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From Wikipedia

Surfing is a surface water sport.

The participant is carried along the face of a breaking wave as it approaches shore, usually on a surfboard. In addition to surfboards, surfers make use of kneeboards, body boards (aka boogie boards), kayaks, surf skis, and their own bodies. Surfing-related sports, such as paddleboarding and sea kayaking, do not require waves. Other derivative sports such as kitesurfing and windsurfing rely on wind for power.

Two major classifications within the sport reflect differences in surfboard design: longboarding and shortboarding.

In tow-in surfing (often associated with big wave surfing), the surfer is towed into the wave by a motorized water vehicle, such as a jetski, because standard paddling is often ineffective when trying to match a large wave's higher speed.

Equipment

Surfing can be done on various pieces of equipment, including surfboards, bodyboards, wave skis, kneeboards and surf mat. Surfboards were originally made of solid wood and were generally quite large and heavy (often up to 12 feet long and 100 pounds / 45 kg). Lighter balsa wood surfboards (first made in the late 1940s and early 1950s) were a significant improvement, not only in portability, but also in increasing maneuverability on the wave.

Most modern surfboards are made of polyurethane foam (with one or more wooden strips or "stringers"), fiberglass cloth, and polyester resin. An emerging surf technology is an epoxy surfboard, which are stronger and lighter than traditional fiberglass. Even newer surfboard designs incorporate materials such as carbon fiber and springy 'firewire'.

Equipment used in surfing includes a leash (to stop a surfer's board from washing to shore after a "wipeout", and to prevent it from hitting other surfers), surf wax and/or traction pads (to keep a surfer's feet from slipping off the deck of the board), and "fins" (also known as "skegs") which can either be permanently attached ("glassed-on") or interchangeable. In warmer climates swimsuits, surf trunks or boardshorts are worn, and occasionally rash guards; in cold water surfers can opt to wear wetsuits, boots, hoods, and gloves to protect them against lower water temperatures.

There are many different surfboard sizes, shapes, and designs in use today. Modern longboards, generally 9 to 10 feet in length, are reminiscent of the earliest surfboards, but now benefit from all the modern innovations of surfboard shaping and fin design.

The modern shortboard began its life in the late 1960s evolving up to today's common "thruster" style shortboard, a three fin design, usually around 6 to 7 feet in length.

Midsize boards, often called funboards, provide more maneuverability than a longboard, with more floatation than a shortboard. While many surfers find that funboards live up to their name, providing the best of both surfing modes, others are critical. "It is the happy medium of mediocrity," writes Steven Kotler. "Funboard riders either have nothing left to prove or lack the skills to prove anything."

There are also various niche styles, such as the "Egg", a longboard-style short board, the "Fish", a short and wide board with a split tail and two or four fins, and the "Gun", a long and pointed board specifically designed for big waves.

Kitesurfing, also known as kiteboarding, involves using a power kite to pull a rider through the water on a small surfboard or a kiteboard (a wakeboard-like board).

A kitesurfer or kiteboarder uses a board with foot-straps or bindings, combined with the power of a large controllable kite to propel himself and the board across the water. The sport is still in its infancy, but is rapidly growing in popularity. In 2006, the number of kitesurfers has been estimated at around 150,000 to 200,000.[1]

The sport is becoming safer due to innovations in kite design, safety release systems, and instruction[citation needed]. Many riding styles have evolved to suit different types of riders and conditions, such as wake style, wave riding, freestyle, jumping, and cruising.

Other variations of using kites for propulsion include kite landboarding, snowkiting, kite buggying, kite skateboarding, kite jumping, and using kites to propel sea kayaks

Windsurfing is a surface water sport using a windsurf board, also commonly called a sailboard, usually two to five meters long and powered by a single sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating flexible joint called the Universal Joint (U-Joint). Unlike a rudder-steered sailboat, a windsurfer is steered by the tilting and rotating of the mast and sail as well as tilting and carving the board.

The sport combines aspects of both sailing and surfing, along with certain athletic aspects shared with other board sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, waterskiing, and wakeboarding. Although it might be considered a minimalistic version of a sailboat, a windsurfer offers experiences that are outside the scope of any other sailing craft design. A windsurfer holds the world speed record for sailing craft (see below); and, windsurfers can perform jumps, inverted loops, spinning maneuvers, and other "freestyle" moves that cannot be matched by any sailboat. Windsurfers were the first to ride the world's largest waves, such as Jaws on the island of Maui, and, with very few exceptions, it was not until the advent of tow-in surfing that waves of that size became accessible to surfers.

Windsurfing includes speed sailing, slalom, course racing, wave sailing, superX, and freestyle as distinct disciplines.

Though windsurfing is possible in winds from near 0 to 50 knots, the ideal planing conditions for most recreational sailors is 15-25 knots, with lighter winds resulting in displacement mode sailing.