catch a wave

present singular third person catches a wave · participle present catching a wave · participle past caught a wave · past caught a wave

1. hobbiesTo mount one's surfboard at a distance from shore, turn it toward land, and control it for a successful, satisfying ride on inrushing water.

   Like surfers trying to catch a wave, balloonists try to ride jet streams.

   1999 March 29, Nadya Labi, “Around the World in a Balloon in 20 Days”, in Time, retrieved 04 Apr 2020

   2 more examples

   As anyone who has ever caught a wave on her own knows, surfing is a profound confidence booster.

   2015 May 10, Ondine Cohane, “A Small Child, a Big Board, on Oahu’s North Shore”, in New York Times, retrieved 04 Apr 2020

   Catch a wave and take in the sweetness / Think about it, the darkness, the deepness / All the things that make me who I am

   2018 September 12, Lana Del Rey, Jack Antonoff, “Mariners Apartment Complex”, in Norman Fucking Rockwell!, performed by Lana Del Rey

2. broadlyidiomaticTo derive benefit from a fortunate opportunity; to experience a sudden increase in energy or luck.

   The size of his fortune, he said, revealed only that "we caught a wave. We were lucky. We had more luck than we deserved."

   1997 January 23, David Cay Johnston, “A Man Who Repaid His Debts”, in New York Times, retrieved 04 Apr 2020

   1 more example

   He did have one brief spell in the second set when he seemed to catch a wave, pounding his backhand and winning 11 of 14 points.

   2015 November 8, Simon Briggs, “Andy Murray brushed aside by increasingly dominant Novak Djokovic in Paris Masters final”, in Telegraph, UK, retrieved 04 Apr 2020