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Comment by bilsbie | Hacker News Reader

I wish we could find a good way to bike over the surface of the water. I haven’t seen anything that’s not slow and cumbersome.

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Hydrofoil bike:

https://manta5.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heSPbLHftKw

Foil boards are getting semi-popular for kiteboarding. They can be self-powered as well using a jumping motion. They also make e-foils with small electric props.

https://www.google.com/search?q=foil+board

That's battery powered though, and looks pretty heavy. I think I'd sooner go for one of these https://liftfoils.com/

Anything you choose will be cumbersome because you can't create friction on the water (well...), your ability to move is based on your ability to move water around you.

There are solutions that leverage a pair of catamarans and a track system, or a prop. These tend to move very slowly, much slower than a canoe or kayak. The water wheel style systems seem to move faster, but you can just get a pedal kayak and will be the fastest human powered craft on the water.

I've always wondered why nobody has created something that looks like a catamaran with two rowing shells and a road bike on top directly connected to a prop. That would have minimal drag, an optimal body positioning for using leg muscle strength, and would be fun and intuitive to pilot (facing forwards, feels like biking, etc). The obvious downside is that height above water may be an issue so the catamaran would have to be wide, but it seems solvable.

They have, they're still quite slow.

I believe an ocean crossing was even done with this kind of vehicle.

http://www.castlecraft.com/seacycle.htm

https://www.shuttlebike.com/en/

I can only imagine this is slow and cumbersome, but I love the idea of it working with your existing bike: https://www.shuttlebike.com/en/

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