The Digital Skeptic: Wavejet Shows Web's Wake of Destruction

But in a Web economy dominated by duds such as American Online (AOL) and Yahoo! (YHOO), no investors would back such an early stage idea based on something real. Unfazed, Railey began spending about $2,000 per test board -- and there were many -- prowling local hobby shops for parts. Helmut Goestl remembers how he walked into his Dymond Modelsport hobby shop in San Diego.

"Mike burned through a lot of prototypes because the salt water was ruining his motors," Goastl says.

By 2002, in spite of it all, Railey built a working powered board.

"The thing worked for about 60 seconds, but it moved me along." Railey says. "I just got shivers down my spine."

From that point to about 2008, while investors fell in and out of love with the likes of Google (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN) and Facebook (FB), Railey struggled to land financing. But he kept plugging away and was awarded several foundational patents in personal propulsion. He took a chance and signed away his rights to a public television show that promised to help him, but Railey says they ended up shelving the project indefinitely.

Eventually, one lone gun saw potential. Michael Vlock, a veteran investor whose family owns a substantial share in Hyatt Hotels (H), learned of Railey through a patent search he was conducting when he, too, was bitten by the idea for a powered board. He offered cash -- if Railey could prove his vision would work.

And yet, again, Railey got it done. With an engineering assist from Len Stobar, a professor he met at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., he developed a fully functioning prototype that he drove cross-country in a Rent a Wreck to Vlock's house. Then and there, Vlock committed to funding the product to the tune of $7 million.

Railey went into production, landed promotional surfers, created a marketing plan, approached journalists and started taking pre-orders.

A WaveJet can be yours for about $5,000.

The WaveJet almost drowns
Sounds like great American success story. But my fear is that it won't be. Though Railey says pre-orders are strong, and his company is firm, my read is Railey faces yet another long tough slog to get this product to be what it should. Outside the surfing media -- which views WaveJet with suspicion bordering on hatred -- and some California media outlets, Railey has not found the wider media or markets love a new idea needs.

Our digital world appears yet again too distracted to care about real things such as the Wavejet.

"There is so much water on the earth, and this is a better way to get in the water and use it," he says.

If WaveJet sinks, it won't be Railey's loss. It will be ours.

This commentary comes from an independent investor or market observer as part of TheStreet guest contributor program. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of TheStreet or its management.

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