According to John Hagel at Edge Perspectives, executives can benefit from six lessons derived from studying innovation in big wave surfing.

1. find the relevant edge. 
2. attract motivated groups of people to these edges to work together around challenging performance issues. 
3. recognize that the people who are likely to be attracted to the edge are big risk-takers.
4. recognize that the edge fosters not just risk-taking, but very different cultures that are also “edgy”. 
5. find ways to appropriate insights from adjacent disciplines and even more remote areas of activity.  
6. bring users and developers of technology closely together at the edge. 

Check out the article (now a couple years old) at:

http://edgeperspectives.typepad.com/edge_perspectives/2008/01/innovating-on-t.html

Hagel cites von Hippel’s two books. After his original work showing user innovation in B2B markets like scientific instruments, von Hippel did a number of studies on open source software and then extreme sport enthusiasts. Perhaps all lead users try to “catch a wave”!