History Main / SkySurfing

* ''LightNovel/HowNotToSummonADemonLord'': Diablo casts a levitation spell on a log and stands on it to ride in the sky. Unfortunately, the spell wears off after a few minutes, making him fall out of the sky painfully.

SuperTrope to MagicCarpet, FlyingBroomstick, FlyingOnACloud and RideTheRainbow. If the rider isn't the one in control of the object he's on top of such as a plane or similar, it's OutsideRide.

** In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'', ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'' and ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', Tzeentch, the Chaos God of magic, often gifts his most powerful followers and daemons with a Disc of Tzeentch. These flat, circular daemons are created from a [[BalefulPolymorph transmuted Screamer]] and allow their rider to soar through the skies of a battlefield to rain magic and psychic powers down on their foes.

* Taken to its most [[UpToEleven Xtreeeeeeme]] in ''Manga/{{Junks}}'' an early Yukito Kishiro manga about SpacePirates (collected in one of the ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita: Last Order'' omnibus editions). The protagonist and a rival pirate captain agree to settle a dispute with a "Plasma Boarding" match, where they enter a planet's atmosphere in nothing but space suits while riding on surfboards made from the heat-dissipating ceramics they make the bottoms of space shuttles out of.

* In FinalBattle of ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'': ''[[NonSerialMovie Wings Of Goodbye]]'' it goes up to eleven, since the [[HumongousMecha Macross Quarter]] itself does this. An ''aircraft carrier sized transforming mecha''.

* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'': Matsuri once caught up to the faster Soga by using [[BlowYouAway wind ninjutsu]] to fly over any obstacles in-between them on an uprooted sign (which is [[CantYouReadTheSign amusingly labeled "Danger: Slow Down"]]). Unfortunately, the wind and higher altitude gave Soga a very good view up Matsuri's skirt.

* Gus in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' flies on his magic staff this way, as opposed to most witches who ride them seated. It’s shown at one point that he actually has a lot of trouble steering when he tries to fly the ‘standard’ way, but while sky surfing he’s the quickest and most manoeuvrable on his [[FictionalSport Flyer Derby]] team.

* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'': Matsuri once caught up to the faster Soga by using [[BlowYouAway wind ninjutsu]] to fly over any obstacles in-between them on an uprooted sign (which is [[CantYouReadTheSign amusingly labeled "Danger: Slow Down"]]). Unfortunately, the wind and higher altitude gave Soga a [[PantyShot very good view up Matsuri's skirt]].

* Harry Osborn flies around on a special glider in ''Film/SpiderMan3''.

* Gretchen of ''{{ComicBook/Zombillenium}}'' is a modernized witch that rides a broomstick modified with a skateboard deck so she can stand upright.

* Gretchen of ''{{ComicBook/Zombilllenium}}'' is a modernized witch that rides a broomstick modified with a skateboard deck so she can stand upright.

-->--'''Aang''', ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', "The Avatar and the Firelord"

* In later seasons of ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex'', Rex rides the "Sky Slyder", basically a giant glowing surfboard.
* In ''WesternAnimation/PJMasks'', the villain Luna Girl has her "Moon Board," a crescent-shaped board that seems to run on some form of anti-gravity energy.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Anime/TekkamanBlade'' often rode on the back of his robot Pegus. In ''Anime/TekkamanBlade II'', Vesna, Sommer, and Hiver had dedicated ships (with their own pilots) to ride on, and Aki, once but an angsty love interest, has her own Pegas II (for the same reason--she's an artificial Tekkaman and needs a Pegas to transform).

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'':
** Negi Springfield has done this a few times flying on his staff.
** Jack Rakan managed to pull off surfing on a thrown BFS.
** Most mages in the Akamatsuverse who use brooms or staves to fly stand on them when engaged in aerial combat.
* Lutecia of ''Franchise/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' often does this on a [[MechaMooks Type 2 Gadget Drone]] to get around. There's also [[PerkyFemaleMinion Wendi]] and her [[HoverBoard Riding Board]].
* The ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' metaseries have sub-flight systems, planes specifically designed to allow [[HumongousMecha mobile suits]] to ride on them. The Justice Gundam from ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Gundam SEED]]'' even has its own dedicated flight lifter mounted on its back.

