Morning Foil Drive-ing - 1/9/2025

La signed up for sailing lessons and this morning she had her first session.  Noe had a dentist appointment this morning, so I took La over to Hickam....

And since I was there, I figured I could try out Marvin's latest Majek foilboard.

This is the board I put three windows on.  He said when he used it, connectivity was tricky (when the board went underwater).

There was a gaggle at the boat ramp when I got there - Bill (who had been out twice already testing the AFS and comparing it to the Code), Mark and Arvin on SUP foils, Mark's wife on the Foil Drive and Jesse on tow boogie.

Marvin's board is shorter and wider than the boards I've been using lately - so the battery consumption was higher.  But when I got it up on foil, it was really fun to lean into and crank turns.

I got four proper waves - it was tiny and as the session went on it continued to get smaller.

Marvin wants another window put into it to help improve the connectivity - I think it should go in on the top, near the nose.  I'll get it installed and take the board back out for a spin.

W:2/FD:5/PW:1

Evening Session - 6/4/2022

I pulled a second water session today - was meeting Erik out at WPB to give him some pointers on prone foiling.  While I was waiting, Marvin drove up - he said he wanted to give his new to him 1440 another run.  The waves did come down even more than it had (comparing yesterday to this morning) - made me even think about not going out.

Then Derek H drove up and I said screw it - if he is going out winging in this light wind and small waves, then something good will happen and I should be out there to pick up the scraps.

Here is the 1440/17" rear stab/stock Takuma fuselage on the 75cm Project Cedrus mast.

I pulled the mast back in the tracks and even took off the PPC shim (as I recall riding this setup without the big shim).

And here's Marvin setting up his board/foil.

I caught waves and even had several double and triple dips - but this session was frustrating (too many wavestormers who don't know the surf etiquette).

Oh well - you need small days also (I guess).

W:44/F:57/S:17

Evening Session - 10/1/2020

Marlon and I went to WPB to catch the last remnants of the swell that hit this past weekend.  Remnants is what we got - with the high tide, the waves were barely breaking and the single wave I caught was maybe thigh high.

I brought out the wide 4'10" with the HS1850/232.  Glad I had this setup - was able to ride the wave I did catch for a good distance.

There is a swell forecasted to hit next week sometime, and the trades are supposed to fill in again starting Sunday - time to do some work in the garage for a few days (see the next post).

Friday Afternoon Session - 27 December

We all headed out to the beach again this afternoon.  Waves were almost no existent.  Tide was high at 0.7' (low high - the high high is before dawn - while I'm at work...).  And the wind was light - easterly trades.

The small waves tend to focus everyone to the same takeoff point, so days like this can be a little frustrating - unless you are on a foil (then you can just ride the energy from an unbroken wave).

La and Noe came again - but this time they didn't jump in the water.  That meant Marlon and I had a personal photographer on the beach (thanks La!).

Marlon is light enough still that he can pick off the small ones without bogging down.

I brought out the 5'6" because I figured the waves would be tiny.  And to that effect, I also setup the Maliko 200.  I got lucky with the placement - balanced on the first try.  Paddling this setup, I could feel the drag - but for these conditions, this really was spot on.

This was actually a kick out - I didn't want to run aground.  I got bolder as the session went on - I "nudged" the bottom twice while paddling out, but did ride the waves almost all the way in.

This is an awesome feeling - riding high and flowing with a bump.

Look at the suction the Maliko is drawing down - this foil saved the day!

I ended up catching six waves.  I breached on one - I was trying to stay high up on a glide and pushed it too far.  On my last wave, I was actually able to pump back out - way out.  If there was an incoming wave, I would have had a solid 2 for 1.  I was stoked just to keep the momentum going.  Pumping on the Maliko is much slower than any of the other wings - there is good resistance and once I found a good slow pace, it all just flowed.

This has definitely been a great year learning to foil and gaining a deeper understanding of making the most of the energy moving through waves.