Grab a cup of coffee and watch the video below of nearly six minutes of continuous crashes and laughs. The sport you are watching is the latest in my watersports journey called Dockstarting a way to use hydroids in a purely human powered way. No motor, no wind, no nothin.
My first try with a hydrofoil was shortly after we left Hawaii in 2015. I loaded the family in the minivan on a cold and windy April morning, drove from Pittsburgh to Lake Erie, donned a drysuit and attempted to tame the trucking bronco that learning to kitefoil can be. Maybe like some peoples experience learning to drive a manual transmission car. I’ve been hooked since then.
Nine years later and Dockstart pump foiling is the fifth way I’ve learned to ride and enjoy a hydrofoil. If there is a percentage of the brain given to certain things in life I would estimate foiling is taking up about 60% of mine. So cut me some slack the next time I forget to do something or tell a lousy story. I’m barely getting by with all the room hydrofoils are taking up in there.
One minute of flatwater pump foiling was the gold standard of achievement for the first two years or so of the sport. We are now in about year four. While the diehards and talented have moved orders of magnitude beyond that, it’s a great benchmark for me. Session four had 4 runs over a minute! I’m psyched!
👏👏👏💪 Now that IS a WOW!