Surf Dog Championship 2013, Coronado Bay Resort, California, United States

Surfing is a surface water sport. Definition: the sport or pastime being carried to the shore on the crest large waves while standing or lying on some sort board (i.e. longboard, short board, boogie board, wake board).
Two major subdivisions within stand-up surfing are longboarding and shortboarding, reflecting differences in surfboard design including surfboard length, and riding style.
In tow-in surfing (most ten, but not exclusively, associated with big wave surfing), a motorized water vehicle, such as a personal watercraft tows the surfer into the wave front, helping the surfer match a large wave's higher speed, a speed that is generally, but not exclusively a speed that a self-propelled surfer can not match.
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 these platforms may also be used to ride waves.