Skysurfing

[Scoop 0]

I was listening to the latest Skydive Radio and an interview with Tanya O'Brien. Got me scratching my head.

What is going on with skysurfing? Why is there such a lack of participants. I think it looks like an awesome discipline if a tad lonely sometimes.

I think the last UK competition only had one team turn up and according to SDR so did the one at Eloy. Seems sad. I don't want it to fizzle out.

Anyone here skysurf or stopped for any reason? What about new entrants to skydiving, any intention of skysurfing. I know I'd like to try and explore it. Its something different and fun, seems extremely challenging too.

I don't know if I'm ranting/asking a question or what!? Just curious as to which way you think its going and why.

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[Yossarian 0]

looks a bit dangerous to me, and you cant really do it with other people apart from a cameraman, it looks impressive though. another problem i think is because nobody really does it its hard to get into, lack of equipment/instructors etc, what are the requirements anyway? id imagine youd have to be a pretty decent freeflyer

[towerrat 0]

all (most) of the pros are dead.
it's pretty dangerous. a skyboard can quickly become a spinning death board if you are not extremely vigilant. imagine spinning out of control until your cypres fires only to find yourself wrapped in lines and fabric. not my idea of fun but I guess there's something for everyone.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!

[Katherine 0]

Id there some kind of cut away system for the board?

Leeds University Skydiving Club
www.skydiveleeds.co.uk

[MitchyB 0]

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Id there some kind of cut away system for the board?

yeah, there's a cutaway system. theres one skysurfer here in idaho, about 10-15 ft before he lands he cuts his board away to make his landing easier, so if you get in a spin you can cut it away too. i'd imagine that it would be difficult though, but i wouldnt know.

--------------------------------------------------

Do you have a steak? i'll take it!

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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I was listening to the latest Skydive Radio and an interview with Tanya O'Brien. Got me scratching my head.

What is going on with skysurfing? Why is there such a lack of participants. I think it looks like an awesome discipline if a tad lonely sometimes.

When you start skydiving, jumping out of airplanes and being in freefall can be scary and exciting. That decreases as you get more experience and jump frequently.

One that happens most people find that skydiving is most enjoyable as a social sport which revolves arround the interactions with other people in the time between exit and landing. This can take the form of formation skydiving, canopy relative work, freefly, tracking dives, wingsuit flocks, etc.

Ocassionally reliving that initial excitement by trying new things is a great idea. I've tried round parachutes, sky surfing, night jumps, wing suits, baloons/helicopters, etc.

Once you get a few hundred jumps (more experience will better prepare you for handling emergencies) and are competant at head-up vertical flight (can get there immediately from any position, can rotate about all three axis) you should try skysurfing; although if you're like most of us you probably won't want to do it on a regular basis.

Sky surfing was very visible in the early 90s with the X-games, and a lot of us in the younger sitfly/freefly crowed tried it. I bought a board, but stopped jumping it because being with other people was a lot more enjoyable.

[LawnDart21 0]

I made about 100 skysurf jumps at the end of the 2002 season, and would have liked to continue with it regularly with the intent to compete, but I then got a tandem rating, and decided I had more fun doing tandems than skysurfing.

I still have my board, and every year at our annual Casa boogie, I go up and do a few skysurf jumps on that one weekend. I made a decision to not make periodic skysurf jumps during the season, as I think it's a discipline that requires a tremendous amount of currency to be done safely over a long period of time. It's not an "every once in a while when I'm board" discipline. That said, as I mentioned, I still do it once a year, as it is a great feeling, one I don't want to give up permanently. And admittedly, it's the only jumps that I do anymore that genuinely get my heart racing as we climb t o altitude. I like that.

I was lucky in that when I was learning, skysurfing was still en vogue, and I had a great coach that had competed in the X-Games back when skysurfing was an event. There are still exceptional skysurfing coaches out there, just less of them still actively teaching as I understand.

Blue skies, Tom

--
My other ride is a RESERVE.

[tcnelson 1]

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...It's not an "every once in a while when I'm board" discipline.

awesome pun, intended or not

"Don't talk to me like that assface...I don't work for you yet." - Fletch
NBFT, Deseoso Rodriguez RB#1329

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

I was the very first person on the east coast of the USA to strap a board on after seeing "the silver surfer" commercial and the Coke commercial. That was 1990 and I still have photos of those days in my albums. Ultimately, while fun, I got bored with the discipline after about 200 jumps. I still have my two boards (one destroyed by Rodney Cruce!), but have not made a jump with one since around 1998. I was pissed that they started the skysurfing league long after I had quit screwing around with it.

