Hydrofoiling History

Hydrofoils have been used on different watercrafts for nearly 100 years. They have been used on engine driven watercrafts, sailboats, human powered boats, windsurfers, wakeboards, and our favorite waterski(s).

The first hydrofoil boat dates back to 1906 designed and built by the Italian Inventor, Enrico Forlanini. The foil design was made from the classic "Ladder" type construction, which has multiple struts coming down with multiple wings between them.

In the early 1960's, Walter Woodward, an aeronautical engineer from Massachusetts, developed the first "waterski" hydrofoil. This was the beginning of towed hydrofoiling. Woodward partnered with Lucas Emmanuell, a Harvard Business graduate, and patented the hydrofoil water skis. They established Cosmo Dynamics that would market their product as the Dynaflite Hydrofoil. The Hydrofoil consisted of two regular water skis with two struts attached to each ski with a bi-wing design. After 20 years the Dynaflite Hydrofoil vanished as a marketable product.

So how did the hydrofoils popularity come back? Mike Murphy's water ski pro shop on the Colorado became the place where the Dynaflite Hydrofoil was put to the test in the 1970's. As a hot dog enthusiast Murphy began testing the Hydrofoil's capabilities and limitations by skiing them in a slalom course and attempting to jump out of the water.

Mike Murphy and Henry Buxton took Emmanuell's design, strengthened the foil assembly and increased performance by improving the foil profile for less drag.

Mike Murphy and Bud Holst in 1972 developed the kneeboard. Mike came up with the idea that if he took the hydrofoil and put it on a kneeboard, it would solve the problem of kneeboards rough ride.

Mike Murphy and Bob Woolley designed a new prototype by taking the foil assembly based on Emmanuell's design and attaching it to a kneeboard. They changed the design by replacing the bi-wing design with a single wing foil.

There was a major draw back to the hydrofoil kneeboard, in that it was very hard on your ankles after long rides. From all the prototype riding Bob had been doing he was starting to have nerve damage to his ankles. The thought came to Bob that if there was a seat to sit on with foot bindings, maximum comfort could be achieved without damage to your legs and a lower center of gravity. Bob Woolley applied the concept of the "Sit Ski" and developed a hydrofoil with a seat and two skis. It used the double strut design with skis that were stationary versus the articulated Skis on the "Sit Ski". This was the major turning point for the modern day hydrofoils.

After getting blasted with water from the center of the skis, Mike came up with the idea to have Bob move the skis together so that the wash from the spray would be off to the sides of the ski. In addition, they changed the hydrofoil from a double strut to a single strut. This design eventually became a single ski with a single strut.

When Mike would fall, the foil would hit him and he decided that he would not ride a hydrofoil until they added a seat belt to it. At about this time Mike Mack was developing the "Mackstrap", a heel strap used on a hot dog slalom ski that did not make it to the market. This strap was used on the hydrofoil prototype to help keep the rider's feet from coming out. These two additions were the final necessary steps in making the sit-down hydrofoil safe for riders.

At this point, Air Chair was formed to put hydrofoils into production. With Bob Woolley and Mike Murphy's name on the patent, they started a corporation called RBM (Robert, Brad, and Mike) to manufacture the Air Chair. The foils were made of cast aluminum and powder coated. The boards were fiberglass with foam core pressed at the HO factory. Riders began to modify these early foils by stripping the powder coating off, filing the edges and polishing the foil to improve performance. Winglets were added to the front wing to provide for more lift. Thin pads were added to the seats to maximize friction so the rider would not slip as easily. Double locking Velcro seat belts were used to "cinch" down the rider into the seat. The foils would move back and forth in the seat tower because it was bolted from the top of the foil, so many riders would thru-bolt the foil into the seat tower. Shims were added to modify the lift. Many of these improvements would be incorporated into future foil designs.

For more information visit www.hydrofoil.org