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Bicycling on water? - all the power to them

     Living on Treasure Island, George Graef sees just about everything going on on the Lake. So when he saw this bicycle skimming across the waves, he wasn’t necessarily surprised, but he did pause to take a picture. “The inventiveness of Canyon Lake water ski enthusiasts is something to admire,” he says.
     According to Al Van Beenen, who often is involved as a boat driver when something unusual is taking place on the water, Mike Murphy and Tony Klarich are behind the latest contraption – of course.
     Mike, the inventor of the Sky Ski hydrofoil, and his nephew, Tony, who has demonstrated the hydrofoil around the world, including putting on annual ski shows in Russia, are working with a stunt rider to prepare the bicycle-on-hydrofoil for a commercial for the energy drink, Powerade.
     Al says he and Dave Spies took turns driving the boat from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, stopping for breaks as Tony, the rider, attempted to fine-tune the angle of the hydrofoil. A stuntman rode in the boat to observe Tony and take instructions for when he would perform the trick for the actual commercial.
     Apparently, in the final commercial there will be no evidence of the hydrofoil; it will look like a bicycle is actually riding across the water, says Al, who adds, “Practicing on the hydrofoil is almost as hard as riding a real bike on water.”
     Monday morning, when George took this picture, the stuntman was doing his own practice ride in the rain and Mike Murphy was the boat driver.
     Waterfront homeowners shouldn’t get their hopes up, however. Even though there was a film crew on hand, the actual commercial will be filmed with the stuntman in South Africa, according to Al.

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