Science fiction can sometimes turn into fact. Claire Caruana gets to grips with a new water sports gadget – the hoverboard– which was featured for the first time in the Back to the Future trilogy. She finds that it is similar to the wakeboard and ‘an extension’ of the flyboard.
Many gasped in awe when Michael J. Fox’s skateboard turned into a hoverboard in the 1989 film Back to the Future II and wished it were for real, not just a sci-fi invention. But almost 25 years after the movie’s release, the hoverboard has made it to the market.
Jet-ski champion Frank Zampata, the man behind the successful flyboard, has developed this new gadget which he named the ZR Hoverboard. A fascination with Robert Zemeckis’s films, as well as his passion for water sports, led him to his new creation.
One can expect to perform the same tricks as with a wakeboard
Simon Desira, already owner of a flyboard, is one of the first people in the world to order a hoverboard. He is eagerly waiting its arrival so that he can “ride the water and fly like the Silver Surfer from the Fantastic Four”.
Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly trying to find his balance on the hoverboard in the 1989 film Back to the Future 2.“The concept of deciding where to go, as you are not being pulled, like wakeboarding or skiing, and when to go up in the sky, is what drives me to own these products,” he says.
The board resembles both a wakeboard and a surfboard and allows the rider to ‘fly’, as can be done with the flyboard. It allows the rider to fly at around 1.2 metres above the water while soaring over waves at speeds of around 23 kilometres per hour. It is attached to a personal watercraft (PWC), such as a jet ski, with an 18-metre hose which supplies it with the water needed to propel the rider through the air.
“One can expect to perform the same tricks as with a wakeboard, but you are more in control and can decide where to go and where to stay, be it in the water or up in the air,” adds Desira.
Any person with a jet ski can ride a hoverboard as there are no specific skills required other than that of finding balance.
People who try the flyboard manage to fly 70 per cent of the time. The trick to it is to completely relax and not think about the balance
While frequent requests are made to try out such gadgets locally, the general perception is that they are rather difficult to handle.
Desira explains that this should not be a concern as only a few of those who try these gadgets fail to fly.
“People who try the flyboard manage to fly 70 per cent of the time. The trick to it is to completely relax and not think about the balance. As soon as they master this, the fun begins.”
Hopefully, the hoverboard will have the same high success rate.
Desira believes that Zampata’s creativity − he developed the hoverboard and the flyboard within three years of each other – will lead to more such ‘toys’ in the near future. So water sports fanatics keep on the lookout!
A video of the hoverboard can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMaDhkNJA2g.