Garage Works - 7/12/2025

Long story, but I got my BRM Maliko (v1) 5.1 back -

And I went ahead and got it fitted to the Carbon-EVA bar - feels so good in hand!

But I also set it up for the 2-1 purchase retract.

Easy enough to get it put together -

And after swapping out the small ring I originally bought for one of the rings I salvaged from the windsurfing sails La cut apart, it worked flawlessly.

But without the benefit of steady winds to test the balance of the bridle lines, I wasn't able to get the level of control I wanted from this setup.

I got it changed back to direct connection to the bar.

I'll work on getting the bridle lines balanced and getting a better understanding of how the B line settings work.  

And also getting a harness line setup (I'm picking up a new chest harness that I think may work better for parawinging).

Foil Drive Dawn Patrol - 7/12/2025

Good waves and clean conditions this morning!!!

I shifted back to No.40 - I didn't feel like experimenting/tuning this morning.

I came in with 30% battery - pretty efficient use of the battery. 

I was way outside everyone else.  The nearest person was halfway back to shore.

With the lower tide, the energy in the waves allowed for super long rides.  The wave shape was not particularly carvy - but still super fun.

Mostly lefts today.

19 rides.  One was a triple and there are a couple more double dips mixed in.

Roland was out on FD.  Noel was out on his SUP foil - but none of the other crew were out.  Too bad for them - this was a really good session!

W:51/FD:93/PW:18/S:4

Parawing Session - 7/11/2025

Surf seemed a little smaller today (but it really wasn't).

Tide was nice and high.

Wind was up, and seemed more steady than yesterday - but it had it's ups and downs still.

View from the start.  Wind line was kinda out there.

When Norm and I pulled up, Prayot was finishing his water time - DW SUP foiling in the surf, and I think he tried his PW.

I had the same PW and gear from yesterday.

View from the finish.

My gauge to size which PW to take is whether or not there are white caps.

White caps - take the Maliko V1 4.0

No white caps - take the Ka'a 4.8 - today was a Ka'a day 

Decent stats today - but if you read between the lines, you see some interesting things happening.

On the surface this looks like a great run.  Lots of time up on foil with a handful of times where I had to reset and start again.

Here's where things get interesting - the peaks were at 15mph or so, and really the gusts were what got me up on foil - but the lulls were pretty deep.

And here is the real kicker - this is the speed chart.  The blue is decent - up and foil and moving along at the speed you'd expect from a 1300 front foil.

You can now see the handful of starts were actually pretty long.  The chart doesn't point this out as all that was happening was I was moving slowly.

Same session but now looking at the distance covered - looks more like a winging session with a speed data set.  But this basically says I was covering decent amounts of ground before getting off foil. 

I landed before the wind dropped off - and didn't have to swim much at all.

Norm said he wasn't able to get on foil at all.  He was struggling to find the sweet spot on the board he got (just a couple of days ago).

Fun session!

W:51/FD:92/PW:18/S:4

Garage Works - 7/10/2025

Guys are modifying their long bridled parawings.  

With a 2 to 1 purchase pulley system they can collapse and retract their parawings with a halved stroke.

So yes - I now am compelled to do the same.

Will likely do this to the original V1 Maliko parawings.

Parawing Session - 7/10/2025

Parawing WP-PV - Norm and I.

Wind was there, but not as steady as one would like for parawinging.

Uber high tide - very nice!

And the swell - more than I would prefer for parawinging - but oh well.

BRM Ka'a 4.8 with the current standard foil-board-mast.

The swell was bigger than it looked from the beach.  And there was considerable chop in the water that made starting really difficult.

Definitely one of those days where you earn your victories.

The wind was staying in swimming lanes again today - if I got out of the lane, I dropped off foil.  I had to go way outside a few times to get to the next lane (without getting bogged down by the chop).

And outside there were some sizable waves breaking - made for some puckered situations.

Norm got up twice.  He got a new higher volume board so he was sorting that out.  And this was only his second session out with the parawing.

Strong winds - but up and down.  Not the best for parawinging.

And with all the falling I did, I lost my single point harness line.  I ordered three more from Stringy - and I'm going to get some dive belt weight keepers to prevent future losses.  The ocean giveth... the ocean taketh.

It is definitely tons of fun to be on a learning curve again!

W:51/FD:92/PW:17/S:4

Parawing Session - 7/8/2025

Another WP-PV parawing session

Stronger, more consistent wind compared to yesterday.

Waves, but nothing that would make me reconsider putting up the parawing.

Nice high tide (so minimal chance of grounding).

And Norm went out for his first parawing session!

Same board-foil combo as yesterday.  I did switch to the Maliko 4.0.  I also moved the foil forward a notch (and it helped tremendously with early takeoffs and relieving backfoot pressure).

Norm set up his winging board with the AFS Enduro 1300 - same foil I am using.  He has the one parawing - the Ozone Pocket Rocket 5.0

This was my best session yet!  Early takeoffs (probably due to the foil repositioning), mostly perfectly powered on the Maliko 4.0.  I was on foil more than off.

I also retracted the PW multiple times.  I didn't successfully redeploy the PW... but I did get a few longer rides with the PW stashed.  The type of waves we have here are not conducive for this type of stow and go - except on the outside peaks, but these are not super long rides.

This is the reading from the Kalaeloa meter.  I'm pretty sure it was reading low.

I did switch a couple of times while riding inbound.  I also got one inbound regular stance start.  Progress every session (even if it is just developing more muscle memory).

