GREAT-3(6) Reso 23-183 RESOLUTION 23-183, RELATING TO APPROVING FOR INCLUSION IN THE 2024 HAWAII STATE ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES LEGISLATIVE PACKAGE A STATE BILL RELATING TO MOTORIZED WATERCRAFTS (GREAT-3(6))
If E Foil is being banned or considered thrill craft you should do the same with your local wholy surfing, as the board or the fins can hurt the surfers, swimmers and/or snoklers. 2020ies the decade of forbiding.
This is a dangerous commercial activity that needs regulation or banned. Most tourist dont know what a dive flag is either and would not know it means someone is in the water as they zoom along w a underwater sword.
Please keep our beaches for swimmers, young and old! Please keep as distant as possible or entirely gone any commercial opportunists who put money before people so no scythes, motors, endanger any wildlife or folks. Surfers and windsurfers let swimmers be, why can't the non-commercial foil folk find somewhere else- Kanaha or Windmills or Ukemehame? Beaches for swimmers!
Aloha
I’m a Maui county lifeguard stationed in west Maui and I fully support banning commercial e-foil operations because it’s a safety hazard to swimmers and prevents local fisherman from casting lines. Please ban commercial operations.
Mahalo
I have been active in waters of Maui for 30+ years, and using an e-foil in these same waters for the past three years. I very much oppose Resolution 23-183 reclassifying e-foils as thrill crafts. E-foils are safe, quiet, generally limited to 17 mph and run on electricity. I just found out that this bill had been introduced 15 minutes ago. If there are specific issues being presented by e-foiling, the e-foil community would love to understand them and help address these issues.
Please keep our most popular beaches safe for swimmers and snorkelers. Do not give out permits allowing motorize foil boards to be rented or used in Kaanapali.
EFoil Hawaii is a business with a management team constantly evolving health and safety for its staff, guests and everyone around us. We have completed the only controlled sound test for whales and build advanced protocol for whale safety. Where we completely stop and never go in there direction. We have contacted monk seal teams to set up perimeters for their safety. None of our guests ever operate around any sea life and we explain the importance about giving aquatic animals. The respect they deserve. With over half an hour of professional instruction on ride technique and safety our guests are our priority, and their experience is in the forefront. Our team members are all boat certified in CPR certified. We have also done several ocean rescues for young people on paddleboard’s that get swept away by Highwinds. So anywhere E-Foil Hawaii is lifeguards are on site with marine radios connected directly to Coast Guard. Our team members are experience, water, men and women, with decades of love and respect for the ocean and the people of Hawaii. We strive to set the standard for safe operations on an Efoil through our company and have even educated private owners. Our hopes are to create a safety certification class given by E-Foil Hawaii to certify a rider for safe operations here in Hawaii. Then with that certification, it can be presented to DLNR for registration. We set up boundary lines in the ocean while doing lessons and guests can not pass that line. What we’re doing it at E-Foil Hawaii is under complete control and will never allow to be drop under a certain standard. We have extended free rides for several community members in order to show that standard and professionalism, and we ask if anybody wants to know how we operate and see it with their own eyes calm down take a free ride or just hang out with us and you’ll see that what you’re reading and social media is far from what we do at E-Foil Hawaii. I Rafael Rivera stand behind E-Foil Hawaii and its team and will continue to share the experience and education here in Hawaii as long as possible. We welcome all challenges and opportunities to grow together. We appreciate everyone’s time and consideration, and giving us the opportunity to do this in the first place.
I’ve been windsurfing, surfing, diving, fishing, skimming, body surfing, swimming, boating, and jet skiing in Maui Coastal Waters for over 35 years. I’ve also been efoiling in the same waters for the past three years. I strongly oppose Resolution 23-183 (formerly bill 1900HB, which was struck down) classifying an efoil as a thrill craft / in the same category as a jet ski, as it is illogical based on the following reasoning. An efoil is whisper quiet, creates no wake, weighs 60 lbs., averages 15 knots, and has an electric 5-hp motor. In contrast, a jet ski weighs 750 lbs., is capable of speeds of 65 knots, and has a gas-powered 300+ hp motor. Furthermore, by this same logic, boats would also fall into this thrill craft category.
If efoilers are creating a safety or marine concern, we need to address the issue, not just ban them or reclassify them as a thrill craft. Why not educate efoilers, have them take a boater’s safety course, or create an efoil safety course. There’s no reason an efoil can’t safely operate just like any other vessel in Hawaii. Educate, don’t discriminate.
Can you provide factual evidence/cases of people / marine life being struck by efoilers?
