Zelda's wavedash is tied for worst in the game alongside peach distance-wise, but that doesn't mean we can't improve it or otherwise bend it to our will. Zelda also has absurdly high initial dash speed that quickly falls off, and we can use this to extend our wavedash quite a bit farther than usual and cover more ground in a shorter time. Dashing for between 2 and 4 frames before wavedashing leads to an extended wavedash; it is a faster way to cover ground than just dashing or just wavedashing.
I have seen this referred to in a couple of places coloquially as 'surf wavedash' or 'wavesurfing', and it's fundamental in keeping your movement speed on-par with the rest of the cast such that you can respond to their movement options. This also has implications in landing your bairs and fairs; dashing 2 frames before starting a bair moves the bair significantly closer to your original position and makes punishing an approach rely less on a read and more on a reaction by replacing your original position with a kick rather than relying on them to move into a kick along a specific path to you.
