The art of competitive flyboarding

Having had a few days to think about the 2013 Flyboard World Cup and what an incredible sport Flyboarding has become, it became clear to me that what I thought about the competition was very different from what I know now after have witnessed it up close. and personal. Professional flyboarding is very different from the recreational fun many of us have on the water. Adding to the height, speed and tricks these pros employ during their competitive runs is the complexity of handling the hose, the Jet Ski, the performance area and the judges.

The first time I saw a competitor spin, flip, land and fly only to then fall 30 feet straight into the water for no apparent reason, I thought what the hell happened. It soon became abundantly clear that this rider had purposely released his EMK throttle and waded into the drink to quickly drop the hose into the water, making sure not to tip the ski over and avoid disqualification. We saw a number of amazing Flyboarders messing around on their trick or executing it to get close to the Ski, resulting in a flipped Seadoo and an early exit from the competition.

Sitting on the shuttle bus traveling from the Pearl Qatar Marina back to the Hilton Doha hotel, I spoke with 2012 world champion Stéphane Prayas. He had just unleashed a new trick on the world that involved flying to the back of the Ski, placing one hand on the back of the seat, then leaning back and using his Flyboard jets to float himself and the Ski through the water. . He was a crowd favorite, but there was more to him than just coming up with a new trick.

Paraphrasing Stéphane, he said that the steering wheel and the jet ski must work as one, they are a team on the water and that his new trick was simply an opportunity to connect and show respect to the machine. I really wanted him to understand how important that relationship is to him and how important it is to play in this sport, apart from the board, the hose and the ski. This was something that Franky Zapata had also told the runners during his briefing. He said that driver safety is number one and also to respect the team because you will be penalized for dangerous maneuvers and lack of control.

I’m not sure that a sport, which is only two years old, can have an ‘old school’ philosophy, but it seemed to me that after speaking with Stéphane and after seeing some of the competitors who seemed to be focused on trick after trick after trick until a wobbling ski or kinked hose caught them off guard that there’s a chance this intimate relationship between man/woman and machine is something other than top of mind, all the time, for some flyers. The fundamental thing in any sport is not the glamorous pieces but the absolute necessities to be able to compete at the highest level. As flyboarding matures, it will be movement and style between tricks that will likely separate the champions from the contenders. I’m still going to jump out of my seat when a double backflip lands and goes flying above the water, but now I’ll also take my cap off the frills spiking all these niceties that only seeing the World Cup in person could have informed me.