JEDDAH: You’ve heard of twists, flips, and turn underwater everywhere, but now a new extreme water sport is allowing sports fans to do the same outside the face of the water. It is called fly boarding and it will take you on new heights.
Arabis are collecting to the newest and coolest new water sports actions. This was made-up in 2012 by Franky Zapata a French watercraft rider; the flyboard is a hydroflight machine that uses thrust to drive a board into the air to execute tricks and skills. With the correct balance and push, the board allows rider to mount out of the water and fly, and one Saudi flyboard trainer can show you how it is done.
Mussab Felemban, a certified flyboard trainer, has been performing water hover boarding whenever and wherever he can find water deep enough to hold the board and large sufficient to fly over.
“Fly boarding is a new sport in the United Kingdom; it’s very trendy now between people whether they want to try it or just want to watch the performance,” Felemban told Arab News.
“Anyone can practice the sport with the presence of an instructor and of course safety equipment such as a helmet and a life jacket. It is one of the funniest and toughest water actions,” he added.
Felemban found his passion in 2009 through riding jet skis. He later discovered fly boarding in 2017, Felemban then fell in love with it, and took courses from Hurghada and Dubaiand now he is an official fly board trainer certified from United States.
“I was discovered 2 months ago by Jeddah’s waterfront operator as I posted my flyboard performances on social media, the operator contacted me and offered me the opportunity to be a part of their activities and I’ve been performing since,” Felemban said.
“I started flyboarding on the Jeddah waterfront two months ago, and thank God it was a great turnout. More than 300 people tried it, including women and children who wanted to try it out.”
Felemban is very active on social media, mainly on TikTok, he gathered over 300,000 followers in just four months. “This is the biggest evidence of the strong demand for watersports,” he said.
Felemban worried that fly boarding does require some quickness, muscle, and tolerance as it can take a while to find the balance while hanging over the water, but it is fit for anyone.
The price for half an hour of fly boarding is SR250 ($67).
“Flyboarding is considered a fun activity and you can do it for less than half an hour. No one can do flyboarding for longer than that because of the pressure on the knees. Yes, it burns calories and tightens the body, however, it does not replace the regular sport activities like going to the gym.” he said.
Felemban has contributed in events similar to Saudi National Day celebrations at the Jeddah waterfront and Sharqiyah, the opening of the Asir waterfront, and many more thrilling events.
“Flyboarding is an entertainment sport activity, and the Ministry of Sports is focusing on Saudi youth to be prepared to participate in Olympics and international sports events.” he said.
“You want to fly? We will make that happen,” he added.
