Zorbing – For The Fun

Just when you thought you have seen it all – the world now consists of yet another strange and unusual sport in various countries – but not yet Canada.

Zorbing is the unusual recreational sport of rolling downhill inside an orb, generally made of transparent plastic.

Zorbing is generally performed on a gentle slope, but can also be done on a level surface in pubs and clubs around the UK, permitting more rider control. The advancement of zorbing has lead to many other types of zorbing activities being developed over the years, including zorbing for the water and bubble football, where players wear giant bubble suits so they can bump into each other, flip over and roll their way to scoring goals! The main form of zorbing however takes place downhill.

In the absence of hills some operators have constructed inflatable, wooden or metal ramps.

There are two types of orbs, harnessed and non-harnessed and the Non-harness orbs carry up to three riders, while the harness orbs are constructed for one to two riders.

Double-harness spheres have different slope requirements, and must only be operated in specific locations. The longer runs are approximately half a mile.

The first zorbing site was established in Rotorua, but a Russian article on the Zorb also mentions a similar device that apparently debuted in 1973.

In the early 1980s, the Dangerous Sports Club constructed a giant sphere (reportedly 23 metres or 75 feet across) with a gimbal arrangement supporting two deck chairs inside.

This device was eventually cut up for scrap, with some of the plastic remnants used to cover a compost heap.

Human spheres have been depicted in mass media since 1990 when the event Atlaspheres first aired on Gladiators.

In 1994, Dwane van der Sluis and Andrew Akers conceived the idea for a type of sphere in Auckland calling their invention the “Zorb”.

With two other investors they created the firm ZORB Limited, and set to work commercializing sphereing.

The business model was to develop and create this activity to be a world-wide event using a form of franchise.

In 2000, van der Sluis exited from the company to return to his career as a software engineer, but Akers ran the company (CEO) until April 2006, when he eventually resigned.

Sphereing Definition:

Orbing or Zorbing, and Zorbing entered the Concise Oxford Dictionary in 2001 where it was eventually defined as: “a sport in which a participant is secured inside an inner capsule in a large, transparent ball which is then rolled along the ground or down hills”.