About Lake Life eFoils

About Lake Life eFoils, Paul Andrus, Northern Michigan eFoil Instructor

Teaching eFoil lessons on the lakes of Northern Michigan since 2020.

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Teaching since 2020 Mobile — we come to you Students aged 5 to 75 North Kiteboarding ambassador
How it startedFirst lessonWhy Paul does thisMichigan waterFAQBook

Paul Andrus grew up in Sutton's Bay on the Leelanau Peninsula, five miles from his parents, half a mile from the water, and a bike ride away from the cherry farm where he started working at 13. He got up at five in the morning, rode his bike half an hour up what is now the Tart Trail, back then it was still a railroad bed, worked all day, and rode home. That was the start of his working career, and it is a very Northern Michigan story.

He left after high school. Colorado first, then Pennsylvania, then a job offer that brought him back. His parents had been in Sutton's Bay for 45 years by then. He ended up five miles up the road from them.

He started kiteboarding about a year after he returned, grew up sailing and boating, so being on the water was never new, but kiting gave him something to push against. Something to get genuinely good at.

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2020

How Lake Life eFoils started in Northern Michigan

Lake Life eFoils started the way most honest ideas do: not with a business plan, but with a problem worth solving.

It was 2020. The world was locked down. Paul had a few months off work and a buddy who kept sending him videos of people flying across the water on boards that barely touched the surface. He had already been looking at foil boards through kiting. The videos made the decision easy.

He also knew Northern Michigan summers have no shortage of no-wind days. Days where the kite stays in the bag and the water is flat and there is nothing to do but watch it. An eFoil meant getting out there anyway.

He bought two boards wholesale. The idea was simple: teach lessons, pay the boards off, and if people were willing to learn, the equipment would eventually pay for itself. A local news segment that aired that first season put Lake Life in front of people who had never heard of eFoiling. They started booking four, five, six lessons a week after learning about Lake Life in the news. By the end of year one the boards were paid off.

How he learned to teach

What Paul's first lesson taught him about teaching

Paul's first time on an eFoil was in St. Joseph, Michigan, in March, with a friend who picked it up immediately and rode off. Paul spent about 80 percent of that first session in the water. Defeated, tired, frustrated.

He went home, slept on it, and came back the next day. That session he was in the water maybe 20 percent of the time. By the end of the weekend he understood something important: the gap between session one and session two had almost nothing to do with physical ability. It was his body catching up to something his brain already knew. That gap, he realized, was closeable in a couple of hours with the right instruction.

His first paying student tested that theory harder than anyone since. The man came back three times. Two-hour sessions each. After about three and a half hours across those visits, something finally shifted. The student looked at Paul and said he finally understood, he just had to stop fighting it and let it happen. Paul said "oh, okay" and filed that away.

His student went home and bought three boards. He and Paul are close friends now. He lives up the road on North Lake and his family has been on the water with Lake Life ever since.

That student is why Paul does a land lesson before anyone touches the water.

Why he sends instructional videos ahead of time. Why he invested in BB Talkin headsets so he can talk a rider through the exact moment the board starts to lift, instead of shouting from shore and hoping for the best. The first year he was screaming across the water, figuring out whether someone was goofy or regular footed only after they'd already fallen twice. It got easier when he stopped improvising and started teaching.

Related: Mobile eFoil lessons in Northern Michigan — how a session actually runs

The reason he keeps going

Why Paul keeps doing this

Paul showed up to Kite Jam alone about seven years ago, paid his registration, said hi to two people, and left. He did not know anyone and felt too out of place to stay. Three years later he was helping host the same event.

He tells that story because he thinks about it when he is working with a first-time rider who is convinced they cannot do this. The fear of looking foolish is almost always bigger than the actual obstacle. Once someone commits to just trying, really trying, not half-committing from the back of the board, the board does most of the work. The hardest part of any lesson is the ten minutes before that shift happens.

What keeps him doing this is not the business side of it. It is the moment after that shift, when someone who arrived certain they would fail is out on the water wondering why they were ever worried. He sees it in every age group, every experience level. A 15-year-old kid and a 75-year-old man have the same look on their face when it finally works.

