Lift Foils CEO Interview: Which eFoil To Buy, LiftX or Lift5

Nick Leason co-founded Lift Foils and designs every wing the company sells. In this conversation he answers the things riders actually argue about in the parking lot: which board is really selling, what he puts a brand new rider on, whether the battery adapter is worth owning, and how much he will say about what comes next.

What Lift is actually selling

The Lift5 is still the bulk of the business, and the mid size deck is the one moving, because it sits between sporty and forgiving without committing you to either. The Blowfish sells alongside it in volume. The LiftX is newer and arrived late in its launch year, so this is the first full season riders have really met it. Leason expects that category to keep growing and says it is where most of his development effort is going.

The board he puts new riders on

He teaches on a LiftX 54. It is easier to carry to the water, easier for a beginner to handle once they are on it, and he says new riders catch waves on their first run. On the larger decks he starts people on a Sport rather than a Pro. The Pro wants to raise its nose during the start, and a first timer has to get that timing right before anything else about the board matters.

The adapter, and the two board quiver

A Lift5 converts into something close to a LiftX with the battery adapter, the smaller battery and the lighter propulsion. One deck then covers both long fast days and short playful ones. The quiver that came out of the conversation: a Pro with a Blowfish to learn on, a full size battery for distance, then the adapter and the small battery for the loose sessions. Add the folding propeller and you have the last piece.

Why the folding prop matters

The folding prop is what lets you come off the throttle and keep flying. Leason treats it as the route into riding the energy of the water rather than the motor, and the practical argument is that a failed attempt costs you nothing. You power back up, put yourself in position, and let off again. The smaller the wave, the closer your wing needs to be to the surface, because that is where the lift is coming from.

Wings, and the one he rides

The 92 Havoc is his favorite in the current public lineup. The 105 sits close to the old 100 that a lot of riders liked, so it fills that gap, and the 120 is a step down in lift from the 148. The Camber Pro 160 is not returning as a catalog item, though he floated a legacy page carrying a small stock of discontinued wings. In the larger sizes his own pick is the Grub 150: narrower in span, looser on the tips, and thin through the water.

The sharper point here is about your wing, not his. If you are still riding what shipped in your kit and you are a few months in, you are probably on the wrong one. The usual move as you improve is down in size and up in speed.

On what comes next

There is no next generation announcement in this one. Leason says the Lift5 and LiftX platform is still new, took years to build, and that he is refining it rather than replacing it: the apps, the throttle modulation, the wings. He also says components bought into that architecture today should keep benefiting from what gets added later, which is the practical answer if you are deciding whether to buy now or wait.

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