It was neat, but got very repetitious to me after I had mastered what tricks I could think of back then.

There is still one guy that routinely jumps his very-nice TS board at Raeford; Jim Lanigham. There is also one other guy here who jumps his old board about once a year.

Trivial note: I taught former GK national/world champion RW guy John Hoover to skysurf on his 200th Skydive at Raeford a long time ago. He did great on that jump right up till pull time when he flipped over and threw his PC right between his legs. He obviously lived, but I was scared to death watching it from five feet away in freefall.

Chuck

[Brains 2]

HERE is a website that has some video, a malfunction video with board cutaway, and some pics etc. The surfer posts here as "Douva" I used to be his cameraman. You could ask him any other questions about skysurfing too.

Never look down on someone, unless they are going down on you.

[kimemerson 7]

I have the distinction of being the first and second in NY back in about '90 or so, before Jerry Loftis and any form of instruction. Lukas Knuttson and I built our boards in DeLand after DeGayardon helped us with design based on his boards. On my last jump I pulled while in a stand up - because that's how it was done even for beginners - which caused me to flip onto my back and I too tossed the PC between my legs. Lines wrapped around my right knee twice and I then had a fully open main but I was upside down, main at my feet. Line twists and spinning like a top on meth. I was able to unwrap the lines and get repositioned, but still had outrageous line twists down to and including the risers. Had to chop it but as I was still at about seven grand I let it spin and rode it down a bit before completeing the chop. I was jumping a Phantom 22' reserve at the time. The cutaway and subsequent pull was so hard it tore a mud flap off and broke a reserve line so I was turning again. Landed in some sapplings on the rail trail beyond the town of Gardiner, NY. Where else can you get that much fun for $15.00?

[Douva 0]

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I was listening to the latest Skydive Radio and an interview with Tanya O'Brien. Got me scratching my head.

What is going on with skysurfing? Why is there such a lack of participants. I think it looks like an awesome discipline if a tad lonely sometimes.

I think the last UK competition only had one team turn up and according to SDR so did the one at Eloy. Seems sad. I don't want it to fizzle out.

Anyone here skysurf or stopped for any reason? What about new entrants to skydiving, any intention of skysurfing. I know I'd like to try and explore it. Its something different and fun, seems extremely challenging too.

I don't know if I'm ranting/asking a question or what!? Just curious as to which way you think its going and why.

Having done more research into the death of skysurfing than probably anyone around, here are the conclusions I've reached.

In the early '90s skysurfing was a very hip, macho alternative to freestyle. In fact, it looked so cool it was accepted as an event at ESPN's new "extreme sports Olympics," the eXtreme Games (Later renamed the X-Games). Then three things happened to dampen interest in skysurfing.

First, skysurfing pioneers Rob Harris, Patrick De Gayardon, and Jerry Loftis and skysurfing camera flyer Vic Pappadato (teammate to Troy Hartman) were all killed in separate, unrelated skydiving accidents (Loftis was the only one to actually die on a skysurfing jump), between 1995 and 1998. Imagine where freeflying would be if Olav Zipser, Omar Alhegellan, and Orly King had all died in the first eight years of the discipline's existence.

Second, freeflying came into popularity, replacing skysurfing as the new, hip alternative to freestyle. Because freeflying was more social, less expensive to get into, easier to learn, and safer, people who might previously have gravitated to skysurfing instead took an interest in this new alternative to belly flying.

Finally, skysurfing was dropped from the X-Games in 2001. For a while, the pro skysurfing tour and the $75,000 purse divided among the top contenders at the X-Games had been enough to keep skysurfing alive, but without that motivation, interest in skydiving decreased significantly over the next five years.

You don't need to be an exceptional free flyer to learn to skysurf, but you do need to be a very heads up skydiver. Here are my standards, adapted from the standards of skysurfing instructors much more experienced than me:

You need to have at least 200 jumps and be able to hold a stable sit and a stable stand. On a single jump, you need to be able to do controlled left and right 360's in a sit, controlled left and right 360's in a stand, and front and back layouts in a stand. You should also be very competent in your emergency procedures and a very competent canopy pilot (basic canopy piloting, not swooping), and you should jump a non-elliptical/non-high performance canopy.

