Wing Foiling Session - 8/9/2022

The wind was up today!!!  Marlon and I hit the beach again after I came home from work.  He brought his longboard, and I brought the 1210/178 out with the Reedin SW2 4.7

Today was a jump fest!  I lost count of my jumps and the wave rides were perfection.  The SW2 4.7 is powerful when you need it to be, and disappears when you luff it.  Roland was out also and we just traded jumps and wave rides

With a super high tide, this was an incredible session that was easy to launch and land, and just plan stinking fun!

Plenty of wind today!

I'm surprised that this was my max speed - especially considering some of the drops I was taking onto the swell that was marching in - the waves weren't huge, but on the sets they weren't small either.

Super fun day!!!

W:81/F:67/S:18

Wing Foiling Session - 8/8/2022

Hit WPB after work.  Wind was up when I got there, but it had an element of off and on.  To negate that concern, I bolted on the Kujira 1440 and used the RS 5.1.  I also was trying out a direct mount (onto the Cedrus mast) Stringy fuselage.

Marlon also came out - he brought his Seaside but later said it would have been better had he brought his longboard.

Roland and Derek were synchronized foiling.

I was not feeling it today - my left elbow has been giving me a little trouble and taking new gear out to WPB is never really a good idea (Hickam is a better trial and adjust place).  The 1440 didn't feel settled - probably need to adjust the stabilizer AOA... still had fun (when the wind field didn't slack off)

Marlon broke out the drone and started filming - you can see his drone following me in this picture.

It wasn't a bad session - I just felt I was not one with the foil and the elements.

You can see the wind was a little shifty - actually had some north in it.

The wind was on the lighter side of fun - I was out from 5pm to 6pm

And for me this is telling.  I've been able to get this front going faster on different fuselages.  I need to adjust something (like I said earlier I'm going to start with the stabilizer angle).

W:80/F:67/S:18

Dual Session Day - 8/7/2022

Fun beach day today!  Started with a dawn patrol - Marlon brought his longboard and broke out the Viking.  The tide was really low (I can't bring myself to ground foils if I don't have to) and I wanted to make sure I could still surf.

There was small swell filling in - so the waves were really fun!  And honestly the crowd was not too thick.

After surfing, we went home and took naps.  The wind was moving the trees around the house, so I figured since we had to run errands, might as well check to see if winging was possible.  It wasn't -

After errand running, we went back for a prone foiling session - yes I said "we".  Marlon used the Kai front foil on the 27.5" GoFoil mast and the skinny 4'10" board.  He was getting up on foil without much drama this time.

I had the same setup as the past couple of sessions - 4'8" prone foil board, ART 1099 and 400P on the Crazy Short black fuse all bolted on to the 68cm Project Cedrus mast.  The tide was around 1.5' while we were out so I could cruise all over the place.

There was still wind blowing - I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about winging... but I think the time was well spent getting Marlon more comfortable on foil.

W:79/F:67/S:18

Garage Works - 8/6/2022

I spent the morning yesterday shaping these two blanks.  I broke out the Makita planer and took the bulk of the foam off to get the nose rocker defined and took down the deck near the tails (artifact of cutting a longboard blank in half).

I worked on the mini version of what I'm currently riding.  I wanted to use the square rail/flat tail concept on prone foiling boards - so this is taking a shape I'm familiar with and I'll be able to tell if this is beneficial to this discipline. 

Then I switched over to the Bash template.  This one is to test (for me and my paddling/weight) where a chopped nose (shorter), higher volume board can work (again - for me).

If the wind doesn't come up today, I'll fine tune the shape on these blanks, and I'll try to get the slots for the mast track reinforcement blocks cut out.

The thing that keeps driving me back to this concept (square rail/flat tail) are the first two prone boards I made - those had a much higher volume and longer length, but they caught waves super easy.  Was it the length, or was it the rails???

Evening Session - 8/4/2022

Another after work session.  Knowing the waves would be smaller than yesterday, Marlon brought his longboard and I rigged up the ART 1099.

I paired the 1099 with the 400P rear stabilizer.  This is such a fun combo!

Just need to make sure you bring the mast back a hair to prevent lift blowups.

Marlon went in before I did and he broke out his drone.  He got a good ride from me and Roland.

The swell was tiny - and that did not get easier with the dropping tide.  I got a bunch of waves, but the wait between them was not short.  I made the most of each - and I got multiple double dips.  When I rode them in a bit, I didn't hit bottom, but I also wasn't riding with reckless abandon -

Unlike Roland who rides the same regardless of the conditions!!!

Charger blasting!

W:79/F:66/S:17

Evening Session - 8/3/2022

Evening surf session with Marlon.  The wind died down to nothing - there was a giant cloud over Makakilo and it was choking out the thermals.  That made for glassy conditions.  There were waves coming in also.  The only thing that could have been better was the tide - it was a little low... but that was ok because I had the short Cedrus mast on.

Marlon brought his Seaside (but did make a comment as we drove in that he brought the wrong board.  He actually caught some good ones -

I caught plenty of waves and got multiple pump back outs and a few double dips.  It was a really fun session (the crowd was manageable).

I went in after an hour or so and broke out the drone.  I wanted to test out the settings I had changed and I figured I'd film Marlon.

Flying the drone was really fun in these conditions.  The settings were better - but I still didn't feel like controlling the drone was intuitive.  I'll change them again and keep adjusting until the drone goes where I need it to go as fast as I need it to get there.

We'll have light winds for the next several days.  I want to take an afternoon and shape the two blanks I have in the garage (new prone foil boards)

W:79/F:65/S:17

Wing Foiling Session - 8/2/2022

After work session - there was wind so winging was the call.  Despite the trees moving along my route home, by the time I got to the beach it was kinda light.  There were waves, probably chest high on the sets.  And the tide was high-ish so paddling out was not too bad.

Marlon brought his Firewire Seaside and caught some good ones.

I used the same board and foil combo from the past several sessions, but pumped up the RS 6.1 to deal with the lighter winds.

Lots of runs today, but the RS 6.1 moves slower through the air so everything seemed like it was in slow motion today.

I got in a few dry tacks, tons of turns on the waves, and even a pretty decent jump.

Roland was using his 4.0 (and his 190 Hyper foil)

Not bad for a day where the forecast called for no wind.

There will probably be thermals in the afternoons, but I think I'm going to prone foil the next few days (before the wind comes back on Sunday).

W:79/F:64/S:17

Marlon Shaping the Bottom Deck

When I got home, Marlon was in the garage working on his new longboard.

He got the bottom deck dialed in.

Wing Foiling Session - 7/31/2022

I brought Roland and Kalani on to Hickam today.  As we were setting up, it seemed like just about every winger showed up - Jim, Harris, Jesse, Ryan, Ryan's friend, Tim, Brian, Arvin and probably a few others were all setting up.  Was kinda like a flock.

The wind had picked up - so I broke out an oldie but goodie - the Ensis 4.5.

I went out pretty early in the session to Firsts.  There were a ton of surfers out there so I had to stay towards the channel so there wouldn't be any collisions.  At one point it was me, Harris, Jesse, Roland, Jim and Brian all out swapping waves.  If I were surfing, I probably wouldn't have been out there at Firsts - way too much wind.

I spent a bunch of the session out there - and I was jumping waves on the outside.  I also caught a bunch of the sizable waves and they were steep enough to luff the wing.

Such an awesome session!!!

The inner jumper in me has been unleashed!!!  Or should I say "strapped"...

I could have put up the SWX 4.2, and at times I think the SW1 3.6 would have been plenty.

Great session - windy, plenty of waves and a ton of jumps!

W:78/F:64/S:17