Evening Session - 5/12/2025

Marlon and I got a pass to go to the beach on Mother's Day.  We didn't question it and went (while La and Noe went to a Castle High School Band concert).

There was some onshore wind chopping up the surface - but it wasn't too bad.  The tide was rising so no issues with grounding.  And lastly there were waves - it didn't look so good from the beach, but they were actually fun.

Marvin asked that I test out the board to see what my thoughts were.  I figured the waves would be smaller so I brought the Spitfire 960.  Marlon brough his longboard and caught some fun ones.  Kaylani brought her longboard - but Marlon said she said the waves weren't so good for her.

There were some good ones out there still.

The good news is the windows I installed worked great.

The bad news is the board has some issues:

1.  The bottom shape was "sticky" to me - for a lot of the waves I motored for, I would have a hard time leaving the waters surface.  Kinda like when I was using the velcro straps instead of the electrical tape to wrap the cable.  That said, I am wondering if the universal fit mast adapter I slapped on was making the difference...

2.  On several waves, I'd actually pop up and get the mast to rise, but the motor wouldn't stop and I'd motor to the point of wiping.  I told this to Marvin and he said he was experiencing the same thing.  He equated this to the transmission "dead zone".  I had never experienced this on my boards so it caught me off guard.

3.  The tail end had a slight rocker to it - I ended up shimming the back end of the Foil Drive.

On a positive note, using this board felt more like surfing than using a foil board - I had one wave where I went right and the face got steep - I crouched down and started positioning to drag a hand - then I remembered I was on a foil...

But for most of the waves I had, I was contending with the three issues above.  I felt more like a crash test dummy than a test pilot.

When I was able to compensate for the board's quirks, the rides were really fun.

Here's the back window and the shim under the Foil Drive unit.

I think I could have used a tad bit more front foot pressure, but with the Spitfire 960 all the way up here in the boxes already, not much adjustment to be had.

With the lower volume, the battery was consumed faster - I had to stay on the throttle longer (and at times I didn't even catch the wave).  With that, I'm guessing No.33 must be around 55 liters.

Just like the waves - I was all over the place.

Not all these were genuine rides - failed attempts and getting stuck on top were about a third of these.  No matter - I went in to this session with a testing mind set anyways.

I dropped the board off at Marvin's house and gave him the feedback.  And then he asked if he could get the windows installed on these two boards also.  No good deed goes unpunished!!!

I think I may skip tomorrow so I can get the top deck laminated on No.36, and also get the window installation started on these two. 

W:58/FD:34/F:4/S:9

Dawn Patrol - 10/29/2023

Dawn patrolled yesterday morning.  This was looking to the SE - the other islands were really visible in the back lit clear sky.

There were waves coming in - pretty lully (but that lets me get out without burning too much battery), but when they were in, it was at least head high.  The tide was pretty high with the full moon - which dampened the waves a bit, but also made a quick paddle out.  Zero wind.

Marlon brought his longboard, but said it was a bit frustrating with the lull in sizeable waves and the weekend crowd. 

Same setup - but I did add a 0.25 degree negative shim to the 375P stabilizer.

The waves were coming in with a faster velocity and weren't standing up as readily (as they would on a lower tide).  I had to stay on the throttle longer to pick up rides.  This is a situation where the smaller hub would have worked better (where I could get to a higher top end speed to catch the wave and not have to use more energy).

The 0.25 degree shim worked well - made for faster/longer rides, easier pumping (since I retained more speed), and more response from the stabilizer (I was turning more today - funny how quickly you lose that feeling if you don't foil everyday - surfing uses different foot pressure applications).

I did lose it a few times - hard falls from high up and going fast - had to take a break after those falls.

I had a few rides where I rode to the inside where the waves were standing up - the walls did pop to at least head high (while I was up on foil) - these runs were back side (which is what I predominately do on weekend sessions to turn away from the large conglomeration of longboarders in the middle break) - if they were front side, I would have been tempted to tuck in....

Slightly lower wave count this session at 23 - largely because of the mid morning slump.  Still had a great series of rides!

W:104/F:99/S:52

Evening Session - 9/13/2023

I was super tired when I got home - I ended up taking a nap.  But I also felt I needed to keep trying to get the rear stabilizer dialed back in to where I had it before (I changed the shim).  I had changed the shim back to the 0.5 degree one I had on previously.

