Right now, at the top of the Myall Lakes on the Barrington Coast, on a partly-cloudy late autumn day, I am about as close to fulfilling a childhood fantasy as I will ever be.
Prone to daydreams as a kid, I often imagined myself taking off on a magic carpet and flying fast and high above the London skyline, where I grew up, in an instant transported from the mundanity of everyday life.
It was a dream that has fuelled a lifetime love of flying, solidified when I first took off for India, at age 18, with rain pelting the plane windows and Riders On The Storm, by The Doors, pulsing through my headphones.
Today, thanks to former science teacher and surfboat rowing champion Mic Evans, and an Australian-developed electric hydrofoil board, I am on my knees, flying across the top of the water like a modern-day Aladdin.
Evans launched GlideTime, the e-foiling business with which I am having this 90-minute adventure, from his Smiths Lake base, near Forster, back in December 2021 with a mission to "take e-foiling to everybody".
He remembers the mix of excitement and dread when he pushed the button on purchasing his first $20,000 e-foil to get the business started, and, like any tourism business during the pandemic, has had lean times over the past two years.
However, as the summer season approaches on the popular Barrington Coast, it seems likely that visitors will be clamouring to try e-foiling on the region's immaculate waters.
Evolved in Byron Bay, the boards Evans teaches clients to use are like a mix of a paddle board or surfboard and a jet ski, with an electric hydro-foil on a long fin underneath, powered by a hand-held Bluetooth-connected throttle.
I hate jet skis, which seem to destroy peace and quiet and fragile ecologies wherever they go, and the only real comparison with e-foils is that both are motorised and can travel fast across the water. These e-foils are, however, way more environmentally friendly. They produce zero emissions, very little wake and are eerily silent when gliding.
With little or no surfing or paddle-boarding experience, poor balance and flexibility and an ancient, creaky heavy-boned body, I am not exactly a natural fit for e-foiling. However, I draw inspiration from GlideTime's former customers, which include a 71-year-old Port Macquarie man who came three days in a row and eventually bought his own e-foil board, and an Italian tourist who called it "the best thing I have ever done on water!"
On the day before I join Evans I diligently watch the instructional video he has sent me multiple times. Then, meeting him at Neranie Head, off the Seal Rocks road at Myall Lakes, I listen intently as he gives a safety briefing and describes how to get from lying on the board, powering it up using the gear and trigger on the hand-held throttle, to kneeling to standing and gliding.
It's all about where to put weight on the board. Too little on the front and it will come too high out of the water and you'll fall off the back. Too much weight on the front and you nosedive.
The most counterintuitive process for me is to keep the speed up while changing from lying to kneeling and, in theory, from kneeling to standing.
I say, in theory, because I never quite make that final transition. Once we are in the water, Evans spends about half an hour trying to help me get the hang of e-foiling before leaving me to play around with it, as he waits patiently in the shallows, watching on.
I fall off about 10 times altogether and am grateful for my buoyancy vest and helmet when I do. However, I do manage to get to my knees several times and on one memorable run glide across the surface of the lake for a whole 60 seconds, at which point I make my first and only attempt to get to my feet, which immediately sends me plunging off the board.
Rome wasn't built in a day. Ageing, inflexible, unfit, would-be Aladdins are not made in 90 minutes. After multiple stacks and the effort of retrieving the board and getting back onto it, I am royally knackered.
I return shamefaced to the shore and expect to find Evans looking frustrated at my incompetence. Instead, he is a vision of Zen, smiling and telling me: "No two people are the same and everybody needs different levels of instruction."
Joining Evans after me this morning are Kate, a grandma in her mid-50s, and two young fellas, Tom, who is celebrating his 29th birthday, and his stepbrother John, and they all take to e-foiling like ducks to water. While Kate and Tom have previous experience and are quickly zooming around the lake, flyweight John is a complete novice and yet is up on his feet, gliding, within about 90 seconds.
I make several notes to myself. Lose some kilos, develop some more upper body strength, do more yoga for flexibility and come back and try again, soon. Today, I have felt something of the buzz of e-foiling and can see why Evans and others find it meditative, flying above the water, without a care in the world.
"People find this very therapeutic," says Evans, "and while it is great for celebrating a special occasion or for couples wanting a different kind of romantic adventure, I've also had someone out here on the day following their dad's death, helping them to process their grief."
Grieving or otherwise, Evans is the kind of larger-than-life coach you want in your corner, steady, reassuring and with an innate sense of fun. To me, e-foiling not only feels like revisiting a childhood fantasy but like a futuristic vision of when our kids and grandkids will all be hovering around, flitting from place to place, on individual air scooters or personal flying machines.
- The writer was a guest of GlideTime and Reflections Holiday Parks
- GlideTime offers 1 person, 90-minute intro glides for $195, 2 people shared experiences, 90 minutes for $350 and 4-person Glide Parties for $420.
- Weekdays: by appointment 7am to sunset. Weekends: morning session from 8am, afternoon from 1.30pm. See: glidetime.com.au or call 0408 625 816.
- Getting there: E-foiling glides are at Neranie Head, Myall Lakes (turn off The Lakes Way heading south toward Seal Rocks, then turn right after 1.3km into Neranie Road, head straight towards Hearts Point). Meet at Hearts Point Boat Ramp, a 1 hour 45 minute drive north of Newcastle.
- Staying there: Reflection Holiday Park, Tuncurry, has superior villas for $266 per night, cabins from $152 per night and powered sites from $61 per night. The park is 40 minutes drive north of Neranie Head. See: reflectionsholidayparks.com.au/book-a-park/parks/tuncurry
