Boardsports are sports that are played with some sort of board as the primary equipment. Surfing, first mastered in the Pacific islands, was the first board sport. Eventually, it was expanded to land applications, often with the addition of wheels. Many board sports are classified as action sports or extreme sports, and thus often appeal to youth. Board sports have had a history of being dangerous, "punk" or reckless, and thus were marginalized in the sports community. However, many board sports have gained mainstream recognition, and with this recognition have enjoyed wider broadcast, sponsorship and inclusion in institutional sporting events, including the Olympic Games. For other uses, see Surfing (disambiguation). ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... The five Olympic rings were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games at Antwerp, 1920. ...

Classifications

There are a variety of board sports, which are characterized by terrain:

Water

Surfing

The grandfather of all board sports, is a surface water sport that involves the participant being carried by a breaking wave.

Windsurfing

Also known as sailboarding. A water sport involving travel over water on a small 2-4.7 meter board powered by wind acting on a single sail. The sail is connected to the board by a flexible joint

Bodyboarding

Wave riding consisting of a small, roughly rectangular piece of foam, shaped to a hydrodynamic form. The bodyboard is ridden predominantly lying down, (or 'prone'). It can also be ridden in a half-standing stance (known as 'dropknee') or can even be ridden standing up.

Wakeboarding

A surface watersport created from a combination of water skiing, snow boarding and surfing techniques. As in water skiing, the rider is towed behind a boat, or a cable skiing setup.

Skurfing

Another fast growing boardsport is skurfing a mix of surfing and more conventional water sports in which the participant is towed behind the boat.

Kneeboarding

A discipline of surfing where the rider paddles on his belly into a wave on a kneeboard, then rides the wave face typically on both knees.

Kiteboarding

Involves using a power kite to pull a small surfboard, or wakeboard on water. Other variations are to use a wheeled board or buggy on land, or skis or a snowboard on snow.

Skimboarding

A discipline of surfing involving riding a board on wet sand or shallow water. Not usually competitive, it is considered a miscellaneous beach recreation activity.

Riverboarding

a boardsport in which the participant is prone on the board with fins on his/her feet for propulsion and steering

For other uses, see Surfing (disambiguation). ... Windsurfing in Essex, England Windsurfing (also called boardsailing) is a sport involving travel over water on a small 2-4. ... Bodyboarder in a barrel at Oahu North Shore Bodyboarding is a form of wave riding. ... Wakeboarding is a surface water sport which involves riding a wakeboard over the surface of a body of water behind a boat. ... It is proposed that this article be deleted, because of the following concern: Dicdef, possible neologism, no references If you can address this concern by improving, copyediting, sourcing, renaming or merging the page, please edit this page and do so. ... It is proposed that this article be deleted, because of the following concern: Dicdef, possible neologism, no references If you can address this concern by improving, copyediting, sourcing, renaming or merging the page, please edit this page and do so. ... This article is about the surfsport. ... Kiteboarders use inflatable kites tethered to harnesses to glide through water and air. ... Skimboarding (or skimming) is a sport which involves riding a board on an outgoing wave. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Land

Skateboarding

Uses a board mounted on wheels, and often ridden on a "half-pipe" or in urban settings. Some of the most famous skateboarders, and early pioneers of the sport are Rodney Mullen and Tony Hawk.

Streetboarding

Similar to a skateboarding, but also influenced heavily by snowboarding.

Mountainboarding

Similar to snowboarding, but on snow-less peaks (in between winter seasons). The board is wider and sturdier. Mountainboarding is similar to skateboarding in the way that mountainbiking is similar to regular biking.

Kite landboarding

Similar to Kite Surfing but the kite is used to pull the rider along flat ground (often a hard packed sandy beach) on a mountainboard.

Pineboarding

A recreational activity in which a participant rides down the pine-needle-covered slopes of pine forests on a skateboard deck (without trucks or wheels).

Rope boarding

Uses a board hanging from a rope, ridden by swinging through the air, and landing on elevated platforms of launching off the tree it hangs from.

flowboarding

similar to skateboarding but has 14 wheels. it's ride is like surfing and snowboarding.

freebording

Often said to be the board who's feel is the most similar to snowboarding. There are two extra castor wheels in the middle of the base that are somewhat lower than the other four. This allows the rider to distribute their weight to only one "edge", as in snowboarding. This gives the rider the ability to slide, an ability no other land board has.

buttboarding

a sport where the rider rides a skateboard on with his butt on the griptape.

A skateboarder performing a frontside lipslide Skateboarding is the act of rolling on or performing tricks with a skateboard. ... Rodney Mullen on the cover of Thrasher magazine. ... This article is about the American skateboarder. ... A streetboard is a type of board that started to be developed in the late 90s and can be used in skateparks or street skating. ... Mountain boarding is a new summer sport, derived from snowboarding. ... Mountain boarding is a new summer sport, derived from snowboarding. ... Kite landboarding also known as Kiteboarding or Land kiteboarding or flyboarding, is based on the ever-growing sport of Kitesurfing, where a rider on a surf-style board is pulled over water by a kite. ... Pineboarding is a recreational activity in which a participant rides down pine-needle-covered slopes on a skateboard deck (without trucks or wheels). ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... A flowboarder aboard the Royal Caribbean ship Freedom of the Seas Flowboarding is a late-20th Century alternative boardsport that is an alchemy of board designs, techniques, tricks and culture derived from surfing, bodyboarding, skateboarding, skimboarding, snowboarding and wakeboarding. ... Freebord model X-80, bottom side Freebords are a recent modification of the skateboard. ...

Snow

Snowboarding

A cross between skateboarding and skiing, the board medium is snow, although the condition of the snow can have a major impact on snowboarding style and technique. The four subcategories are freeride, freestyle, alpine and powder. The top-ranked snowboarder today (as of 2006) is Shaun White.

Snowskating

This is similar to snowboarding but there is no bindings used, therefore you are enabled to do skateboard style tricks.

Snowkiting

This is when a kite is used to pull a snowboarder along.

Snowboarder in a half-pipe Snowboarder riding off cornice Snowboarding contributes greatly to the economies of ski resorts Snowboarding is a sport that involves descending a snow-covered slope on a snowboard that is attached to ones feet using a boot/binding interface. ... 2006 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Shaun Roger White (born September 3, 1986 in Carlsbad, California), is an American athlete. ... Snowskating is the art of skating on the snow. ... Snowkiting on lake Kallavesi, Kuopio, Finland in March 2005. ...

Sand

Sandboarding

A recreational activity similar to snowboarding that takes place on sand dunes rather than snow-covered hills

A sandboarder does a jump on Fortaleza dunes. ...

Air

Skysurfing

A kind of skydiving in which the skydiver wears a board attached to their feet and performs surfing-style aerobatics during freefall.

Skysurfing is a kind of skydiving in which the skydiver wears a board attached to their feet and performs surfing-style aerobatics during freefall. ...

See also

• Shortboard
• Longboard

Since the late 1960s (when Gordon Clark found the optimum formulation of polypropylene foam), most of the surfboards in common use have been of the shortboard variety between 6 and 8 feet in length, with a pointed nose and a rounded or squarish tail, typically with three skegs but sometimes... This page is about surfing Longboards, see Longboard_(skateboard) for information about Longboards of the skateboard variety. ...

External links

• www.ukboardsports.com UK Boardsports Forum - Information and discussion forums for boardsports enthusiasts in the UK