Wing Foiling Session - 10/17/2021

I had to be back at the house for some visitors - so I got in a mid-day winging session.  I wanted to test Prayot's Kujira 1210 some more and under different conditions.  The wind was blowing hard when I got to the parking lot.  I decided to pump up the 4.5 - but some clouds settled in over head and the flow got choked off a bit. 

You can see the slow start and also a significant lull represented as blue lines in the chart below.

Once the sun came back out, the wind filled in again and I was up and riding.  I pulled hard upwind to the stronger wind field (eastern side of the this area) so if the wind died back again, I would at least be schlogging into Fenceline and not into the cabins area.

With the 4.5, I need 20mph to get up on foil - that dip in the wind just after 11am is the large black patch on my speed graph below.

The peak speeds were when I was on a wave.  The forecasts called for 1-2' faces - but as I was riding in, there were some chest high sets that formed some really long walls.  The Kujira 1210 picked up the energy really well and I could carve as hard as I did with the Armstrong HS1550v1.  I did have the opportunity to luff the wing a few times and got to carve up some walls with good concave sections in them.  One of these was a perfectly timed jibe and straight drop in to a standup wave.

It's looking like the form factor is limiting this front foil to below 19mph (relative to my watch).  I do like the sustained glide this foil has - I can take my time through the jibes.  If my right knee weren't hurting right now, I'd try pumping more - but for now I've been letting the wing do most of the work.

Fun day!!!!

Evening Session - 10/16/2021

I got in a late afternoon session with the 4'8" prone board and the PNL185.  The first couple of waves I caught, I had to get the feel for prone foiling again - but I was good to go after that.  The rest of the waves I caught I was pumping back out to the lineup and could have easily gotten 2 for 1s.

I tried a few of these wide span high aspect ratio front foils now - the Armstrong HA1125 and HA925, Go Foils GL240/GL210/GL180/GL140 - and I've got an Axis ART 999 in bound.  This PNL 185 is user friendly and seems to have a much lower stall speed (compared to the Armstrongs).  I think the GL180 may just be a tad more user friendly - but the PNL 185 is easier to pump back out.

The other thing I noticed (and already knew, but needed to get some actual data) is I need to thin out the cord on the rear stabilizers I've been making.  The one I recently finished and used winging the Kujira 1210 is substantially thinner than any of the previous ones.  I'll thin the one I used yesterday prone foiling and compare performance.

Wing Foiling Session - 10/15/2021

There was some decent wind as I was getting off work yesterday - so I hit Hickam to test out Prayot's Takuma Kujira 1210.  The wind was 20+, but I did not expect it to be that good and I left the 4.5 at home.  I went ahead and pumped up the 5.2.

I also used the new 15" rear stabilizer that I finished on Thursday evening.

My knee is still a bit sore, so I have been refraining from aggressive board pumping.  With this being the first time I had the 1210 out, I figured I should see what it could do on the low end.  This front foil is good, but it did not have the same "liveliness" that the 980 does.  It does have more glide and I can carve it through transitions, but because of the wider span, I had to draw out the turns a little wider. 

The 1210 rides waves fine.  I was able to hang in the pocket - but the NL160 is still the best at this (with a close second going to the Kujira 980).

The wind was up and down - gusts past 30 and lulls down below 15.  I was glad to have the 5.2.

If you look at the predominant speed on the chart below, I'd say the cruising speed on this foil is about 16mph.  On some speed runs towards the end of the session, I was able to push it to just under 20mph (19.6).  That is on par with other front foils of this size (~1400 cm2).  I'll use it a few more times before I have to send it forward to Prayot.  I will also try and prone foil this - I've been told that is where this shines.  3 for 1s are the normal and the glide is effortless...

I just ordered an Axis ART999 - if that overlaps the Kujira 1210, I may pass on the 1210... I really like getting to test a bunch of different foils (now that I am liberated from being an Armstrong loyalist).

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).

4'8" Wing Board Through Rough Sanding

I spent some time in the garage today.  I got the shape roughed in to about 85% of final.  First I used the surform to clean up the planer gouges.  Then I used the planer to take off some more bulk on the bottom deck.  Then I used the dragon skin and rounded out the parts that needed it (nose mainly).

