A flat surface, moving in water, creates resistance. Water resists displacement and penetration by speeding flat objects. Resistance blocks speeding objects on the surface and below. On top of water, blocking is also known as lift. Beneath the surface blocking is called drag or friction. Water cannot move out from under a speeding surfboard and provides support. The surfboard is no longer supported by buoyancy alone. Speed keeps it from sinking or penetrating the surface deeply. Water cannot be displaced by a speeding board fast enough to allow it to submerge. Thus a surfer can stand up and ride a moving surfboard supported by resistance or lift. How does this work? Take a flat pad
Mark Twain described a lightning fast surfer: "at the right moment he would fling his board upon its foamy crest and himself upon the board, and here he would come whizzing by like a bombshell! It did not seem that a lightning express-train could shoot along at a more hair-lifting speed." Surfers speed like lightning on water due to hydrodynamic resistance. When a surfboard moves fast, water beneath the surfer cannot part to allow sinking. Speed prevents a large enough volume of water from moving or displacing under the surfboard. Water cannot move out from under a surfer fast enough, therefore it supports him Water provides lift by preventing a surfboard from penetrating its surface.
