Happy Summer! One of our favorite seasons is officially here! Not only is summer synonymous with vacation for us (have you scheduled time off yet?) but it’s also a time to get out and enjoy the water. Brian took me to Lake Conroe this weekend for my birthday to try a new extreme sport….hydro-boarding! We enjoy snowboarding, sand boarding, paddle boarding and wake boarding therefore we figured hydroboarding was the next adventure to cross off our ever growing list!
After a very brief tutorial, we strapped on the boots and a helmet then made our way to the open water. The helmet was equipped with a speaker so we could receive direction from the instructor on the jet ski. A hose was attached to the jet ski which was connected to the bottom of the board in order to provide the water lift. Laying flat in the water allowed the jet ski to propel our bodies without lifting us out of the water toward the main part of the lake. After we were in the middle of the lake, it was time to get some air!
With the first stream of water, it was very obvious that the board was very sensitive to foot movement. After a brief second in the air, Brian swallowed a mouthful.
We were told to lead with the belly and keep our feet relatively flat. Okay, sounds easy enough.
Turns out Brian is a quick study and has impeccable balance. He was up on try number 2 and never ate the water again for the whole 20 minute outing!
He was soon flying high and even testing out some 360’s while in the air. Lake Conroe, which is just about an hour North of Houston, is the perfect spot to learn as the water is calm with limited boat traffic around the lake.
Before his turn was up, Brian got fancy one more time with some dolphin dives. He literally dove into the water then shot out and up!
As we were changing positions, the instructor let us know that Brian was an above average student for his first time! He got the hang of it quickly and had a blast. Great, now I had to follow his performance…
I was much more unsteady on my feet than Brian. The slightest movement and I lost all balance.
After about 5 tries, I finally was able to stay vertical for more than 3 seconds. One note of advice, be mindful of the bottoms you wear! While Brian’s shorts were tied in place, I had to hold on as I shot up out of the water!
Finally I started to get some air and get the hang of it. It’s amazing looking at these pictures now. When we were on the water, it felt like we were lifted 50 feet in the air, in reality it was a fairly modest height!
Overall we had a blast with HydroRockets! Ronnie was an extremely friendly and patient guide which made this such a fun experience. He warned us before we started that this becomes an addictive sport and we can see why. We can’t wait to give it a shot again. HydroRockets has a variety of other water toys as well so people of all levels can enjoy being elevated from the water.
Check out some video footage of us on the water!
Have you ever heard of hydroboarding? Would you give it a try?
View Comments (3)
What an absolutely crazy experience! I am seriously impressed with the whole 'dolphin-dive' thing. I love that you guys aren't afraid to try new things .
How cool is that? At least one of us is dying to try this - the other fears she may die trying. ;) It looks like you had so much fun!
This looks like so much fun. We saw people doing this in Miami in and around the boats moored downtown. Looked crazy!