eFoil safety with guests on a yacht: protective gear, briefing and distances

Every guest on an eFoil should wear an impact vest and a helmet, plus a wetsuit if the water is cool, and keep at least 50 metres from swimmers, bathing areas and boats, including the yacht's own tender. The most common injuries are cuts from the foil wing in a fall, not the motor.

The practical advice in this guide comes from E-SURFER, which began in 2017 as the first blog and YouTube channel about electric surfboards and has tested eFoils and taught hundreds of beginners ever since. Disclosure: E-SURFER is the trading name of Lakeberg GmbH, which publishes Toys & Crew and sells eFoils from Aerofoils, Lift Foils and Awake.

What are the real risks on an eFoil?

In E-SURFER's experience, three risks matter most:

• The foil. The carbon wing has sharp edges, and in a fall it comes close to the rider. Cuts from the foil are the most common injury in the sport.
• Cold water. Hypothermia and cold shock in open water, especially after a long swim back to the board.
• Collisions with swimmers, boats or obstacles.

Most incidents happen to beginners in their first hours, when falls are most frequent. The drive is a second-order risk but still worth checking: many eFoils have an open propeller, while some use an enclosed jet that has no exposed blades. eFoils have no classic kill cord; instead, the motor stops as soon as the remote loses its radio link to the board after a fall.

What protective gear should guests wear?

E-SURFER treats the helmet as mandatory, not optional, and finds a vest alone not enough in cold water.

What should crew tell guests on the swim platform?

A short briefing before the first ride covers most of what goes wrong. Derived from E-SURFER's safety guide:

1. Check before launch: battery level and remaining range, and that mast and foil sit firmly.
2. Start slowly: lying first, then kneeling, then standing. Use the remote's beginner mode if the board has one.
3. Plan the way back: turn round with half the battery left, not with the last bar.
4. Keep 50 metres from swimmers, bathing areas, jetties and boats, including the yacht and the tender.
5. After a fall: do not turn straight back to the board, which may still be moving towards you. Wait two or three seconds, then look for it.
6. Never alone: someone on board or in the tender keeps an eye on the rider.

When should guests not ride?

Not in thunderstorms, fog, strong wind or twilight. An offshore wind can push a rider with an empty battery away from the yacht. In strong current, strong wind or waves over one metre, the rider should wear an eFoil leash so the board cannot drift away; in calm water, E-SURFER leaves the leash off because it gets in the way.

Where eFoils may ride at all depends on the country and often on the bay. Our port guides cover the local rules for the Balearics, the Côte d'Azur, Italy, Croatia and the Caribbean.

What should crew do with a damaged battery?

Take the battery out of use at any sign of cracks, swelling, smell, smoke or unusual heat, and after a hard fall. Stop charging immediately and contact the manufacturer's service. Before every ride, check the plugs and pins for sand, corrosion and bent contacts. On a yacht, battery storage, charging and fire response follow their own rules, set out in our guide to lithium batteries on yachts.

Further reading: eFoil – The Complete Guide, a book on buying, learning and riding an eFoil, written for beginners and yacht owners by our editor Andreas Lakeberg (Amazon).

Sources

Practical advice is based on E-SURFER's published guides and experience since 2017; rules link to official sources via our port guides and our guide to lithium batteries on yachts.