Hydrofoiling…is it even surfing?

A couple of weeks ago, there was a dude at my local break wheezing around the lineup, making me wish he was a paddleboarder. He was riding a monstrosity otherwise known as an efoil. Which begs a question: hydrofoiling…is it even surfing?

I bet you have seen them around too, because apparently efoiling is the next best thing in water sports, combining elements of traditional wakeboarding, kiteboarding, hydrofoil surfing and… surfing. So basically, it’s a Frankenstein of watersports. An expensive Frankenstein too, because these electricity-powered boards, unless you buy them directly from the Temus of watersports, retail for $8,000–$15,000.

How did we get here?

That made me think. How did we even get here? To this surfboard-like board that doesn’t touch the water surface, can shred for miles, and may inflict even more serious injury than a big wave gun.

Hydrofoiling has been around for centuries (the first patent was filed in 1869) and was initially used in boat design.

The principle hasn’t changed: a hydrofoil is a wing (or foil) placed under the hull of a boat or board that, as forward speed increases, generates lift, raising the hull out of the water. The result is reduced drag and therefore higher speeds and/or greater efficiency.

A brief history of foiling

Hydrofoil tech trickled into recreational and watersport domains much later, in the later 20th century. There was a waterski hydrofoil, a surfing kneeboard hydrofoil, and a sit-down foil — which you also may know as an Air Chair—was first ridden in 1984.

Hydrofoiling among surfers gained notoriety when we all watched Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama riding hydrofoils at Jaws in Maui in Step Into Liquid in 2003. Laird had been experimenting with hydrofoils for years, because he knew that they could reduce the drag that prevented a rider from getting enough speed to outrun the biggest waves.

That was Laird’s reasoning, but hydrofoils don’t need the biggest swells to be fun. You can use them like a regular surfboard in small surf, or you can combine it with a paddle (SUP foiling), or a kite (kite foiling), or a wing, or you can get towed behind a boat or water ski. Finally, you can become totally self-sufficient by spending $8,000–$15,000 to add an electric motor and a remote to your board.

If I sound like I’m not a fan of efoiling, it’s because I am not a fan of efoiling. The same way as I am not a fan of electric surfboards. Even if there’s no danger of accidental electrocution per se.

What I love about foiling

What I love about foiling (kite, wing, SUP etc.) is that it removes the main source of surf aggro where waves are a limited resource. You can foil as far away from the lineup as humanly possible, and it’s all good when you stay out of the way.

As one Redditor put it:

“I too wing foil and it’s great to go out and surf for 12+ miles in an hour while riding waves, swell and beating upwind. The best part is there is no competition for waves so everyone is friends on the beach and eager to help newcomers. Learning was a bitch though.”

And while it’s not as cheap as surfing, like a beat-up Wavestorm from FB Marketplace for $50, you can find a wing foil package for under $1,500. I’m also told:

“It feels like a hoverboard and a new branch off the tree trunk of surfing . And under wind power you feel like Poseidon’s spawn.”

I’m not going to be trying it any time soon, so do let me know how you get on.