Ideally, as with any discipline, you should seek an experienced instructor. There are four instructors in Southern California (one a former women's world champion and one a former X-Games competitor), me in Texas (if you can actually drag me out the drop zone), and a few other current and former skysurfers peppered around the U.S. who might be willing to dust off a board for you, if they think you can handle it. If you can't find an instructor, Surfflite rents beginner boards for $25 a week and includes a video on preparing a homemade skysurfing suit and making your first skysurf.

You need to start on a beginner board (about 36") and then progress to an intermediate board (about 48"), followed by an advanced board (about 60"). Despite what the Surfflite introduction video says, do NOT deploy in a stand on the beginner board. It's too small, and you'll be falling too fast. Do practice deployments in a stand on the beginner board, but deploy belly to earth. Always deploy in a stand on the intermediate and advanced boards.

If there aren't any skysurfers at your home DZ, you need to discuss your exit with the DZO/DZM at your home drop zone. Skysurfers normally exit first and pull high, and this can make a lot of people a little nervous, particularly if they don't understand the science behind it (vertical body position + slow fall rate = a LOT of drift).

Know in advance that most skydivers aren't used to having skysurfers around, so the rest of the jumpers at your DZ will probably be a little leery of it for a while. When I started skysurfing at Skydive San Marcos, the belly flyers used to get really upset that I would exit before them, but after a few years of safe, competent behavior, they grew to accept me. I realized I'd finally been accepted when, on a load a couple of years ago, the pilot told us he was going to put us out early, and without me saying anything, the belly flyers called for a go around so I could have time to strap on my board.

It's a great discipline, and I hate to see it die, but it's getting harder and harder all the time to keep it on life support. Every year I meet about a dozen jumpers who are new to the sport and convinced they want to learn to skysurf. Unfortunately, by the time most of them have enough jumps to try skysurfing, they've already adopted another discipline. Que sera sera.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[Douva 0]

[CENTER]HISTORY OF SKYSURFING[/CENTER]

1980: Skydivers in California experimented flying with Styrofoam boogie boards, lying flat on the board in free fall, gripping the side rails. They called it “air surfing.”

1987: French skydiver Joël Cruciani made the first free fall jumps standing on a regular size wave surf board with snowboard-type boot bindings for the film "Hibernator."

1988: French skydiver Laurent Bouquet experimented jumping with a skateboard-size board strapped to his feet. French skydiver Patrick de Gayardon began using one of Bouquet's small boards.

1989: Bouquet performed a real life version of the comic book character "Silver Surfer" for filmmaker Thierry Donard's "Pushing the Limits 2." De Gayardon perfected a soft binding and cutaway system to release the board in case of emergency.

1990: De Gayardon produced a segment titled "Sky Surfer" for French network television sports anthology film "Traveling 2" featuring the first tandem skysurf by Patrick and New Zealand skysurfer, Wendy Smith. Bouquet, de Gayardon, Bruno Gouvy, Eric Fradet, Phillipe Vallaud, and Peter Schäfer began experimenting standing on boards in free fall in Gap, France. De Gayardon and Gouvy did the first double skysurf for a Japanese TV commercial. Jerry Loftis became the first American to skysurf.

1991: De Gayardon, Patrick Passe, and Didier La Fond produced a Reebok skysurf commercial using a special carbon fiber board. The "Life is short, Play hard" ad introduced the concept of skysurfing to the American public. Ray Palmer became the first Australian skysurfer with the production of the famous skysurfing Coca-Cola commercial that saw him standing on a regular ocean surf board, shot over Broken Hill. Bouquet, Fradet and Schäfer performed the first triple skysurf over Mount Blanc in France for filmmaker Donard's "Pushing the Limits 2."

1992: The Fèdération Française de Parachutisme recognised skysurf as a sporting activity. US skysurfer Jerry Loftis formed Surflite, the first dedicated skyboard maker. The first competitive skysurfing demonstration was held as part of the third annual WFF Freestyle World Championships in Eloy, Arizona. Two teams performed as part of the freestyle event.

1993: The first "grass roots" skysurf open competition organized by Skydive Arizona. Eight teams took part, including de Gayardon, Fradet, and the US team of Rob Harris and Joe Jennings. The WFF issued the first set of rules for competitive skysurfing. Skysurfing competitions were held in France, California, and Illinois using the new WFF rules. First ever Skysurfing World Championships staged as part of the WFF annual event at Empuriabrava, Spain. Separate divisions for advanced (10 teams competed) and intermediate skysurf. De Gayardon and Gus Wing became the first World Champion Skysurfing team.

