Water sports fans in Qatar can now try their hand at high-intensity activities including flyboarding, jetpacking and waterskiing at Lusail City’s marina, its operators have said.
The Mourjan Marina has in the past hosted events such as the Qatar International Boat Show, but the sports are one of the first amenities open to the public in the under-construction city.
The popular water sports are in addition to the yacht charters, dhow trips and fishing expeditions that Lusail has already begun offering as part of plans to serve as a recreation and entertainment hub in Qatar.
Among the sports now on offer are wakeboarding, kite surfing, waterskiing and kayaking, as well as higher-energy activities such as flyboarding, jetpacking and hoverboarding, according to Blue Marine, which will be running the activities at the site.
In those intense sports, the rider stands on a board, with a waterhose attached to a watercraft. Water is forced under pressure to a pair of boots with jet nozzles underneath, which can propel the rider 15m up into the air, where he or she can do tricks and dives.
Prices start from QR100 for 30 minutes of kayaking and go up to QR900 for one hour of flyboarding, hoverboarding and jetpacking.
While online bookings aren’t yet available for the sports, the company’s operations manager told Doha News that reservations can be made onsite or through its Facebook page.
“We are the only people in Qatar to offer a full range of water sports activities, including flyboarding and waterskiing, which no-one else does here yet,” Blue Marine’s head of operations Hashim Alaitah said.
In addition to water sports, the Lusail City marina has 142 berths for yachts of between eight and 40m and three shaded lounges over the water for entertaining guests.
Water sports are growing in popularity in Qatar and are offered by a number of operators at Katara Cultural Village, the Pearl-Qatar, the Diplomatic Club and hotels with beach access.
City development
The Lusail waterfront is set to be one of the focal points of the new city, which is being built from scratch to accommodate a population of 200,000 residents.
Divided into 19 districts, the 38 sq km city which is north of Doha will have residential, commercial and entertainment areas.
There will also be four purpose-built islands and a light rail line, according to its master developer Lusail Real Estate Development Company, which is part of Qatari Diar.
Many plans to develop the area are ambitious and high-end, including previously-announced schemes for a waterpark-themed tower, with pools on multiple floors, some of which are connected by water slides.
The city will also house a $1.25 billion mixed-use development Place Vendome, which will include a shopping center, hotels and apartments when it’s scheduled to open in 2017.
While work on the marina district has been underway for some time, construction on Lusail as a whole is well behind its initial deadlines.
The first phase was initially supposed to be completed in 2011. The Lusail City Real Estate Development Co. subsequently predicted the first residents would move in by the end of 2013.
There have been reports since then about some tenants being handed keys to a few properties last year.
Investors in the Damac development The Piazza in Fox Hills complained of years of delays on the construction of their apartments.
Despite signing up for them in 2007, the buyers only got handover of their properties a few months ago, and many complained they were not of the standard they had been promised.
Meanwhile, early this year, one of Qatar’s largest developers Barwa Real Estate Group started design work on what it called its “Dara” development, which is a 147,000-square-meter project which will be among the largest in the Fox Hills residential area.
Do you plan to try out the new sports? Thoughts?
