No.25 Vent and Leash Plug

I worked on the new board again today.  First I sanded down the edges of the rail tape.  Then I marked spots along the centerline for where the vent and the leash plugs needed to go.

I cut out the holes where the plugs would go.

Each plug used 0.35 ounces of epoxy and one spoonful of milled fibers.

Both plugs went in without issue.

Tomorrow is the first fill coat.  Then I'll sand to get the areas flat where the labels will go.  With tomorrow being Monday, I feel like I am on track to get this board wet next weekend.

Wing Foiling Session - 7/10/2022

I hit WPB this afternoon - was in the water around 3:30pm.  I mixed it up a bit - used the Kujira 1095 and the 178 rear stabilizer on the Stringy 60cm fuselage.  The wind seemed to be a bit on the lighter side so I setup the Reedin 5.2 SWX.

I paid some taxes today - on the way out, the waves and the swirling wind made it a little tough to get out.  The wing blew back upwards onto the rear stabilizer - could have been way worse - but there were just two tiny holes (I'm going to get some Trex tape to fix it).  After that, I ended up hitting bottom. Damage report amounted to some scratches and chips on the 1095, scratched tips on the 178, and the two holes in the SWX 5.2 - I'll have all those fixed by Tuesday. 

Tim had gone out before I got setup.  He got two runs in (and Marlon got his landing on video).  Kalani and I launched at the same time (but he made it out faster than I did).  Roland got to the beach late and launched after everyone else.

The rides were really fun, and every 30 minutes or so a head high set would roll through.  On these bigger ones I tried something different - I tacked onto the incoming wave.  This was pretty amazing - at the peak of the tack, I was at the top of the wave and rounding out the turn was a straight drop at full speed.  This is something I had been contemplating since I first saw Derek Hamasaki do it.  From today's success, you need good wind coming from the right angle (running perpendicular to the wave train direction), a steeper face and some confidence.

I mainly stayed on the upwind side of the course.  When I had plenty of ground to give, I would ride downwind and surf the waves as they pushed in towards shore (look for the squiggly lines).

This is where the shorter fuselage paid off in dividends - this foil setup was super surfy and maneuverable.  This is pretty much the same fuselage length as the Armstrong (so from this point forward, if I'm riding waves I'll be using the 60cm fuselage; if I'm making flat water speed runs, I'll use the 64cm fuselage).

Top speed on the 1095/178 - 20.2mph.

This was a really good winging session!

W:63/F:61/S:17

No.25 Rail Tape

Yesterday I also got the rail tape on the new board.  I had both kids help me - so 6 hands made short work of this step in the process.

Not too much drama - but did cut the 3" rail tape too long, so had to trim it mid-process.

Next are the labels and the vent/leash plug

Wing Foiling Session - 7/9/2022

 I had to go to work yesterday, so I got in a truncated session at Hickam.  ART999/380HA/Ultrashort Fuselage, 85cm Project Cedrus mast, Wide Wing Foiling Board and the mighty Reedin SWX 5.2 were the equipment pieces of choice.

The wind was pretty consistent.  Arvin was out already when I got there (he's in the middle of the above picture).  My first few runs were to get my bearings on the Axis setup (I had been using the Takuma Kujira 1210 the past couple of sessions over at WPB) - including turns.

After the warm up, I headed out to Firsts.  The waves were further apart (good so I did not have to ride through white water) and the bigger ones were about 10 minutes wait between them.  They were breaking in the bowl and they were slow enough that I would ride upwind of the breaking section and watch the lip crumble about a foot over my head - this is truly an incredible experience that I cannot put into words. 

The speed chart below shows an interesting point - I'll need to experiment more, but dropping to the 380HA from the 420HA didn't necessarily yield a faster top end speed.

The 380HA had noticeably less lift than the 420HA I have been using, but not so much that I felt like I wasn't getting any lift - it was definitely closer to the critical point of being effective/not effective. 

W:62/F:61/S:17

Patching Wings

Tim pulled his 6.0 wing across an aluminum sign yesterday.  Roland likely landed his foil through his wing.

Today I helped patch both their wings.  Here's Roland's 3.6 Spin ready to go!

