Garage Works - 11/2/2024

Here is the Ezzy all repaired (thanks La!!!)

That was fixed yesterday.

Today I reminded Marlon the Takuma foils are his now.  To make me feel better about him taking these out and using them without me around, I rounded off the shark teeth winglets.  I should have done this when I got these foils - now they are less likely to cut...

And I showed him how to set up the foil on the board - including the foil angle of incidence.

Then I went ahead and prepared the crushed wingtip on the SK8 950 for the carbon patch lamination.

I'll start laminating the different layers on to the wing tip tomorrow (when I also place epoxy into the longboard I'm fixing for Greg).

I don't mind doing this for other people - but I get frustrated when I have to do it on my own foils.

Wing Foiling Session - 8/29/2023

The wind was up and down during today's session.  Eli, Roland and Prayot were out to cultivate some stoke..

The tide was really high - +2.6' - thanks to the Super Blue Moon

And there were some decent waves coming through - head high on several occasions.

But the wind was a little bit flukey.

I thought it would be a hair stronger, so I brought the Kujira 980/178 stab on the Stringy fuselage.

At times it felt like I needed more lift - even though this is where I have historically set this foil.

Not too bad for an hour's worth of winging.

I tried to stay further towards Fenceline to keep in the flow of the wind.  It was a dead zone in front of the surfboard rental shack.

Not bad - but it's hard to rig for these kind of ups and downs.

Again not bad.  The Kujira 980 did feel a bit unstable today - but I'm going to say it was the small chop riding the backwash and having to ride through that stuff.

Prayot saw a pretty big shark in the surf zone.  I had already gone in by that point (La wanted to run some errands tonight - so I wanted to get home early).

The wind is supposed to build up for the next several days (until Saturday).  So winging until Sunday (then it'll be Foil Driving time for Sunday and Monday).

W:87/F:82/S:32

Wing Foiling Session, Part 2 - 8/16/2023

From Kailua we headed to Kahala to meet up with Matt and so we could do a practice run for the upcoming upwind-downwind winging race.

This was my first time out at Kahala, and Matt's second.  We were both interested in learning the launch and recovery spots.

I setup the same gear that I had up at Kailua.

Getting out on a really high tide was not as bad as I thought it would be - you still definitely have to watch out for the reef - but I got out with a leap of faith (that I had enough wind to ride high and not hit the reef).

I had a hard time with the upwind leg.  The wind was so strong that the drag was slowing me down more than the wind could provide enough bernoullis.

The Garmin depleted its battery less than halfway through the trial run.

Matt made it to the blinker buoy first.  I ended up making it and took the opportunity to practice rounding the marker with tacks.

Then we headed downwind - which is such a unique experience.  I made it back in without incident (whew).  I would have preferred a much smaller wing going upwind, and a much bigger wing going downwind, but you can only choose one foil and one wing.

Again this was only a portion of the run (because my GPS watch ran out of charge).

A brutal as winging in Nuking Futs conditions were - I love pushing myself to do things I haven't done before (long live GenX!!!)

W:80/F:76/S:31

Wing Foiling Session, Part 1 - 8/16/2023

I met Nick (I've known this guy for 30 years!!!) this morning for a dawn patrol wind sports session.

The wind was present when we showed up - but not terribly strong - we decided to go kitefoiling.    

I have never tried this - but have wanted to learn for those light wind days when I just have to get out.  Nick has been doing this for longer than I have been foiling - so he said it's a 7.0 kite day

As soon as I launched, the wind picked up and me not knowing any better went ahead and tried to get onto the board.  I was eating humble pie the whole way... until Nick came over and said there was too much wind for what we were trying to do.  We both went in and reset to winging equipment.

And because I already had the Kujira 980 setup on the kite foiling board, I just plucked it off and transferred it to No.25

17.62 miles later....

This was really fun!  The waves were not all time, but they were present.  I got in a bunch of tacks - but mostly jibed (as my frame of reference is backward at Kailua).

I gave Nick the refurbished striped wing board - and he was a tad bit apprehensive at first - this board being a foot shorter than the board he normally uses - but he gelled with it quickly and he was jibing on to waves in no time!

This wind was not really expected - but it was a great surprise.

Not a bad graph

And from there, we made our way to Kahala for a race practice session.

W:79/F:76/S:31

Wing Foiling Session - 8/7/2023

The wind was ripping, the surf was up, and the tide was deep enough to not have to paddle out too far - perfect conditions to stoke the adrenal gland!!!!

Prayot, Kalani and Roland winged

I pumped up the Reedin SW2 3.6 (first time) - this design is the best line of wings I've ever used.  Roland pumped up his F One Strike V3 4.0 for the first time also.

I felt perfectly powered whether in a slamming gust, or the prevailing nuking background level winds - and during the session there was one wave where I got smashed and dragged in the white water - the leash was pushed into the trailing edge - no issue with the leash attachment or the trailing edge.  I love the SW2s!

I pulled out the Kujira 980 - this foil was the right call for today's turbulent conditions.  Being smaller it also helped eat up some of the wind power.

Roland accidentally kicked his foil and it bit back... lots of deep cuts lately... (I actually just got my stitches cut out today).

Not a bad run in challenging conditions!

