By: Philip Schilling
Submitted: 2009-04-13 09:16:04 | Word Count: 513
As if jumping from an airplane at 20,000 feet and reaching a freefalling speed of 125 mph were not enough, now we’re doing it on skysurfing boards and falling to the earth at speeds in excess of 300 mph while surfing the clouds as we fall. Think that’s a rush? You better believe it is! It’s the extreme sport of skysurfing and it’s hugely more intense than skydiving with the advanced spins, loops and rolls that you can create by manipulating the board. Forward momentum is achieved during the fall by tipping the nose of the board.
The 1980’s saw the early versions of skysurfing and through the 1990’s, the sport gained widespread popularity largely through the efforts of the late skysurfer, Patrick de Gayardon. Skysurfing was a hot competition featured in the 1995 2000 ESPN X games with teams of professional skysurfers earning six figure winnings during this time. Media coverage of the challenging and exhilarating team sport was phenomenal attracting thrill seekers and onlookers from all over the world. The sport created quite a stir mainly because of the sport’s daredevil acrobatics which are much more complicated and risky than traditional skydiving events.
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The difficulty level of skysurfing is very high. It requires long hours of intense training and practice, practice, practice. Even the seemingly basic maneuvers such as balancing on the board to create forward momentum are quite difficult to perform as this action causes the skysurfer to tilt and find themselves sailing through the air head first. Being balanced and in a correct position is crucial to creating a situation to allow your chute to open properly. It goes without saying that having your chute deploy correctly is the largest of safety concerns of the sport of skysurfing.
Skysurfing uses a sport parachute as opposed to the traditional chutes used in other realms of skydiving such as the military. The most popular sport parachute choice among skysurfing enthusiasts seems to be the airfoil design with airlocks. There are quite a few variations of this style of chute with different designs of mechanisms for steering and lifting. As far as boards are concerned, the beginner of skysurfing should start out with a board that meets this criteria as well. Beginner skysurfing boards are shorter, around 35”, with perpendicular bindings for increased stability. As your skill level increases you can progress to longer more advanced boards that give you greater mobility for difficult stunts.
As most traditional skydiving schools do not teach the art of skysurfing, your best bet to learn the sport would be a specialized skysurfing school. Classes start at the beginner level, usually many phases of this level, and progress through intermediate and advanced levels of skill. Such a school will teach you the basics of skysurfing and progress you through stunts and acrobatics. Safety is of the utmost importance and a qualified program will guide you through the uncompromising details of safety. If you want to learn the extreme sport of skysurfing, jump in (or out) with both feet. Surf’s up! And up, and up, and up.
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