1994: De Gayardon, Fradet, Schäfer, and Pal Bergen skysurfed as part of the opening ceremonies for the 1994 Winter Olympics at Lillehammer. Four skysurfing competitions staged in France, California, Illinois, and Belgium. The second annual Men's and first Women's Skysurfing world titles featured as part of the annual WFF World Championships in Eloy, Arizona. Sony Handycam sponsored the competition. Harris/Jennings win the men’s division, taking the title away from skysurfing pioneer de Gayardon. American Amy Baylie-Haass was the first woman skysurfer to feature in a TV commercial - for Sony Handycam. De Gayardon, Fradet, and Harris performed the first triple sequential skysurf over Hawaii for filmmaker Passe's "Traveling 4" series on French TV.

1995: Ten skysurf teams shared $20,000 at the (first) ESPN X-Games in Newport, RI. The uni-sex contest used live air-to-ground transmitters displayed on a 16 x 20' Jumbotron TV screen for the spectators at the landing zone. Third annual WFF World Championships of Skysurfing held 20-24 September in Ampfing, Germany. Skysports International formed (name later changed to SkySportif.) SSI set up as the organizing and sanctioning body for Pro level Skysurfing, and to work with organizations like the X-Games. On December 14, 1995, Rob Harris, the number one rated Los Angeles club DJ who became the first American to win a skysurfing world championship and the first X-Games skysurfing gold medal winner, dies in British Columbia while performing a non-skysurfing related skydiving stunt for a Mountain Dew commercial. His teammate Joe Jennings was filming the stunt.

1996: First Pro Tour in the history of sport parachuting announced to qualify skysurfers for the annual ESPN X-Games, held again at Newport, RI. Troy Hartman and Vic Pappadato win the gold. Freeflying, a new three-member discipline, debuts as a "demonstration sport" at all tour venues.

1997: ESPN X-Games held in Oceanside, California.

1998: FAI World Cup in skydiving held at Evora, Portugal. Seven female skysurf competitors. ESPN X-Games held in Oceanside, California. First Planet X Xtreme Games staged in Brisbane. Skysurfing featured as a demo sport with performances by Australia's first female skysurfer, Kylie (Buffy) Tanti, and Switzerland's Vivian Wegrath. On April 13, 1998, French skydiver Patrick de Gayardon, considered the father of skysurfing, is killed while testing an experimental “wing suit” at his drop zone in Hawaii. The cause of the accident is determined to be a self-induced rigging problem. On May 10, 1998, Vic Pappadato, X-Games champion camera flyer and teammate to skysurfer Troy Hartman, is killed in a canopy collision after filming a formation skydive. On August 14, 1998, Jerry Loftis, the first American skysurfer and the founder of Surfflite, dies performing a skysurf at the World Free Fall Convention in Quincy, Il, after he fails to deploy his reserve on time, following a canopy malfunction.

1999: FAI World championships in skydiving held in Corowa, New South Wales, Australia. Skysurfing won by Valerie Rosov, Russia (men's skysurf) and Tanya and Craig O'Brien, USA (women's skysurf). Eight female skysurf competitors. ESPN X-Games held in Monterey/San Francisco. Skysurfing featured again as a demo sport at the Planet X Xtreme Games in Brisbane. Performers - Stefan Klaus and Vivian Wegrath (Switzerland).

2000: FAI World Cup in skydiving held at Eloy, Arizona. Three female competitors. ESPN X-Games held in Sonoma/San Francisco. Planet X Xtreme Games held in Melbourne, Australia. Skysurf performers - Stefan Klaus/Bryan Rogers, Vivian Wegrath/Kuri, and from Australia - Rob Simunic/Craig Trimble, Pauline Richards/Mike McGrath and Mike Milton/Rob McMillan.

2001: World skydiving championships held as part of the World Air Games in Granada, Spain. Men's skysurf won by Eric Fradet/Alex Iodice from France; women's skysurf once again won by Tanya and Craig O'Brien of the USA. ESPN drops skysurfing from the X-Games, due to the lack of an adequate consumer base needed to attract sponsors. Shortly afterward, SSI folded, since its major competitions had been qualifying and promotional events for the X Games. That leaves skysurfing as a discipline of sport parachuting, generally under the control of the national governing bodies for parachuting competition.

Information provided courtesy of SSI, Troy Hartman, www.vivisurf.ch, and IPOC Skysurfing.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[Katherine 0]

wow, those are two interesting posts.

