New here and discovered efoiling a few weeks back.
I was getting super excited at the thought of building my own inspired by all the amazing builds here (what a great comunity) and also excited to go try one locally as I found they have some Lift efoils to try.
Tried to book a session but could not, so I called and they explained that they were doing it in 2019 and Transport Canada shut them down. Now Lift is working with them to modify their propulsion system only for Canada on these 3 points:
1- Make it a jet (turbine) that cannot injure someone
2- Have an automatic kill switch like PWR or s Jet-Ski
3- Have throttle(remote) wired to the board as it is illegal to ride, fly or drive a radio controlled craft in Canada. Having a wireless remote would qualify as radio controlled.
They consider this a water craft with same liabilities as a boat.
Now my bubble is popped because I cannot fathom the thought of loosing all that efficiency with a jet drive.
Boohoo.
Darned government
Sorry if the thread is not in the right section…
What I’m about to say doesn’t apply to everything in life but… It’s only illegal if you get caught… I’m sure you could find a quiet lake somewhere to ride peacefully!
So electric skateboards are illegal too? Because of the wireless remote?
And can you not have a small boat in Canada. Like an inflatable boat with a outboard motor? Because that’s basically what a efoil board is. I’m in Hawaii in the USA and my e-foil board is registered as a electric boat.
I’m well aware of this unfortunate regulation… however, I’m pushing close to 400 hours ride time on the water in Ontario, 4 run ins with OPP, RCMP, and city police… with Zero issues… I’ve been asked about horse power, checked if I had a whistle and life jacket, reminded to stay farther than 100 (feet or meters??) away from shore if going over 10kmh. Thats the extent of my issues with the water authorities. If you approach them with a smile and friendly discussion %95 of the time they’ll send you on your way. ♂
That’s great to hear but if those officers knew the regulations they would probably confiscate your board and give you a fine. Apparently a guy in BC got his confiscated
Highly unlikely… especially confiscating of the board… but yes… possible…I wish I knew the full story about the guy in BC, but we can only speculate as to how it went down. From my experience with please no matter what the situation if your plates and not confrontational 99% of the time things will go your way. I have zero issues risking a potential fine in exchange for the pleasure enjoyment I get on a daily basis throughout the summer. Once Efoil is across Canada start putting pressure on the transportation authority things will change, it’s just a matter of time.
@Flightjunkie, I’m no regulation expert but I guess the problem is a mix of bad regulations, colusion and corruption. For Transport Canada, it seems to be over regulation. They claim that since we have a national health care system, they need to regulate more than in the US because because in the US, people pay for their own health insurance. This is why you don’t see DIY cars, airplanes or other DIY transportation devices here as in the US.
Here are a few examples of supid regulations and collusion:
Montreal is (I think) the only city that has banned e-scooter rentals such as Lime. They had a pilot project last year but forced all users to ware helmets??? Of course nobody wore them so they issued a bunch of 700$ fines and then banned them all together at the end of 2019. Now some people have their own but are always at risk of falling on a police officer who does not like that.
The reason for this that nobody talks about is that people of power in the city council have vested interests in the company Bixi who rent out bicycles throughout the city and they don’t want competition.
Another example but from Transport Canada is that many cars need modifications for the Canadian market. One of those modifications is that they test an impact at 5KMH and no damage at all is tolerated. Because of this, when the prices of Lotus Elise cars were super cheap in the US, I was not allowed to import one. Only the Canadian specific ones are allowed.
For any boat or personal watercraft, they need a ‘‘Transport Canada’’ plate to be legally sold here. They thus need to be approved.
Bottom line is that I might take the chance and build my own but knowing that there is always a risk pisses me off
I have built and sold many custom efoils here in Canada. My wife and I ride ours every chance we get. The guy who got arrested here in Vancouver was not actually given a fine or charged with a crime. His board was confiscated but given back. Was was warned to stay out of False creek because of the 7 km speed limit.
If you have a vested interest in the Transport Canada restrictions being updated/lifted, please join our Canadian eFoil private Facebook group where there’s details on a grassroots letter-writing campaign to the govt ahead of the upcoming Nov 12 Transport Canada / CMAC meeting, where this will hopefully be reviewed: Redirecting...
If you don’t use Facebook you can email efoilcanada@googlegroups.com and you’ll get a response with details on how to help out.
♂