Is there factual evidence pertaining to efoils causing underwater noise pollution? Harm to whales, dolphins, turtles, corals spawning,………?
If the bill doesn’t fit your agenda, is it right to just change the definition? Just because someone doesn’t agree with you, doesn’t mean they are wrong.
Why is it that those who oppose this bill are only finding out about it hours before the testimony, while the ones who support the bill seem to have known about it for quite some time based on all the supporting responses?
We need to wake up and stop the insanity. Are we really that naïve that the real reason for this bill is an ulterior motive? Why are we trying to prevent the advancement & growth of green technology? Share the ocean with all who embrace it! Stop the fear-mongering and share the aloha.
In my opinion, while well intentioned, I don't believe this proposal solves the problem. Also, its reasoning is poor because I think it is focused on achieving what would be a poor result.
MISTAKES & PROBLEMATIC REASONING
"speeds of up to 30mph"
- It is *possible* to go as fast as 30mph on an eFoil, but one would need to be extremely light (around 100lbs), in perfect conditions, have a high speed foil on, and be an outstanding rider. In my experience typical speeds are between 15mph and 20mph in the vast majority of cases.
"The legislature recognizes that non-motorized hydrofoils cannot reach speeds comparable to motorized hydrofoils"
- This is false. Windsurfers, kite foils and wing-foils regularly reach speeds between 20mph and 30mph. These are non-motorized craft. And are presumably just as, or more, dangerous than an efoil. For example kite-foilers also have the issue of the lines which can get wrapped up with other kiter's lines, come into contact with wing-foilers, etc. Kiters and wingers are powered by the wind. It's much more difficult to control one's direction and speed because the wind is a variable power source. An electric engine is not.
e-foils "pose much higher risk of injury to others because they are difficult to use and can reach speeds of up to 30 miles per hour"
- Higher than what? This should be established so we can put the regulation of eFoils in context. Higher than kite-foils? I doubt that. Higher than wing foils? Higher than windsurfers? Higher than surfing? These are *all* injury prone sports. The government is entitled to regulate as it pleases. However, reasoning such as this makes it appear that eFoils are being singled out for some reason. A better argument would show evidence that eFoils where MORE dangerous than the unregulated wing-foiling, kiting, kite-foiling, windsurfing, etc. That has not been done. How many efoil accidents are there in general? How many eFoilers are there? How many are there in comparison to kiting? Or windsurfing? It's important to have perspective on the magnitude of the issue. Again, no evidence is provided rather the problem is asserted as being true without first proving that is.
"similar to other motorized watercrafts, e-foils emit sound that may cause underwater noise pollution and cause harm to whales and other marine life"
Actually they aren't that similar. eFoils are very quiet and the most recent versions (2023) are *extremely* quiet. I can barely hear them even at tops speeds. eFoils have electric engines and not gasoline powered engines. Think the amount of noise a Tesla/Leaf/etc makes in comparison to any internal combustion engine automobile. Or boat! In addition, many foil designs used in wing-foiling and kite-foiling also make a sound when they are at speed. To me it sounds like a med-high pitched hum. Likely it is the sound of the water flowing over the foil. This sound is certainly as noisy if not more noisy than the sound that eFoils make. Regardless, there is absolutely no evidence provided that harm is being caused to marine life. And if this were the case, you would need to regulate almost all internal combustion engines near to shore as they are *MUCH* louder than efoils even at idling speeds.
So what is the actual problem? I believe it's inexperienced efoilers zipping around in areas with paddlers (canoe and otherwise) making them anxious and uncomfortable, especially when the efoilers fall, or worse, collide with someone nearby. This seems like a legitimate complaint! But it's not really a different situation than one we encounter when we surf, wing-foil, or kite-foil. The solution to the problem is to create a culture of respect and care. it is to make sure that people are properly trained and have the adequate skills necessary before engaging in a sport in an area where people can be hurt. On the surf line up, surfers are quick to spot kooks who shouldn't be there, tell them to go, and invite them to discuss it in the parking lot if they won't! Not that I recommend that, but it does work. Kiters and wingers often have beginner areas where newbs are strongly encouraged to go (the Harbor or Kooks Beach for example). These are practical solutions that recognize that we all need to get along, people should be allowed to learn and enjoy new sports, but they need to get good and practice in a safe area where chances of hurting themselves or other people are minimized.
eFoils are motorized, so I wouldn't think it unreasonable to have folks take a boater's safety course. Pass a test, written and practical. That sort of thing. Haven't most of us wished at some point that *all* boaters had to take a practical test just like automobile drivers? *That* is a practical solution. I think it would be important to license people to train eFoilers and certify them. Perhaps along the line as we do with divers. Ideas of this nature all seem like practical solutions. The proposal here: poorly argued, doesn't address the problem, punitive in nature, etc. Really it seems like the author would prefer there to be no eFoilers at all! Classifying them as thrill craft, with all the restrictions therein, in practical terms makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to enjoy an eFoil on the island. If that is the actual goal, better to just outlaw them. The government can, after all, regulate as it sees fit.
