Garage Works - 1/17/2023

This afternoon I did sand down the edges of the carbon rail tape.

Taking off the "rim" of the rail tape helps a lot with the fill coat - the more level everything is, the easier the sanding job will be.  Below is what I call smooth.

And here is the bottom all sanded.

This is with the logos applied.

And this is with the first (of at least two - if not four) fill coats.

Even though tomorrow is Marlon's birthday and we have dinner plans, I'll try to get the top deck fill coat on the board.  If I can do that, I can sand on Thursday and install the vent and leash plug.

Garage Works - 1/16/2023

This was yesterday's progress.  I sanded edges and grinded open the mast track boxes in preparation for laminating the rail tape onto the board.

Here is the 3" tape all staged.

And this is the rail tape all trimmed with relief cuts made and everything held in position with painters tape.

And here is the epoxy going on the rail tape.  I used 3.5 ounces and it was the perfect amount to cover the 3" tape running around the majority of the board, and the 1" tape going around the nose section.

I saran wrapped the areas where I had made relief cuts to minimize any major sanding evolutions.

Next I'll do some light sanding to feather out the interfaces, apply the logos and get a fill coat on the bottom deck.

Dawn Patrol - 1/16/2023

 Happy Birthday Dr Martin Luther King Jr!!!  The world is a better place because of the work you did and continue to inspire.

Marlon and I pulled a dawn patrol.  There were waves!  Head high on the outside (in the middle of January!!!).  The wind was pretty much calm and the tide was dropping to a low of 0.7'

Because of the tide and the frustrations I had yesterday (with catching waves and the crowd), I took out the Viking.

And true to form, the Viking delivered.  We had about an hour of surf time before we had to head back so I could bring the truck in for maintenance.  An hour was all I needed -

I caught a handful of waves - but each was full of stalls, huge carves and long runs.

I am really happy with my current quiver of boards.  Each is really fun in the conditions they were built for - but a few are good across a huge range.  The Viking and the Everyday are especially capable of generating stoke from nothing waves or harnessing energy from bigger days.

Marlon and Kaylani were out also - but I was catching more waves.

I can do this all day and not get bored!

Super fun session this morning!!!

W:2/F:4/S:7

Garage Works - 1/15/2023

Lots of work on No.29 today.

First I sanded the fill coat on the top deck.  I also took excess epoxy from around the bottom deck.  Then I filled voids - voids between the innegra laps and voids around the rim of the Futures boxes.

This made for a good foundation to laminate the carbon.  I cut out the rough outline, and then used a portion of the excess to make a spine running from the boxes to just shy of the halfway point.  Then I trimmed the bottom laminate, put some relief cuts and poured epoxy.

This came out pretty good.  There are a few spots where I'll have to make sure the rail tape will cover the missed points, but other than that it was tight all around.  All this work is keeping me on schedule.

Tomorrow, I'll sand the relief slits and the cut edges.  That will set up the rail tape lamination.  Tuesday I should be able to sand around the rail tape lamination, grind open the mast track, place the labels/stickers, and place the bottom deck fill coat.

Wednesday is Marlon's birthday, so I probably won't work on the board.  Thursday I'll sand the bottom deck to even everything out.  I'm going to use the Pro-Epoxy for the final fill coat, and I'll get it on the bottom deck.

Friday I'll sand the edge of the top deck (to get rid of any excess regular aluzine epoxy), then place the fill coat.  That means Saturday I'll install the vent and leash plugs, and hopefully get the final sanding done.

I guess it'll be the week after next when I get to anoint this board.  Lots of work still to do.

Dawn Patrol - 1/15/2023

Marlon wanted to sleep in today, so I pulled a solo dawn patrol.  I used the same setup as yesterday.  The waves were initially a tad bit bigger - but eventually it lulled out and was worse than yesterday.

I managed to get a few good ones - my first wave was a triple.  I got a few doubles after that, but most were single glides.  Towards the end I was eating it on the takeoffs...

I didn't want to leave the water frustrated - and waiting, I was able to pick up a fun one and rode it to the showers.

W:2/F:4/S:6

Garage Works - 1/14/2023

I had a couple of sessions in the garage today.  After we were done at the dentist's office, I bought some acrylic paint so I could mark up the board.

I had to go pick up Noe's boat this afternoon, so I got the board painted with the time I had.

I also had ordered some more decal labels from Helen, so I picked those up.