I had a few overhead waves (that's while on foil).  On one run out, I saw a sailboat that was making a run and made a close approach to where we were winging.  I went out to take a look because it looked like they had the main sail up on the opposite side of where it should have been.  They jibed and headed back out.

Kalani and I were on one wave and he made this sick jump - probably 10 feet above me and I was in the pit of an overhead breaking wave!

This graph is from Hickam.  At WPB it seemed to be stronger and more consistent.

Not a bad top speed either.  If the wind was a hair more from the east, I think I would have gone faster.  

Epic winging day!!!

Tomorrow since this wind event is supposed to peak, I may go to Hickam after work (safer in the harbor).

W:76/F:71/S:31

Race Day!!!

Roland and I participated in the Voyager x Wetfeet Downwind Challenge race today.  Lots of competitors.

I wasn't sure about the finish line and whether there would be coral heads or not - so I opted for the Takuma Kujira 980/178/Stringy Direct Bolt fuselage on the 100cm Project Cedrus Clydesdale mast.  The wind looked pretty gnarly so I also picked the Reedin SW2 5.2 wing.  

This was the short stint out to the start line.  There were some waves breaking in the area near the channel - I had to sampo a couple of them.

This was a "everyone sit on your board, wings and paddles down" start.  After I got up, I pretty much stayed in the regular foot stance for most of the race.  The long mast really helped - I fell 3x, the first being a lull in the wind, the second was a ventilation, and the third was getting caught in really crossed up chop.  I did switch to goofy as I was closing in on Diamondhead - I figured I had a good line on the finish buoy and could lean over more when I rounded the buoy.

I swear I was going faster than this...

This was the wind at the airport - I think it was blowing much hard between HK and Suis.

The finish line was getting swamped with big sets coming through - timing was everything.  I made it through without incident and even got to ride a wave in - but there were wingers that missed the channel and needed to be pulled off with a jetski assist.

Roland finished the race also.  He didn't use his tall mast, but wished he had.  He switched tactics midstream and just started to ride the swell and flag the wing.

Fun day!!!

W:59/F:57/S:28

Wing Foiling Session - 3/8/2023

I picked Marlon up from UH and we beat feet home - after which we beat feet to the beach.  The west wind was nuking!!!!  White caps abound, a rising tide, and some unexpected rather large wind swell.

I used the WWFB because I didn't want to have to struggle to get on the board.  I bolted on the Kujira 980 figuring I had way more than enough power in the wind to get up on foil early and fast.  And lastly I pumped up the Reedin SW 3.6 - again there was plenty of wind.

I stayed out over an hour and a half.  There were plenty of waves, but most of them would start to show, but then petered out.  There were some sneaker sets (way overhead) - I had two large waves that were breaking behind me for a really long distance, but most of the other rides were running along with the swell, but having the waves not break was a little odd.

From this chart, the wind was pretty much coming from the west.  And from riding, the swell was bending in from the SW.

Looks like the wind broke the anemometer...

The first generation Super Wing is a back hand biased wing - to keep it powered and not backwinding when you are pulling upwind, it needs the rider to place a lot of back hand pressure input.  It does drift/luff well - but I think the Super Wing 2 is a much better balanced wing that pulls upwind easier.  I'm curious about the Neilpryde Fly in the smaller sizes also.  I'm saying all this because I think this wing wasn't optimized for today's conditions - not sure if it is this wing starting to stretch out (look at the first picture above), or if it is the overall design (but this to me has always been a back handed wing), but things change really quick in this sport.

The 980 did the trick.  I'm pretty sure if I had a smaller Kujira that would have worked today easily.  Top speeds were had while racing down wave faces.

There were several other wingers out today - Marlon had spoken with them and it seemed like they were all down from Mokuleia (looking for their normal sailing tacks with the reversed winds).  Marlon had several subjects to chase with the drone and he got a lot of good footage.

The forecast calls for the strong westerlies to fade - I truly consider winds like this to be a gift!!!

W:27/F:14/S:13

Wing Foiling Session - 2/25/2023 - 1st

Dawn patrolled Kailua this morning - seems like a lot of people had the same idea - Paul and his wife, Tim and a few others from the SW corner of the island were pumping up before the sun came up.  Phil was there too!

The wind was blowing hard already first thing.  With the wind as strong as it was, I decided to bolt on the Kujira 980 to get more speed out of the session and to possibly turn harder on the waves.  Speaking of waves - there were some over head sets rolling through at Jump City so this was destined to be a good session!

I pumped up the SWX 4.2.  I never felt overpowered - but there were a few times the wind lulled and I had to wait for a gust to get back up.

I got in 13.55 miles in just over an hour.

I fell a little bit more than I normally do - but the water was really choppy.  This session was pretty close to the conditions you'd see on a well powered downwinder - tall, short period wind swell.  If I go back tomorrow morning, I may use the Clydesdale.

I guess I fell on the board at one point and dinged the front port side.  It is not bad at all, but with my OCD I'm going to have to fix it.  I think there is some of my skin stuck in the ding. 

This data pull is from the Kaneohe sensor.  I think it was stronger than this.

The max speed spikes are probably from the waves - jibing onto a breaking wave and taking the drop definitely generates speed.

So much fun!

W:19/F:12/S:12