Finally I used the 60 grit sanding screen to blend everything in.  I can see some areas that still need adjusting - like the shallow bevel in the bottom deck next to the rails, and others.  I'll break out the ruler and place marks and get everything symmetrical.

Wing Foiling Session - 10/11/2021

 I went out to ride with my friend Phil yesterday.  The wind was still strong, but it was definitely less intense compared to the past few days.  I opted for the Ensis 4.5m and stuck with the Kujira 980 (and the 15.75" rear stabilizer).

The waves had not really backed down - they weren't a strong as they were this weekend - but they still had a big punch.

The light wind zone in between the outer breakwater and the second channel marker was amplified with this high pressure event (I don't know why).  You be winging along fully lit - then right after the channel marker, you had to nurse the wing and the foil to make it through the same area where the white water walls were plowing the fields.  With the right timing, you got to just the inside of the breakwater tip and picked up a gust.  If your timing was wrong, you got mowed over.

I got mowed over a lot.  On one ride, I was trying to make it over a feathering wall - but didn't.

And this is where the wing leash broke.  The white water wall that hit me was pretty tall and I couldn't throw the wing over the top of it.  The wing, the board and myself got engulfed.  I could feel the leashes getting strained, and then no pressure on my right wrist (where the wing leash is).  I knew the leash had broke and the wing was on its own and probably blowing away in the wind.  After a few more seconds the white water released me and I saw the wing only about 25' away.  I got onto my board and starting paddling as fast as I could.  The same slack wind alley that was making this session difficult, just also made recovering the wing possible.  The wing was still flipping around, but it would get stuck to the water's surface - and I was getting closer.

I did finally catch up to it.  I grabbed the front handle, tied two knots using the remainder of the wing leash, then kept on paddling to get to the channel.  All of this is in the blue lines in the middle of the below picture. 

In the below chart, you can also see the times I was either riding a wave or paddling like there was no tomorrow for my wing - 163bpm isn't a joke....

And another observation - I was going faster with the Reedin wings.  Up to 3 mph faster.  Something to think about.

Despite all of the complications - winging in challenging conditions makes me feel alive - 

Progress on the 4'8" Flat Rail Wing Foiling Board

I got a little garage time yesterday.  I took the thickness down to just over 4" and drop the rocker on the nose.

This blank is ready for the surform and drywall screed work.

As I'm trying to keep volume in this board, I'm going to really just be dialing in the shape at this point.  Should be pretty quick to get it through these next steps (rounding the top rail, slightly tapering the bottom rail to a hard 90 on the back half of the board, and working the nose and front half like normal).

I do plan on building this out like Kalani's - d-cell sheets, footstrap inserts - and I'm going to add longer boxes underneath.

Project Cedrus and Lift

I went to Marvin's place yesterday to return his 980 Kujira.  While I was over there I asked if I could see how the fit of the Project Cedrus Lift adapter was.  We fitted both the 120HA and the 170HA and the fit was perfect.

Fit like it was meant to be.

You can see the height differences in the Takuma 75 carbon mast, the lift 28" and the Project Cedrus 75cm (+6cm in the mast base and Lift adapter).

Marvin wanted this comparison to see what was going on with the Takuma (and why the need for all the shims).  I'm setting my sights on a Lift 150 Surf V2 with a 34 rear stabilizer.  We'll see!

Wing Foiling Session - 10/10/2021

 Ultra nuking winds again today!!!  You could see the tops being sheared off the big waves rolling through.  I thought the wind would be down a notch - so I setup up the Reedin 4.2.  I was wrong - just as windy as Saturday.  Even though it was nuking, I like riding powered and the 4.2 helped in the lulls/dead zones (hard to believe with as much wind as there was - the spot by the second red channel marker through to the takeoff zone was super light).

This session actually turned into another testing session.  I wanted to get Marvin's Takuma back to him - so I needed to figure out which rear stabilizer I would be using going forward.  First trial was the rear stabilizer that came with the 980 - I think it is the 178 (projected area - which should be close to 178 since it is pretty flat).  I got up on foil without any issues, but with the small stabilizer, there was a lot of pitch sensitivity and very little yaw resistance.  Super maneuverable (which would be appreciated while prone foiling).  While outside in the waves, I'm pretty sure I breached the tail - but I didn't drop out like I normally would have.  My GPS watch was running out of battery - so the track info is a bit off (I was screaming most of the time). 

