Dawn Patrol - 11/18/2023

Dawn patrol this morning was a Foil Drive prone session at Firsts.

There were sets coming through Firsts, so I set up the Spitfire 960 combo.

Jesse and Harris were using the tow boogies that Jesse built.  The new one has a crap ton of power and Jesse used it to give me a tow out to the start of the channel.  Nearly yanked my arm off and it was towing both of us out.

The swell was really good when the sets were pushing through - well overhead!  My first wave, as I was standing up the bottom dropped out!

It's pretty cool to see the set waves all focusing on one takeoff point.

I called it a session when I got ambushed by about 25 OC-1 paddlers

Today was the second day I felt the Foil Drive Assist Plus was actually underpowered.  Jesse was killing it with the whip ins and low speed.  And in between waves, getting back out to the line up was slow (in order to preserve voltage).  I think I should be surfing more to avoid looking at the Gen 2 Max...

W:114/F:101/S:54

Dawn Patrol - 9/16/2023

Foil Drive on the dawn patrol -

Waves were on the soft side - still enough to ride, but not really energetic.

Wind was down, but then back up, then back down again.

The tide was high and ebbing.

Shimming the tail on the forward screw has been a really great mod.  The whole setup is faster, pumps easier and is more maneuverable than a non-shimmed version of this grouping.

The other change I made was to use the original propellor again - I wanted to see the impact of using a smaller hub.  The board does get up to a higher speed.  The battery seems to last longer.  And if a wave was not quite ready to pickup a rider, the smaller hub not get me on the wave (more so than the big hub).

There should be a south swell starting to show...

W:92/F:89/S:35

Redoing the Fuselage Shimming

After winging yesterday and having the front wing come loose again, I decided to redo the shimming on the fuselage ferrule.

I did this on both of the Takuma fuselages.  First stripped off the old tape.

Two layers of aluminum duct tape seemed to close the gaps.

This was the first time I've changed out the shimming on these since I got them.  With no play in the ferrule connection, that should eliminate the source of the energy backing out the screws.

Now I just to get out at a time frame where the wind is up (and not up and down).

Dawn Patrol - 1/23/2022

Dawn patrolled again.  There is still some swell coming in from the south, and there is still west wrap.  The tide was high, but at a manageable 1.6' (yesterday was 1.8' and was drowning out the swell).  With zero wind, the conditions were really good.

I brought out the same gear as yesterday, but I did shim the mast base.  One shim each under the front bolts was enough to correct the "nose-down attitude".  The mast position I had paddled out with was making my back leg a little spent - so I pulled the mast forward and VIOLA!!!  Balance was achieved!

I'm going to mark this position for this mast and the Kujira 1210.

I caught a bunch of waves both before and after the mast position change - the conditions provided opportunities for long walled up rides and hooking carves.  With the high tide I didn't have to worry too much about grounding so I was a bit more aggressive on the riding.

SO much fun!

W:1; F:9; S:4

Dawn Patrol - 1/2/2022

Smaller waves today, but with no wind the rides were way better - longer, faster, cleaner, and when pumping for a twofer, I wasn't getting blown back.

I did use the mast base shim and it seemed to correct the nose down attitude.  I didn't feel like I was going to hit the water and my rides were more natural (less thinking).  Now I'm wondering if another shim will make it better or worse... next time.

I caught a bunch - less wipeouts today and way more hard carving turns.  I did hit bottom once... so much for the high tide prediction.  

More Tweaking Stuff

I got the Takuma Fuselage Adapter for the 2021 fuselage yesterday in the mail. When everything settled down, I grabbed the Project Cedrus Mast and the fuselage from the 85cm Takuma mast, and set out to get the fitment worked out.

I removed the tape shims - this adapter was a perfect tight fit.  And while I was at it, I went ahead and added Tefgel to the other screws on this mast.

Here it is all set up.  I did not plan on taking it out on the dawn patrol for Sunday because the tide was going to be rather low at 0.6'.  This mast measures out to be 81cm - just under 32 inches.  A little tall for prone, but also a little short for winging.

I'm supposed to be getting the Axis screw set in the mail in the next couple of days.  I plan on setting up the Axis ART999 on the Crazy Short Fuselage with the 400 Progressive rear stabilizer.  

And since I was working on different things, I went ahead and sanded out the tips on this Takuma Kujira 200 rear stabilizer where it had touched reef earlier.  Smoothed out without an issues.

Tweaking New Gear

I spent yesterday afternoon working on stuff that has piled up on me and also tweaking some new stuff.  I helped Marlon fix a ding in one of his boards.  Then I sealed up the trailing edge of the HS1532CS (that I sold - the customer wanted it sealed up a bit more).  Then I got to the good stuff.

Having sold the Ensis 6.0 and 5.2, I had been looking for a replacement wing.  It needed to be powerful, not have any windows, be lighter, have handles and have the range of both of the Ensis.  That is a lot to ask of one wing - but here it is - the Ocean Rodeo Glide 5.0 in A (full Aluula) Series.

This is actually the second one - the first came in earlier this week, but when I ran it through the pressure test, the boom would not hold air.  For as much as this thing cost, I went ahead and asked for an exchange - I got that yesterday.  This one held pressure (and it is still inflated in the living room).

I am really excited to put this wing to the test.  I know it will not have the get up and go grunt that the Ensis does, but what is a few more pumps to gain a wider range, almost no weight, and an ultra stiff frame that translates much more power (instead of losing it to flex and deformation).

With this wing, I have the goal of only having three wings - 5.0, 4.2 and a 3.6.  Those ranges (hopefully) will go from 12-25, 18-30, 25-??? respectively.

Now we just need the trades to come back (still a week away).

I also shimmed up the Takuma Kujira 75cm aluminum mast.  I got this mast from Jeff along with the Kujira 1210 so I can prone foil the Kujiras (as I'm still waiting for the Project Cedrus 2021 Takuma adapter). 

Shimming the Takuma is pretty important.  If you don't the load is only on the bolts and any vibrations the rig endures will start to loosen the bolts.  For all the complaints I see on the web, I would say nearly all of them are a direct result of not shimming the parts that get joined together (fuselage where the front foil meets; fuselage where the mast slips in).

I can't wait to try this foil out!!!