Before I started skydiving this year, just about the only fotage of skydiving that I had seen had been skysurfing jumps, on ads etc It seems a shame that not many people are into it, I think it makes for interesting videos, but also looks like it has the potential to go horribly wrong.

On the LAST website, the clip of the cutaway looks painful - did you tear ligaments in you leg or anything?

Leeds University Skydiving Club
www.skydiveleeds.co.uk

[jumpingjimmy 0]

i asked my instructor about why skysurfing is not popular anymore, he told me that it's because of too many deaths due to it

he said that its hard to stop a fast spin, and if the surfer is inverted they can black out due to the high speed spin, the spinning board acts like helecopter blades and slows your decent enough to stop the AAD firing.... so you spin unconcious into the ground

nice

[kimemerson 7]

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Jerry Loftis became the first American to skysurf.

Wrong on this one. I do know that at least Bob Hallett, and Howie Daugherty (Ok, he's Canadian but he was jumping with American teams in DeLand) and even I - among others - were doing it before Jerry made his first skydive. I met Jerry when he first started out with the skysurfing and we talked about this.He was early, but not first. What Jerry was first at was designing the beginner, intermediate and advanced boards, as well as a course of instruction. Prior to his efforts it was pretty much watching and winging, which is how I started. Lukas and I used Patrick's bindings design but Patrick never said anything about using small boards or foot placement. All he said in the way of sage advice was, "Don't kill yourself." and he laughed that French laugh of his. Lukas and I laughed too but not quite as robust a laugh as Patrick's.

[Douva 0]

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wow, those are two interesting posts.

Before I started skydiving this year, just about the only fotage of skydiving that I had seen had been skysurfing jumps, on ads etc It seems a shame that not many people are into it, I think it makes for interesting videos, but also looks like it has the potential to go horribly wrong.

On the LAST website, the clip of the cutaway looks painful - did you tear ligaments in you leg or anything?

Skysurfing earned a lot of positive exposure for the sport of skydiving. It's still the way many, many whuffos picture modern skydiving.

One thing about skysurfing that even most skydivers don't realize is that it's kind of an illusion. Though it may look like the skysurfer is riding a surfboard around on the relative wind, he's actually using a great deal of arm and upper body input to maintain a stable fall with the board strapped to his feet.

Neither I nor Betsy (my board) were injured in the cutaway incident. I was seeing stars after I opened, though.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[Douva 0]

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i asked my instructor about why skysurfing is not popular anymore, he told me that it's because of too many deaths due to it

he said that its hard to stop a fast spin, and if the surfer is inverted they can black out due to the high speed spin, the spinning board acts like helecopter blades and slows your decent enough to stop the AAD firing.... so you spin unconcious into the ground

nice

That's the kind of answer you typically get when you ask a jumper who really doesn't know much about skysurfing. There really haven't been many skysurfing related deaths. A lot of jumpers who don't know all the facts, particularly jumpers who came along after skysurfing went out of fashion, mistakenly assume the deaths of Rob Harris and Patrick De Gayardon, probably the two most famous skysurfers, were skysurfing related. They weren't. I also think a big part of the reason this myth has spread so far is because "It's too dangerous" is a much easier answer to give somebody than the truth, which I explained earlier in this thread.

If both bindings are still strapped to your feet, a competent skydiver should be able to stop any spin. I've been in a couple of nasty flat spins, and they are definitely scary, but they are also definitely stoppable. Doing fast inverted spins is one of the staples of skysurfing. It's called a helicopter. As long as you're in control, it will NOT make you black out. Spinning out of control strapped to a board CAN cause blackouts, just like a side spin with a tandem, but assuming both of your feet are still secured to the board, a flat/side spin on a board is more easily recoverable than a flat/side spin with a tandem (or so I understand, not being a TM myself). Also, if a skysurfer ever finds himself or herself unable to regain stability, he or she can get rid of the board with the pull of a handle. The bindings are equipped with quick releases, similar to the 3-ring release on your risers. The only time I've ever felt even close to a blackout spin was when one of my bindings was released in free fall. I quickly remedied that situation by cutting away the board.

The part about the board slowing you down so that your Cypres won't fire is malarkey. In a bad spin a Cypres may not be a very effective life saving tool because when it fires, the spin will probably just tie up your reserve canopy and lines in a nice little bow, but you're still falling fast enough to activate the Cypres.

