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The concept of FlowRider was developed by Tom Lochtefeld of WaveLoch Inc. (USA). It isn't surpring that the idea came from his own surfing experience.
The attraction will be chiefly in "lie-down" mode for most of the day (i.e. body boarding style). At select times during the day Dreamworld will open it to standing for demonstrations and anyone who wants to give standing a go.
The attraction opens up the whole area quite nicely and will make views to the forthcoming water park that is being built in the background all the more spectacular for Dreamworld guests.
FlowRider is situated next to Cyclone, utilising part of the old Thunderbolt station.
Most of the professional riders that took part on the day started off pretty shakily, but as they kept at it they quickly got over the learning curve, as they expect most riders are able to do when first having a go.
The ride is $5 for a 30 minute session during the day at Dreamworld shared with 15 other guests, or you can come along for NightRider which is $20 for an hour shared with 12 other riders or $5 for non-riding spectators.
Much like most boarding sports, the FlowRider attraction is just as much a spectator sport as it is one for the participants.
There are several ways to "board" FlowRider. The most difficult of which is to drop in on the wave. One of the easier options is to gently lean onto the wave from the base.
If you do fall off you'll either slide to the bottom or be whisked to the top by the wave where there is a madded mesh flooring. Taking a spill is half the fun!
The padded surface means it's pretty impossible to injure yourself on the attraction, no matter how bad your stack.
Riders keep themselves on the wave by applying pressure with their back foot, making it different in this sense to sports like surfing and snowboarding where riders control themselves primarily with their front foot.
The ride works by pumping a stream of water up over a padded wave-shaped platform at 30km/hr.
Even on overcast days like this FlowRider is heated to a toasty 27ยบ.
Also Melbourne's Adam Murray (formerly South Africa) gave it a crack, as an expert flowboarder and kiteboarder.
Hawaii's Sean Barnes was up first, ranked the best Flowboarder in the US.
As well as this, some of the world's leading Flowboarders came along to show how it's really done.
To celebrate the launch of FlowRider, a handful of Australia's brightest young stars in each sport were brought in to give it a go to see which sport comes out on top.