The wind was kinda up - but it was blowing offshore.  The tide was dropping but still on the high side.  And the swell was belly high on the sets - pretty much perfect for foiling.

The setup performed perfectly - doubles out the gate and super easy and sustainable pumping.  Pretty incredible what a shim can do.

I just fell in love with this foil setup all over again -

Cranking turns was never so good...

W:92/F:87/S:35

Dawn Patrol - 1/29/2022

Dawn patrol on Saturday morning.  Roland had been talking up the wind and how it would be on early - so I brought my winging gear.  But I also didn't want to get skunked - so I brought my prone setup too.  The problem is this is White Plains... you are not supposed valuables in your cars for a reason.  One of these was going to get left in the truck bed...

Marlon didn't have this problem - good ole trusty blue longboard -

Well - the wind was not up yet, but the surf was - prone foiling was the call.  Takuma Kujira 1210 on the Project Cedrus 75cm mast with my surf rear stabilizer.  This was actually the first prone foil session I had in several days - and I felt a little rusty on the first several waves.  I did find my footing and I got some really long rides and pumped back out to the lineup multiple times.

Nice session!  Glad to have waves at WPB in January!

W:2/F:9/S:4

Skipped the Wing, and Got Some Long Standing Garage Work Done

The wind was kinda fluky - there were a lot of clouds so sometimes there was a good breeze, then other times it was dead.  Since I didn't bring my stuff to work, I opted to head home while the getting was good and take care of some projects that have been staring at me while I'm in the garage.  

First up was the new bottom mount 30mm spaced rear stabilizer.  This was cut out of a much larger stabilizer that someone (who will remain anonymous) ordered and never followed through on.  Grinder, then sander, then wet sanded by hand.

This is the thinnest one to date.  If this works well, I'll go back and thin the tips out on all of the ones I previously built.

Next up was shimming Prayot's fuselage for his Kujira 1210.  I used tape on the fuselage ferrule and also on the well of the mast-fuselage connection point. 

The connections are nice and tight now.  Taking up the slop in the connection prevents the bolts from being the sole load owner (and helps keep them from breaking).

Tomorrow may be the last day for wind for a while - I'm going to use both of these things I worked on today if I am able to go tomorrow (likely Hickam so I can try out Prayot's Kujira 1210).

Wing Foiling Session - 9/22/2021

With the 85cm mast out of commission, I broke out the 95cm mast.  I used the 60cm original fuselage with the +1 titanium shim.  The same foils went on - the HS1550v1 and the chopped down 300 rear stabilizer.  The wind seemed slightly stronger than yesterday and from the beach, the waves out at Firsts and Seconds looked more developed.

I'm jumping ahead, but after I shimmed the front of the mast base, this seemed to be a great setting for this foil combo.

When I got to the beach, Jim and Harris were already out.  I assembled the foil/board, carried it to the beach and figured using the 5.2 would be the best bet.

I used the electric pump again (4th time using it - trying to see how many inflate cycles I get out of a single charge)

I actually made two outings.  The first was to make sure the foil was properly set - and seeing as I was real close, I went ahead and headed out to Firsts.  The waves seemed cleaner, bigger and more organized today.  The tide was still high so that did slow the action down a bit.  I was able to get several waves where the face had some vertical to it and I luffed the wing.  Riding this way has always been harder for me at Firsts - but with the practice at WPB, it is getting easier over here.

I did head in because I noticed the board was riding nose down.  I grabbed the shims from the truck and got them bolted on.  The shims seemed to somewhat correct the attitude issue, but just a hair short of perfect.  I may try using the other shim from Wizard Hat.

I seemed to be going faster the second half of the session.  I think with the longer mast, the additional drag slowed me down considerably.  Pumping and taking off were also more difficult compared to the 85cm mast.  That said - I did not breach or pop the tail once.  The extra 4" of height also made it seem like I didn't have to think about the foil's position relative to the surface - I was there just to ride the wave.

I think as I use this mast more, it'll become a better experience.  I have used it in the past - but with the HS1850.  I'm going to try this mast with the HS1250 on a windy day - would be interesting to see the difference.