After being first introduced as a form of boat design in 1898 by Italian inventor Enrico Forlanini, the hydrofoil has since become a mainstay in a variety of water-based board sports thanks to its unique ability to lift a rider out of the water and decrease their drag, which ultimately increases their speed. Also – it just looks unfathomably cool and futuristic.
Unsurprisingly though, these hydrofoil board assemblies don’t come cheap – oftentimes costing 3 to 4 times the amount of a standard board. For one motivated kiteboarder who wanted his own hydrofoil kiteboard setup, keeping the estimated $3K+ in his pocket in favor of building his own seemed like a better idea.
In a video uploaded earlier this week, “Mat” shares his process of creating his very first foil – a process that he describes as being “far from optimal, trial and error style”. Starting from scratch, Mat documented his process of building the setup starting with the foil fuselage and working his way towards the board design itself.
Although you’ve surely seen similar build processes with surfboard designs, the multiple parts, attachments and processes involved in developing the final assembly – including an exhaustive amount of layering carbon fiber and vacuuming – make the satisfying ending worth waiting for:
One can only imagine how good that felt to get the thing in the water.
