Flyboarding
An invention that will make you totally look like a dolphin, dude. The flyboard is a high-octane contraption that blasts its users out of the water like a joyful human fish. Those up for the ride stand upright on a small platform which shoots a powerful jet of water downwards, sending the attached board – which has in the past carried the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio – up into the air. The jet’s water supply is sucked up via a long pipe that trails behind you like a tail as the flyboarder wooshes out of the water in elegant arcs before diving, or bellyflopping, back into the ocean, and shooting under the water like a super-charged sea creature.
• Playa D’en Bossa, Ses Salinas and Formentera, Ibiza, £127 for 30 minutes,flyboard-ibiza.com
Aquatic hover board
Considered the sister product of the Flyboard, the aquatic hover board also takes advantage of water jets that blast the rider into the air. The only difference is that the participant “rides” along it skateboard-style, doing spins and grabs as well as skimming along the surface of the water. The cool looking boards - which went on sale last month - have a top speed of 16mph and can “fly” 16ft above the water. Invented by French jet ski champion Franky Zapata, the boards echo Marty Mcfly’s much envied hoverboard from Back to the Future Part II. Anyone disappointed that the HuvrTech boards - seen by millions in a viral video featuring pro-skater Tony Hawk and musician Moby - turned out to be fake, will be jumping at the chance to test out this (definitely real) aquatic counterpart.
Blob jumping
The name may conjure up all kinds of unhelpful images, but once you see the activity in action, it kind of makes sense. Blob jumping involves placing a giant, partially-inflated air bag - also known as a water trampoline or blob - on the edge of a lake. The blobber (that’s what we’re calling them anyway) sits on the far edge, while another participant – or two – jumps from a platform onto the opposite side, catapulting the other skywards. As tested by the Jackass crew (albeit with a team of paintballers taking aim at the blobber), the sport may not be the most dignified way to take to the air, but it’s certainly a creative use of what is actually rather primitive technology.
• Tignes Acroland, Savoy, France, £6.50 per hour, tignes.net
Subwing
Another relatively new aquatic plaything is the subwing, which allows you to be towed underwater behind a boat thanks to a carbon fibre hydrodynamic wing that the participant clings on to. It’s the brainchild of Norwegian inventor Simon Sivertsen, who first tested the idea out while on holiday in Greece using a plank of driftwood. His final design is a little more ambitious; the wing can be pivoted by the diver, allowing them to steer themselves. The activity does, at first glance, seem very dangerous; imagine getting dragged along a reef, slipping off and getting left behind by your boat, or, worse still, accidentally going too deep and getting the bends. It does, however, come with a comprehensive safety manual, with the advice to travel no faster than 2-4 knots. It’s either an opportunity to “fly underwater” or a nautical torture device.
Jetlev Flyer
Another take on flyboard/hoverboard technology, the Jetlev Flyer propels its users with a jetpack strapped to their back from which two jets of water blast down from the rider’s shoulders. Popular with thrill-seeking celebrities channeling James Bond as they languish in the Caribbean, the device is a bit gentler than the Flyboards - its users generally stay above the water, levitating in an upright position up to 30 foot in the air. Perhaps the best trick you can perform with the Jetlev is to use it to run along the surface of the water, in a Biblical style.
• Locations across America, £150 for 25 minutes, jetpackamerica.com
