Chasing Silence: My New Sport at 66

I'm 66 years old, and I just added a new toy to the garage that most people my age wouldn't touch: a Waydoo Evo Pro Plus efoil. I'm officially the newest, oldest rookie in the efoiling game — and honestly, that's part of the fun.

So... what the heck is an efoil?

Picture a surfboard. Now imagine it has an electric motor and propeller mounted on a hydrofoil — basically an underwater "wing" — hanging beneath it on a mast. As the board picks up speed, that wing generates lift, just like an airplane wing does in the air. Once you hit a certain speed, the entire board lifts up out of the water and you're gliding a couple feet above the surface on nothing but that submerged foil.

No waves needed. No wind needed. No paddling. You control your speed with a handheld wireless remote, and the board's onboard battery and motor do the rest. The result feels less like surfing and more like flying — silent, smooth, and weirdly close to levitating.

Quick Glossary

• Hydrofoil (foil): The underwater wing-shaped structure that generates lift as the board moves.

• Mast: The vertical strut connecting the board to the foil below the surface.

• Pump-out: When the foil breaches the water's surface and loses lift — usually from too much speed or a bad angle, and you drop back down.

• Prone-to-standing: The typical learning progression — most riders start lying or kneeling on the board before working up to standing.

• Wireless throttle/remote: The handheld controller that manages speed instead of paddling or wind.

Why an efoil, why now

At 66, if there's ever a time to try something that makes you feel like a kid discovering flight for the first time, it's now. Efoiling doesn't demand the years of paddle-and-wait patience that traditional surfing does — you can be up and gliding in your first few sessions. It's low-impact on the joints, it's genuinely thrilling, and there's something great about starting something brand new instead of just managing what's familiar.

Why the Waydoo Evo Pro Plus specifically

I'll do a deeper gear-focused post once I've logged more hours on it, but the short version: it's built with beginners and everyday riders in mind — reasonably compact, straightforward to set up, and forgiving enough for someone learning the balance and throttle control for the first time — at any age.

What's next on this page

I'll be chronicling the whole learning curve here — first wobbly attempts, first real flights, gear tweaks, lessons learned, and (hopefully) some good crash stories. Follow along.