Hurricane Walaka Surf

Hurricane (Typhoon since it formed in the Central Pacific) Walaka has been sending surf our way since Wednesday.  Marlon and I went out on Wednesday morning and it was awesome!!!  Head high,  clean surf with plenty for everybody.  I brought the Greedy Beaver out and it did not disappoint.

Marlon passed on a dawn patrol on Thursday morning.  The swell had gotten bigger, but the period was tighter and the swell had a strong westerly component to it.  No lefts at all and the bigger ones were closing out.  Still I managed to get some good ones.

Mock Up

For expediency, I'm planning on taking this light wind kiteboard I made a while back and installing some mast track boxes to mount the foil. 

Here's the first time I've had these two together.

This board is just over 6' long.  The thickness towards the tail should be enough to drop two reinforcement blocks in.  I'll have to modify the blocks to fit around the finbox already in place, but that shouldn't be too hard.

More Sanding - More Filling - More Sanding...

I'm getting so close now... but there is still more sanding, so I can do more filling (void spaces on the fiberglass weave), which will then require more sanding.

I'll stick my neck out here and say "but it'll be worth all this time and effort when we get up on the foil while surfing".  I'm pretty sure Marlon will - but I'm thinking I'm going to need a bigger set of wings to develop the lift necessary to fly my extra ballast around.

I'm thinking I may be able to finish everything up (just modifying a board) and have this thing get wet next weekend...

This Weekend's Sailing

Noe sailed in two separate races this weekend - the El Toro States and the Bullship.  She had fun despite the oppressive temperatures and humidity.

Always a good time sailing the Windward side!

Gluing Up More Divynicell Strips

Building out these hydrofoils seems like work that will never end...  Here we are epoxying the latest batch of divynicell strips into more mast track reinforcement blocks for the foil boards.

And here they are after the first cuts with the dual slider miter saw.

Next step for these is a pass through the scroll saw.

Also ended up getting more work on the shaping racks done.  Just need to staple on some reused slippers (for padding) and strips of carpeting or duct tape so I can get to work on shaping the two foil boards, and can have place to do board repairs/modifications.  Busy, productive weekends are awesome!

Shrimping

Noe and Marlon have sailed out of Kaneohe Yacht Club many times now.  Both of them have seen many fish and animals from the docks and this weekend was no exception.  Noe had pointed out to me several times that she has noticed some resident shrimp that live on the short wooden dock along the quay wall.  I suggested we catch some and and take a closer look.  I found a clear plastic cup and she went to work - catching the shrimp by hand.

She was able to show the other kids that were also sailing in the races.  And it started us both thinking about setting up the small saltwater cube aquarium again (but in a spot that wouldn't generate so much heat and algae blooms).

Rear Wing is On

It has been super hot here the last few days - so hot that I did not want to do any epoxy work knowing I'd have very little working time.  Once the sun started getting low, the kids and I got the rear wing on the surf foil yesterday evening.

There is still work to be done before this goes into the water - sanding, filling in pukas along these last two joints, sanding that work down, applying a fill coat of epoxy, sanding that down, and spray painting it flat black.  I also have to modify the light wind kiteboard with the tracks.  If I'm diligent, all this should actually be done before next weekend...  For now, I'll just sit in the glow of knowing this got built and it looks halfway decent.

WIndsurfing 101

Marlon (and Noe a little bit) have been asking if I would teach them how to kitesurf.  I said 'not yet, but I'll teach you to windsurf and if you can do that independently, then I'll start to train you to kitesurf'.  They were actually more excited by that prospect than the original request.  I found an old Naish Kailua on Craigslist and we finally had the time to start lessons this past Saturday afternoon.  Originally I was going to take everyone to Kailua Beach Park, but La suggested we

Have I mentioned "We LOVE this truck!!!"?

The kids already knew most of the terminology and parts from sailing.  I only had to elaborate on the small things (downhaul and outhaul being a little different, and an uphaul not on other boats).

Both kids got the sail uphauled and were able to sail around.  And with a SUP I could stay relatively close and coach.

This sail (unfortunately my smallest) is just a hair too big for Noe, but she still handled it like a champ.  Next lesson is more practice on uphauling, foot positioning, hand movements to control the sail and tacking.  The neat thing about this... I learned here too - nearly 20 years ago.

Saturday September 22, 2018 Dawn Patrol

The wind was up.  Not so bad to blow the surf out, but enough to put a chop on it.  Size was decent, but the tide was a little full and prevented the waves from really breaking.  I took the ULI GLX out and Marlon surfed the longboard with the banana fin again (he really likes the 'drift' he gets from the fin).

Fun day regardless!

Front Wing is On

Got the front wing mounted before the sun set today.

0.7 ounces of epoxy and 5 spoons of milled fibers.  Wasn't quite enough mix to pack the back void, but we'll mix more tomorrow for the rear wing - which is smaller, so we'll have more to fill the void and fair it in.

So here is where I deviated from the Clearwater Hydrofoil instructions - Marlon and I choose to attach each wing separately instead of in a single step.  Less time pressure to get everything glassed up (we're using Fiberglass Hawaii Two Part Slow - but with the Ewa Beach heat in the garage, the slow starts to cure very quickly - even faster than fast in normal temperatures)

This was actually pretty easy.  Three layers of 4 ounce cloth on each side with a single 4 ounce piece bridging the span.

Looks pretty straight and square.

Tomorrow will be a light sanding on this joint, then shifting over to the rear wing.  The glass is already cut for tomorrow's work (on top of the wing to the left of the picture).  It's coming together and taking our time has produced great results so far.  Up next since this project is getting close - shaping the two foil boards...

Sunday Dawn Patrol - September 16, 2018

Or not so dawn patrol - I woke up late and we left even later because we took some time to switch out the fins on our surfboards.  I opted for a Greenough Stage 6 and Marlon went for a smaller banana fin.  Marlon was not happy with the water quality - it was noticeably acrid and there were protein bubbles everywhere - so we only stayed for about 45 minutes.

This Stage 6 seemed really sticky to me - not as fluid as the 8.5" flex fin I've been using for a while now.  

I went ahead and swapped out the Stage 6 for a 9.5" Stage 4C.  More of a conventional fin, with more surface area than the flex fin - we'll see next time if this one feels better than the flex.

Mast to Fuselage Join

We got the mast-mounting plate assembly attached to the fuselage on Saturday.  Constantly checking for vertical alignment, but the results look good.

In theory, this was supposed to be the hardest part of the assembly.  I'll clean up the joint this afternoon when I get home from work (it's Monday - the weekend got away from me since these pictures were from Saturday...).  Then we'll see if we can get the wings epoxied on to the fuselage.