How to make your eFoil come back to you: the Kaper Call technique

However good you get, you will eventually come off. A missed edge in a carve, too much speed or too little, or the board simply cutting out under you. You surface, find your sunglasses, and your eFoil is already a long way off and drifting further in the wind. The Kaper Call is the answer to that moment: you steer the board back to yourself on the throttle instead of swimming after it.

Why the old Kaper Call stopped working

The original version was found by accident on a Lift2 Sport, and it worked well enough to become a party trick. Then came the move to a Lift3 Pro with its taller mast, and the trick stopped working. Two seasons followed with no option but to swim to the board every time, which is worse than it sounds on a windy day when the board drifts faster than you swim. The technique covered in this episode is the replacement, and it is built for tall mast boards rather than adapted to them.

How the new technique works

The demonstration starts with the board thrown out and left to drift, so the starting angle is random, which is what actually happens after a fall. The virtual gear is dropped to a low setting first, well below normal riding gear, so the board responds gently. Then comes a soft squeeze on the trigger, just enough to get the board moving and lift the nose, followed by letting it settle back down. The board pivots as it does this, always turning the same direction, which is put down to prop rotation. As soon as the nose is aimed at you, you back off the throttle. That stops the turn and sinks the hull deeper so it tracks straight to you instead of continuing to arc. Overcook the throttle and it swings past you and you start again. The last part is catching it: kill the throttle well before it arrives so the prop has stopped, then take the nose as it glides in.

Why not just use a tether

The obvious alternative is a lanyard, and the position taken here is firm: tethers do not belong on this sport. When you fall you want the board going one way and yourself going the other, because there is a spinning prop involved. A line between you and a heavy board moving at speed is a way to feed something into that prop, whether that is the tether, the motor, or you. The Kaper Call solves the same problem with nothing attached to you at all, and it gets you riding again faster than a swim would. The episode closes with a homemade solar powered foot washing station for keeping sand off the dock.

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Keep watching

0:57The Kaper Call: how to bring a runaway eFoil back to you5:20Kaper Call: the three step trick that ends the swim after a fall2:55Switch stance on an eFoil: jumping to goofy and back mid ride16:37How to Carve on an eFoil: Speed, Body Position and the S-Turn

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