Dawn Patrol - 7/7/2024

Dawn Patrolled WPB this morning.  I brought out No.37 and the Foil Drive - Marlon brought his new longboard.

There were waves on the outside, but they were intermittent.  There was zero wind while I was out, and the tide wasn't low when I got there (but it was dropping).

I bolted on the Spitfire 960/Skinny 365 = perfect for the chest high waves that were coming through on the outside.

Marlon longboarded for an hour - then he switched up to flying the drone.

I had some really great rides today!  Tons of hard carving and speed runs down the line.  I got to play matador with a couple of the overhead ones that were breaking on the outside - so easy when the conditions are this glassy and smooth! 

I came in with a decent amount of battery power - 48% (but I didn't want to make La upset with me being out forever).  Pretty good stats today!

Kalani was out ripping on the board he recently picked up (and the one I placed transmission windows in).  Dennis was also out.  There was another guy on a bigger SUP with a Foil Drive Assist Plus.  I saw Tim foiling when I was heading out - and Noel was out in the outside lineup with us.

Really long lefts today.

Looks like the waves were all breaking over the same high spot again.

I'll call this 15 waves in an hour and a half.

I love this s4!t!!!!

W:82/FD:48/F:4/S:13

Garage Works - 7/6/2024

The family ran some errands after I woke up from my nap.

After we got home, I knocked out the sanding and the fiberglass patch on the windows on Kalani's SUP foiling board.

Here are the two on the top deck

And here's the one on the bottom.

I'll lightly sand these tomorrow morning and spray clear coat.  I plan on getting this back to Kalani in the morning.

Wetfeet-Voyager Downwind Challenge 2024

Today was the Wetfeet-Voyager Downwind Challenge Race.  It had been pushed right twice to get to a better wind day.  That said, today had some pretty light wind.

I picked up Duke and Prayot and we headed over to Hawaii Kai for registration.  La and the kiddoroosters also came, so they could take the truck down to Kaimana Beach Park.

This is the biggest wing I currently have - and it was barely enough to keep me pointed downwind.  Under normal tradewinds, I think this wing would have been plenty big, but the other racers brought bigger.  Robert had a 7.2 Ozone Fusion (and he came in First overall).

Really tough launch since there was so little wind.  I grounded the foil... but it is fixable.

And here these two embark on their first downwind race and their first Hawaii Kai to Kaimana run.

Here's how little wind was out there -

Here is the warm up run.  I went back and forth trying to figure out where the wind was funneling.

It was really cool to see malolo (flying fish) popping out of the water when I got close.  We don't get those over at WPB.

The swells were chunky - it was fun playing around and getting a feel for the power in the wing.

Then the race -

This was the finish with everyone waiting for the results.

Prayot pointed out there was probably over $100K of boards and foils hanging around.

I felt good about this run considering the choices I made (finally taking the big wing out).

I also felt good about this line.  In fact, I was able to wing all the way through to the finish line.

I did come off foil 4 times.  Twice were twisted jibes, one was a tail breach and the last was a drop below stall speed (no more wind).  I think I could have used the Clydesdale mast to get around the breach and the twisted turns - I'll have to do that on the next run.

I came in 8th - not sure where in the Masters group.  Prayot and Duke both had a lot of fun and this generated a lot of excitement in them about downwinding.

I'll have to fix the 1090 tomorrow and get the gear I used today rinsed and dried (I was too tired today).

Fun race! 

W:82/FD:47/F:4/S:13

Garage Works - 7/5/2024

It never ends -

Kalani picked up a SUP Foiling board on Craigslist to go with his new Foil Drive Max.  He took it out today to test the signal connectivity and it lost transmission when the remote went higher than a foot or so off the board.

I cutout two windows on the top deck since he is SUP Foiling this board (and sometimes it is fully submerged).

I also drilled out the window hole at the bottom of the board.  The carbon was thick at the bottom and thin up top - so we thought the problem was two fold.  Submerged deck hampers the signal, but also the double thick carbon at the bottom is probably the greater issue.

I got the epoxy/milled fiber fill applied to all three window holes already.  I'll sand tomorrow and get the fiberglass patches epoxied on.

And Prayot gouged his brand new foil into the pipe at Fenceline (that damn pipe has gotten all of us at some point).

Here is the fill layer.  I'll sand this down to get the "blank" shaped, then laminate some carbon across it to stiffen up the repair.

Honestly I glad it never ends - I learn from each repair/modification and I'm glad to help out when I can! 

Wing Foiling Session - 7/5/2024

I took the day off today to get a long weekend.  With that, I got in an early winging session.  Prayot was already out - in fact he was launching for a second session.

The wind was light on the inside, but there were some whitecaps forming on the outside.

There was some swell coming through - but it was on the small side.  The tide was rising so landing would be easy.

I really was out to get settled on what equipment to bring out for the race tomorrow.  If everything stays the same, I'm going to use No.25 for the extra buoyancy - the start is supposed to be sitting on your board (I don't like those starts).  Without ripping winds, the swell lines should be on the smaller side - so I'll use the Evolution Cedrus Wind mast.  I don't want to worry about rounding Diamond head and dealing with the lighter/swirly winds - so I'm going to use the Eagle 1090/DW210.

