Dawn Patrol - 4/15/2026

Today is my beautiful and wonderful wife's birthday!!!  And she likes to sleep in SO....

I had the opportunity to get a dawn patrol session in!!!  She pre-approved this so no issue - 

It was another one of those days where it was breaking way the heck outside, but inside it was kinda closing out.  The swell was coming in from 178 degrees (almost straight South).

The tide was low....

All those factors (time crunch, low tide, epic closeouts) - I chose to use the Firewire Cymatic 5'10" (I had traded the 5'9" I had bought new for this one to gain a few more liters volume), with the Kohola Thruster fins.

The extra volume makes this shape work better for me.  Makes paddling in way easier.  Based on this board and the Sweet Potato, I'd say my volume is now 37.5 liters.

These fins are something else also - all the drive and control you want from a set of nice, raked thrusters, but still loose enough to work around not-so clean waves.

I caught five waves and then headed in to make breakfast for La.  They were all good fun and reinforced this board is tons of fun.

Wave 1 was a smaller wave and I got a few turns in.

Wave 2 was a bomb - late takeoff and a long rippable right wall.  Good turns but I could tell my back foot was a bit forward of optimum.

Wave 3 was another late takeoff - but I was in perfect position - big turns top and bottom - long ride and mind blown (this board is staying in the quiver!!!)

Wave 4 was a big drop and closeout.  Still validation that the volume is optimized for my fat ass.

Wave 5 was one last bomb - some good turns then I headed in.

I got home before La woke up and made her a really wonderful omelet!!!

I'm thinking if the swell sticks around, I'm gonna bring out the Revo Max with the Reverse Vector 3/2 Twins... or the Great White Twin with the Rasta Reverse Vector 3/2 2+1s

PF:5/W:2/PW:31/FD:28/S:12

Evening Foil Drive Session - 4/13/2026

I got home from work and plugged in the Foil Drive battery to get charged.  Then I took a nap.

I woke up, looked out the window and saw there was practically no wind.

I put the Foil Drive setup together and headed out for a short-ish session.

Curt looked like he was getting his time in on the DW SUP foiling board... 

Three Monk Seals were chillaxing on the beach - so I had to start out to the right of them, and because of that I hit the stupid pipe... but I think I was lucky and didn't damage the foil or the stabilizer.

I could see the horizon today - so no seasickness!

If you were patient, there were some good sets still coming through.

Same setup as yesterday.

There was actually a slight onshore breeze - and that made motoring out and around not so smooth.  My battery consumption rate was a little high - but that was fine as time was a ticking.

I had a few really great waves - long with lots of top to bottom carving.  I really enjoy the Enduro 900/Mako Carve 130 - makes me think I need to give the Silk 650 a shot (on No.39 or No.40 to help build speed).

I count 16 rides here - but my watch stopped recording for a bit so I don't know if that's all I rode.

Coming in, I scraped up against the pipe again - I hate that pipe!

PF:5/W:2/PW:31/FD:28/S:11

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 4/12/2026

No wind this morning so the surface was just shy of sheet glass.

The current was not nearly as bad as it was yesterday.

But the bomber sets were far and few between...

With all the speed issues from yesterday, I opted to use the Enduro 900 with the Mako Carve 130.  Everything else was the same.

Despite the good conditions, the sky was full of clouds from the near stationary Kona low pressure system just north of the islands.  When the sky gets full like this, discerning the horizon from the waves gets really difficult... in fact I pretty much got seasick from not having a solid reference point.

And despite those challenges (weird migraine that I woke up with, onset of seasickness, no horizon to see how big the incoming waves were) - I got drawn out to 5-O's because of the empty breakers running out there...

And I enjoyed every second!!!

Really long rides screaming down the right breaking wall!!!  Patience paid off with overhead sets (and no one else out that far).  The waves were breaking pretty much like the western most peak of Pavilions.

17 rides and I called it (getting too seasick).  I came in with NO FOIL SCRATCHES and 63% battery still - I'll call this a great session!

PF:5/W:2/PW:31/FD:27/S:11

Evening Session - 9/7/2025

And to wash off the Garage Works (foam dust), I went back for a surf session this evening.

Surf was STACKED!!!  Overhead on the set waves and the consistency was really good.

I opted to take the J Splee Surfboards Hammah Fish.

I caught three incredible waves - head to just overhead waves that had tremendous push and didn't closeout!

Today is probably one of the best riding days I've had a in a long time!

If the swell holds into tomorrow, I may use the Firewire Revo Max -

W:56/FD:113/PW:31/S:8

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 9/1/2025

The swell still had some sets coming through, but definitely fading.

The tide was flooding and there was some slight texture on the water this morning (some light wind).  But nothing too bad - still nice conditions.

I changed things up a bit.  No.41 with the AFS Silk 850/HA40.

I set it up with similar spacing that is on No.40

I also tried out a low residue duct tape to hold the ABS sheeting in place to cover the trench.

Norm was the next to arrive.  Jill, Stu, Derek and eventually Marvin were out also.