* In ''Manga/ShamanKing'', the Ainu shaman and snowboarder Horohoro uses his magic to create an ever-present avalanche of snow and ice under his snowboard to fly. Might be closer to a HoverBoard in that there presumably is a limit to how ''high'' he can make the snow go.
** This is very similar to how Iceman of the ''ComicBook/XMen'' often travels, though he just stands on the ice he creates. Neither of them seems to worry about what happens with all that frozen water ''after'' they've been passing through...
* ''Manga/DragonBall'':
** Tao Pai Pai's preferred method of travel was to hurl a log towards his destination, leap on top of it, and ride it into the horizon.
** And predating that is Goku's Kinto'un, a golden cloud which only the pure of heart can ride. Given to him by Mutenroshi, replaced by Karin after it got blown up for good, then inherited by his sons after his second death, he used it extensively until he learned to fly faster than it could. Mutenroshi also used baby Gamera this way, but all that spinning made him puke.
* In the second episode of ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'', Neo-America Gundam master Chibodee Crocket uses his Gundam's shield like this to catch up to Domon Kasshu so that they can start their fight.

* ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' has Gallantmon with Grani.

* Taken to its most [[UpToEleven Xtreeeeeeme]] in ''Junks'' an early Yukito Kishiro manga about SpacePirates (collected in one of the ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita: Last Order'' omnibus editions). The protagonist and a rival pirate captain agree to settle a dispute with a "Plasma Boarding" match, where they enter a planet's atmosphere in nothing but space suits while riding on surfboards made from the heat-dissipating ceramics they make the bottoms of space shuttles out of.
* Like in the games it's based off, ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa'' has the Warp Star as Kirby's preferred method of travel. Unlike the games, Kirby also regularly uses it while fighting opponents.
* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'': Matsuri once caught up to the faster Soga by using [[BlowYouAway wind ninjutsu]] to fly over any obstacles in-between them on an uprooted sign (which is [[CantYouReadTheSign amusingly labeled "Danger: Slow Down"]]). Unfortunately, the wind and higher altitude gave Soga a [[PantyShot very good view up Matsuri's skirt]].
* ''LightNovel/HowNotToSummonADemonLord'': Diablo casts a levitation spell on a log and stands on it to ride in the sky. Unfortunately, the spell wears off after a few minutes, making him fall out of the sky painfully.

* [[ComicBook/NewGods Mister Miracle]] uses a pair of discs under his feet that allow him to fly.
** So did Eppy Thatcher, the fourth ''ComicBook/{{Grendel}}'', until he developed a more advanced (and grisly) method: micro-levitation devices he surgically implanted in the soles of his feet. Not sure if those also count as this trope or not...
** If that counts, then so do [[ComicBook/TheFlash the Trickster's]] "air-walker shoes".

** Another Creator/JackKirby creation, The Black Racer of the ComicBook/NewGods, flew through the cosmos on ''skis''.
*** As the combination of both of the above, the ComicBook/AmalgamUniverse's Silver Racer also skis.
** The ComicBook/InvisibleWoman, also created by Jack Kirby, can carry herself through the air using either discs or platforms she [[ImaginationBasedSuperpower creates]].

* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' has had several storylines based around sky-surfing, mostly centered around the (highly illegal) [[WackyRacing Supersurf tournaments]].
* During the Creator/KeithGiffen era of the ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'', the JL fought the Scarlet Skier; the herald of the cosmic decorator Mr Nebula (a parody of the Silver Surfer and Galactus).
* A cartoon by Creator/CharlesAddams, Creator/GahanWilson, or somebody along the same line showed some witches arriving at a coven meeting riding their broomsticks this way. They're described by another witch as "the beach crowd" or "the Malibu crowd."

* Though most of them were skydiving, [[MemeticBadass Tommy Oliver]] did this in ''Film/MightyMorphinPowerRangers''.

* The film ''Film/DarkStar'' ends with Lt. Doolittle attempting an atmospheric entry riding a surfboard shaped piece of wreckage from his destroyed spaceship. The film ends before we find out how well that worked for him.

* Apollo from ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' uses a flying board to get around.

* In ''Webcomic/KidRadd'', the titular Radd had the powerup in his original game, and as he absorbed some code from the sequel, he got the infinite rocket board cheat.

