A cyclist has crossed the Cook Strait on an electric water bike. Hayden Reeves covered the 26km stretch of water between New Zealand’s North and South Islands in two hours and 28 minutes on the Manta5 hydrofoil e-bike.
“Everything went to plan and pretty much as predicted,” he told Stuff.co.nz. “It all worked out perfectly.
“It was pretty close to what we had targeted and possibly could have done a little bit quicker, but the conditions weren't as nice as we were hoping for part of it, so we are pretty happy with that.”
Needless to say, Reeves stuck his ride on Strava.
Not one of the hillier rides.
Waikato-based firm Manta5 launched their first electric hydrofoil back in 2017. The latest version features a 460W motor and boasts a top speed of 13mph with a cruising speed of around 7-8mph.
They’ve got a whole load of videos demonstrating the vehicle on their YouTube channel, but this one’s our favourite.
The Manta5 is available for £6,990.
Reeves added: “It was actually the last seven or eight kilometres the conditions got pretty bad for a little while there, and it was getting quite marginal with riding. If it had been any rougher conditions it would have been near impossible to ride.”
The Manta5 floats on its side when stationary and you have to perform a "submerged launch" to get going again if you stop in deep water.
Alluding to this, Reeves said his trip had been like a really hard bike ride, “with the slight difference that you can't stop pedalling obviously. It’s non-stop. There is no rest.”
