Skatex International (Pty) Ltd[4] is the name of the first company that manufactured boards of this kind and was the inventors' original company. Skatex International licensed Snakeboard USA to sell and distribute the boards in the United States; the sport rapidly became known as "snakeboarding". James Fisher, Simon King and Oliver Macleod Smith jointly owned the patents and trademarks for the sport. In the late 1990s, the inventors licensed PMS (UK), a toy retailer, to manufacturer the "Sydewynder" under license. Over 50,000 Sydewynders were sold in the UK and Europe. The inventors then listed their company Snakeboard International AIM market, a division of the London Stock Exchange. Later there was a reverse acquisition of Snakeboard International by a company called MV Sports. MV Sports eventually stopped manufacturing the Snakeboard. However, the sport survives today with more advanced boards and is becoming more widely known as streetboarding. The remaining snakeboard patents expired in 2011.[5]
A snakeboard is self-propelled, and there is no need to touch a foot on the ground. Moreover, it is considerably easier to generate and maintain momentum than on a skateboard. To perform a trick, one's feet must be strapped to the board, which makes it harder to "bail out" of a trick or dismount. Although the footstraps limit the amount a rider can manipulate the board, they also facilitate certain techniques. Much like a snowboarder, the rider can perform spins and somersaults higher and farther than any skateboarder. At the same time, this means a faster learning curve. While a skateboarder will spend weeks learning the most basic manoeuvres, such as the ollie, or jump, a streetboarder (snakeboarder) simply has to strap himself to the board and jump as he would without the board attached.
Toe-hooks have been developed in more recent years as an alternative to straps for riders who are not performing complex tricks. These allow the rider to jump with the board but also enable the rider to dismount from the board or "bail" in the event of a fall as they are not strapped to the board.Some of the pro snakeboarder were Ashley Morgan (South Africa),Kelly Dean(USA) Marnie Raath(South Africa), the twins,Lucky(South Africa) Ingo from Germany to name just a few Pro snakeboaders that traveled the globe and all over South Africa and the U.S.A [6]