Northern Michigan

Why Northern Michigan water is different from anywhere else we have ridden

Paul has kited and foiled in Aruba, St. Croix, Hood River, and along the coast of Mexico. He comes home every time and still thinks Michigan is the best place he has ever been on the water.

Part of it is access. Michigan has over 11,000 inland lakes. There is a statistic Paul cites regularly, you are never more than three or four miles from a body of water anywhere in the state. For a mobile lesson business that launches off private docks and charges batteries in people's backyards, that geography is the whole model.

Part of it is the water itself. Freshwater is easier on the equipment, cleaner to ride in, and carries none of the salt corrosion that shortens board life on the coasts. In Sutton's Bay you can be in 40 or 50 feet of water and see your shadow on the bottom. Torch Lake runs almost Caribbean blue on a clear day. Out in front of Sleeping Bear Dunes, you are riding in sight of one of the most photographed shorelines in the Midwest.

Paul has ridden in places people fly across the world to get to. He keeps coming back to this peninsula.

Ready to get on the water?

Five years ago there was no eFoil industry in Northern Michigan

There was no one teaching it, no fleet on the inland lakes, no way to try one without driving hours out of state. Paul and Sara built that from two boards and a cold spring morning on the water. Now they run lessons across the Leelanau Peninsula and Traverse City area from Memorial Day through Labor Day, and they come to you.

If you are up here for a few days and want to get on the water, reach out. Summer books up fast. The earlier you lock in your date the better.

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About Paul FAQ

How long has Paul been teaching eFoiling?
Paul ran his first lesson in 2020, the same season Lake Life launched. That puts him at five years of instruction on Northern Michigan water, across hundreds of students ranging from five years old to 75. He has taught solo sessions, wedding groups of 40 across three consecutive days, school groups, corporate outings, and everything in between. In July, Lake Life runs lessons 28 to 30 days straight. Paul knows this operation from every angle because he built it himself.
Does Paul teach every lesson himself?
Not every one. Lake Life now runs with a full-time instructor alongside Paul, which is what makes the operation work through a season that can stack multiple lessons in a single day. Paul is on the water regularly and handles a significant portion of lessons himself, particularly for larger or more complex group bookings. When he is not in the water with you, he is not far from it.
What is Paul's background in water sports?
Paul grew up sailing and boating on the inland lakes around Sutton's Bay. He started kiteboarding about a year after moving back to the Leelanau Peninsula and has been riding seriously for close to a decade since. He is a North Kiteboarding ambassador through Stoke Riders in St. Joseph, which means he has access to current North and Mystic gear and a direct connection to kite instruction if an eFoil session sparks interest in going further. He has competed in Kiteboard for Cancer, logging over 300 miles in a single week during one of those events.
Has Paul ridden anywhere outside of Michigan?
Yes. Aruba, Bonaire, St. Croix, Hood River, Puerto Rico, Mexico. He comes home every time thinking Michigan is underrated. His standard answer is that when you travel the world as a kiter, Michigan does not show up on any of the maps. He thinks that is about to change.
What does the North Kiteboarding ambassador role mean for his students?
In practical terms it means Paul has been vetted by one of the top kiteboarding brands in the world and has a working relationship with Tyler at Stoke Riders in St. Joseph, one of the most respected kite shops in Michigan. If you take an eFoil lesson with Lake Life and decide you want to get into kiting or winging, Paul can point you directly to the right person. He sends people to Tyler regularly. The ambassador role is less of a title and more of a network that benefits anyone who wants to keep going on the water after their first session.
Who is this lesson actually for?
Paul's honest answer is almost anyone willing to try. He has taught complete beginners with no board sport background, people with physical limitations, kids as young as five, and adults who showed up certain they would fail. The students who struggle most are not the ones with no experience, they are the ones who are not willing to fall a couple of times and reset. If you can commit to trusting the instruction for an hour, the lesson works. If you are looking to show up and be good at it immediately, eFoiling is probably not the right fit.
How far out should I book?
As early as you can. July is the busiest month and books up fastest. Paul has had people call on July 3rd asking for a lesson that afternoon. If you know your travel dates, locking in a session a few weeks ahead is the difference between getting exactly what you want and working around what is left. September is quieter, the water is warm, and the conditions tend to be some of the best of the year if your schedule allows it.
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