And Norm got up on foil - on his first PW session!!! He hinted that if he gets comfortable with the PW, he is likely to replace winging with the PW.  I can't blame him - pretty easy to stash, doesn't take up space, sheds heavy equipment and after you get used to it can actually replace the wing when the conditions are right (and you can FD when the winds are light anyways).

Awesome session!!!

W:51/FD:92/PW:16/S:4

Parawing Session - 7/7/2025

Did a WP-PV downwind run with some of the WP crew.

I was on parawing, Roland winged down, Norm was on Foil Drive and Duke was on DW SUP foil.

The wind had a bit of north to it - so running over to PV was not too much issue.

There were small waves - which made for good parawinging conditions.

The tide was high so minimal issues with grounding.

Same board and foil as yesterday.  Check out the new sticker layout on No.34 - I wanted to redo it and went heavy front this time.  Great boards deserve awesome sticker layouts!

Took a little bit of time to get out to the wind line (similar to yesterday).  After that, I spent a majority of the session up on foil.

I did have a regular stance takeoff inbound (toe side).  It was actually pretty uneventful (as long as you have enough wind).

The long blue line outside Campgrounds was me going too far inside and getting caught in the wind dead zone.

I made it in without having to paddle - second day in a row!

There were some walls lining up - left runs were particularly long.

Duke saw a 6' shark over at Campgrounds.

Everyone made it in uneventfully.  Heading in before the cabins is the way to go.

W:51/FD:92/PW:15/S:4

And Derek was out test driving a Tow Boogie.

And after the session, I gave Norm and Derek a lesson on flying parawings

Parawing Session - 7/6/2025

Parawing session today!!!

Rising tide - nuking winds - and a little more wave than I would have preferred.

Solo mission - Duke and Prayot ran the Voyager Race; Roland wasn't going out until much later.

I brought No.34 out.  I want to start using it more for parawinging.  I also used the AFS UHM 85cm mast.  With all the chop I'm glad I had this mast.

I feeling the need to start stepping down the front foil size from the Enduro 1300/HA43 to something else - but I'm not sure which foil and also maybe not just yet.

I had both parawings with me today - but with all the whitecaps, even the Maliko 4.0 was realistically too big (thinking Flysurfer POW 2.5)

The waves were actually pretty good sized - most likely up from the strong tradewinds.  And with the rising tide, that seemed to accentuate their vigor also.

I took my time getting situated - just to make sure nothing went wrong (flying solo remember).  I would just wait for a lull then work the parawing-board-foil to get up before the next set lined up to break.  It took me a while to get to the wind line initially, but eventually I got into the stream.

The blue lines were all at the front end.  The winds were easterly so I don't know why the wind line was so far out.  You could even see the heavy texture on the water - but still couldn't get up early on.

I tried to keep everything in slower motion today - again primarily to not get into a bad situation, but also to get a better feel for how each component was working.

I originally was aiming to get three runs up on foil in - that would have made me feel accomplished.  Instead, I got in multiple runs and I made every jibe.

One thing I learned was turning downwind, the apparent wind drops off and the wing just drifts - which I eventually took the opportunity to retract the PW.  I did it three times and the third was perfect.  I rode the wave I was on pretty much like a prone setup (which made me think I need to push the foil-mast forward just a touch - felt like not enough front foot pressure).

That felt like an accomplishment!!!

I also got an inbound start while in regular foot stance (first time doing that).  In fact I didn't ride goofy foot at all today (I didn't want to risk a crash).

With the harness line, the range on the Maliko 4.0 is decently large.  Despite all the strong gusts and steady stiff wind, I wasn't really ever overpowered beyond being able to manage.

I think before I size down on the foil, I maybe should size down on the parawing...

It's awesome to progress!!!

W:51/FD:92/PW:14/S:4

Wing Foiling Session - 7/5/2025

Yet another day of weird wind - if you looked at the water's surface, you would have thought a 4.5 would have been perfect.  But that was an illusion and the direction was shifting a lot.

There were waves at Seconds and the tide was favorable for not hitting stuff underwater.

I brought several boards (to give Miles a chance to figure out what he is looking for in a board) - I used No.40

I wanted to test out the positioning for the AFS Silk 650/HA38

And to compensate for the small foil, I pumped up the North Mode Pro 5.5

As I took out two foils - I put the wind chart up first to cover both

The issue with the first session was the lack of wind.  Yes - lack of wind.

Long blue line - most of the session I was just drifting.

Eventually the wind came back at a level I could get the Silk 650 up.

This foil does not have the weird hesitancy that I was experiencing with the F One SK8 750 - but I do need some wind to get this foil going.

While up - I figured I should just get back in.  I did go down on the way back - but I was lucky to have enough wind to get back up.

Once back on shore, the wind seemed to straighten out.  And everyone was headed out - Mark, Harris and others.  I went back to the truck and swapped out the foil and adjusted the mast.  

The AFS HA Ultra 750/HA38 was bolted on!

With the wind straightening out, the Ultra 750 was spot on!

When I got out to the surf - I ended up spending most of the time at Seconds.  It was breaking harder than Firsts and only Zach was out (and he was windsurfing).

Overhead breaking surf!  Not as big as 2 days ago but still super fun!

The wind was still a little shifty - but I could pump through with the Ultra 750

The big gap was when I went down on the inside of Seconds - I didn't want to try and takeoff over the reef so I paddled back into the channel.

Super fun session!

W:51/FD:92/PW:13/S:4