As an eFoiler, kite foiler, and wing foiler, it is not much different. Riders have no interest in being near regular surfers or swimmers. Coexisting is more than reasonable here, mahalo
eFoils are safe, silent, electric powered with no wake, no exhaust, and zero harm to nature. Dolphins and wildlife love us, we always float alongside many!
Please ban EFoils. They are dangerous and prevent me from shoreline casting on the beach in front of the Royal Lahaina Hotel. Maui doesn’t need more commercial activities consuming our beaches.
I oppose this resolution for a lot of the same reasons as others but also want to share that efoiling has brought back to me my younger years of surfing in Hawaii. At 64 My body doesn't want to work the way it used to. Efoiling has me and my wife back in the water observing at all the water life (that does not bolt away) and catching the wave bumps safely outside of surf breaks. So Much Fun.
I’m strongly against this resolution. Using an efoil or any board type sport on the water has its dangers to others in the water. It is us as surfers who are paying attention to our surroundings, to make sure we don’t slide our fins over someone’s head or back. A driver in a vehicle has to be cautious of his surroundings to watch for pedestrians. Please don’t ban a sport because of it being so foreign. Allow people to make good judgments as it has already been shown. I know some lively hoods depend on the operation of efoils. I hope aloha can be shown. Mahalo.
Robert Perkins:
I oppose putting efoils in the “Thrill Craft” category. They create no noise pollution, and as with all ocean activities, they can be exhillarating and provide great outdoor excercise, when used with common sense and safety guideline. Perhaps some safety protocol, such as approved efoil locations and use times makes sense, so that all who enjoy our beautiful waters may partike in the wide variety of activities which make Hawaii such a wonderful and unique destination in the world.
If E Foil is being banned or considered thrill craft you should do the same with your local wholy surfing, as the board or the fins can hurt the surfers, swimmers and/or snoklers. 2020ies the decade of forbiding.
This is a dangerous commercial activity that needs regulation or banned. Most tourist dont know what a dive flag is either and would not know it means someone is in the water as they zoom along w a underwater sword.
Please keep our beaches for swimmers, young and old! Please keep as distant as possible or entirely gone any commercial opportunists who put money before people so no scythes, motors, endanger any wildlife or folks. Surfers and windsurfers let swimmers be, why can't the non-commercial foil folk find somewhere else- Kanaha or Windmills or Ukemehame? Beaches for swimmers!
Please support the regulations regarding motorized thrillcraft. Mahalo, Chris Breckels, Lahaina
I am afraid of the thrill craft harming people in the ocean, the county has a responsibility to protect the people from this greedy industry!
Yes to regulate this activity as a thrilll craft
Aloha
I’m a Maui county lifeguard stationed in west Maui and I fully support banning commercial e-foil operations because it’s a safety hazard to swimmers and prevents local fisherman from casting lines. Please ban commercial operations.
Mahalo
I have been active in waters of Maui for 30+ years, and using an e-foil in these same waters for the past three years. I very much oppose Resolution 23-183 reclassifying e-foils as thrill crafts. E-foils are safe, quiet, generally limited to 17 mph and run on electricity. I just found out that this bill had been introduced 15 minutes ago. If there are specific issues being presented by e-foiling, the e-foil community would love to understand them and help address these issues.
Mahalo
Please keep our most popular beaches safe for swimmers and snorkelers. Do not give out permits allowing motorize foil boards to be rented or used in Kaanapali.
