"Surfing to me is like playing music. You play different melodies with different boards." -- Skip Frye, Professional Surfer

Surfing is one of the most popular and beloved extreme sports today. Although it is often viewed as an activity that requires nothing more than a board, waves, and the ocean, surfing has many complexities that can create an entire lifestyle around this sport.

Surfing has been deemed one of the most physically demanding water sports due to the repetitive nature of paddling out on a surfboard while catching waves.

Surfers paddle out through the white water created by breaking waves to catch waves. Once beyond the impact zone, it is necessary to take at least one wave before paddling back out to catch another.

When surfing, surfers must use multiple different techniques to remain afloat. These techniques include weighting your back foot so your board is angled downwards, keeping your knees bent, having sharp turns, and more.

Surfing is also a very social sport. It often lends itself to ocean-side communities where surfers band together and build their own sub-communities.

It's a water sport unlike any other,  and it takes a lot of effort and knowledge to become good at it!