Senior Year Box Set

“David,” I said as I shook his hand. “And this is Alex.”

“Good to meet you both. I’m Keelan.”

He looked like a surfer with his long, sun-bleached hair, fit body, and weathered skin. The man looked to be in his forties.

On the dock were two boards, each with the hydrofoil attached to the bottom. The foil had an electric motor with a propeller right above the foil. The board itself wasn’t a full surfboard, but was more of a boogie board in length with the keel attached to the bottom towards the back.

I suspect that Keelan thought he had to explain how everything worked. When he opened the top to show us the lithium battery to power what he’d dubbed ‘the eFoil,’ I stopped him.

“We just want to try it. We don’t care how it works.”

He stopped for a moment and then smiled.

“I sometimes forget my audience. You need to know where the battery is so you can pull it out and charge it. Let me demonstrate it for you, and then you two can get going,” he suggested.

To control the speed of the motor, they had a remote that you strapped to your hand. Keelan rolled one of the boards off the dock and into the water. He’d clearly done this a few times because he just stepped off the dock and had it moving in one fluid motion. I would bet that if I tried that, I would have ended up getting wet for sure.

As soon as he started the motor, the board popped up out of the water. He made a couple of circles as he explained how to stand on the board and where to place your feet.

You rode the eFoil more like a snowboard than a surfboard. You stood up straighter with your chest out and arms wide in what he described as a bear hug. It was intended to help your balance. You also kept your feet closer together and evenly balanced. Your back foot rested either a little in front of the keel or right over it.

He brought the board over to the dock and shut it down. As it settled back into the water, he stepped off onto the pier.

We rolled the other board off the dock, and he gave each of us a controller. Alex tried to duplicate Keelan’s technique of stepping onto the board and promptly tumbled headfirst into the water.

“How long did it take you to learn that little trick?” I asked.

He chuckled.

“When I got sick of being wet half the day as I traveled from shop to shop to do demonstrations, I figured it out pretty fast. The trick is to get your other foot down quickly with even pressure so you don’t tip. Then start the motor. Otherwise, it’s like trying to stand on a surfboard without a wave.”

I followed his advice and stuck my tongue out at Alex when I was able to stay dry. Alex pulled himself up on the back of the board and started the motor. He joined me as we headed down the beach.

◊◊◊

As you can imagine, seeing two guys flying across the water on what looked like floating surfboards caused a stir. We both laughed when we saw people’s reactions. The motors were whisper-quiet, so there was no noise to tell people we were cruising by. You would see them zoning out, catching some rays, and when someone would spot us out of the corner of their eye, it would startle them. Then they would point and tell their friends.

We were the best advertising the surf shop could have had. The battery only lasted about an hour, so by the time we got back, there was a crowd of folks who wanted to go next.

“Looks like we messed up,” I told Alex.

“Yeah. We should have just gone out to sea. I don’t think they’ll let us go again,” he agreed.

Neither one of us could pull off the graceful landing at the dock, so we ended up in the water.

Once we got out, Keelan wanted to talk.

“Although I recognized you, I didn’t realize who you were, if that makes any sense. I was wondering if you would do a testimonial that we could put on our website?”

“It’ll cost you.”

I smiled when I saw him frown.

“I want two of them. One for Alex and one for me,” I explained.

“For that kind of money, I would want to film you riding the board,” Keelan countered.

“He’ll do it,” Alex said.

Since when did he become my agent? Alex opened one of the brochures and showed me how much each eFoil cost. They wanted over ten thousand euros. For that kind of money, I could buy a boat.

“We better do this right and get all the releases and a contract signed. I’ll call my manager and have her work out the details. I can only do it this afternoon since I’ll be flying out tomorrow,” I explained.

“Have her call me.”

We left as I called Lexi. She gave me shit about it being the middle of the night in LA. I reminded her she had the option of going back to working for Chloe, which straightened her out. I don’t think she was too upset; she was just giving me a hard time. Lexi said she would get it taken care of.

Once we reached the car, Alex stopped me.

“I’ll pay you whatever it costs for my board.”

When I’d asked for the boards, I had no idea of how expensive they were. Even though Alex’s family had more money than they knew what to do with, I appreciated that he offered to pick up the tab for his board.