How to get wet faster

IT WAS only a matter of time before the thrill of jet-skiing, wakeboarding and windsurfing wore off. Now there’s a slew of fantastic new powered craft for riding the waves – and plunging beneath them.

Geminai Watercrafts, based at the Taco Lake sports club in Samut Prakhan, recently unveiled the latest in extreme marine gear – the Seabreacher and Jetovator from the US, the French Flyboard and the Ego Compact Semi Submarine from South Korea. 

The first three are for individual riders, the last for the whole family. The costs can get steep, but few people will have ever enjoyed excitement at this level before. 

“Adrenaline rush” seems barely able to describe what happens when you rocket above the water surface, hover and flip in mid-air, dive into the waves headfirst and glide about underwater.

Geminai Watercrafts was founded in 2012 as an auxiliary of Geminai & Associates, which has become the sole distributor of this gear across Southeast Asia and much of South Asia and in the Maldives, Taiwan and Hong Kong and Macau. 

Its leased premises at Taco Lake offer a chance to try out the Flyboard and Jetovator so you can make up your mind about buying, and a session on a Seabreacher can be arranged off the Pattaya shore.

Sermsak Cheepprakit, training and operations manager, promises complete safety in the hands of skilled instructors – matched to a whole lot of fun.

“With a little creativity, this can be a truly challenging experience,” he says. “We think the Flyboard, Jetovator and Seabreacher will become the next big water-sports trends in Thailand, and the Ego semi-submersible will be a hit with families at resorts and on island tours.” 

If you’ve ever been idling on the beach not quite convinced that the roar of the jet-ski has any appeal, the Flyboard – invented two years ago by French jet-ski champion Franky Zapata who runs the Zapata Flyboard Racing – will dare you to go get wet. 

Strapped into the thing, which resembles those jetpacks that never quite “took off” commercially, you can jump 10 metres in the air and do a front flip. Pressurised water directed through a long hose propels the vehicle along.

Hesitantly volunteering to give the beast a try, I donned the purpose-made swimsuit, lifejacket and helmet and noticed a spike in my heart rate. I’m given a mere five minutes to learn how to stand and balance on the board, but my two instructors are the best; Sataporn Srirang, 25, placed fourth in the 2012 Flyboard World Cup, and Suksan Tongthai, 18, won the event in Doha last year.

Soon enough I’m being lifted slowly into the air and beginning to believe I can fly and can leap forward like a dolphin.

“There are many tricks,” says Sermsak, “like 360-degree spins, combo kicks and back flips, but it all depends on your skill level.”

Suksan assures me that he had zero skills at water sports until he tried the flyboard and suddenly he was championship grade. “I try to build strong muscles in my legs, which helps with the exciting tricks like the double back flip and spinning and turning around in the air and leaping like a dolphin.”

“It’s even easier than riding a wakeboard because your arms and legs don’t have to be that strong,” Sataporn chimes in. “Actually you don’t need any sport skills at all. You just have to have a brave heart!” That got me wondering why bravery was a factor, he calmed me by explaining that it all comes down to maintaining your balance on the board.

The American-made Jetovator has the same hose rig but looks more like a bike – meaning you get to sit down, as on a jet-ski, and dive briefly beneath the surface. It’s also capable of 360-degree spins, but seems less acrobatic and thus better suited to slower motions. 

For top speed, you need to climb into a Seabreacher, another US import, which looks and behaves like a shark – or a dolphin if it’s feeling playful. 

Since its debut in 1997, three models have evolved, all able to mimic the movements of fish – jumping, diving and rolling – at speeds up to 100 kilometres per hour. 

The Seabreacher is a complicated watercraft but the structure is strong, safe and luxuriously comfortable inside – would you believe crocodile-skin upholstery? The two-person cabin is fitted with LCD screens, a camera, a radio, navigation gear and air-conditioning too.

“We don’t allow prospective buyers to drive it themselves,” Sermsak says. “Since it can travel 100 kilometres an hour, even our instructors have to take a special course in the US. We’re very concerned about safety!”

A gentler ride is proffered aboard the Ego Compact Semi Submarine from the South Korean firm Raonhaje. It’s described as “semi-marine” because most but not all of it sits beneath the surface. The Ego can also be read as “eco” since it’s quite environment-friendly, using battery power as well as “digital foot pedals”.

There’s a depth sounder that beeps if you approach rocks or reefs and a high-resolution camera up top that scans the surface for more such hazards – or pirates.

Pirates might be interested in the Ego. So far Geminai doesn’t have a place where you can take one for a test cruise, but it’s looking for a partner – “like a luxury resort or travel agency”, Sermsak says – to help it develop facilities. 

“We’re planning to launch our watercraft in many spots soon, like the Nongbon Watersport Center in Hua Hin and Phuket.” And a Watercraft Sport Club will open at Taco Lake to host a Flyboard competition this year. 

 

 

HAVE A SPLASH

>>Experience the fun of Flyboarding yourself at Taco Lake in Samut Prakhan or on Pattaya Beach opposite Jomtien Beach Soi 13. The prices start at Bt3,000.

>>Get more details at (02) 298 0014 and www.GeminaiWatercrafts.com.