A Beginner’s Guide To Flyboarding

About four years ago, my father returned home from a business trip and showed me a picture he took of a person attached to some sort of futuristic jet pack. I’m pretty aware of new gadgets thanks to social media and websites like Popular Science, but I hadn’t seen or heard about anything like this before—I didn’t even know how to Google it! After several days, I gave up on my search.



Then, a year later, I stumbled upon a video and learned that these jet packs are actually called Flyboards, and they're more like snowboards with pressurized streams of water that propel them into the air. The video made Flyboarding look not only fun, but beautiful! Multiple people were Flyboarding at the same time and doing coordinated tricks. I knew I had to try it for myself.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a local company that offered Flyboarding. Since then though, it's started to gain popularity. I even found a company that offered to let customers Flyboard near my parents’ home on Long Island. However, $200 for a half hour of Flyboarding was not in my budget, so I put the dream of Flyboarding on hold

Earlier this month, April 2016, my boyfriend and I went on a vacation to Costa Rica. While I was researching companies that offer zip-lining (which I was told is a must in Costa Rica), I found one called Sky Adventures that also offers Flyboarding for less than half the price of the Long Island company. (Spoiler alert: While a half hour doesn’t seem like a lot of time, it is plenty.) Without hesitating, I booked it!

The Experience
We met our instructor at the lake, where he was waiting for us with a jet ski and Flyboard. The Flyboard itself is roughly the size of a skateboard with two boot attachments for your feet, similar to a snowboard. The critical component of the Flyboard, though, is the hose that connects it to the jet exit of the jet ski. The water it pumps out is what provides the thrust to get the user out of the water and keep them up in the air.

READ MORE AT: https://www.popsci.com/a-beginners-guide-to-flyboarding

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