Sky Surfing is a form of surfing where competitors use a small surfboard to perform tricks and stunts while free-falling from a plane.

Sky surfing is a form of skydiving in which the skydiver wears a board attached to their feet and perform surfing-style aerobatics during freefall. The boards used are generally smaller than actual surfboards and are more alike to snowboards. Sky surfing reached its peak in popularity in the late 1990s. Sky surfers were featured in prime time television commercials for major brands like Pepsi, AT&T and others. Competitive team sky surfing was featured as part of the ESPN X Games from 1995 to 2000.

The goal of sky surfing is to use a board attached to the feet to perform surf-like aerobatic stunts while skydiving.

There are records of skydivers experimenting with sky surfing dating back to the 1980s. However, the sport did not take off and become recognized until the 1990s due mainly to the efforts of the early skydivers, such as the late Patrick de Gayardon, to master the more complex aerobatics.

Altimeter
Automatic Activation Device
Data Card
Goggles
GPS
Jumpsuit
Parachute (Rig)
Sky Surfing Board

Along with the general safety risks involved with skydiving, the addition of the board adds another level of difficulty for the skydiver. The bindings attaching the feet to the board are made to be easily removed in case the skydiver looses control and must jettison the board. Because of the possibility of dropping the board, not every skydiving club permits sky surfing, and only a few skydivers have attempted this recent specialization in the sport.

Sky surfing is a distinct skill requiring considerable practice. The simplest sky surfing technique is to stand upright on the board during freefall, and tilt the nose of the board down to generate forward movement. However even this basic technique is a balancing act which experienced skydivers find tricky to learn. The extra drag of the board tends to upset the balance and make the skydiver flip over. The jumper must also learn to control the board and their body position so as to open the parachute in a stable configuration. More advanced aerobatics such as loops, rolls and helicopter spins, are more difficult still and are tackled once the basics have been mastered.

Accelerated Free Fall - training on freefall jumps of 40 seconds or longer, accompanied by a qualified jumpmaster, as opposed to Static Line training which does not involve long freefall in the initial training phase

Backslide - to move backwards in freefall relative to a neutral reference

Bag - the deployment bag in which the canopy is packed

Boogie - a group of skydivers usually focused on fun rather than competition

Brakes - brake lines on the canopy and are synonymous with steering lines; used together, they slow down the skydiver

Canopy - the construction of fabric and lines used to land safely after a freefall; the parachute

Cut Away - to release the main parachute; cutting away is a standard emergency procedure prior to deploying the reserve

Decision Altitude - the altitude at which a skydiver is trained to begin execution of emergency procedures

Drop Zone - common slang term for a skydiving center

Fall Rate - speed at which a skydiver falls

Flare - the act of pulling down the brakes of the canopy in order to slow it down, resulting in an increased angle of attack and reduced descent rate

Glide Ratio - distance a canopy flies forward compared to downward

Hand Deploy - to activate the parachute by manually deploying the pilot chute as opposed to pulling a ripcord

Main - the primary chute

Pilot Chute - a small, round parachute that acts as a drogue to extract the main parachute from the container and deploy it

Reserve - the auxiliary parachute carried on every intentional parachute jump

Rip Cord - the deployment system on all reserves and most student parachutes; the ripcord is a piece of cable with a handle at one end and a pin at the other that when pulled, releases the pilot chute

Rig - skydiver slang for the entire parachute, including main and reserve canopies and the harness/container

Tandem - parachute jumps in which two skydivers, usually an instructor and student, share one parachute system; the student is in a separate harness that attaches to the front of the instructor's

Terminal Velocity - speed at which drag matches the pull of gravity, resulting in a constant fall rate

Wuffo - skydiver slang for people who don't jump

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skysurfing
http://www.longislandskydiving.com/skydiving-glossary.asp#dc