Flatland skimboarding

Flatland skimboarding is an extreme sport using a wooden board about three times as wide as a skateboard and one and a half times as long.The board is thrown across a thin film of water.While the board is still moving the rider jumps on and skims across the water to do what ever tricks he or she can imagine.

=History=Flatland Skimboarding has been around for many years. Its history starts in the 1970’s when skimboards were generally a circular disk which was thrown and jumped on in the shallow waters. Around the early 90’s the evolution of the sport really took off with the introduction of rails and ramps which would be incorporated into skimboarding.

Pioneers and the Flatland Future

[http://www.jgordonskimboards.com/] J-Gordon Skimboards was the first to revolutionize the sport and begin making boards specifically designed for skim rails and flatlanding in general. Other early pioneers such as the Zed Skimboards, 4skims and Kayotics crew in Vancouver, Vancouver Island,and Washington with Dashboards Skimboards [http://www.dbskimboards.com] , Sacramento and Utah were some of the first to re-direct the sport of skimming from a summer activity to an extreme sport. With indoor skimboard parks and many new obstacles and tricks inspired by sibling sports such as skateboarding and snowboarding flatland has found now its own scene. Flat land has also sprung up in Australia with skimboarding brands like NEMO haolding compitions every year around Australia.

=Tricks=There are an unlimited number of tricks that can be performed while skimboarding. This list only covers a small chunk of the tricks possible.

Ollies

Ollie-A basic jump into the air with the board.

Ollie North-A small variation on the Ollie except that you lift your front foot off the board.

Hippy Jump-The rider rides up to an object a few inches off the ground and jumps over it while the board goes under.

pins

*By pushing the sand while moving the rider can spin 360 540 720 etc. degrees.

huv-Its

*Shuv-It- By jumping in the air and sweeping the back foot forward and the front foot backwards you can make the board spin 180 degrees.

*360 Shuv-It - By placing your feet differently and sweeping your feet harder it is possible to spin the board a full 360 degree spin.

*540 Shuv-It - By placing your feet differently and sweeping your feet harder than a 360 shuv it, and jumping higher to get the full 540 degree spin.

*Pop Shuv-It - By mixing an Ollie and a Shuv-It you can spin the board in the air.

*Big Spin - Mixing a 360 shuv it with 180 varial.

*Bigger Spin - Mixing a 540 shuv it with 180 varial.

Body Varials

*Body Varial- If you jump into the air and spin without spinning the board you can perform a Body Varial. You will know you have performed this right if you land with your back forward.

*Sex Change By combining a Shuv-It and a Body Varial you can perform a Sex Change. You will know you have done this right if you land with your back foot forward and the back of your board facing forward.

=Differences from other Boardsports=Flatland skimboarding is a great sport as it can be done in almost every region of the world as it only requires a shallow pool of water which can be found in oceans lakes and even flooded fields. Some have even gone as far as building small skim pools in their backyards. The first to do this was Noah Lane of Sacramento Calif. With all the extreme sports enthusiasts out there it has made the flatland industry snowball in size. Riding rails in flatland skimming is unique in that you can combine snowboarding and skateboarding tricks into one. Without trucks to prevent the rider from spinning creates many variations and combinations of tricks when combining it with the non-binding skateboard tricks such as big-spins and pop shoves.

=External Links=
* [http://www.tydlemag.com/ Tydle Magazine: 100% Pure Flatland Skimboarding]
* [http://www.SkimBC.com Skimboarding Canada: Canadian Skimboarding Resource]
* [http://www.inlandskim.com/ www.inlandskim.com]
* [http://www.millsriderz.com/ www.millsriderz.com] ---Australia
* [http://www.jgordonskimboards.com/ www.jgordonskimboards.com] ---USA
* [http://www.Kayotics.com/ www.Kayotics.com] ---Canada
* [http://www.akwaindustries.com/ www.akwaindustries.com] ---Canada
* [http://www.zedskimboards.com/ www.zedskimboards.com] ---Canada
* [http://www.dbskimboards.com/ www.dbskimboards.com] ---USA
* [http://www.inlandskimboarding.blogspot.com/ Inland Skimboarding] ---USA