Eyewitness: EXTREME TOWFOILING

E1 racing is an emerging series inside the eSports category, leveraging hydrofoils for their minimal friction, maximum speed. When Tom Court was offered the challenge of being towed behind one of the extremely fast “RaceBird” boats, for a never-been-done-before stunt to satisfy some curious minds behind the scenes, well, of course Tom was up for it…

Words Tom Court

Photos AlUla E1 / Craig Evans (unless specified)

COMO, ITALY – APRIL 23: AlUla stunt during the E1 Series Lake Como GP on April 23, 2026 in Como, Italy. (Photo by Malcolm Griffiths/Getty Images)

When someone says, “I wonder if this would be possible?”, this is where the conversation gets interesting to me. Unbeknownst to me at the time, this exact question was being asked behind the scenes on the E1 race series, at team Alula. It so happened that the Team Manager was thinking about whether it would be possible to tow at high speeds behind the Hydrofoiling Race Bird. I guess it has taken a lifetime of devotion to the art of the shred to have my name come into the conversation at this point.

A few calls later, and the expert advice was that indeed yes, this would be possible and we should definitely try it. I was on a plane to Lake Como to the next leg of the E1 series, my fastest Duotone kite race hydrofoils in my bag, and it was time to see if this was possible.

I was driven by up and coming racing driver Nerea Marti. We had to customize the back of the Race Bird in order to connect the tow-rope, and then brief her on what it would be like to not hit the throttle at full pace straight away, so as to allow me to get up behind the boat, and generally consider all the risks involved with towing up to 70km with two sets of hydrofoils. Safety boats, jet skis and all the moving parts of doing this inside the event schedule.

And then it was go time. Before I knew it, I was hanging onto the rope, up and running on my foilboard. After a practice run, and then a debrief to see if everyone was comfortable, it was time to send it! Let’s see how fast we can go. Pushing up to 70kph (around 38 knots) I could start to feel the drag on the foil. Pressure building on the arms and legs as I concentrated on my breaching or touching down. We were flying down lake Como. Before I knew it, the attempt ended in a massive crash, blew up by the speed and the sheer power of the Race Bird. Time to go away, order a faster foil setup and get polishing for the next attempt!  

|Photographer: Craig Evans|Event: E1 Como GP|Circuit: Lake Como|Location: Italy|Series: E1 Series|Season: 2026|Country: Italy|Keyword: season 3|Keyword: season three|Keyword: S3|Keyword: photography|Keyword: photos|Keyword: images|Keyword: motorsport|Keyword: powerboat racing|Keyword: boat|Keyword: 2026|Keyword: Como|Keyword: lake|Keyword: April|Keyword: E1 Series Photography|Keyword: marine|Keyword: boat racing|Number: 23|Team: Team AlUla by LeBron James|Car: E1 Race Bird|

|Photographer: Craig Evans|Event: E1 Como GP|Circuit: Lake Como|Location: Italy|Series: E1 Series|Season: 2026|Country: Italy|Keyword: season 3|Keyword: season three|Keyword: S3|Keyword: photography|Keyword: photos|Keyword: images|Keyword: motorsport|Keyword: powerboat racing|Keyword: boat|Keyword: 2026|Keyword: Como|Keyword: lake|Keyword: April|Keyword: E1 Series Photography|Keyword: marine|Keyword: boat racing|Number: 23|Team: Team AlUla by LeBron James|Car: E1 Race Bird|