kalani's board with multiple layers of 2 ounce cloth (to get 6 or even 8 ounces of fiberglass without the extra weight )

And one of the two repairs on Tim's board.

I have to get these completed ASAP as La nd Noe are coming home soon.

Dawn Patrol - 6/3/2023

Super low tide today.  Wind was negligible.  Surf was decent at the onset, but faded through the session.

Marlon used his longboard - and I brought the Shred Sled out for its inaugural run.

I used the Axis ART 1099 and the 460 rear stabilizer on the 68cm mast.

I caught five waves (which offered long rides) - but the rest of the time in between rides was struggling to get my balance on this board (5'9"x28.5"x4"+ at 110 liters).

This was actually easier to keep my balance on than the Starboard Hypernut that I had before.  When I was taking off on the waves I caught, the board felt big.  Same as when I was up and riding (it actually felt bigger then).  And when I held it up to compare with Dennis's Quatro, it also looked big.  

But when I was standing up, paddling around, and just kneeling on the board, it felt super small.

Funny how all this works out.

I'm going to get a few more sessions on this board goign standard SUP foiling mode - then I'll rig it with the Foil Drive.

W:47/F:49/S:28

Outfitting the Slingshot 5'9" Shred Sled

All the cash-o-la from recent board repairs got me this!!!  Bigwinds in Oregon had these on huge sale.  I've been looking at this board for many months now and everything finally lined up.

Here are the specs - I covered this up with Marine Grip so I can belly paddle it out into deeper water.

And here it is all dressed up.  So with a wave and wind starved weekend, as long as I can paddle this out to deeper water, I'll get a bunch of practice in using the smallest SUP board I've ever been on.

Second Time Out on the Hypernut

I took the Hypernut out to Kailua today.  Lots of kites piled up on the beach when we arrived (lull in the wind).

I wanted to test the stability of the board with the foil inserted.  It was pretty stable - I didn't have an issue paddling it around.  I felt that I could have paddled into a wave - which is good news (this board isn't too small for me at 189# - it isn't a no-brainer, but it is on the doable range of paddling.

So after paddling around a bit, I came in and put the sail on.  I used the Naish Boxer 5.8 and I had plenty of power - so much so that I was even water starting.  Uphauling this rig on this board was challenging, but it was doable.

I even got up on the foil a couple of times - this being the first time on the board with the foil, and the first time with the board and the foil and a sail, my foot placement wasn't quite right and the foil would get away from me.

The wind got weak on me and I figured it would be best if I headed in - I ended up downwind of where I started so I took a short walk of shame.  But that said, I am hopeful that I can get more practice under my belt and with the additional experience, this will all start to click.

Not bad for a first outing!!!  And it felt good to windsurf Kailua again after all these years.

All the photos were taken by La with her new DSLR camera ;)

If Money Were No Object...

Super light weight, small wave riding awesomeness -

But money is an object and so are efforts to pay off a 19 panel PV system sitting on my roof.  Someday...