I’ve been making an attempt to trip this electrical hydrofoil board for over an hour now, and have been bleeding for practically half that point. The open wounds are on my hand, inflicted after the electrical jet propulsion motor shot me and the eFoil board up and out of the water, and we splashed again down in a jumble of moist limbs, metallic, and carbon fiber.
I don’t know what a part of the board hit me this time. It’s arduous to maintain monitor of which fall has whacked which physique half. I float for a second, panting, hand bleeding, toes, knees, and elbows bruised. Then all I wish to do is pull myself again up on the board once more.
The enchantment of an eFoil might be apparent: It’s a small, self-contained watercraft much like a brief surfboard, however with an electrical hydrofoil beneath that propels you at as much as 30 mph. The motor is mounted on a mast under the water and has fins connected to its sides. When that motor engages, the board pops up out of the water, gliding a foot or so above the floor for a easy trip that appears like flying. Efoils surged into prominence a couple of years in the past, when Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg grew to become the unlucky pasty face of the product after he was photographed driving one. Now the trade is rising, and corporations are providing extra methods to allow you to soar over the water than ever.
Flite is an Australian firm with a number of eFoil fashions in its lineup priced between $7,000 and $17,500. Flite desires to make these flying surfboards extra accessible to novices, which is the place its $12,995 Flitescooter is available in. This beginner-oriented mannequin was launched at CES in January 2023. Flite has positioned it as an easy-to-learn gadget that’s superb for resorts, yacht goers, and households.
Flite desires you to consider the Flitescooter as a form of Segway of the ocean—an simply mounted surf-skimming gadget that can enchantment to novices and water-sport mavericks alike. It’s meant to be a enjoyable, chill time, however in my expertise, the Flitescooter is just not precisely easy crusing. In reality, the Flitescooter easily tumbled me into the water repeatedly as I struggled to get used to driving it.
The Flitescooter’s inflatable platform has a carbon-fiber core, a design which aids each buoyancy and portability. The foils, stem, and board can all be disassembled to make transit less complicated. A detachable deal with that resembles the handlebar of an electrical kick scooter ostensibly makes it less complicated to regulate, although I discovered that the deal with didn’t at all times make issues simpler. (Extra on that in a second.) Inflated and assembled, the Flitescooter weighs 61.7 kilos by itself. Flite presents three battery sizes, which are available 13-, 24-, and 32-pound choices. So it’s extra transportable than a jet ski, however more durable to lug round than a surfboard.
The oblong batteries are swappable; they snap into the board’s core simply beneath your toes. Flite says the battery for the hydrofoil lasts round an hour and a half earlier than needing a recharge. I rode it for practically that lengthy, and the battery acquired down under 20 p.c, so the corporate’s estimate feels proper.
Flite’s foilboards have a wide range of propulsion choices, from spinning propellers to jet engines. Flite’s newest foray into its motor tech is the AMP Jet, which is constructed straight right into a newly designed board. That mannequin is unfortunately not accessible for testing but. The Flitescooter, one in every of a number of Flite fashions you may already purchase and the one I rode, solely comes with Flite’s present jet motor. The jet engine on the Flitescooter is absolutely encased, so there’s no hazard of shedding any digits to a spinning propeller. That mentioned, the fins on the perimeters of the hydrofoil are sharp and huge, so it takes some mindfulness to keep away from kicking them when splashing round—or falling. Which you’ll be doing quite a bit.
I will pause right here to supply the teensiest of credentials. I’ve wakeboarded, surfed, snowboarded, and lounged round on paddle boards. I am on no account a watersports skilled, however I am at the least respectable at conserving my stability on these sorts of fancy rafts. Regardless of that, no matter kraken had apparently chosen to own my Flitescooter clearly needed to maintain me down within the deep.
