x
Breaking News
More () »

Adventure Arkansas: Flyboarding

One of the newest ways to fly is now right in our backyard, with water right beneath your feet propelling you to soar. Sean Bailey and Melissa Hall show you wha...

One of the newest ways to fly is now right in our backyard, with water right beneath your feet propelling you to soar. Sean Bailey and Melissa Hall show you what it takes to "Flyboard."

Ryan Cauly of Beaver Lake Flyboarding says, "Well, I'd say it's the closest you could get to iron man. Just it’s so much fun and freedom."

Melissa and Sean blast off above Beaver Lake in this week's Adventure Arkansas. After suiting up with safety gear, they were psyched to learn to soar! Ryan Cauly, owner of Beaver Lake Flyboarding, showed them how to take flight with this new age sport.

"Your knees need to be locked. You're just going to pull your toes up towards your chest when I tell you to go because that will give you just enough power to come out of the water. And when you pull your toes up with your knees locked you're just gonna start coming out of the water the first few times you're gonna you're gonna go one way, forwards, backwards. Remember to go into the dive."

For Sean it was really like he was controlling a snowboard. While he was in control of the movement, Ryan and the jet ski were in complete control of the strength of the water jets. So there was no way for him to fly away under his watch.

Once Sean got his bearings, he felt on top of the world, even though he only maxed out at about 10 feet above the lake.

"For somebody that is learning, we normally fly them 3 to 8 feet off the water. The hose is 60 foot so the full extension of the hose would be about 50 feet in the air," Cauly explains.

Now Melissa was on deck to give it a whirl. Despite her claims that balance isn't her strong suit, she was up up and away in less than 10 minutes. "OMG it was surreal. I mean the feeling of flying all by yourself it's unexplainable. It's really cool.”

Ryan says anyone of any athletic ability can be aerial. "We've had kids as young as 8 years old and all the way up to a man that was 84 and everyone in between."

The sport of Flyboarding started off in 2012 and Ryan introduced it to Northwest Arkansas late last summer. He says fly boarders continue to elevate their skills. "Last year when we got into it, double backflips was a thing. Now they are doing triples, corkscrews, 10-80s, 14-40s into backflips I mean the sky is the limit."

Now it took Sean and Melissa more than a few tries to actually get airborne. So naturally we have some of their outtakes  as well as Ryan's spectacular flight.

We also have all the contact and pricing information on how to plan your own flight with Beaver Lake Flyboarding.

 

Watch the video for more information!

Sponsored by: Adventure Subaru

 

Before You Leave, Check This Out