Mastering the Flitescooter: A Rollercoaster Ride on the Waves

A user-friendly eFoil designed to teach newbies to the niche sport is the Flitescooter. Riding one is enjoyable, but maintaining control requires practice.

TFD – Dive into the exhilarating world of hydrofoil technology with the Flitescooter, offering a thrilling ride amidst the waves.

I’ve been trying to ride this electric hydrofoil board for over an hour now, and have been bleeding for nearly half that time. The open wounds are on my hand, inflicted after the electric jet propulsion motor shot me and the eFoil board up and out of the water, and we splashed back down in a jumble of wet limbs, metal, and carbon fiber.

I’m not sure which area of the board struck me this time. It’s challenging to remember which body area was struck by which fall. For a little moment, I levitate, with my hands bleeding and my elbows, knees, and toes injured. After that, all I want to do is get back up onto the board.

An eFoil’s attraction is presumably clear: This compact, self-contained watercraft resembles a short surfboard, yet it can propel you at a top speed of thirty miles per hour thanks to an electric hydrofoil underneath. The motor has fins fastened to its sides and is positioned atop a mast beneath the water. When that motor engages, the board pops up out of the water, gliding a foot or so above the surface for a smooth ride that feels like flying. Efoils surged into prominence a few years ago, when Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg became the unfortunate pasty face of the product after he was photographed riding one. Now the industry is growing, and companies are offering more ways to let you soar over the water than ever.

The Australian company Flite offers a range of eFoil models that range in price from $7,000 to $17,500. With the $12,995 Flitescooter, Flite hopes to lower the barrier to entry for these flying surfboards. This entry-level model debuted in January 2023 at CES. Flite has marketed it as an easy-to-use gadget that’s perfect for families, vacationers, and boaters.

Consider the Flitescooter to be the Segway of the sea—an easily mounted surf-skimming device that will appeal to both novice and expert water sports enthusiasts. That is how Flite wants you to think of it. Although the Flitescooter is supposed to be a lighthearted and enjoyable experience, I have found that it is not quite that way. In fact, I had a hard time getting used to riding the Flitescooter and kept falling into the water with it.

The carbon-fiber core of the Flitescooter’s inflatable platform helps with portability and buoyancy. To facilitate transit, the foils, stem, and board can all be dismantled. It is purportedly easier to operate thanks to a detachable grip that mimics an electric kick scooter’s handlebar, but I discovered that this wasn’t always the case. (More on it in a second.) Inflated and assembled, the Flitescooter weighs 61.7 pounds by itself. Flite offers three battery sizes, which come in 13-, 24-, and 32-pound options. So it’s more transportable than a jet ski, but harder to lug around than a surfboard.

The replaceable rectangular batteries click into the center of the board, right under your feet. According to Flite, the hydrofoil’s battery lasts for around an hour and a half before needing to be recharged. I rode it for nearly that long, and the battery got down below 20 percent, so the company’s estimate feels right.

Jet engines and spinning propellers are just two of the power choices available for Flite’s foilboards. The AMP Jet, which is integrated directly into a recently created board, is Flite’s most recent venture into motor technology. Unfortunately, there is currently no way to test that model. The Flitescooter, one of several Flite models you can already buy and the one I rode, only comes with Flite’s existing jet motor. The jet engine on the Flitescooter is fully encased, so there’s no danger of losing any digits to a spinning propeller. That said, the fins on the sides of the hydrofoil are sharp and wide, so it takes some mindfulness to avoid kicking them when splashing around—or falling. Which you’ll be doing a lot.

I’ll take a moment to provide the tiniest of qualifications. I’ve used paddle boards for relaxation, surfed, snowboarded, and wakeboarded. Though I’m not an expert in water sports, I can maintain my balance on these expensive rafts rather well. That being said, it was obvious that the kraken that had chosen to take possession of my Flitescooter intended to keep me submerged.

I never once, in my roughly 80-minute ride on the Flitescooter, was able to remain upright for longer than 30 seconds after it reached its peak speed. Once you get the hang of it, it’s a glorious feeling, and each time I fell, I wanted to get back up and try again.

Humble the Pole

Another obstacle, counterintuitive though it may seem, is the control pole. Toward the front center of the board is a slot where you can fasten the aforementioned pole with a set of handlebars. Attaching it evokes the feel of an old-school stand-up jet ski, though without many of the benefits. The handlebars have a throttle on them, but the bars can’t really be used to steer the craft. Also, the pole doesn’t move to meet you at all; instead it remains inflexible at an angle that points slightly toward the nose of the board. You’re supposed to hold the handlebars for stability, but that puts you in a weird position where you have to lean over the pole when getting up to gliding speed. It’s also tricky to figure out where to place your feet. Using a traditional board stance like you would on a surf or skateboard forces you to twist your body to grasp the handle properly. When I faced straight forward like Flite shows people doing in its marketing images, the board felt wobbly and unbalanced and I was very quickly thrown off.

I was shown how to use the Flitescooter by a guide from a nearby eFoil store. “You basically want to be humping the pole,” he remarked when I asked him what the optimum position was. When I would rev the throttle and not stand squarely against the pole, the motor would force the board’s nose straight up out of the water, toppling me over backwards. Once the board emerges from the water, you’re supposed to step back; this was a challenge for me at first, but I’m sure it will become second nature with repetition.

You can see how a large, inflexible pole between your legs may become a problem in an accident. It feels close enough to smash into your teeth or, if you fall off, to strike you squarely in the nether regions if you stand directly over the handle. During my time using the Flitescooter, neither of those things happened to me, but on at least two of my falls, something on the handle snagged my hand and removed a piece of flesh before throwing me into the water.

Fortunately, the stem can be removed, allowing you to operate the scooter as a regular eFoil in situations where the handle becomes too much. When you go barless, a handheld remote throttle is used to regulate the pace.

Many Additional Boards in the Sea

Sales advisor for Flite Nathan Laney compares it to riding a bike. “Once you understand it, you won’t ever slip.”

I accept him. If I had had more time and maybe improved my physical ability, I’m sure I could have learned how to use eFoiling. There is a learning curve, just like in any sport. Even yet, I find it difficult to envision the precise user for whom the Flitescooter is intended. It finds itself in an odd medium between the wild exhilaration of a stand-up jet ski and the maneuverability of a surfboard.

Resorts and seaside tourist attractions would be teeming with Scooters if they were as simple to operate as Segways. Anyone who was willing (and able) to purchase one for personal use would probably have the time and drive to become proficient with it. However, it’s unclear why they would pick the more expensive, cumbersome, and restricted Flitescooter over a somewhat less expensive, more capable eFoil. Particularly considering that Flite itself has a range of comparable products at lower costs, without the possibility of getting stabbed by those handlebars.

The Flitescooter has the potential to be a lot of fun; it’s simply not as forgiving as something meant for novices should be.

Nevertheless, the chaff of the waves washes away beneath you to produce a buttery, smooth ride when you can catch the water just right and maintain your balance. It’s magnificent, until a split second later, when a tiny mistake sends you sailing into the waves and sinks the bow.