While many of you have probably seen Flyboarding on TV or YouTube, you may not know exactly what it is. According to Wikipedia… Flyboarding is a having a type of water jetpack attached to a jet ski, which supplies propulsion to drive the Flyboard through air and water to perform a sport known as Flyboarding. A Flyboard rider stands on a board connected by a long hose to a watercraft. Water is forced under pressure to a pair of boots with jet nozzles underneath which provide thrust for the rider to fly up to 49 feet in the air or to dive headlong through the water down to 8 feet.
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When the fine folks at Soaring H2O asked me to come out try this new sport, I was stoked. Of course I was a bit nervous as well, because I didn’t want to make a fool of myself.
So my family and I headed down to Lake Minneola in Clermont, where we met up with Arian from Soaring H2O. He immediately made us feel welcomed as he explained all the equipment and how everything worked. Surprisingly, it was not as complicated as I thought it might be.
Flyboarding Adventure = FUN!
First up: Me! My nerves started to kick in, as Arian helped me get strapped into the boots. He explained to me, to keep my legs straight and my arms tucked in. He said the hardest part about flyboarding is relaxing and not fighting for balance.
“Your balance will come quickly when you relax and let the board do the work.” Arian instructed me. “It’s definitely easier said than done, but you will see what I mean.”
Flyboarding Makes You Feel Like James Bond
We worked our way off shore and then I heard Arian yell, “Here we go!” I felt the thrust on my feet as I fought to get them underneath me. I got about half way out of the water before I fell. I tried a few more times, as Arian gave me pointers and reminded me to relax. I guess on about the 4th time I did it! I soared about 5 feet in the air and stayed up there for about 45 seconds, until I realized how high I was. (Trust me, 5 feet doesn’t sound that high, but when you look down at the water, you feel like your are 20 feet high.) I immediately tensed up and down I went. I was stoked, I did it a few more times, and then Arian told me it was time to learn a trick. He wanted me to try to do a “Dolphin Dive”. A Dolphin Dive is when you get up in the air, you dive down into the water and then come straight back up. I thought I would give it a try, but never thought I would be successful. Surprisingly, I did it on my first try. It wasn’t pretty, but I did it.
My wife and daughter were up next, and both were able to get up after a few tries as well. I think they both were surprised about how easy flyboarding was.
My 10 year old son was even able to do it. We modified his boots to bring his stance a little closer and up he went. He needed a bit of help getting the board underneath him, as his leg muscles were not strong enough, but after that, he went right up. Afterwards he was on cloud nine, as he was super proud of himself. A flyboard expert in no time at all.
So, if you’re looking for something fun and different to do with the family this summer, I highly suggest you contact the fine people at Soaring H2O. With a little coaching, they will have you FlyBoarding like a pro!
Note: Soaring H2O kindly didn’t charge us for our flight, but all opinions are my own.