After I got the boat all parked and put away, I went and applied the top deck logo and placed the first fill coat.

Tomorrow I'll do a light sanding on the top deck, then I'll cut out the carbon to laminate the bottom deck.  I'll place patches around the mast track, but the rest of the bottom will just be a single layer of 5.7 ounce carbon fiber.

If I can get this done tomorrow, I'll be able to laminate the rail tape on Monday.  I'll apply more labels and stickers, then will still have to fill, sand, fill again, sand-sand-sand, drill out vent and leash plug holes, install, final sand, and finally spray cear coat.  If all goes well, I'm thinking I may be able to surf this board around next Sunday.

I also finished fixing Marlon's board, until I decided to put just a little more epoxy on just to make ultra sure the ding is sealed.

Dawn Patrol - 1/14/2023

It was COLD this morning!  The truck's thermometer was reading 57F.  I had already put my shorty and long sleeve hooded top on before leaving the house.

Tim was there - used his new Armstrong MA1000.  Kalani was trying to work out the placement for the Advanced fuselage - he was using his ART999

There was some surf coming in, mainly waist high.  The wind was light, but you could feel it blow (because it made you colder).  The tide was 1.0' rising to 1.2' so no real concern about grounding the foil. 

I had the 4'8" prone with the short Project Cedrus mast, the ART1099 on the ultrashort fuselage and 400P rear stabilizer.

I caught plenty of waves - lost count.  The first few were singles as I was making sure I had the muscle memory to surf this foil.  After that I was getting double dips and towards the end of the session I was pulling triples.

After about 8 o'clock the waves backed down (the tide was peaking), so I figured I'd call it (since Marlon and I had to go to the dentist today). 

Really fun day!

W:2/F:3/S:6

Garage Works - 1/13/2023

What isn't pictured is some surgery to address three spots where I could feel the innegra did not sit flush to the deck/rail.  I just cut it open and shoved some epoxy into the slit, and used peel ply/saran wrap/tape to keep it down.

After that set, I thought the tail needed some additional thickness to level out the epoxy and fabric that had some wonkiness to it.  To knock out two birds with one stone, I used scrap innegra to build up the thinkness without adding more weight while also making the tail stronger.

These builds always look bad until near the finished product.

Lots of epoxy work coming up...

Garage Works - 1/12/2023

I sanded out the burrs on the nose ding Marlon got on his shortboard and filled it with epoxy.

And I got the top deck on the asymmetric laminated. 

I used saran wrap to get the innegra to stick to the rails and make that top deck to rail curve.

Garage Works - 1/11/2023

After running errands, I sanded the spots on the asymmetric prone foil board where there was excess resin built up (the middle of the mast tracks and the nose).

After getting those spots addressed, I went ahead and got the top deck laminate laid out.  Under my feet will be three layers of this innegra - a patch, a nose to tail underlayment, and a nose to tail overlap to protect the rails.

I cut the laps, so when I add the epoxy, everything should go smoothly.  I am targeting tomorrow after work to get this laminated (now I just have to pick a color).

Wing Foiling Session - 1/11/2023

The wind was forecasted to be up today (unlike yesterday where it came up with complete disregard for the forecast).  The wind was supposed to shift to more of s trade wind pattern - but instead it stuck from the NNE.  The strength was good, but it was still up and down.  The tide was really low... glad I had time to go out at Hickam (instead of having to paddle way out at WPB on a really low tide).

I had to take La to an appointment, so I had two goals today - first was to see if the Donaldson trailing edge I put on the DW210 and the Eagle 1090 worked to eliminate the high pitched tones produced by the foils at winging speed, and second was to be back on the road by 3 to get home ahead of traffic.

Offshore conditions are tough to read from the beach. 

The great news is I pretty much got rid of all the speed induced vibration noise.  I would hear a slight tone, but it was negligible compared to the three tones that were being emitted last time I winged the foil.  This foil will be ridden hard this year (now that I don't need to wear earplugs).

For such a relatively small surface area, this foil does well across a wide range.  It glides really well and that makes turns a lot easier.  I got two heel to toe (post switch) tacks in today (first ones of the year), and I could also draw out my jibes during lulls and still have enough speed to get through the turn.

I was out in the water before 2 and out 40 minutes later (I made it home with plenty of time to spare).

I felt that I was going faster than 20mph - but according to my watch that was not the case.

Glad to have been able to get out on the wing again (and that the Eagle is now dialed in).

W:2/F:2/S:6