I was driving along The Mall in Pilot Bay when I noticed Richard Bates donning his bright orange helmet.

I stopped to say hi, finding him getting ready to head out onto the water.

There was a stiff breeze of about nine knots and the tide was still on its way in.

The 63-year-old has been hydrofoiling for four years and kite boarding for six.

A hydrofoil lifts the board out of the water, decreasing drag and allowing greater speeds.

The helmet is a very important aspect.

'If you need to be rescued, it can be seen easily,” says Richard. 'The other thing that's really important is you've got to have lots of warm clothes in case you have a very long swim. So that even after four hours in the water, you're still nice and toasty warm.”

He was able to get in about 90 minutes of hydrofoiling, but after that the wind will have dropped as the tide went out.

'The last thing I want to do is be rescued with the tide going out,” he says.

'Last year I got stuck on the spit on the end of Matakana with the tide roaring out, just as the wind dropped.

'I always carry a VHF, so I bundled up my kite and rang the Coastguard. They had a new Sealegs Rescue boat, and it just happened to be coming in the harbour entrance.

'They replied that they could see me, so within two minutes of calling up I was on board. They took me to Kulim Park, drove up the ramp, across the grass, and dropped me right outside my car. That was pretty cool.”

He normally manages to zip across the harbour going into the wind at about 22 knots, and going with the wind between 25 and 32 knots.

'It's butter-smooth,” he says.

'It's like water skiing on glass, or snow skiing in the most perfect powder.”

He's mad keen on racing.

'Nationally, we have probably about four or five events a year,” explains Richard.

'The Nationals this year was at Manly, on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula.

'We had a hydrofoil competition in Wanaka in early January with 18 competitors, a Waiheke two-day regatta in April and, on Anniversary Weekend, the Takapuna Boating Club put a two-day regatta on for us.”

Richard says he also goes to a few international events.

'The first one was in Fiji about three years ago,” he says. 'Then I did a hydrofoil pro-tour in Mauritius, followed by a pro-tour in Perth about 18 months ago and a pro-tour in Sydney. I also went to one about 18 months ago in La Ventana in Mexico.

'My dad is 90 and he gave up snow skiing about three or four years ago. I'm only 63 and should see at least another 20 years or more.

'Your health is everything, so if you look after your body and eat healthy food then there's a lot of fun you can have in your retirement.”