Lift Faceplant Syndrome: why your eFoil cuts out and how to fix it

You are riding well, everything is fine, and then the board stops dead and you are in the water facing the wrong way. You swim back and it works perfectly. It does not happen again for days, and then it happens with an audience. That is Lift Faceplant Syndrome, and the maddening part has always been the inconsistency, which is exactly what makes it hard to diagnose.

The cause: a very small amount of water

The conclusion reached here, after testing with a group of other riders, is that it comes down to water inside the battery compartment, and in some older boards water entering through a crack in the nose. It takes far less than people assume. Water sits in the crevice around the closed lid, and the moment you open the board to swap a battery it runs inside and settles at the lowest point, right where the mast attaches. Bank and carve hard enough and that small amount sloshes onto the antenna. The board reads the momentary transmission loss as a controller underwater and kills the prop, which is a sensible safety behaviour and also the reason you are suddenly swimming.

The fix, in about ten minutes

You need sandpaper somewhere between 320 and 400 grit, two clean dry paper towels and a silicone based personal lubricant. Before opening the board at all, tilt it on its side so the water sitting in the seam pours off rather than in. Clean the gasket thoroughly so there is no sand or grit in it. Then run a finger around the edge of the board where it meets the gasket: any roughness there, often from a stray grain of sand, stops the lid sealing properly. Sand those rough patches smooth, wet sanding to keep the dust down, then rinse everything before closing the board. Finally coat the gasket with the silicone lubricant, which keeps the rubber pliable, fills the small grooves and makes water bead away rather than sit. If the gasket seam itself is misaligned, a drop of silicone caulk on either side of the join has fixed a persistently leaking board.

Safety and how to confirm it worked

Do not breathe epoxy dust. Wet sand, work outdoors, and wear a mask if you are doing much of it, because dust that settles indoors gets airborne again later. The test afterwards is simple: put one dry paper towel in the lowest part of the compartment before you ride, and check it when you come in. If it comes out bone dry, you have solved the water ingress, and if the faceplants have stopped with it, that was your cause. If it comes out dry and the board still cuts out, the problem is something else. Resist the temptation to crank the hinges down harder, which is what most people try, when the actual issue is a small gap in the gasket or the fit between battery and board.

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