Incomplete data - at times there were waves forming from the gusts pulling through - I'd say 40mph gusts.  Most of the time it was 25 gusting to 30+

This was a short first session - really just wanted to confirm the rear stabilizer was better for prone foiling.  It is cool to see a solid blue session though.  With as much wind as there was - I'd say topping out at 21mph is form factor driven.

I came in and swapped out the 178 for this bottom mount 15.75" crepe spatula tail I recently finished.

This was actually a really good fit. It did not hamper the turning ability of the 980 front foil at all.  It definitely helped the glide during lulls and it had plenty of heaving force when I would pump.  I'll keep using this stabilizer until I get the 1210/220.  On the outside I was able to slingshot into some waves - nothing but goodness from the stabilizer.  I could tell it wasn't as fast as the 220 - but I've got another rear stabilizer blank on the bench that drops 0.75" off the span.  I'll also thin that one out in the tips more and see if I can pick up some more speed.  

If the wind drops on Monday, I'll try the 1210 front foil with this rear stabilizer.

Winging on days like this really make me feel alive!!!  SO MUCH FUN!!!  Unfortunately these events only come every so often - don't let opportunity slip by!!!

Wing Foiling Session - 10/9/2021

 Today was flat out nuking!  Marlon and I checked out WPB first thing - nuking!!!  I wanted to wait a bit to go out since the wind was forecasted to come up even more.  So between the surf check at dawn, and my going out at Hickam, I mowed the lawn, took the kids to recycle the cans and bottles, and did a little ironing.  By the time I got to Hickam, there was some heavy wind coming through - victory at sea conditions for sure.

You can see from the chart that there were some gusts touching 40.  These nuking winds days are rare to begin with - but to have an overhead swell pushing through - that is a rare day indeed.

I pumped up the Reedin 3.6 and used the Kujira 980 again.  The Kujira did not disappoint.

On way way out to the break, I noticed the waves were breaking pretty hard.  I tripped on one headed out and got whacked around by the remainder of the set - not as bad a beating as yesterday, but it really would have sucked if any of my equipment got trashed all the way out there.

I caught several waves, but none of the big bombers coming through - wrong place, wrong time in most cases.  My right knee was starting to disagree with me, so I headed in to the flat water so I could practice my transitions.  I got in a few toe-side tacks on the inside.  These are just direction changes right now - I have not been flying out of these transitions like I have been on my heelside tack.  I even pulled a couple of short downwinders.

SUPER CRAZY NUTS TODAY!!!!  AND LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT!!!

Wing Foiling Session - 10/8/2021

The wind was blowing harder today.  I pumped up the Reedin 3.6

The real treat (besides the nuking winds) was breaking out my Takuma Kujira 980 on the 85cm mast.  I set this up last night - meticulously shimming the gaps and fitting to make sure everything would go together smoothly.  I used Marvin's rear stabilizer again - the one that came with my 980 was the 178 (?) instead of the bigger one (220+).

This was just a hair back from the last go out on the carbon mast - but it worked brilliantly.

I made two runs today.  The winds were nuking on the first run and I caught a few really fun bombs.  The Kujira turns and holds in the pocket as nicely (if not better) than the NL160.

On the flip side, the Reedin kept wanting to flip on me when I was luffing it.  I think it is more the wind direction while I'm riding - there was more North to the wind on this outing, but I'll have to bring this setup out to WPB to test that theory.

I did trip on one wave - started to curl right as I was going over it - and I got slammed by the entire long wave train of 8+ behind it.  That is where I noticed the wing felt slightly under inflated.  I headed in to put more air into the wing - but only after having fun tacking and jibing along the way (got more toeside jibes in).

Not a bad top end speed either.

So the Reedin 3.6 was even just a hair below perfectly powered - I think the ideal range of this wing for my weight and ability is 25 with gusts to 40.

I got the wing to 8psi and headed back out.  This chart below actually shows more detail than most of the others I've posted - primarily because it has fewer tracks on it so you can see the ones it does have more clearly.

