The Slightly Loopy Sport of Zorbing
Zorbing is a very interesting sport; a person climbs into a large sphere and rolls downhill. Yes, it’s that simple; well, the technology of the balls that are used to roll down the hill in is pretty complicated but the sport is extremely simple and fun. To take part in the sport, a person climbs into the 9-foot sphere, straps themselves in and rolls down a hill. In some cases, the people inside the ball are able to control the direction in which they are travelling and can steer the balls whichever way they want. This interesting sport is becoming very popular all over the world, and is especially popular in Europe and New Zealand.
People, it seems, were inspired to stick themselves into a giant orb and roll around after watching hamsters do it in their little plastic balls. They obviously thought hamsters were having a great time and wanted a piece of the action. Early attempts to design human hamster balls did not go so well, with the plastic used being too hard and people getting injured. However, in 1994, a pair of New Zealanders, Dwane van der Sluis and Andrew Akers, got together and decided to invent a proper human sphere. Their sphere, which they called a ‘Zorb’, was radically different from the ones that had come before it because it was a lot easier to ride in. It was basically two balls; an inner ball and an outer one. Both balls had a layer of air in between them and this acted as a shock absorbing system and helped the people inside remain injury-free. As the concept took off and became popular, many different designs were invented by the founders. Some had straps inside that held a person in place and others had no straps at all and could accommodate two or three people who would go bumping into each other as they rolled down a hill.
The business model that the founders came up with was very interesting, because instead of selling the Zorbs to the general public, they leased them out to franchises. The franchises would then charge people to take rides and the founders would get a cut of their profits. It was a very unique system and soon zorbing became popular all over the world. People nowadays use the huge spheres as a recreational tool to have a fun day out but others get a bit more serious. Zorbing enthusiasts have been known to hold races against fellow zorbers and annual competitions are also held with the winner declared as the top zorbing champion. With the ability to steer the spheres, racing becomes interesting and people can even hold races in obstacle type courses.
There have even been a number of world records attempted and broken while zorbing. There are two world records that currently stand in the sport at the moment. The first is for the longest and the second is for the fastest. The longest sphere ride is currently held by Steve Camp and he got the record in 2006 when he was able to travel a distance of 1,870 feet. The second record that was captured was also in 2006, and it was for the fastest sphere ride in the world. Keith Kolver set this record by reaching a top speed of slightly over 32 miles per hour in a sphere. That is a very impressive speed to maintain while going downhill in a zorb and being turned upside down constantly. It looks like a whole lot of people are gearing up to challenge these two records and set their own longest distance record and their own fastest zorbing record.
As this interesting sport grows in the number of franchises that offer it around the world, it will continue to gain in popularity. People will hold races and some crazy youngsters will soon appear on the scene and start doing tricks with their ‘zorbs’. They might have to invent slightly lighter ones that they can lift off the ground, but it will happen soon enough. This interesting sport looks all set to remain in our lives for a long time yet.
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