The frigid, snow-lined waters of Whitefish Lake aren’t ideal accomodations for preparing for a December water sport competition in Dubai.

But, for the last few months, they’ve had to do as T.J. Andrews has prepared for next weekend’s the Flyboarding World Cup.

Andrews, a Polson native, was selected for the competition in mid-August as one of 40 professionals from around the world, one of 10 from the United States.

The sport, just four years old, involves strapping in to a board connected by a long hose to a jet ski. Water is then pumped, like a fire hose, under pressure to the rider’s boots and through jet nozzles that lift the rider up to nearly 50 feet in the air. It is judged similarly to skateboarding or snowboarding, with a point system based on style and difficulty.

“It’s the closest thing you can do to being Iron Man or flying,” Andrews said.

The process isn’t far off for Andrews, who came to the sport while still coaching freestyle skiing and snowboarding on Big Mountain.

He was successful as an instructor on the mountain, coaching Whitefish phenom Maggie Voisin to the Olympics in freestyle skiing, and became known to the owner of Flyboard of Montana, a local company that was just starting with the new sport. The owner noticed his ability to coach body position and fluidity in the air and asked him to help develop a program to teach others to flyboard.

He fell in love right away and has run the company for the last two years.

“I thought it was the coolest thing I’ve ever felt before,” Andrews said. “You’re flying.”

As a skier and snowboarder, Andrews was working toward a professional career when he injured both of his knees. The flyboard has allowed him to relive that dream without the pain.

Nudged again by his higher ups, Andrews competed in his first professional competition this summer at the North American Flyboarding Championships in Shreveport, Louisiana. With only three days to prepare, he finished 15th in the 50-person professional division.

Bolstered by the finish, he created a video submission to enter the World Cup, and he found out shortly after that he would be headed to Dubai after he was accepted as one of 25 entries from 14 different countries.

Once he was in, however, the hard part started.

Fall isn’t water sports weather in Northwest Montana and Dubai isn’t close.

Preparing for the biggest competition of his career would mean a lot of uncomfortable work and would cost a lot of money.

He went back to work full time as the lead guide for Great Northern Powder Guides, the company helping to sponsor his trip to the Middle East. He also got help covering costs from family and friends.

But with a full-time job taking up most of the daylight hours, practice time began to shorten. Not to mention the cold.

Which is where the frigid waters of Whitefish Lake come in. Unlike most of his competitors, Andrews is preparing in a setting more fitted for polar plunges than summer pastimes.

That hasn’t stopped his drive.

“It’s getting too dark when I’m off work and it’s getting pretty cold, but I still make it out about once a week,” Andrews said.

Once he gets to Dubai next week, the tables will even out. The same watercraft and equipment will be provided for all the competitors, he just has to bring his own board.

The first round of the competition will be a planned five-trick routine before turning to freestyle in the final rounds. Spirals, spins, flips and other twists and turns are rolled into combos for judges to weight scores on a 0-100 scale.

While his experience in freestyle skiing and snowboarding has helped with his proficiency in the air and his coaching experience has helped him in competition, it’s another experience that he says gives him comfort when he’s 40 feet over the water.

“My biggest thing that’s helped out is living in Polson, boating down the Flathead River and jumping off the cliffs,” Andrews said.

“That was one of my favorites. The A-Frame cliff was 30-40 feet and I feel right at home jumping off and throwing a backflip. On a flyboard it feels like doing the same thing. I just don’t have to hit the water.”

Even on the other side of the world, he’ll be right at home.