ride the crest of the wave

Verb

ride the crest of the wave (third-person singular simple present rides the crest of the wave, present participle rode the crest of the wave, simple past and past participle ridden the crest of the wave)

1. (idiomatic) To go through a period of maximal prosperity.
   • Some days we gracefully ride the crest of the wave all the way into shore, and the next day it crashes over us and takes us under. Which waves we catch and which ones catch us is anyone's guess.2007 August 28, James A. Morack, Learning from Life: Simple Ideas to Add More Joy to Your Life, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 172
   • le Corbusier and his clients were, for a brief while, among the few who continued to ride the crest of the wave following the stock market crash of 1929. The architect was besieged by commissions to create luxurious residences.2008 November 11, Nicholas Fox Weber, Le Corbusier, Knopf, →ISBN, page 317
2. (idiomatic) To exploit an exceptional success.
   • I believe that had I continued to ride the crest of the wave of success from my initial springboard of The Facts of Life fame, I would not have become the deeply compassionate human being that I am.2011 April 1, Geri Jewell, Ted Nichelson, I'm Walking as Straight as I Can: Transcending Disability in Hollywood and Beyond, ECW Press, →ISBN
3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see ride, the, crest, of, the, wave.
   • Similarly, a person on a surfboard desiring to ride the crest of the wave in a path parallel to the beach would have to move at this same phase velocity.2011, A. S. Gilmour, Klystrons, Traveling Wave Tubes, Magnetrons, Crossed-Field Amplifiers, and Gyrotrons, Artech House, →ISBN, page 347