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

SUP Foil Setup

I got some work done in the garage yesterday.

I got the Shred Sled setup for the Foil Drive.

I had to move the plate around - there wasn't much slack cable...

This actually had the battery box off to the left above where my front foot would be while riding.

And I also planed off the high points on the mast track reinforcement block on No.32.  Slowly but surely is how this one is going.

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.