Bodysurfing is the art and sport of riding a wave without the assistance of any buoyant device such as a surfboard or bodyboard. Bodysurfers often equip themselves with a pair of swimfins that aid propulsion and help the bodysurfer catch, ride, and kick out of waves. Some bodysurfers also use a wooden or foam handplane, which helps to get one's chest out of the water to reduce drag, this is known as handplaning and is an offshoot of bodysurfing.
Thomas VanMelum navigates a glassy right
Travis Overley bodysurfing at Banzai Pipeline. Shot by Rachel Newton
Tim Burnham rides the Wedge in Newport Beach, CA
Rikki Gilbey bodysurfing at Cape Solander, Sydney with a handplane and bodysurfing fins
Swimfins, swim fins, diving fins, or flippers are finlike accessories worn on the feet, legs or hands and made from rubber, plastic, carbon fiber or combinations of these materials, to aid movement through the water in water sports activities such as swimming, bodyboarding, bodysurfing, float-tube fishing, kneeboarding, riverboarding, scuba diving, snorkeling, spearfishing, underwater hockey, underwater rugby and various other types of underwater diving.
Full foot fins
By 1974, modern-looking swimfins in regular use in landlocked, "second-world" Hungary.
1959 Soviet postage stamp with image of finned recreational diver in tribute to the DOSAAF sport organisation.
Swim fin sole showing compliance with German standard DIN 7876:1980