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It's a bit like wakeboarding without a boat or surfing without a wave, but really it's like nothing else.
A couple of childhood friends in Kelowna were so captivated by e-foiling that they have jumped right into the e-foil business.
Carey Missler and Taylor Coulthard have perfected their own design and are manufacturing a line of boards with the brand name: MSLR.
The MSLR e-foil features carbon fibre construction and a big lithium-ion battery powering an aluminum brushless 6,000-watt motor.
Missler, who is a Co-founder and CEO of the company gets out on the water a lot, but never loses his enthusiasm for it.
"You just fly over water," he said. "It's an experience that you'll never forget."
Learning to ride one can take a little while, but they say most people are able to get up and foiling on their first outing, and you don't have to be an elite athlete to do it.
"If you have no experience with a board sport, you can still definitely enjoy this and even if you are good at sports you might just pick it up quicker," said Coulthard, who is the company's VP.
"We've taught hundreds of people to e-foil at all ages from 13-years-old all the way up to 75-years-old."
The best way to generate interest in e-foiling is to simply do it.
That's when the crowd forms.
"When you're flying above water," said Missler, "we have people just stop in their tracks, take pictures, videos...it happens every day."
"No matter where we are," added Coulthard. "There's constant attention. To the point where we joke that we need to get waterproof business cards."
The least expensive brands start at about $8,000 Cdn.
Higher quality names like MSLR run in the $12,000 to $14,000 range and you could spend as much as $18,000.
MSLR has sold its boards in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Germany and Kuwait.
Missler and Coulthard agree e-foiling gives them a big mental health boost.
"It's very similar to surfing after you catch that amazing wave," said Missler. "You feel absolutely amazing for the rest of the day."
That may be one reason why they have built in a charitable component to their sales, with 3% of the profits from each board sold going to the Canadian Mental Health Association.
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