Electric Ducted fans?

A while back this video was going around, as a surfer the idea of having a huge draggy underwater propulsion unit is less than interesting, So binging the drive above the water would make sense and may solve some other problems but likely create others, obviously low speed torque is the main problem but could it be a option possibly using a two stage thrust type system that would allow better efficiency when out the water?
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Surfer glides across lake on handheld electric jet engine inspired by inventor's boyhood experiments | Daily Mail Online