Hello, this is Erik from the Hawaiian Sleds Headquarters. Lifters were first created and tested back in January of 1999. Back then, I decided to designed a surfboard that was able to float a big guy, like me and Still perform like a smaller board. You would say sure, but someone already invented, the popular Hybrids and Mini malibus… Yes, but no, I wanted more, I wanted some kind of design that would take advantage of wave’s total kinectic energy, and I started to research for different kinds of nature designs, boat hulls and even airplanes designs, It may sound stupid, but why not dreaming on flying on the side of a wave like seagulls do everyday of the year, around the world, just using wave’s air lifts. Searching for the new designed, I had to keep few little problems in mind, I could not use wings on the side of the board nor any kind of propulsion, like water jet motors for instance. It had to be some kind of simple design, that would create the hidro-planning effect on the wave’s wall. I looked into few hydro-planing examples like: The double hull thunder boats, fast and stable, Water skiing was another idea, two skis sounded good and I also looked into Hovercrafts, they are amazingly big and still plane on water almost effortless due to the compressed air skirts. Many people link the Lifter hull to the venturi theory ( you may look for it, at your favorite encyclopedia) But the Venturi theory, would not apply on this situation, because there is no water inlet compression on the ocean’s surface. What we have on the Lifter, is a double hull air bubble trap compressor, the large Inlet, compresses air, trapping it underneath the board hull, creating an air bubble rail track, which creates an artificial lift, avoiding drag and water impact against board’s hull, less drag means more speed, more speed means easyer manuverbility. I am still searching for the ultimate wave riding machine and dreaming on the day that mankind will fly the wave’s walls, like seagulls do, before that happen… lady’s and gents please welcome, the most important surfboard design, since the invention of the Tri-fins thrusters. The L.i.f.ters. (Low Impact forward Thrusters) an exclusive design from Hawaiian Sleds Surfboards. P.S. Any one that would like to add a comment, an idea or even tell me go get a real job, are welcomed to send me a message, I will publish them here, if I feel its relevant to our research. I will be adding new Models as they become available, If you like the Lifter, order yours right now, at the HS Online order page! Thanks. Erik V. v. d. Schulenburg HS Founder, Industrial designer and creator of the Lifter. Aug 16, 2003 http://www.hawaiiansleds.com 