Surf speak. A Surfing Glossary
Author: Alf Alderson
To learn more read Alf’s books: Surfing -A Beginner’s Guide and Surf UK -The Definitive Guide to Surfing in Britain
Want to know your sucky from your thruster? Here’s how to make sure you say the right thing out in the line-up.
Aerial: an advanced manoeuvre that involves taking off from the 
lip of the wave, travelling some distance through the air, then (in
theory) landing back on the face of the wave and continuing the ride.
ASP: Association of Surfing Professionals – responsible for organising the annual world professional surfing circuit leading to the crowning of the world champion.
Axed: hit by the lip of the wave, leading to a wipeout.
Backhand: surfing with your backto the wave.
Bank: sandbank on which waves break.
Barrel:see tube
Beach break: surf breaking on a sandy beach.
Blank: block of foam from which a custom surfboard is made.
Blown out: term for choppy surf resulting from onshore winds.
Bombora: a deep water, offshore reef break.
Bottom turn: a turn at the bottom of the wave face.
Carving: powerful, high-energy surfing.
Catalyst: ingredient used to make resin harden (also known as hardener) very toxic.
Channel: deep water gap between sandbanks or reefs, or design feature on underside of a surfboard.
Clean: glassy, peeling waves and/or good surf conditions.
Clean-up: a large set that catches everybody ‘inside’.
Close-out: a wave that breaks along its entire length simultaneously– no good for surfing.
Concave: bottom design on a surfboard.
Cutback:a turn on the face of the wave that takes you back towards the white water.
Deck: upper surface of a board.
Delamination: when the fibreglass ‘skin’ of a board becomes separated from the foam.
Ding: a dent or hole in your board – get it fixed!
Drop (to take the drop):to take off on a breaking wave and ride down the wave face. 
Drop in: a)taking off as in taking the drop (see above); b)when one surfer takes off on a wave already being ridden by another surfer nearer the peak– the practice of kooks(see below).
Duck dive: method of getting through a breaking or broken wave while paddling out. Eskimo roll: another method forgetting through a wave, mostly used with mini-mals and longboards.
Face: the unbroken surface of a wave (also known as the green water).
Forehand: surfing with your face to the wave floater: a manoeuvre that involves launching the board off the lip of the wave onto a section of broken or breaking wave in front, unweighting, and free-falling down the face with the breaking white water.
Glassy: smooth seas resulting from calm wind conditions – provides excellent surf when combined with a swell.
Gnarly: heavy, difficult waves, usually quite big.
(insert gnarly image)
Goofy foot: a surfer who surfs with his or her right foot forward on the board.
Grommet: young surfer.
Ground swell: a clean swell with evenly-spaced lines, usually from a distant storm. gun: a big wave board – long and narrow in shape.
Hang five: to ride with five toes curled over the nose of the board – more common on longboards.
Hang ten: to ride with all ten toes over the nose – a stylish and difficult longboard manoeuvre.
Hollow: a cylindrical wave – common with powerful swells and offshore winds.
Impact zone: the point at which a swell is breaking most heavily and most frequently.
Indicator: an offshore deep-water reef or bank. Only a big swell or a big set will break on this, so it acts as a good indicator of something big approaching.
Inside: shoreward of a breaking wave or set (as in ‘caught inside’), or an expression for life in the barrel. The inside rail is the one nearest the wave face.
Kick-out: to make a controlled exit from a wave by riding up the face and over the top.
Kook: a dorky surfer– the kind that drops in on you.
Leash: urethane cord which attaches the board to the surfer by means of a Velcro strap.
Left-hander(left):a wave that breaks from left to right when viewed from shore.
Lined-up: term to describe an even, well-developed swell.
Line-up: the point where you sit, just outside the break, and wait to catch a wave.
Lip: the crest of a wave, which may ‘throwout’ to create a barrel.
Malibu board: another term for a longboard – usually between 8 ft 6 in/2.60 m and 10 ft6 in/3.20 m in length. Named after the beach in Southern California.
Maxed out: a break is said to be ‘maxed out’ when the swell is so big it will no longer break cleanly, but will close out or ‘section’.
Natural or natural foot :a surfer who surfs with his or her left foot forward.
Nose: the front of the board. nose-riding: technique used by longboarders who attempt to ride as close to the nose of the board as possible.
Off the lip/lip bash: manoeuvre where by the board hits the breaking lip of the wave before continuing along the wave.
Offshore: when the wind is blowing from the land out to sea and holding up the face of the wave – will usually produce ideal surfing conditions, especially when the wind is reasonably light.
On shore: when the wind is blowing from the sea onto the land – this messes up the wave face and produces poor surfing conditions.
Outside, or out the back: the area beyond the impact zone.
Over the falls: to fall down the face of the wave inside the falling lip.
Peak: the point at which a wave breaks first, from which it ideally peels in one or both directions.
Pearl: this is when the nose of the board buries itself underwater and the surfer usually shoots over the front. Most common on take-offs.
Peel: a wave is said to peel when it breaks away evenly and cleanly from the peak.
Pocket: the steepest and most powerful part of the wave, just ahead and under the breaking lip.
Point break: a break where the waves are refracted around a headland or point and then peel along the inside of the point.
Pop-out: a machine-moulded surfboard, ideal for beginners.
Prone-out: dropping from your feet to your belly to ride the board into the beach.
Pumping: term used to describe a good, powerful swell.
Pumping the board: a means of increasing speed across the face of a wave.
Quiver: a selection of surfboards for differing conditions.
Rail: the side or edge of a board .
Reef break: waves breaking over a projection rising from the sea bed – usually a coral reef or rock shelf.
Re-entry: manoeuvre which involves surfing up into the lip of a breaking wave, then coming back down with it.
Resin: chemical used in a two-part mixture with catalyst to convert fibreglass into a hard outer skin.
Right-hander(right):a wave that breaks from right to left when viewed from the shore.
Rip: a channel of water running out to sea.
Rocker: the curve in a surfboard when viewed side-on.
Sandbank: an elevation in the level of the sea floor on a beach, causing waves to break over it.
Set: a group of waves.
Shore break: a wave that breaks close in to the beach.
Shoulder: the unbroken face of a wave ahead of the white water.
Soup: the white water of a broken wave.
Spin-out: when the fins of the board break loose from the water surface, leading to a wipeout.
Spring suit: wetsuit with short arms and short legs. Also known as a ‘shortie’.
Stall: a manoeuvre where the board is slowed, or ‘stalled’, to allow the lip of the wave to catch up with the rider.
Steamer: a full wetsuit with long arms and long legs.
Stringer: the thin piece of wood running down the centre of a custom board.
Sucky: a hollow, often heavy wave.
Switch-foot: a surfer who can surf with either foot forward .tail: the rear end of the board, which can have a number of different shapes .take-off: the start of a ride.
Three-sixty: spinning the board through 360 degrees on the face of the wave.
Thruster: a three-finned surfboard. trimming: adjusting weight and position on the board so that the board retains maximum speed.
Tube :the inside of a hollow wave.
Vee: the convex shape on the bottom of a board.
Wind swell: a weak swell generated by localised winds.
Wipeout: do you really need to know?!
Article taken from Surfing: A Beginner's Guide by Alf Alderson
Copyright 2008 John Wiley & Sons
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