This was the first time I've had the AFS Silk 850 rigged to No.41

This foil never ceases to amaze me!  Turns were super tight and you can bank (roll, yaw and pitch all at the same time) so nicely -

I took a wave really early inside to make sure the setting didn't have too much front foot pressure - I prefer a progressive liftoff so I can control what's going on when on a steeper wave.

There was one wave (at 33 minutes) - big set wave - I took off but going down the face I had too much speed and my feet were slightly off optimal position - so I bailed.  This is what I am referring to - but for all the other rides I had, which were around head high, this wasn't an issue.

Lots of curves in the GPS tracks - straight from the slashing capabilities of the Silk 850.

There was a hint of excess front foot pressure - but I think I want to swap out the HA40 rear stabilizer for the Silk 42.  I think this will solve the excess initial lift and also increase the already radical banking capability of the front foil.

15 rides today

Super fun session!

W:56/FD:111/PW:29/S:6

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 8/31/2025

Some sets still coming through.  I got into several overhead waves (SO MUCH FUN!!!)

Wind was dead - sheet glass at times.  This is when the battery goes on forever...

I brought the Silk 850 - but in the end I just ran the Enduro 900

This was all from one HO battery!!!

The three peaks of PV -

Norm, Stu, Jen (I think that's her name - Paul Cooper's better half), one Lift eFoiler, and eventually Marvin were all out.

Hard to tell exactly how many rides I got.  I know I got left behind on a couple.  And I botched at least one takeoff.  I'm gonna call this count 20 rides.

The forecast for tomorrow is calling for similar conditions.

W:56/FD:110/PW:29/S:6

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 8/30/2025

Still a little lumpy - but the size jumped up.

Same gear as the previous days.

I met Brent this morning.  Unifoil P170 foiler (that is a fun foil).

Lots of long rides.  I had a few get away from me - the bigger swells travel faster.

And I wasn't prepared for the size on a couple of waves - got steep fast so I aborted.

I think I could have easily used the Silk 650 today (and I might tomorrow).

I count 11 rides in an hour and a half.

Fun session!

W:56/FD:109/PW:29/S:6

Wing Foiling Session - 7/30/2025

South swell started showing today.  And the wind came back.

I opted to wing foil at WPB.

North Nova Pro 5.0 had plenty of power today without feeling overpowered.

No.40 with the AFS Silk 850/HA40/UHM 85 mast.  Perfect gear for today's conditions.

Challenging conditions - large set waves, rising tide and a far out wind line.

Starting out I ended up getting pushed downwind quite a bit.  But once up on foil I was able to get back past the Fenceline.

The wind was there, but it wasn't as powerful as it looked.

And with all the water moving around (big swells, long stretches of white water) I tripped up a few times.  But outside the swells - as big as they were - did not break (saving a ton of effort trying to keep the wing and foil apart).

Pretty fast for the Silk 850 - definitely got some help from the big drops.

I did surf the waves pretty hard, but I wasn't fully charging.  Being out in those conditions solo can get a little un-nerving.  So playing it conservative helps with the self-preservation.

The swell will be bigger and the wind stronger tomorrow.  I may go to PV tomorrow to avoid the beating trying to launch.

W:52/FD:97/PW:18/S:4

Evening Foil Drive Session - 6/24/2025

The swell was peaking this afternoon.

Coupled with a mega high tide and light side off winds, today was pretty good fun!

Definitely over head on the set waves!

Trust worthy equipment - No.40 (for quick takeoffs on foil), the AFS Enduro 900/HA40/UHM *0cm mast - can't beat this setup!!!!

I didn't want to spend too much time out today - being hard on the throttle I still came in at 50% after an hour.

The right walls headed towards Coves were phenomenal!!!

17 or 18 rides depending on how you count.  I know I missed about a handful...

Marvin was also out on FD.  Roland was out on one of his surfboards - which arguably I need to start doing more of - but today was glorious on Foil Drive!!!

W:48/FD:87/PW:12/S:4

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 6/8/2025

Phenomenal conditions this morning!!!

At 200kJ energy in the swell, there were waves breaking well over DOH!

The tide was really low - so there was that to contend with going out and coming in.  And there was the slightest breeze... but putting everything together - this was pretty darn close to perfection!

The Silk 650 I ordered through Jeff is on island, but he is off island on vacation.  That foil would have been perfect...

But I used the old reliable Silk 850/HA40 combo and it did not disappoint.

Duke was out on DW SUP foil, and Prayot came out a little later on the same.  He later told me he was fighting to stay in control on the big takeoffs.  He was using the Silk 1050.

There was one wave I caught on the outside, made the drop and saw it was a big one - Prayot paddled in further down the wave and we ended up crossing halfway - I went left and he went right.

I had several others that were just as big - 

I saw several surfers catching epic rides - but they had to wait maybe three times as long as I did (and the sets were plentiful).  You just had to be at the right place at the righth time if you were paddling in (on FD I don't have that limitation).

These were some seriously long rides - and you can see from the track that I was carving up the faces, not just making straight runs (thank you AFS Silk 850/HA40).

13 ridiculously great rides -

I was out already for well over an hour when Dennis and Marvin showed up.

I caught a really good one and had made my way through the surfer lineup - so I figured I'd take what I got and call it good for today - SO AWESOME TODAY!!!

W:42/FD:83/PW:8/S:4