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In order to skysurf you need to have a few things. First of all, you've got to be able to skydive. To do that you need to follow a few steps which is costly and time-consuming, but worth it if you stick to it.

1. First do some background research. Learn about the sport (look before you leap). Check here for FAQ's on skysurfing

2. Decide on the training method. There's more than one way to make your first jump. You can make a Tandem, Static Line (S/L), or Accellerated Freefall (AFF) jump. Each method has its own costs and particulars. Some involve a First Jump Course (FJC) which is about 6 hours long; others involve only a 30-60 minute briefing. Some involve freefall on the first jump, others do not. And some involve a solo canopy descent where you alone fly the parachute to the ground with ground-to-air radio assistance. The following table summarizes these differences.

The cost of subsequent jumps goes down dramatically as you progress with licensed jumpers (with their own equipment) paying about $15 to 13,500 feet.

3. Locate a reputable skydiving center or drop zone. In the U.S.In the United States, you want a DZ that is affiliated with the United States Parachute Association (USPA) as a group member. Other countries have their skydiving organizations.

4. Find some friends to go with you. It's more fun and you'll have at least some people to watch your back if anything wrong happens.

5. Go out and try it! However, before you can start skysurfing, you have to at least try this out at least 50 times.

Now that you have experience with skydiving, now you can start skysurfing! Even though, skysurfing looks just like snowboarding, the only similarity is the board. It's just like skydiving only you combine full body strength with gymnastic style maneuvers using the aerodynamics in the wind during a freefall and adding a board to use. It's usually done with at least two atheletes, the surfer and a cameraflyer. Neither of them can communicate with each other verbally and usually communicate with hand signals and practicing over and over with the same partner. The cameraflyer trys to keep the skysurfer into dead center of his or her camera trying to keep it focused while doing falling 120+ mph along with the surfer. The jumps usually begin under 15,000 feet. The atheletes usually deploy their chutes at 2,500 feet. Like all skyjumping, you've got to make sure you have two untangled parachutes, one main one, and a backup one just in case the first one doesn't deploy.

Finally the landing is all that's left to worry about. To do that, you've got to have at least 2,500 when deploying the parachute. There are many different types of parachutes, but the more modern ones are shaped like airplane wings and allow the surfer to fly around and gently hit the ground, board-first. For more info on deploying chutes, click here.

At the X-Games, at team of 5 judges awards a maximum of 100 points per judge per jump. 50 points are allocated to technical execution of maneuvers and 50 points for overall performance. There are no required elements in skysurfing. Each team creates their own routines, often showing up at competitions with something new. The newness doesn't last long. Once an original move is performed other jumpers quickly follow suit - thereby constantly pushing their fellow competitors in an ongoing battle to be the first! Each judge may also award a 10 point bonus for "variety" thereby encouraging the jumpers to constantly change their routines.

The X-Games consists of four preliminary rounds in which the top ten teams in the world compete by invitation only. After four rounds the field is narrowed to the top five teams who each perform two final jumps. The Gold Medalist is the team which acquired the most points throughout the entire competition.

By the way, in case you're wondering, one CAN breathe in freefall - if it were necessary. However, due to the high speed of terminal freefall (and much higher speeds in vertical freefall dives), the jumper's body is exposed to O2 molecules at a much higher rate than someone walking around on the ground. The body is able to absorb the necessary O2 through the skin. This is why jumpers flap their cheeks in freefall, it presents a larger surface area to the airstream for oxygen osmosis. Once under canopy, the jumper resumes breathing normally.

This is also why jumpers do not jump on cloudy days or when they might risk going through clouds. The moisture in the clouds can condense on their exposed skin surfaces preventing the absorption of the necessary oxygen resulting in suffocation.

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