right|thumb|A surfer in Oahu A surfer at Santa Cruz, California Surfing in Hawaii

Surfing refers to a person or boat riding down a wave and thereby gathering speed from the downward movement. Most commonly, the term is used for a surface water sport in which the person surfing is carried along the face of a breaking ocean wave (the "surf") standing on a surfboard. Surfboards can also be used on rivers on standing waves. Both are sometimes called stand-up surfing, to distinguish it from bodyboarding, in which the individual riding the wave does not stand up on the board, and only partly raises his upper body from the board.

Two major subdivisions within contemporary stand-up surfing are reflected by the differences in surfboard design and riding style of longboarding and shortboarding. In tow-in surfing (most often, but not exclusively, associated with big wave surfing), a surfer is towed into the wave by a motorized water vehicle, such as a jetski, generally because standard paddling is often ineffective when trying to match a large wave's higher speed.

Depending on wave size, direction, and on wind conditions, also sailboats surf, namely on larger waves on open sailing waters. Unlike "surfers", sailors usually do not surf in beach waves, and they usually do not go out in order to surf; instead, the wave and wind conditions may let them boat surf while during a sailing trip. More recently, the same principle of craft-based surfing has been increasingly used by kayakers, notably in the sport of playboating, which is mostly carried out on rivers (see playspot).

Surfing-related sports such as paddleboarding and sea kayaking do not require waves, and other derivative sports such as kitesurfing and windsurfing rely primarily on wind for power, yet all of these tools may as well be used to ride waves. Recently with the use of V-drive boats, wakesurfing has grown. Surfing behind a boat is done by riding the wake created by the boat.

Origin

Surfing was a central part of ancient Polynesian culture, and the chief was the most skilled wave rider in the community with the best board made from the best tree. Moreover, the ruling class had the best beaches and the best boards, and commoners were not allowed on the same beaches, but they could gain prestige by their ability to ride the surf on their extremely heavy boards. According to the same websiteFact: date=April 2009, surfing permeated ancient Polynesian society, including religion and myth, and Polynesian chiefs would demonstrate and confirm their authority by the skills they displayed in the surf.

The art of surfing was first observed by Europeans in 1767, by the crewmembers of the Dolphin at Tahiti. Later, Lieutenant James King, wrote about the artHistory of Surfing Surfing for Life when completing the journals of Captain James Cook upon Cook's death in 1779. When the Hawaiian natives invented surfing they did it naked. When Mark Twain visited Hawaii in 1866 he wrote “In one place we came upon a large company of naked natives, of both sexes and all ages, amusing themselves with the national pastime of surf- bathing.”