The EASI™ Standard

Published: 20 September 2026  ·  In force: 20 September 2026

This version replaces the one published on 18 September 2026. It renames the operator tiers, uses the word "recognition" throughout, and says plainly what is free and what takes a paid role from 1 January 2028. None of the rules has changed, and nothing you do has to change today.

What this is

The EASI™ Basic Standard is the minimum every EASI recognised eFoil operator keeps to, wherever in the world it operates. It is short on purpose: a few plain rules, drawn from working operator practice, that a good school or rental operation already follows or could follow tomorrow.

Where local law or the manufacturer's instructions are stricter than a rule here, the stricter rule applies. This is the minimum for membership of the scheme, not everything there is to know about running an eFoil operation safely.

The rules

Operator Readiness · Pre-Service

1. Insured

Liability cover for everything you offer, rentals included.

Hold liability insurance that covers every service you offer: demos, lessons, and unsupervised rentals if you rent boards. Keep it in force and show EASI your certificate when asked. If your cover lapses, your listing is suspended until it's back in force.

If no insurer where you work will cover rentals, don't rent, or ask EASI for a local variation.

2. Check your gear

Test the remote and its kill function before every session. Failed gear stays on the beach.

Before every session, test the remote and its kill function, and check the board, mast, foil and propeller. Anything that fails stays on the beach until it's fixed.

Look after boards, batteries and chargers the way the manufacturer says. A damaged or swollen battery comes out of service straight away.

3. Guard the prop

Rentals and beginners ride the manufacturer's safest prop setup.

Every board used for rentals, and every board a beginner rides, runs the manufacturer's safest prop setup, usually the entry-level prop with its guard fitted. A board with an enclosed drive counts as guarded.

Advanced riders may ride a fixed prop, or a folding prop with a tailcone and no shroud, at the instructor's call. A board without a guard when you join EASI has 12 months to be fitted.

Rider Readiness · Pre-Ride

4. Know your rider

Can swim, fit to ride, sober. Under-18s need a parent's consent.

Before anyone rides, they confirm they can swim, are fit to ride, and aren't under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

A rider under 18 needs written consent from a parent or guardian (on paper, by email or by message), who also confirms they can swim. Local law on minimum ages always applies.

5. Demo first

Every rider new to you gets a demo: the safety briefing, your spot, the local laws and your rules.

DEMO is the introductory demonstration. It's not only an introduction to the sport, which plenty of riders don't need. It's an introduction to you, your spot, the local rules and laws, and your own rules, so experienced riders get one too.

The safety briefing is part of it, in this order:

(a) Power off first: "In the water, power off your remote before you approach your board, so the propeller cannot spin."

(b) The four hazards: the foil, the mast, the board, and last the motor and propeller, treated like an outboard motor.

(c) How to fall: commit to the bail, push away from the board, protect your head, and finger off the trigger as you jump.

(d) The remote's kill function.

(e) Where to ride, when to turn back, and how to signal for help.

First-timers practise the fall on land. Before a rider's first unsupervised rental, check their EASI sessions or watch them ride.

6. Suit up

Helmet and vest recommended. Dress for the water, being cold sucks.

A helmet and an impact vest are recommended. Whether to wear them is the rider's choice, unless you or local law require them.

Riders who are new and learning wear a communication headset (rule 10). Match the water, because being cold sucks.

On-Water Conduct · During Service

7. The battery rule

Head in at 20%. Never ride below 15%. Keep batteries out of the sun.

Check the charge before you launch. Head in at 20% and never ride below 15%. Stay within 1 nautical mile (1.85 km, 1.15 miles) of shore.

On longer rides, turn back at 50-60%. Keep batteries out of direct sun, whether they're charging or not.

8. Don't hit anything

Know your spot: wind, waves, depth, boats, moorings. Stay inside your limits.

Know every hazard at your spot: shallows, reefs, moorings, channels and boat traffic.

Write down your own limits for wind, waves, visibility and daylight, and don't send anyone out beyond them. Your spot, your call: a sheltered lagoon and an open beach need different numbers.

9. Don't hit anybody

Stay well clear of swimmers. If you must pass close, slow right down: board on the water, 5 knots (9 km/h, 6 mph) max.

Keep well away from swimmers, bathing areas, divers, paddlers and anyone else in the water.

Where you have to pass through them, slow right down with the board on the water, no faster than 5 knots (9 km/h, 6 mph), and give them as much room as you can. Stricter local rules always apply.

10. Watch your beginners

In sight, reachable fast, and on a headset.

Keep every rider in a lesson in sight. Reach a rider in trouble the way your safety plan says, the one your insurance approved. If your insurer doesn't require one, write your own. For most operators another eFoil is the quickest way out.

Communication headsets are mandatory for riders who are new and learning: talking a rider through it on the water makes progression and safety dramatically better.

Records & Reporting · Post-Service

11. Log Sessions

Operators and instructors are encouraged to log every demo, lesson, session and rental. The more logs the better, because that's what gets eFoils off the land and riders flying over the water.

