Talented water-skier Mike Murphy – who developed the first ever 'Air Chair' with Bob Woolley in the late 80s – has broken the Guinness World Records title for the Tallest sit-down hydrofoil ridden.
At a big public water-sports event at Long Beach in California, USA, Murphy rode an incredible 3.42 metre (11 foot 2.6 inches) tall Air Chair.
Murphy skillfully demonstrated the usable height of the sit-down hydrofoil by breaking the surface of the water with the 'wing', and then maintaining control for a further 100 feet.
A hydrofoil consists of a long fin attached beneath a board on which the rider sits in a raised chair. The hydrofoil causes the seat to leave the surface of the water during motion (towed behind a speed boat).
The foil of a sit-down hydrofoil is typically around three feet long – 8 foot shorter that Mike’s innovative, record-breaking chair.
In his application for the record, Murphy told Guinness World Records: “I have been pushing the limits of towed watersports […] for years, so this is just an official extension of that long-time passion.”
Mike takes the record from William Blair (UK), who created and successfully rode a 3.28 m (10 ft 9.1 in) tall hydrofoil chair behind a motorboat in 2003.
The record for the Highest jump on a hydrofoil is 23 ft (7.01 m) and was set by Billy Rossini (USA) at Lake Norman, North Carolina, USA on 1 August 2004 (pictured below).