This is another chart that I can't stop smiling about - lots of solid blue and a top speed of 20.0mph!!!

Tomorrow through Monday is supposed to be nuking - definitely in the 25 to 40 mph range!!!  Stay tuned for some total nutzoid wing foiling!!!

Side note - there was a threesome of spotted eagle rays that seemed to be mating.  I saw the tons of green turtle bombs like normal - but the big sighting today, especially considering the bigger surf churning up the water was a big tiger... I'm starting to wonder if it is mating season among the cartilaginous fishes...

Wing Foiling Session - 10/7/2021

 First of the upcoming nuking winds days was supposed to be today (I'm posting late - so this is yesterday).  There was wind, but it wasn't the strongest I've seen.  I did pick up a Takuma Kojira 980 wing Foiling set - but I wanted to go through it at the house. Assembling new gear at the beach is never a good idea...  With that I brought out the GoFoil NL160.  Jeff let me borrow his 4.2m Reedin Super Wing.  It was just enough wing to fly in the wind present.

With the NL160, I was out mainly to test the Reedin 4.2

I made a beeline (zigzag) to the outside.

Waves were on the smaller side - but I did manage to snag a few shoulder high peaks.  Got to hover right under the feathering lip and carve on some wall.  Firsts doesn't have as long a wall as WPB - but it sure is the easiest wave to get to (launch is perfect).

So 20 to 30mph is what it takes to power up the 4.2

This chart is amazing to me - almost solid blue!!!!  That means I was up on foil almost the whole time and only came down intermittently.  Only got to 16.6 mph.  Definitely more drag on the NL160 compared to the Kojira 980 - but it lifts easier too (and I did need that with the Reedin 4.2 during the lighter lulls.

I let Harris borrow the 4.2 so he could try it out.

Fun day of winging!

Wing Foiling Session - 10/6/2021

Today was a testing day.  Two different friends loaned me their Takuma Kujira front foils.  The first foil is Marvin's Takuma Kujira 980.  The second is Prayot's Takuma Kujira 1210.  The third is my GoFoil GL140 and the last is my GoFoil NL160 (which lately has been my go to since I left Armstrong - before that was the HS1550v1 for its carving ability).  Looking at the picture - you can see there isn't much difference - but the chord is shorter on the Kojiras.

First up - the GL140 on the 32.5" mast.  This is the first time I've used this foil on the wing.  I've used it to ride some of the biggest waves I've paddled in to - but never winged on it (I always had it in my head that this was too small - little did I know!!!).

No shortage of wind - it was really good today!

This being a smaller front foil, did take a little bit more power in the wing and pumping to get it to lift.  But once it did, this foil proved the be another foil that liked to be up and in motion (like the NL160).  Tacks and jibes were executable.  I think I need a smaller rear stabilizer (note for next time).  Fun setup!

A lot of solid blue - echoing the statement that I was up on foil continuously.  I got to 19.3 mph without an assist from the waves (I stayed in to test).

Next up - Marvin's Takuma Kujira 980 on his carbon mast.

Looking at the center of lift on the front foil, and knowing the relative surface area - I figured just short of the front of the boxes was a good spot to try.  It actually was spot on!

In a nutshell, this is the fastest (I think - maybe the HA925 was slightly faster), most worry free, gliding, turning front foil that I have ever used - EVER!!!

I got a bunch of speed runs in and this foil was nothing short of incredible.  I had to pull back a little because the carbon mast is a total of 30" tall (I did not want to breach today while going fast).  Knowing that, there is still more speed to be milked from this foil...

I actually even started pulling toe side tacks on the inside - I got three and the last one was tight and almost executed without a touch down.  I forgot to mention that yesterday I got two toe side tack on the inside (I don't need to switch before the turn on the outbound legs).  

There was still a lot of solid blue - but the 980 didn't take the lulls as well as the GoFoil did.  Pretty sure the chord is driving the glide (and the rake on the tips is driving the turnability; and the thickness dictates timing of lift; and the span relates to the speed - so many variables, so much more experimenting!).

Now I just need the Takuma adapter for my Project Cedrus mast (so I can run the 1210 on a longer mast...).

Tomorrow through next week, the wind only gets stronger everyday -