The HydroFlyer eFoil Is World’s Most Advanced, Comes With Detachable Handlebar

Here is HydroFlyer, an eFoil that stands at the intersection between hydrofoil, personal watercraft, and motorcycle. It’s the creation of Canadian inventor Jerry McArthur, in partnership and with backing from Unifoil, an already established presence on the market of personal electric watercraft.

HydroFlyer isn’t technically “here” since it hasn’t been launched yet: the website and the product will go live on Monday, May 3, 2021. But McArthur is already talking to the media about it and, in case empty words aren’t enough to convince you, the video below might do it. That’s the HydroFlyer tested on a lake, with McArthur on it.

eFoils have grown in popularity in recent years. To any respectable yacht-traveler, let alone yacht owner, they’re a must-have in the tender garage, offering the chance to experience the closest thing to flying over water. Granted, they don’t soar very high, but the feeling is comparable to flying—or so do the makers of eFoils keep saying.

The HydroFlyer brings new to the table the promise of more stability and a considerably reduced learning curve through the addition of a handlebar.

Speaking with DesignBoom, McArthur says that he was always surprised (and not in a good way) to see how lengthy and potentially dangerous learning to ride an eFoil was for newbies. He wanted something that was, first of all, safer; secondly, it had to cut down the time you’d need to learn to ride it. So he looked to his experience in riding dirtbikes and snowmobiles, and he put a handlebar on an oversized eFoil. Learning to ride the HydroFlyer takes some 15 minutes, he says. By comparison, you’d have to spend days trying to do the same with any other, handlebar-less eFoil.

The HydroFlyer rises above the water once it reaches about 4 knots (7.4 kph/4.6 mph). The Wi-Fi controls are embedded into the handlebar, which also offers four contact points for more stability, better handling, and an increased sense of confidence. Powered by a “supercharged” lithium-ion battery and with a lightweight carbon fiber body, it rides for two full hours in between charges and tops out at 34 mph (55 kph). Recharging lasts two hours, but most eFoil makers offer swappable batteries as a time-saving solution, so maybe it turns out to be the case here as well.

McArthur describes the HydroFlyer as the “perfect balance of useability, fun, and safety, and with speeds that range from mild to wild,” which makes it a suitable alternative for anyone, regardless of skill level and experience. Two differently-sized boards will be made available for more advanced riders, and the one below is the only one for newbies. Pro riders can also make do without the handlebar and remove it if they wish to.

“It feels like flying. There truly is no feeling in the world quite like it,” he says of his new design. “It’s 100% environmentally friendly, no gas, no fumes, no wake, no noise, and requires no towing or trailers. The HydroFlyer has solved many of the issues facing the traditional watercraft such as a boat or jet ski.”

The promise of this much fun, enhanced stability and safety, and heightened accessibility doesn’t come without a price tag to match. Most eFoil these days retail in the $10,000-$12,000 area, but the HydroFlyer will be slightly more expensive, at $14,000. On the bright side, an online competition will see one lucky winner take one HydroFlyer home, and two runners-up win assorted prizes. It’s not much, but to that lucky winner, it makes a world of difference.