On Board With: George Laycock

George Laycock embarked on a foiling adventure from Bimini to Palm Beach. Courtesy Nautical Ventures

After seeing a random person on a Fliteboard cruise past his Nordhavn three years ago, 67-year-old George Laycock decided he needed to get one. On a recent trip to the Bahamas, he decided to undertake an epic foiling journey from Bimini, Bahamas, to Palm Beach, Florida. It took three battery changes, but he completed the trip in under six hours, setting the unofficial record for longest foiling run on a single battery (30.5 miles). We caught up with Laycock about his adventure.

What inspired you to make this run?

I thought it would be a unique trip, it was a personal challenge, especially for someone my age. I used boat race, so I’ve got a bit of a competitive gene. I wanted to see if I could better the distance record on one battery.

How were the logistics?

You have to really plan for having extra batteries on the chase boat and especially for the weather, because it can be ferocious.

Which Fliteboard did you use?

The Fliteboard Pro model and Explorer batteries. We used four batteries, I got so much distance out of the third battery that I still had 10 miles of battery left on the fourth battery. It was a following sea, which was more difficult to ride in for the first three batteries, but I had a lot of fun with the fourth battery.

Where did you depart from in Bimini?

We left from South Bimini. It took five hours and 50 minutes to get to Palm Beach, and the actual run time was five hours and 20 minutes. As I got closer I fell a couple of times because I was getting tired.

See anything cool on the Bimini crossing?

The only sea life I saw was a lot of flying fish. We had following seas, and it doesn’t sound like much but we had about a foot coming out of Bimini and maybe an hour in the Gulf Stream where it hit a couple of feet, and the last 10 miles were glass-like as we came towards Lake Worth Inlet.

How long have you been foiling?

I think around three years. We had our Nordhavn in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, and somebody foiled past me, and he came by about 20 minutes later with a six pack of beer under his arm. I got in touch with Nautical Ventures (in Fort Lauderdale, Florida) and asked if they sold anything like that.

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What do you like best about it?

For me, I think about the board as a wellness machine. As we get older our reflexes diminish and our balance diminishes, and all of that is enhanced and improved by riding the board. I also love the relaxation. You see a lot of sea life. I also like the looks of surprise and smiles when I foil past people who’ve never seen one before.

You also boat in your free time?

I grew up on the water in Wilmington, North Carolina. All of my mischief came on the water. I got very comfortable on boats at an early age. When I retired in 2010, I bought a Norhavn Aft Pilothouse 68. We spend every opportunity that we get on the water. We have been to a lot of unique places in the Bahamas and the Caribbean. We’ve crossed the Atlantic twice and have been to Russia and the Arctic.

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