DUBAI, April 11 — Ever been on holiday and spotted someone whizzing around in the air with a jet of water behind them and wondered how they were doing it? Well it could be you had your first look at a Flyboard, one of the growing trends in extreme watersports.

Developed by extreme sports fan and French jetski champion Franky Zapata, the Zapata Racing Water Flight Device (WFD) Flyboard is seeing an increasing number of athletes taking it up professionally, and Zapata Racing announcing last month the news of the first-ever European Championship for the sport taking place later this year.

For those unfamiliar with the Water Flight Device (WFD) Flyboard, it launched a whole new kind of extreme watersport when it was released back in 2011. Although not the first of its kind — Jetlev released a similar device, the R200 Flyer jetpack back in 2009 — Zapata Racing’s design really kicked off the trend.

At US$100,000 (RM380,000) Jetlev’s R200 Flyer was too expensive to buy, meaning people could only experience and enjoy it while renting it out, and for many this was probably only when on vacation. The Water Flight Device (WFD) Flyboard comes in at a much more affordable price point, around US$5-6,000 depending on where in the world you are buying it, and with 1,300 locations globally to learn the sport from a qualified professional, it is also much more accessible. Other extreme watersports devices now include Wataboard, an extreme hydro jetboard, and X-Jets jetblades.

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So what’s the attraction? Well it’s not for the faint-hearted, but could be for those looking for their next extreme sports adrenaline rush. The device enables you to “fly” through the air propelled by jets of water, performing freestyle tricks and turns in the air and even diving in and leaping out of the water, reaching heights of up to 12 metres when “flying.”

Meanwhile watching others flying high is also pretty entertaining and you don’t necessarily have to have the money or the nerves. Zapata Racing held its first Flyboard World Cup in Doha, Qatar in 2012 and has held a World Cup every year since, with a growing number of athletes taking part each time. 2015 also saw the addition of the North American Championship, and this year will see the very first European Championship taking place in France, home of the brand, in the city of Cavalaire-sur-Mer on June 11 and 12.

But you don’t just have to be a spectator. Zapata Racing promises that it is actually quite easy to use as long as you learn with a specially trained instructor. In fact you will even be “flying” on your first session, although to perform some of the tricks you will need a little more practice, and some are for professional riders only... this is an extreme sport after all! — AFP-Relaxnews

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