



Motorized board with its inventor.



That's right folks, the $2,000 surfboard; a 10'6': fifty-pound behemoth propelled by two expensive nicad batteries.

Neil Townsend, the creator of Aqua Jet honeycomb surfboards, developed the board for his personal use, because a permanent heart condition would have otherwise entirely ended the 63-year-old Townsend's surfing.



Neil has ridden the board in surf up to ten feet in California and Hawaii.

Powered by a propeller, the board is activated when the rider lays on the control pad, and stops when he stands up.

The board moves forward as fast as a strong paddler can paddle an equivalent-sized board.



At present, the impact of this design is of little consequence on surfing, but as Neil points out; the power cells being developed are lighter, more powerful and cheaper than the ones he is using.

In ten years, his extensive research may payoff for you or me.



And who's to say -one day we may see powered boards at Sunset or Waimea Bay flying through impossible sections on those big, unsurfable offshore days.



Surfer, Volume 22 Number 3 page 58, circa 1982.

