Next-Level Watertoy: Lift Foils Flying Cat

Nick Leason, co-founder and CEO of Lift Foils, says that when it came to the shape of the Flying Cat, the creative process involved trust.

“We work with a designer that’s in Hawaii, and he did the design. He’s kind of a mad scientist with wild ideas,” Leason says. “He builds boards for the best surfers in the world, and they do some amazing things that no man has done before, so I can’t question his madness.”

The catamaran-style hull on the Flying Cat (starting at $2,400) is designed to help riders get up on the foil faster, with less paddling at the start. Adding stability to the board, Leason says, helps to achieve that goal. It doesn’t necessarily make using the toy easier for beginners, he says, but it does give an assist to all the people who have embraced the sport and are trying to do some pretty ambitious things.

“You’re basically catching open-ocean chop and getting into these swells,” Leason says. “You have to paddle like hell to get a little bit of speed and get that board to take off. Once you’re on the foil, you need to stay on the foil by connecting all the swells. But the results are amazing. The fact is that we’re riding open-ocean swells nonpowered, and some people are crossing Hawaiian islands. Two guys the other day crossed from Oahu to Kauai—100 miles with no power. That’s impressive. It’s crazy. It’s like sailing without a sail.”

The speed, Leason says, gets up to about 17 knots.  Once the Flying Cat is up on the foil, riders propel it by moving in an up-and-down motion.

“Front foot, back foot, front foot, back foot,” Leason says.  “Then you catch a swell and relax. I’ll use the paddle at times as I’m pumping. I’ll dip the paddle in and give it an extra push. It just depends on technique.”

The feeling, he adds, is exhilarating: “What other device have you ever seen where man is taking flight with the use of their body like a bird? That’s how you feel—like a bird.”  

Take the next step: liftfoils.com

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