tow surfing
Motorized form of big-wave riding popularized in the early 1990s, in which the surfer, towed from behind a personal watercraft (PWC), is whipped into the wave. For decades surfers had been unable to overcome the rushing trough-to-crest flow of water on waves bigger than 25 or 30 feet. Tow surfers, by giving themselves a running start, broke the 30-foot barrier easily and continued riding ever-larger waves—well over 50 feet by 2001. "Tow-in surfing," surf journalist Sam George said, "has broug...