Time for our JETSURF Electric review after riding it for a couple of months. After seeing prototypes three years in a row the electric powered Jetsurf is finally available.
Jetsurf was the leader of motorized surfboards since a decade due to their dominant market position in petrol powered boards. Now they are getting more competition due to electric powered surfboards and eFoils as you can see in our electric surfboard comparison and electric hydrofoil comparison.
Since 3 years Jetsurf was presenting a new electric surfboard prototype at boot in Dusseldorf. For a recap please check our Jetsurf Electric 2018 preview, 2019 preview and 2020 preview.
For this JETSURF Electric review we ordered the board at boot 2020 and received it May 15th 2020. Several months later we would like to share our experience. As already mentioned in our 2020 preview article the Jetsurf Electric is made out of high quality components and it is a beautiful board. You feel the experience the team around Martin Sula after 10 years and they brought all this know how to the electric version.
JETSURF Electric review
Other than the Lampuga Air Jetboard, we wouldn’t call the Jetsurf a leisure or family board. It has the DNA of an race board and is more difficult to ride. Although they are offering a TUBE for beginners and kids, it is really designed for adrenalin junkies who are looking for high speeds and tight turns. The most comparable product would be the Awake Rävik or potentially the Radinn Carve.
The riding feels similar to wakeboarding or snowboarding in powder. The tight foot straps give you a lot of control for aggressive maneuvers and high speeds up to 50 km/h. But be careful, if you want to bring the board to the limits, we strongly suggest to wear a vest and full face helmet.
Scope of delivery
We made an unboxing video for the E-Surfer Youtube Channel which shows you the components in more detail:
The Jetsurf Electric comes in 2 boxes. The first box contains the board in a board bag. The board bag has several handles and 2 wheels which make it easy to transport. We love to use our Onewheel to bring the board in this bag to the beach. If you insert the battery however, the bag with wheels may not be able to handle this forever. The handles are not made for such weight.
In the bag you will not only find the light full carbon fibre board, but also a stand to setup your board at the beach, a big microfibre towel to keep the nice board clean from drying water drops, a screwdriver (one driver fits for all screws you need for setup and turn down), documentation for registering your board, a water-proof smartphone case and two arm wrists for the security pin.
Other than most electric jetboards the Jetsurf boards have a hollow hull. Since it is a race board they don’t use any foam to save weight. The petrol powered jetboards need actually a hollow hull as the combustion engine needs air and the hull is based on these boards. The disadvantage is that it needs more maintenance before and after the ride to check if any water is inside the hull. You don’t have this with other jetboards or eFoils.
Setup
Before you go on the water there are a few steps necessary. Of course you need to charge the battery. The battery comes in a bag which you can open with a flap and mesh to let fresh air in while charging. Yes, you can charge the battery inside the bag. Charging is about 2.5 to 3 hours. The good thing is that you don’t need to charge the remote as it is wired (not wireless) and connected through the handle.
Once everything is fine you can install the three fins. The main fin is secured with 4 screws while the two other fins are plug and play FSC fins. The advantage of the FSC fins is that you can easily replace them and play around with different models to adjust the riding style.
The next step is to insert the battery and lock it with the 4 quick releases as you can see in the unboxing video above. Unfortunately, the stand designed for the light petrol boards does not seem to be stable enough when the battery is inserted. It's a pretty shaky thing and it is probably just a question of time until it falls over.
Now put the security pin into the handle for 5 seconds to activate the board. The indicator LED on the board will show a blue light blinking. Now take the pin out again. The board will be now active for 5 minutes. If you put in the pin again within the 5 minutes the board will come up with a tone to confirm it is ready. The LED will be green if the capacity of the battery is above 75%. Push the trigger of the handle and the engine will start. Always take out the security pin if you do not want to ride.
The ride
Once you ride you will be able to see the LED indicator on the board:
- green: 100-75% battery capacity
- blue: 75-50% battery capacity
- orange: 50-25% battery capacity
- red: under 25% battery capacity
When the indicator LED light turns red, there is about two minutes of riding time remaining before the motorized surfboard turns to Safe Return Mode. Safe Return Mode decreases the power that you can surf laying on the board back to the beach. Up to 400 meters.
The 3 kWh battery is water-cooled while you are riding and gives you a riding time of about 30 minutes. It is depending on the riding style and the weight of the rider. Maximum rider weight is 100 kg. The board offers 6 kW power (about 8 horse power) which is relatively low compared to other premium Jetboards. However, it doesn't feel like this which is probably due to the light weight and shape of the board. With 50 km/h it is however slower than some other Jetboards.
How does the ride feel? It is definitely fun! The Jetsurf boards (no matter if electric or petrol powered) are more difficult to ride than most other electric surfboards, but if you manage it you will feel in love. It is very agile and has an instant acceleration. With some practice you will even make your first jumps.
After the ride you have to go through the maintenance procedure again. Check if water is inside the hull, dismount the fins, etc. Honestly your spend more time in setting up and turning down the board than you have pure riding time with one battery charge. That's said you will probably need a break in between as it is an aggressive board, so the total time might be about an hour.
Summary
What do like:
+ No remote charging
What we do not like:
Petrol vs. Electric
Jetsurfs main business is still the petrol powered Jetboards. You don't have to charge a battery and can easily increase the range by filling in petrol. They are also lighter, easier to transport by plane and certain models have even more power and higher speeds compared to the Jetsurf Electric.
On the other hand they are so much louder, they stink and therefore some regions may restrict the petrol powered Jetboards. Obviously as e-surfer we prefer the electric models, but we also agree that that the petrol boards have advantages if you ignore the noise.
This year only a limited amount of Jetsurf Electric were available for purchase. We hope this number will significantly increase in 2021. We are glad that we have one and will ride it for the rest of the summer 😉
Oh, we almost forgot the price 😉 The Jetsurf Electric is selling for 12,490 EUR plus VAT and shipping. We are planning to offer them trough our shop once they are available in 2021.
12 min read