EFoil Hawaii is a business with a management team constantly evolving health and safety for its staff, guests and everyone around us. We have completed the only controlled sound test for whales and build advanced protocol for whale safety. Where we completely stop and never go in there direction. We have contacted monk seal teams to set up perimeters for their safety. None of our guests ever operate around any sea life and we explain the importance about giving aquatic animals. The respect they deserve. With over half an hour of professional instruction on ride technique and safety our guests are our priority, and their experience is in the forefront. Our team members are all boat certified in CPR certified. We have also done several ocean rescues for young people on paddleboard’s that get swept away by Highwinds. So anywhere E-Foil Hawaii is lifeguards are on site with marine radios connected directly to Coast Guard. Our team members are experience, water, men and women, with decades of love and respect for the ocean and the people of Hawaii. We strive to set the standard for safe operations on an Efoil through our company and have even educated private owners. Our hopes are to create a safety certification class given by E-Foil Hawaii to certify a rider for safe operations here in Hawaii. Then with that certification, it can be presented to DLNR for registration. We set up boundary lines in the ocean while doing lessons and guests can not pass that line. What we’re doing it at E-Foil Hawaii is under complete control and will never allow to be drop under a certain standard. We have extended free rides for several community members in order to show that standard and professionalism, and we ask if anybody wants to know how we operate and see it with their own eyes calm down take a free ride or just hang out with us and you’ll see that what you’re reading and social media is far from what we do at E-Foil Hawaii. I Rafael Rivera stand behind E-Foil Hawaii and its team and will continue to share the experience and education here in Hawaii as long as possible. We welcome all challenges and opportunities to grow together. We appreciate everyone’s time and consideration, and giving us the opportunity to do this in the first place.
Aloha,
I’ve been windsurfing, surfing, diving, fishing, skimming, body surfing, swimming, boating, and jet skiing in Maui Coastal Waters for over 35 years. I’ve also been efoiling in the same waters for the past three years. I strongly oppose Resolution 23-183 (formerly bill 1900HB, which was struck down) classifying an efoil as a thrill craft / in the same category as a jet ski, as it is illogical based on the following reasoning. An efoil is whisper quiet, creates no wake, weighs 60 lbs., averages 15 knots, and has an electric 5-hp motor. In contrast, a jet ski weighs 750 lbs., is capable of speeds of 65 knots, and has a gas-powered 300+ hp motor. Furthermore, by this same logic, boats would also fall into this thrill craft category.
If efoilers are creating a safety or marine concern, we need to address the issue, not just ban them or reclassify them as a thrill craft. Why not educate efoilers, have them take a boater’s safety course, or create an efoil safety course. There’s no reason an efoil can’t safely operate just like any other vessel in Hawaii. Educate, don’t discriminate.
Can you provide factual evidence/cases of people / marine life being struck by efoilers?
Is there factual evidence pertaining to efoils causing underwater noise pollution? Harm to whales, dolphins, turtles, corals spawning,………?
If the bill doesn’t fit your agenda, is it right to just change the definition? Just because someone doesn’t agree with you, doesn’t mean they are wrong.
Why is it that those who oppose this bill are only finding out about it hours before the testimony, while the ones who support the bill seem to have known about it for quite some time based on all the supporting responses?
We need to wake up and stop the insanity. Are we really that naïve that the real reason for this bill is an ulterior motive? Why are we trying to prevent the advancement & growth of green technology? Share the ocean with all who embrace it! Stop the fear-mongering and share the aloha.
Mahalo,
Travis Gulnac
In my opinion, while well intentioned, I don't believe this proposal solves the problem. Also, its reasoning is poor because I think it is focused on achieving what would be a poor result.
MISTAKES & PROBLEMATIC REASONING
"speeds of up to 30mph"
- It is *possible* to go as fast as 30mph on an eFoil, but one would need to be extremely light (around 100lbs), in perfect conditions, have a high speed foil on, and be an outstanding rider. In my experience typical speeds are between 15mph and 20mph in the vast majority of cases.
"The legislature recognizes that non-motorized hydrofoils cannot reach speeds comparable to motorized hydrofoils"
- This is false. Windsurfers, kite foils and wing-foils regularly reach speeds between 20mph and 30mph. These are non-motorized craft. And are presumably just as, or more, dangerous than an efoil. For example kite-foilers also have the issue of the lines which can get wrapped up with other kiter's lines, come into contact with wing-foilers, etc. Kiters and wingers are powered by the wind. It's much more difficult to control one's direction and speed because the wind is a variable power source. An electric engine is not.
e-foils "pose much higher risk of injury to others because they are difficult to use and can reach speeds of up to 30 miles per hour"
- Higher than what? This should be established so we can put the regulation of eFoils in context. Higher than kite-foils? I doubt that. Higher than wing foils? Higher than windsurfers? Higher than surfing? These are *all* injury prone sports. The government is entitled to regulate as it pleases. However, reasoning such as this makes it appear that eFoils are being singled out for some reason. A better argument would show evidence that eFoils where MORE dangerous than the unregulated wing-foiling, kiting, kite-foiling, windsurfing, etc. That has not been done. How many efoil accidents are there in general? How many eFoilers are there? How many are there in comparison to kiting? Or windsurfing? It's important to have perspective on the magnitude of the issue. Again, no evidence is provided rather the problem is asserted as being true without first proving that is.
