Nick Leason, founder and CEO of Lift Foils from Puerto Rico in an E-SURFER interview. What does he think about eFoils?

The E-SURFER team has been in contact with Nick Leason from Lift Foils since 2017. Over the years we have met him several times in person and also interviewed him.

At boot 2019, among other things, this video interview was recorded for the E-SURFER Youtube channel:

Here are our questions for Nick from 2017. The time just before the breakthrough of eFoils:

What sports did you do as a teenager?

Nick Leason: Surfing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, snowboarding & skiing.

When did you first think about an eFoil? 

Nick Leason: I was interested in any kind of motorized sports equipment since I was a kid. We had the idea of an electric foil board over 3 years ago (2017) and got to work right away.

What did the first prototype look like?

Nick Leason: It looked hideous, but it worked. There is a video of the prototype on our Vimeo page:

It was incredible that it worked right away.

Was it business right away?

Nick Leason: We already had a business to sell hydrofoil boards and we wanted to develop an electric hydrofoil and then market it. 2016 years we made that decision at Lift Foils.

What have been the biggest challenges?

Nick Leason: The discipline of focusing every day on the project. It's a full-time job. The cost of doing a project like this.

And, of course, coordinating and motivating all the engineers, staff and suppliers. All in all, it's a demanding job.

What has been your biggest success so far?

Our first 20 mile (32 km) ride on the electric Hydrofoil.

How often do you ride your own boards?

I ride our boards almost every day. My favorite is our non-motorized Hydrofoil surfboard. I love it.

What are your plans for the future?

More and more cool toys. Foiling everywhere!

Anything else?

Wait and see. We are just getting started.

Thanks to Nick for taking the time to tell us more about the eFoil story. As I said, that interview is from 2017.

In 2018, Nick was the first to launch a commercial eFoil. But just a few months later, David Trewern from Australia followed suit with the Fliteboard. Today, there are dozens of eFoil companies and in 2022, Aerofoils launched the first jetfoil, the Audi e-tron foil.