A 15-year-old from Mooloolaba, Queensland, has unofficially set a world record by journeying over 60 kilometers across open ocean on an electric hydrofoil. Malakai Lamby’s remarkable feat was supported by a crew of Coast Guard volunteers, local boaters, and fellow e-foil enthusiasts who joined him at various stages from Golden Beach to Noosa.
“I only saw one Fliteboarder [at Noosa] and I was a bit disappointed, but they all just popped up out of nowhere and there was like 20 of them — it was really crazy,” Malakai recounted.
The Thrill of Hydrofoiling
Hydrofoiling, a burgeoning sport, involves riding a surfboard-like craft equipped with a wing-shaped fin that allows riders to glide above the water’s surface. This unique vantage point offers an exhilarating experience, as Malakai discovered when he encountered dolphins and whales during his Sunday adventure.
“We saw dolphins and two whales — that was really cool,” he said.
Recognition from Flite Australia
While Malakai’s journey wasn’t an official Guinness World Record attempt, Flite Australia, a leading manufacturer of e-foils, has acknowledged his achievement as a new world record for the longest distance traveled on a single battery charge.
“On the new technology, with all the new stuff that’s come out and my weight and ability, I’ve been able to smash out [an extra] 20 kilometers, so the new record is now 67 kilometers,” Malakai explained.
He added, “It was pretty rough so when you get on the back of a wave, you have to use more power. The aim is to not have the board touch the water, so if the board stays out of the water, you use less battery and you can be really efficient and go really far.”
Family Support and Community Involvement
Malakai’s mother, De Lamby, introduced him to hydrofoiling three years ago. She expressed confidence in his safety despite challenging conditions, maintaining communication throughout the journey.
“The current was really playing with where he was going but we had communications with him the whole way,” Ms. Lamby said. “Everything that came into his mind he verbalized, which was quite distressing on the boat because any near miss or ‘I’m going to fall off’, you knew firsthand.”
“I was just like, ‘I hope he makes it’ and he smashed it, he absolutely smashed it,” she proudly stated.
Impact on the Sport
Michael Wallent, an e-foil instructor in Noosa, believes Malakai’s accomplishment will boost the sport’s visibility. “It’s generally Europeans that are doing things like breaking records and trying to ride as fast as they can,” Wallent noted. “To have an Australian and especially a local Sunshine Coast lad doing it, we were all really excited and wanted to get behind him.”
Wallent emphasized the accessibility and learning curve of hydrofoiling. “But it can take a little bit more to master … it’s quite incredible how he [Malakai] rode,” he said. “To conserve battery capacity, you need to what we call ‘fly high’, so keeping the board up off of the water and nice and constant, not too much pitch variation — it’s a pretty impressive feat.”
Future Ambitions
Malakai is already looking ahead to future record attempts, with his mother confident in his potential. “He’s really driven … I wasn’t nagging him to do any of it,” Ms. Lamby said. “It was really easy for me to go, ‘Why not let him do it?’. And it’s good, the community came and rallied behind him.”
As hydrofoiling continues to grow in popularity, Malakai Lamby’s achievement not only highlights the sport’s potential but also inspires a new generation of riders eager to push the boundaries of what’s possible on water.