Today (like yesterday) I used the North Mode Pro 5.5 to understand how low I could stay up wind speed wise.  Tomorrow - no matter the wind speed, I think I will put up the Mode Pro 6.8 (every time I've done this run, I wished I had used a bigger wing - I'm finally going to listen to myself).  

It's been a while since I used No.25

The extra volume this board has is really nice - just enough to keep the top deck mostly dry while starting.  I think that will help with the start - especially if the winds are lighter than predicted.

I have fully documented the abilities of the Eagle 1090 - if the wind was more reliable, I'd use the Mode Pro 5.5, but I'm not going to take any chances.

No.25 was really fun to use!  Having extra buoyancy really feels comfortable.  It's been a while since I've used a board with just the right amount of volume.  And with the 5.5 and the 1090 - I had a blast today!!!

Obviously the wind was more east today - it just didn't feel that way.

I lined up four nice sized waves - I had to go to the questionable wind zone to ride them though.  ULTRA FUN carving those bigger waves!!!

I was up on foil for over 80 minutes straight!  I only went down once today - and that was a botched inside tack.

The winds were similar in strength to yesterday - so I am pretty sure I know what the threshold is.  That said - I'm putting the 6.8 tomorrow - remember the past races Vic - the lower 2/3s of the course you always feel underpowered!!!!  DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES!

W:81/FD:47/F:4/S:13

Wing Foiling Session - 7/4/2024

And I went back to Hickam later in the afternoon.  I wanted to get some more time on the North Mode Pro to get familiar with the power profiles - there might be a race on Saturday.

No.36/Evolution Cedrus Wind mast/DW190/North Mode Pro 5.5 - but as soon as I finished setting up, the wind shifted more from the North and a lot less strong.  I should have pumped up the 6.8

And my Garmin Instinct froze - so this is the only chart I have.

I did catch some fun ones earlier in the session.  Then the wind got light.  I was able to get up and I had to go straight to get through a lull - but I went down.  I had to wait a while to get back up - and after that I went in (not worth getting stuck outside).

Still fun despite the ups and downs of the wind.

W:80/FD:47/F:4/S:13

Anointment of No.37

La had to go to Hickam to deliver some duffles and totes she sewed recently.  That was the perfect opportunity to test out the connectivity of No.37 with the Foil Drive.

While I was preparing the board, Jesse was coming back in.  It sounded like it was carnage out at Firsts - a surfski had to be towed back in, he broke off a prop stantion, and some other things...

I used the foil positioning from No.33 (since these boards are the same overall dimensions).  The boxes are true, so I am able to use the custom wingscrews M8 FD Max set of bolts.  The reports say the waves are small, so I setup the Spitfire 960.

La wanted a selfie ;)  Who am I to say 'no'???!!!>>>

No.37 had zero connectivity issues.  I was even using the remote as far as I could hold it away from the board and I had a strong signal.  That was my biggest concern.

Next was how the board performed - it was flawless!!!

This board feels solid and it picked up waves almost as easily as No.33

Even though the waves were on the smaller side, this board made riding bumps so much fun!

10 waves in 50 minutes

It is so satisfying when a board exceeds the original design criteria.  This is the best Foil Drive-ing board I've ever used!!!

Successful anointment of No.37!

W:79/FD:47/F:4/S:13

Marlon Shaping

Marlon asked to shape a board in the garage as one of his friends asked for a board.

Hopefully this doesn't take two years to finish ;p (he said it'll be a week)!

Garage Works - 7/2/2024

I got No.37 outfitted today.

CI Yesterday pad for the rear foot - Octopus No.7 for the front foot. 

I didn't end up using 2K clear coat on this one - just the standard Rustoleum Satin Clear Coat.

I am interested in seeing how the basalt feels under foot.

And these 15" tracks should make experimenting with smaller foils easier (although that may make me move forward on the top deck... do I have enough deck pad???).

It's uncanny that the Octopus deck comes in this color -

As far as setting the Foil Drive up, the foil specific mounting spots should transfer over directly from No.37 - as these are both 5'0"

Stoked to have this one all completed and ready for anointing!!! 

Wing Foiling Session - 7/1/2024

I got in a mellow afternoon session on the wing.  The winds were pretty light, but the gusts would push through periodically and got things stirred up.  There was windswell to ride, but every now and then a proper set would come through and provide a chest high wall to rip up.

And best of all - the tide was nice and high (no scratching of the foil) 

No.36 with the SK8 950/C200 bolted on the Evolution Wind 87.5cm mast.  And I pumped up the Reedin SW2 5.2

Despite the lower wind, the equipment got me up on foil and I rode for nearly the entire session.

Outbound tacks and jibes both ways with ease.  I only tried the inbound tack once - and I didn't make it all the way around.

What I did the most was carve top to bottom on what waves were running through - really fun with the SK8!

Prayot and Duke eventually came out.  Prayot was trying the AFS Pure 900.  Hard to keep a foil that small flying when the wind is as light as it was.

Nice correlation between these two graphs!!!

So half the calendar year has passed by.  By the numbers below, I've gotten 142 sessions in the water - that's pretty darn good!

Also got some bad news - my bro Roland suffered a minor stroke on Friday.  Makes you think about how fragile life is and how important living life to the fullest is.  I know Roland will make a recovery and he will wing again.  Get better bro!!!

W:79/FD:46/F:4/S:13