"similar to other motorized watercrafts, e-foils emit sound that may cause underwater noise pollution and cause harm to whales and other marine life"
Actually they aren't that similar. eFoils are very quiet and the most recent versions (2023) are *extremely* quiet. I can barely hear them even at tops speeds. eFoils have electric engines and not gasoline powered engines. Think the amount of noise a Tesla/Leaf/etc makes in comparison to any internal combustion engine automobile. Or boat! In addition, many foil designs used in wing-foiling and kite-foiling also make a sound when they are at speed. To me it sounds like a med-high pitched hum. Likely it is the sound of the water flowing over the foil. This sound is certainly as noisy if not more noisy than the sound that eFoils make. Regardless, there is absolutely no evidence provided that harm is being caused to marine life. And if this were the case, you would need to regulate almost all internal combustion engines near to shore as they are *MUCH* louder than efoils even at idling speeds.
So what is the actual problem? I believe it's inexperienced efoilers zipping around in areas with paddlers (canoe and otherwise) making them anxious and uncomfortable, especially when the efoilers fall, or worse, collide with someone nearby. This seems like a legitimate complaint! But it's not really a different situation than one we encounter when we surf, wing-foil, or kite-foil. The solution to the problem is to create a culture of respect and care. it is to make sure that people are properly trained and have the adequate skills necessary before engaging in a sport in an area where people can be hurt. On the surf line up, surfers are quick to spot kooks who shouldn't be there, tell them to go, and invite them to discuss it in the parking lot if they won't! Not that I recommend that, but it does work. Kiters and wingers often have beginner areas where newbs are strongly encouraged to go (the Harbor or Kooks Beach for example). These are practical solutions that recognize that we all need to get along, people should be allowed to learn and enjoy new sports, but they need to get good and practice in a safe area where chances of hurting themselves or other people are minimized.
eFoils are motorized, so I wouldn't think it unreasonable to have folks take a boater's safety course. Pass a test, written and practical. That sort of thing. Haven't most of us wished at some point that *all* boaters had to take a practical test just like automobile drivers? *That* is a practical solution. I think it would be important to license people to train eFoilers and certify them. Perhaps along the line as we do with divers. Ideas of this nature all seem like practical solutions. The proposal here: poorly argued, doesn't address the problem, punitive in nature, etc. Really it seems like the author would prefer there to be no eFoilers at all! Classifying them as thrill craft, with all the restrictions therein, in practical terms makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to enjoy an eFoil on the island. If that is the actual goal, better to just outlaw them. The government can, after all, regulate as it sees fit.
Todd Cowing
Wailuku
As an eFoiler, kite foiler, and wing foiler, it is not much different. Riders have no interest in being near regular surfers or swimmers. Coexisting is more than reasonable here, mahalo
This is incredibly dangerous and needs to be regulated
eFoils are safe, silent, electric powered with no wake, no exhaust, and zero harm to nature. Dolphins and wildlife love us, we always float alongside many!
Please ban EFoils. They are dangerous and prevent me from shoreline casting on the beach in front of the Royal Lahaina Hotel. Maui doesn’t need more commercial activities consuming our beaches.
Efoil is silent, no wake, no exhaust, no harm to environment, and is no different than any other foil projected with a sail or kite
I oppose this resolution for a lot of the same reasons as others but also want to share that efoiling has brought back to me my younger years of surfing in Hawaii. At 64 My body doesn't want to work the way it used to. Efoiling has me and my wife back in the water observing at all the water life (that does not bolt away) and catching the wave bumps safely outside of surf breaks. So Much Fun.
I’m strongly against this resolution. Using an efoil or any board type sport on the water has its dangers to others in the water. It is us as surfers who are paying attention to our surroundings, to make sure we don’t slide our fins over someone’s head or back. A driver in a vehicle has to be cautious of his surroundings to watch for pedestrians. Please don’t ban a sport because of it being so foreign. Allow people to make good judgments as it has already been shown. I know some lively hoods depend on the operation of efoils. I hope aloha can be shown. Mahalo.
Robert Perkins:
I oppose putting efoils in the “Thrill Craft” category. They create no noise pollution, and as with all ocean activities, they can be exhillarating and provide great outdoor excercise, when used with common sense and safety guideline. Perhaps some safety protocol, such as approved efoil locations and use times makes sense, so that all who enjoy our beautiful waters may partike in the wide variety of activities which make Hawaii such a wonderful and unique destination in the world.