The commodification of surf is well into its second century and this electronic foil board is just the latest in a long series of flatwater surf inventions (jet board anyone?) that delivers the sport to the inland masses. But it would be hard not to admit that this thing looks kinda’ fun. It carries plenty of speed (up to 25 mph, apparently). Hard carving maneuvers, or anything snappy for that matter, aren’t really a thing with this particular piece of gear. But at least it discourages the wide, gorilla stance of other versions that often include bulky foot straps.
The Lift eFoil was created by a guy named Nick Leason, a super-talented designer out of Puerto Rico. “My family is American and moved down here in the 1970’s,” he told us. “I was born and raised here. Surfer for life.” Dude is a lifelong water athlete–and snow–who got his mechanical engineering degree from the University of Utah (so he knows what he’s doing). He started manufacturing foils in 2010 and is in startup mode with this project (the family actually had a fire destroy its facility in the midst of development). The foil is carbon fiber, with a custom engine, so it isn’t cheap (one of these babies costs around $12,000) and the boards took some serious design work. “The construction is bomber,” he says. “There’s a hatch that seals tight with a compression lid that houses the motor. And we had to get the right amount of rocker. So we did a lot of iterations with the board.” The actual board–controlled with a small hand-held device–comes in two sizes: a 5’6″ by 28-inch-wide model for stability, and a sportier 5’0″ by 25.5″.
You may have seen video of the eFoil all over Facebook this week as mainstream outlets latched onto the concept (Leason says they’ve gotten 30 million views worldwide, proof that surfing definitely still sells). Opinions on the foil movement are seemingly–as the wonderful old cliche goes–like assholes. And we all possess (and need) those. But do we need the electronic foil board? That is the $12,000-dollar question. Leason has certainly developed a solid version.
