In this talk I will discuss different wave phenomena associated with motion on the surface of water. I’ll start with some previous work on waves in Olympic rowing and how to reduce drag, either by tuning the shape of the boat, or by exploiting hysteresis patterns in regions of shallow water. Then I’ll talk about current research within the theme of wave-driven propulsion, i.e. how thrust can be generated from surfing the gradients of a self-generated wave-field. This phenomenon occurs across a wide range of scales, from tiny walking droplets in a vibrating bath, to jumping up and down on the sides of a canoe to drive it forwards, also known as gunwale bobbing.