“Imagine rolling into a Pe’ahi mega-bomb from way out the back, all at the slight pull of that funny little trigger.”
The way of progress is neither swift nor easy, said Marie Curie, and the gal worked herself to death so it’s fair to agree with her little pearl. But now there’s the Ravik to counter the old tart.
Easy is indeed the way with the newly released Ravik “jetboard” series by Awake.
The sub-forty-pound, fifty-liter electric plank pushes a top speed of thirty-six mph, zipping riders in and out of waves as fast as they can squeeze the grip.
“Everyone can surf,” the slogan reads.
It’s easy. But is it the future?
Clumsy electric boards and e-foils have been chauffeuring the aged, weak, and weird along for some time. But the Ravik represents a genuine progression, wanting to reshape the definition of surfing itself. Absent is the massive aero plane on the bottom, replaced with reasonably compact propulsion between its twin fins. The carbon fiber v-bottom glues it to the water.
Awake offers tutorials on how to carve, ollie, and even cross-step. At first glance, I’m disgusted. The electric board shortcuts the lifetime of work for the dedicated surfer.
I show the Ravik to Katie McConnell who, like me, is tempted to dismiss the thing as an affront to the toy sport we know as surfing. It’s ludicrous, after all. Twelve grand for an electric surfboard. But after a little slow thinking, she warms.
McConell, the brilliant thirty-six-year-old winner of last year’s Todos Santos contest and Nazaré hotshot, thinks that the Ravik’s iteration is only the beginning. She wonders “if we pulled in the tail, sharpened the rails, upgraded the fins, and enhanced the jet? Could they rip?”
Watch the videos and you might be pulled in, too.
“What about big waves?” she asks. “Imagine integrating the tow and the surfing into a streamlined electric surfboard experience— connecting Nazaré pyramids all the way across Praia do Norte, or rolling into a Pe’ahi mega-bomb from way out the back, all at the slight pull of that funny little trigger.”
Big wave prince Nic Lamb agrees with McConnell.
“I imagine we will see some incredible rides,” Nic says. “And perhaps a few deaths.”
Lamb, if nothing, is balanced.
He’s juiced up to shove a Ravik under his feet but also aware of the board’s potential to cause chaos in lineups, ten foot or silly two to three. Inexperienced dancers on the ballroom floor collide, after all. But he’s shy about an outright blackball ban.
“There are already too many rules. If you’re scared, stay inside. Riders should use common sense and stay clear of surfers in the lineup,” Lamb figures.
McConnell lends a deeper analysis of the future when I ask her about the possible emergence of these little devils.
“Realistically, our relationship with this new technology will evolve naturally through trial and error. While lineups often resemble anything but a peaceful and harmonious coexistence, there does seem to be a universal golden rule in surfing: pedestrians have the right of way. Surely, that’ll apply to electric surfboards, too, and paddlers will have priority.”
It’s cute to believe in natural law.
But people want easy. Can afford easy.
It’s likely that within a few years, we’ll see tighter and lighter electric boards like the Ravik scrambling around the morning glass like window flies.
The Ravik opens at ten thousand, seemingly out of range for the common man. (In fairness, Awake throws in a free leash, making it convenient to quietly retrieve it from someone’s ribs.) The special edition sells for eighteen and is already sold out. But dropping cake on machines like these, once reserved for fat-walleted dandies, ain’t so unimaginable anymore. We now pay top dollar for anything with a battery.
Look at the mountain bike industry. Just a few years ago, e-mtbs were a silly novelty, ridden by doughy goofs whirring through the trees. In 2020, less than a million sold. Last year? Over four million rolled out of bike shops. And projections show that by 2030, e-mtbs will top twelve billion. That’s double the current six. And the average sticker price on an e-mtb is around ten large.
I’ve got nine grand of pedal-powered carbon fiber hanging off my tailgate right now. In five years, it’ll be in a museum. It’ll be like a pocket watch, an art piece.
It’s estimated that even this year forty per cent of all mountain bike sales this year will be electric/retarded.
Put your wheels on any trail and you’ll find line of middle-aged cruisers throwing ignorant elbows as they pass you on the uphill. Fortunately, it’s tough to drown in the woods.
I’d like to stand planted in the purest idea of surfing: men and women floating on foam, waiting in turn to slide across the water. But after seeing what’s possible I’m dropping norms for Nietzsche.
If I’m still moving at seventy, can’t spring to my feet, and I have the means for a Ravik, I’ll be the first one flying down the line, dentures clenched, hand in the wave, spray shooting across my withered sticks and leathered face. I won’t even think about you bobbing and scratching for leftovers. It’ll be easy.
But what do you think?
Will electric surfboards like the Ravik begin flooding the water?
Should they stick to the flats?
More importantly, you want one?