No.25 Bottom Deck Lamination

I sanded the rough spots today and got the bottom deck laminated on to the board.

25.9 ounces of straight epoxy.

Tomorrow I'll sand the rough spots off, then laminate the rail tape on, and then get the labels on.

Wing Foiling Session - 7/7/2022

Yesterday evening, I got in a late winging session.  Marlon came out and flew the A2S.

I used the same gear as last time, but the wind was perfect 5.2 strength and it was pretty consistent.  The waves were small, but there were still rides to be had.  I focused on decreasing the radius of my turns while riding the swell in and also better positioning on the bumps to get more use out of the foil and less from the wing.

I think I'm becoming a better goofy rider compared to my regular stance while winging...

Roland came out and ended up poking a hole in his wing.

The iwindsurf forecast was pretty spot on today.  It called for strengthening in the later afternoon.  I was out from around 5:30 to 6:30.

Once I got up on foil, I spent almost 2/3rds of the session up on foil.  The Kujira 1210 is an incredible surfing foil.  

I think this is the first time this year that my wing and prone foiling count are equal.

W:61/F:61/S:17

Progress on No.25

I've been slowly working on this board over the past several days.  Yesterday I got the top laminate on.  It is a full nose to tail layer of innegra over a patch that covers the areas where my feet could possibly end up, on top of smaller patches where my heels will likely go.

I used about half of the blue pigment (in the little jar) along with 28.7 ounces of epoxy.

It cured pretty quickly in the afternoon heat.

Today I got the handle installed (since it is not load bearing, I used gorilla glue (like on No.24).  Then I lined up a strip of carbon along the spine where I'll likely land, and it'll also stiffen the centerline.  I cut out the area on top of the handle, then placed a nose to tail layer of carbon.

I trimmed the excess off, and cut in the laps.  I opened up the handle area and the slots on the tracks.

I cut the lap edge short of the top deck so the rail tape can be used to clean this up.

I did not place the epoxy, because I need to sand a few rough spots down - and I don't want to be rushed.  I'll likely get the sanding done tomorrow while the sun is up - then I'll pour the epoxy in the evening once the temperature starts to fall.

That'll mean the rail tape will get epoxied on on Saturday evening.

Labels and fill coat are on Sunday - and maybe the leash plug and vent.

That'll make Monday the final fill day and Tuesday the final sanding day.

Once it's all done, I'll let it rest for a few days, so that'll make the anointment likely on for next weekend.

Wing Foiling Session - 7/4/2022

 Hit WPB around 2:30pm - wind seemed to be dropping, so I pumped up the Reedin SWX 5.2 and bolted on the Kujira 1210.

The tide was rising from a low of 0.5', the swell was on the small side - but it was the wind that stole the show.  Some gusts pulled through that made me regret my gear choices.

Marlon came and flew his A2S - he was able to get some really cool videos.

Including keeping pace with Roland boosting!

I could have had the 3.6 at times with a 980 - and there were times where the 5.2 and the 1210 were perfect (and they are good insurance as this place can leave you high and dry at times).

I covered 15 miles - really fun waves - not as fun as the past several sessions at Firsts, but still awesome to grind out turns and try to get them tighter.

I should have put up the 4.2

Dropping down the bigger wave faces is where the peak speeds came from.

Hopefully I don't pick up E. coli - 

W:60/F:61/S:17

Garage Works - 7/3/2022

I was having to answer work questions over the course of the day - so I opted to not go far today.  I ended up mowing the lawn, resolving an issue with a generator, making sure lots of trash was dumped and then I went to the garage.

I routed out the footstrap insert slots, prepped the inserts with acetone, then epoxied them in.

3.5 ounces to get the inserts set in the slots, then I went ahead and placed a thin skim coat over the top deck of the board (to seal the blank in preparation for lamination) - 4.9 ounces.

The two assemblies for the rear strap had some technical issues - the router bit blew open portions of the reinforcement block (I think next time I'll use the tile grout removal bit - more passes but less drama).  Nothing that some epoxy couldn't fix (in fact - it's probably stronger now).  This last one seems to have recessed a little bit - I'll probably have to drop the innegra so I don't have to grind down to open this strap insert. 