Log as many sessions as you can. The more that's logged, the more every rider's record is worth, to you and to every other operator. That's how boards get rented instead of sitting on the beach, and how the sport grows safely.

EASI's job is to make logging as easy as possible. Log in the app, send a voice note on WhatsApp, or send in a tracking file (GPX, TCX or FIT) from your watch or ride app: Garmin, Strava, your eFoil's app and more.

Only log what actually happened. Instructor Notes are for the rider, who can read them. Private Instructor Notes and Incident Records are for operators and instructors: riders don't see them in the app, but they can request a copy of their data, so write every note straight and fair.

Anything that matters about a rider (damaged equipment, a safety concern, broken rules, a payment or rental dispute, or something positive) goes on the session as an incident. If there's an injury, contact with a propeller or foil, or a rescue, record it as an incident on that session. Recording an incident is never a mark against you.

What this Standard does not ask of you

No rider needs a rider level to ride or rent with you. You decide who goes out, and you can always say no.

No required instructor tiers, and no chief instructor.

No fee for keeping to this Standard, no commission on your bookings, and no bookings through EASI. Recognition is free, forever, and the EASI recognised-operator mark comes with it at no charge.

No particular brand of board.

Nothing is charged today. From 1 January 2028, recording a rider level takes a paid role: either a paid EASI subscription, which is optional and sits on top of the free option, or the register listing of an instructor you have appointed. Recognition stays free forever, and so do being listed, logging sessions and seeing your riders' records. Awarding is free for everyone until that date, and EASI gives at least 60 days' written notice before anything you already use moves into the subscription; that promise is in the EASI Operator Agreement, section 4.5. A paid role lets an award be recorded. It never decides what a rider has earned, which is always the honest judgement of whoever taught them.

Changing the Standard, and challenging it

EASI gives every recognised operator at least 60 days' written notice of any change to this Standard, with the new text. The only exception is a change needed sooner to deal with a serious and immediate safety risk, and then EASI says why. An operator that does not accept a change can leave the scheme before it applies.

Any recognised operator can challenge any rule here, at any time and at no cost, by writing to admin@easi.network. EASI answers in writing within 30 days and publishes the challenge and its answer, without naming the operator unless it agrees. A rule keeps applying while it is being challenged.

If a rule cannot work the way it is written where you operate — your water, your local law, your season — you can ask for a local variation, saying how you will meet the purpose of the rule another way. Variations EASI grants are listed publicly with their reason, so any operator can see them and ask for the same.

If you disagree with a decision EASI makes about you, or with its answer to a challenge, you can appeal, at no cost. EASI first reviews its own decision and answers within 14 days. If you are still not satisfied, three operators from the EASI Founding Operator group, none from your area, hear the appeal, and EASI follows their decision. Until that group has five operators, EASI decides, in writing and with its reasons. The full terms are in the EASI Operator Agreement, section 10.0.

Operator tiers

EASI records an operator tier against each recognised operator. The entry tier is O1 RECOGNISED: EASI has confirmed that the business is real and identified and that its insurance is in force, and the business has accepted the Operator Agreement and keeps to this Standard. It is free.

Higher tiers — O2 INSPECTED, O3 TRAINING OPERATOR, O4 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPERATOR and O5 ASSESSMENT CENTRE — will be assessed against a fuller standard, EASI Standard 1, which is still a working draft. They are optional and not yet open. Standard 1 binds only an operator that applies for one of those tiers, and it will be published here in full before any operator is assessed against it.

A tier is never set on the size of a business, its number of bookings or anything it pays EASI. The paid subscription is not an operator tier and never changes one.

Who does what

EASI recognises operator businesses: schools and rental operations. A recognised operator trains, assesses and awards. A rider level (R1 to R4) is assessed and awarded by a recognised operator, or by an instructor that operator has appointed, within that instructor's tier. An instructor awards on the EASI record only for a rider they taught or assessed themselves, and does it from their own account. From 1 January 2028, recording an award takes a paid role: the operator's subscription, or that instructor's own register listing. An instructor tier (i1 to i4) belongs to one appointment by one recognised operator, and ends when that appointment ends. EASI records both. When an appointment ends, the record of it stays. EASI does not train, examine or assess any individual, and issues no certificates of competence to individuals.

Independence

EASI is a private, voluntary industry scheme. It is not accredited by, or affiliated with, the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), holds no recognition under retained Regulation (EC) 765/2008, and is not a national accreditation body. EASI recognition applies to operator businesses only and carries no government or UKAS status.

Questions

EASI Network Ltd

First Floor Office, 3 Hornton Place, London W8 4LZ, United Kingdom

Registered in England and Wales, company number 17422090

Email: admin@easi.network

See also: the EASI Operator Agreement (https://easi.network/operator-agreement), Rider Levels (https://easi.network/rider-levels), Instructor Tiers (https://easi.network/instructor-tiers), the Brand Rules (https://easi.network/brand-rules) and our Terms of Use (https://easi.network/terms-of-use).