Joel Tudor is a world famous longboard surfer from San Diego, California.

He started out in skateboarding and, while in his early teens, gained both recognition and sponsorship for this. On the water, his apparently effortless skill saw him win his first professional ASP competition at age 14. Unlike the vast majority of his contemporaries who were riding only modern short surfboards, he also rode the out-of-fashion longboard, and it was the longboard that catapulted him to worldwide fame in his mid-teens. His reputation was such that, when he was on a break, other surfers would sometimes leave the water to watch his silky mastery of such skills as nose-riding ("hanging five" and "hanging ten" - riding with the toes of one or both feet hanging over the nose of the board[1]). Admiration of Tudor was a major factor in the longboard revival of the 1990s.

Despite wide recognition as the doyen of modern longboard riders, and regularly competing in the longboard world championships, it took seven attempts before he finally won this event in the Canary Islands in 1998.

Joel now has his own surfboard manufacturing company, as well as selling wetsuits in Japan.

Due to his skill on both longboards and shortboards, on big waves and small, Tudor is widely considered to be one of the best surfers alive, and is also known for being unusually open-minded with regard to the diverse equipment that can be used for wave riding.