Thursday, February 22, 2018

Thursday 2 22 18 morning call

A shortboard, a windfoiling and a longboard session for me yesterday. Below are a bunch of photos from the windfoiling one that might be of interest for some of the readers. Scroll down for the call if you don't care, it's somewhere down there.

Let's start with a bit of gear. That's a Starboard 7.4x29.5x110L SUP board with the tuttle box back opening at 20 inches from the tail and a Gofoil Maliko. The board obviously also has a added on mast track.


That's the easiest way I figured out to get in the water. My board is old and I don't mind dragging it on the sand. Wouldn't work on a rocky launch. Once I get waist high deep, I lower the foil and setup the board for the uphaul action.

On my setup the back foot sits right on top of the foil mast and the front foot is against the volcano pad of the sail mast.

This is Judie's style of entering the water, she got a footstrap to hold. Notice the different depth of the front wing's profile. It's also much thinner and that makes it start foiling only at a higher speed than mine. At the same time, it will have a higher maximum foiling speed than mine. It's a matter of taste.

Notice also the position of the box all the way at the tail. That does two main things compared to mine:
1) it's harder to make it foil in underpowered conditions, as there's not as much leverage/weight behind the foil mast
2) it's a lot more directionally stable. Which is another way of saying less maneuverable. Once again, a matter of taste.

Lovely shot of lovely ladies with a passion for windsurfing. Even though Judith's setup is closer to regular windsurfing than mine, the difference between the stances and the weight distributions in the regular windsurfing vs windfoiling is quite evident.

Windfoiling on a wave is tricky. The added speed/lift of the wave makes the foil want to come up and I have to move my foot to the front of the mast to keep it down. At this primordial stage of my wave windfoiling adventure, I'm quite happy with that. But there's massive room for improvements.

Going down the line is even trickier as the lack of apparent wind deprives you of the extra balance provided by the pressure in the sail. Plus is not particularly exciting, because, for the same reason, you go slower.

 Putting it on the rail without putting it on the rail. I managed to pull that one off with a low angle of attack into the bottom turn and a lot of front foot pressure.

I come out of the water the same way I get in. Just happier.
 
 
5am significant buoy readings
South shore
W
5.4ft @ 15s from 299° (WNW)
No indication of southerly energy at the buoys, the Surfline forecast calls for nothing from the south, but the reading at the W buoy suggests waves in Kihei. There was a nice long period shore break there already yesterday.

North shore
NW101
6ft @ 15s from 299° (WNW)
 
Pauwela
6.1ft @ 9s from 84° (E)
4.3ft @ 15s from 330° (NW)
 
Solid energy from the NW and the E at Pauwela, there should be plenty waves on the north shore.
 
This is the wind map at 8am and it shows no wind down the coast, as the original direction of the trades is ESE.

Wind map at noon shows the wind hugging the north shore coast.
 
North Pacific shows a small NW fetch and the usual E fetch.
 
South Pacific has two good fetches, but they're oriented towards south America.
 
Morning sky looks cloudy.
 
6.15am Radar image shows some rain to our south.

1 comment:

Jay Herne said...

nice to see a board setup that isnt a dedicated board made for foiling, and the fact you pulled off foiling on it.. no small task itself. I think windsurf foiling will never see the potential it might due to the cost of a dedicated foilboard, and the perception you need a dedicated board to do it.