Skydiving is not a safe sport. Each jumper draws his or her own line in the sand. Some people draw at BASE jumping, others at skysurfing, and others at freeflying. I like skysurfing, but CReW freaks me out. To each his own.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[Douva 0]

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Jerry Loftis became the first American to skysurf.

Wrong on this one. I do know that at least Bob Hallett, and Howie Daugherty (Ok, he's Canadian but he was jumping with American teams in DeLand) and even I - among others - were doing it before Jerry made his first skydive. I met Jerry when he first started out with the skysurfing and we talked about this.He was early, but not first. What Jerry was first at was designing the beginner, intermediate and advanced boards, as well as a course of instruction. Prior to his efforts it was pretty much watching and winging, which is how I started. Lukas and I used Patrick's bindings design but Patrick never said anything about using small boards or foot placement. All he said in the way of sage advice was, "Don't kill yourself." and he laughed that French laugh of his. Lukas and I laughed too but not quite as robust a laugh as Patrick's.

Everything I've read has said Loftis was the first American to skysurf, but I guess you'd know better than I. Do you know who was first? Was it Hallet? Any idea how Loftis got the reputation for being first? Think it was just because he was the first American to make a name for himself in the sport by refining and manufacturing skysurfing boards?

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[jumpingjimmy 0]

nice to hear it from somebody who actually knows his stuff
thanks for the info

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[kimemerson 7]

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Everything I've read has said Loftis was the first American to skysurf, but I guess you'd know better than I. Do you know who was first? Was it Hallet? Any idea how Loftis got the reputation for being first? Think it was just because he was the first American to make a name for himself in the sport by refining and manufacturing skysurfing boards?

I don't really know who was the very first. I remember Patrick coming to DeLand with his boards and wowing us. Lukas and I built ours based on his designs and then we built Bob's. A few of us tried back then with varying degrees of success. So as to "first" it was really a matter of who got in the air earlier that week. Lukas, Howie, myself, maybe Marty Cooper (now dead. And I'm not certain about him trying it. He was game, I know, but I can''t swear he did the board.)Bob was probably the only one to take it up seriously for a while. I think he even did a commercial or was on a poster or some publicity thing on the plywood board Lukas and I built and I painted. To my knowledge no one else was doing it in the US yet and Jerry wasn't even jumping yet. As for how Jerry got that reputation I can only speculat that, as you stated above, it's because he made it available to the masses for the first time and designed and perfected the instructional program he became known for. Wasn't Jerry from a western state? I can't remember, but I think so. Patrick would stop in DeLand first and then if the weather was shitty he's head to California so his influence migrated.

[ltdiver 3]

Great history recall of skysurfing. Thanks for posting it.

Two additions to the list.

1) In 1998 Valery Rozov lost his cameraflyer, Alexi Krishtopa, on a (training or competition) jump. He was without a teammate and found one, Clif Burch, just in time for the X-Games. They won GOLD! In 2000 the same team won silver!

2) 2001, the year that Tanya Garcia-O'Brien won the Women's Division of the "World Air Games", she had enough points to actually win the entire event. More points than even the men!

edit to correct the spelling of Valery Rozov's name.

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[ltdiver 3]

Some fun skysurfing videos.

http://www.skysurfer.com/videoGallery/

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[Douva 0]

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Great history recall of skysurfing. Thanks for posting it.

Two additions to the list.

1) In 1998 Valery Rozov lost his cameraflyer, Alexi Krishtopa, on a (training or competition) jump. He was without a teammate and found one, Clif Burch, just in time for the X-Games. They won GOLD! In 2000 the same team won silver!

2) 2001, the year that Tanya Garcia-O'Brien won the Women's Division of the "World Air Games", she had enough points to actually win the entire event. More points than even the men!

edit to correct the spelling of Valery Rozov's name.

ltdiver

Thanks for the input. Maybe I'll update my timeline and add it to the L.A.S.T. website. I need to talk to someone from USPA and ask what kind of skysurfing exhibit they have planned for the new museum. I might be able to help them dig up some nice exhibit pieces. I'm sure Rob Harris's parents would love to see Rob represented there. I have a pair of Rob's old training tights around here somewhere, but something tells me a worn out old pair of tights might not merrit a display case.

Speaking of skysurfer.com, where is Jay Browning these days?

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[UntamedDOG 0]

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all (most) of the pros are dead.
it's pretty dangerous.

A lot of the "pro" skysurfers didn't actually die skysurfing.

I wouldn't let that turn you off to the discipline.

UntamedDOG