Tomorrow is top deck lamination day - I'm still debating, but right now I envision a dark blue base, and when the board is ready for the final top coat of epoxy, I'll use Posca pens to place some light blue stripes.

Wing Foiling Session - 7/2/2022

Today was an experimenting day.  Winds were forecasted to be really strong - which they eventually were, but there was a slow start.

I ended up with four segments to this session.

First segment was with the Takuma RS 6.1 - it was pretty light to begin with.  I also had bolted on the ART999/420HA combo again.  And just as I launched, the wind started to fill in.

I tried a few inside tacks and got them around - I'm thinking the front foil is what makes all the difference in this transition - the Kujira 1440 was the easiest foil to do this with.  I might have to use that foil to develop the muscle memory, and then come back to the faster foils.  The wind got pretty stiff, so I went in to switch wings.

Second segment - same lower, and swapped the RS 6.1 for the SWX 5.2

I was still pretty powered, but decided to stick this out because I was not grossly overpowered.

After a few transitions to get recalibrated, I headed out to Firsts.

With the lower tide, the dropping swell still had nice form - I picked off several rides that were just as good as the ones from earlier in the week.  The peaks would show and the waves would run at that same height through to the bowl.   There they would break and I would maneuver around the section and keep riding the wall as it marched on.  SO MUCH FUN!!!  The SWX rides best barely luffing from the first riding handle (not the luffing handle).  From this position, I could pull a little power when needed to stay with the wave, or book it to a better section. 

The wind had seemed to fill in even more (just a notch below nuking) so I headed in.

I was contemplating going ahead and calling it a session, but I decided to swap out the ART999/420HA to the ART899/380HA and get some speed runs in.

I had gotten in about 20 minutes of some really fast runs - but the Strava app had not recorded the run.  That third segment saw some spectacular blow ups (there was a constant spot where the wind would spike up and if you weren't ready by softening up on your stance and preluffing the wing, you got bowled over), and some potential records for me.  Oh well - serves me right for forgetting my watch yet again.

I had just enough time left before I had to take off for work to get in one more segment and make sure it was recorded.

This was the data from the 4th run

24.61 mph max speed.  Not too shabby.

I feel that run was as fast as the others that weren't recorded from the third segment.  I'm going to have to tune in the 380HA rear stabilizer - it was singing like an opera singer on opening night.

Fun session!!!

W:59/F:61/S:17

Wing Foiling Session - 7/1/2022

Today was supposed to have had nuking winds - and for a while the wind was strong, but it wasn't nuking.  

I set up the same gear as the past couple of days.  I picked Kalani up - and Marvin, Harris, Jim and a few others were out also.  Matt came out towards the end of the session.  Marvin wanted to try out a shorter board, so I let him board the 5'0"x25"x5".  Both Kalani and Harris had brought out their just picked up High Modulus Carbon Fiber 90cm Axis masts.

At the beginning of the session, the wind was strong - I took off pretty quickly and headed out to Firsts.  The conditions outside were a carbon copy of the two previous days - but better.  The wind was more steady than it had been, it was lined up with the swell direction and was strong; the waves were cleaner and stood up taller, the tide was nice and full.  I caught several remarkable waves - overhead bowling walls that I could carve (normally with winds with more north I get blown back - I can rip with easterlies).

These days get burned into my head - so good!

I ended the first run to go in and try to coach Marvin through his first runs on a shorter board.  The wind started to collapse and I never made it back out to Firsts.

I thought the wind had more east in it than what the chart shows.

And here is the surprise of the day - according to the Strava app I was running, I hit 23.9 mph.  I'm not sure I necessarily believe this - but while riding the bigger waves taking off on the outside, I did feel like I was going as fast as the foil would go and where I could still control it.  If the wind was stronger in the inside, I would have switched the rear stabilizer out to the 380HA - who knows I might have gone faster.

Where it gets hard to believe this is the app listed a max speed of 26 mph, but I can't find a reading on the analysis plot higher than 23.9.

The quest continues.... and hopefully tomorrow the wind will get stronger

W:58/F:61/S:17