* [[LukeNounverber Kit Cloudkicker]] in ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' uses a collapsible crescent-shaped board to surf over clouds, usually while being pulled by the Sea Duck (so it's essentially sky ''wakeboarding''). He's also skilled enough to surf unassisted, such as after bailing out of aircraft, but he rarely does it unless he's near a town, a dock, or another populated place he can land in.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': When witnessing his mentor doing just this with a glider in a PensieveFlashback, Aang exclaims: "He's air-surfing! I can't believe I never thought of that." We never see him copying the technique afterward, probably because [[AwesomeButImpractical Gyatso fell off after about a minute]].
* Valerie of ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom''.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': Finished as a villain tutor, Shego calls up a flying rocket-powered skyboard in her signature colors and dives onto it from a helicopter. That's how to leave your job in style...
* The zipboards from ''WesternAnimation/{{ReBoot}}'' are a textbook example of this trope.
** Taken to the logical end with Ray Tracer, who uses an actual surfboard ala ComicBook/SilverSurfer.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', Optimus Primal's Transmetal form is an ape on a hoverboard, so he did this more than a few times in the show.
* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', the "Royal Flush" villain group flies on giant playing cards. Spellbinder, another villain, has his own mechanical device to fly on as well, although it's more spherical than board-shaped.

* [[http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/11p48/ This]] scene from ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja''. Yes, [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot a Ninja Doctor Astronaut Sky Surfing a Robot Vampire]] back down to earth.

* ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'':
** [[https://sinfest.xyz/view.php?date=2009-09-17 Buddha has a lotus--the ultimate green transport.]]
** [[https://sinfest.xyz/view.php?date=2011-12-18 Squidley's couch,]] when he's "[[{{Pun}} high]]."

* Used in [[Website/BecomingABetterWriter The Wolf's Will]] for the [[https://becomingabetterwriter.wordpress.com/2009/04/15/the-wolfs-will-scene-011/ Wind Surfers.]]

->''He's air surfing! I can't believe I never thought of that!''

Though [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skysurfing sky surfing]] is real, in real life, it's just fancy tricks in the air while falling rather than transportation of any kind.

* During the KeithGiffen era of the ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'', the JL fought the Scarlet Skier; the herald of the cosmic decorator Mr Nebula (a parody of the Silver Surfer and Galactus).

** In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'', ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'' and ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', Tzeentch, the Chaos God of magic, often gifts his most powerful followers and daemons with a Disc of Tzeentch. These flat, circular daemons are created from a [[BalefulPolymorph transmuted Screamer]] and allow their rider to soared through the skies of a battlefield to rain magic and psychic powers down on their foes.

* Exploiting physics glitches allows you to pull this off with ordinary wooden pallets and... small, plastic buckets in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', which is used big time in the [[http://speeddemosarchive.com/HalfLife2.html speedrun]].

* [[http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=48&issue=11 This]] scene from ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja''. Yes, [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot a Ninja Doctor Astronaut Sky Surfing a Robot Vampire]] back down to earth.

** [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3299 Buddha has a lotus--the ultimate green transport.]]
** [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=4121 Squidley's couch,]] when he's "[[{{Pun}} high]]."

* Used in [[Website/BecomingABetterWriter The Wolf's Will]] for the [[http://becomingabetterwriter.wordpress.com/2009/04/15/the-wolfs-will-scene-011/ Wind Surfers.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' : Finished as a villain tutor, Shego calls up a flying rocket-powered skyboard in her signature colors and dives onto it from a helicopter. That's how to leave your job in style...

** Note that the Quarter doesn't have a built-in 'board' to use. ''[[CrazyAwesome It just uses a random chunk of space debris as a reentry shield/surfboard.]]''

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'': Negi Springfield has done this a few times flying on his staff.

* In ''Manga/DragonBall'', Tao Pai Pai's preferred method of travel was to hurl a log towards his destination, leap on top of it, and ride it into the horizon.

*** As the combination of both of the above, AmalgamComic's Silver Racer also skis.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'': Negi Springfield has done this a few times flying on his staff.

* ''Comicbook/SpiderMan'' villains ComicBook/GreenGoblin and Hobgoblin with their Goblin Glider.
** Plus female Goblin Fury in ''Comicbook/SpiderGirl''... and Spider-Girl herself, for a while.

* [[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Rikako Asakura]] has some sort of rocket jet ski, because she can't fly. Presumably, she built it herself.
** It's implied she ''can'' fly, but she'd rather use science than magic to do so. [[ScienceVersusMagic This is why she's the heretic of Gensokyo.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The zipboards from ''{{WesternAnimation/ReBoot}}'' are a textbook example of this trope.

* [[CleverCrow Crows]] have also been observed effectively doing this with pieces of bark in updrafts.