Lingo - surf terminology

surf terminology

• air - getting airborne
• aerial - airborne manoeuvre
• amped - charged up - stoked - fired
• backdoor - to pull into a tube from behind the peak
• backside - surfing back to the wave - going backside
• bail - to abandon a board - jump off - without regard to your board old school says contolling your board at all times is part of surfing and you should always surf like you don't use a leash.
• bail out - of a wave
• bake - a closeout
• bashing - body surfing
• boost - getting airborne off the lip
• brah - from bruddah, hawaiian pidgin for brother
• bro - brother, buddy, friend
• bra - how the kewl kids say bro
• bucket - helmet
• bump - a swell
• bumps - the build-up of wax on a surfboard deck.
• carve - symmetrical, fluid turn
• cheater five - five toes on the nose - keep your weight back on the board to maintain trim and speed, squat down and extend one foot forward
• clucked - afraid, intimidated by the wave
• crew - a group of surfers defined by break or area
• dogging - going backside in the pit.
• drop - as in dropping from the crest of the wave to the pit
• dropping in - catching a wave that is already occupied ... taking off on the shoulder while someone is taking off deeper
• drop in late - catching the steepest part of a wave
• dune - a big peaky wave
• falls - the pitching lip of the wave - don't get sucked into this
• fan - a fan of spray off a turn such as a water skier throws
• fluff - spray off the lip
• falls - top of the wave pitches out and throws a waterfall shoreward.
• frigged - snaked.
• frontside - surfing facing the wave - going frontside
• fully - with commitment and intensity
• full on - with commitment and intensity
• gash - very sharp turn
• gnarly - awesome and intimidating
• going off - a break under optimum conditions
• goofy foot - left foot back is the power foot, right foot forward
• gouge - sharp, fast turn
• gremmies - grem or gremmie is short for gremlin - sixties us term for young, possibly or probably mischievous surfer, pre-adolescent surfer
• green room - inside a full cover-up tube
• grommet - adolescent surfer
• gunned - undergunned or overgunned refers to the size of your board in relation to wave conditions
• heelside - the rail [side] that your heels point at
• hiddie - from hideous, intense
• hoot - howling and yelping approval and encouragement to buddies
• jag - retreat after getting worked
• nipped - nipples rubbed raw by board or suit
• noodle - exhausted, overall condition or specific as in noodle armed
• meatball flag - black with a yellow dot in the middle, means no surfing today
• pop - kickout
• pit - the hollowest portion of a breaking wave
• pitch - throw - angle of any run to rise
• pitted - being in the pit of the wave
• pearl - to go pearl diving, the nose of you board submerges and usually the wave pushes the rest of the board over the nose, you too
• poser - a non-surfer playing the role of a surfer
• pucker factor - the effect an intimidating wave has on ones ability to remain relaxed
• puff - a spitting wave.
• pumping - above average large swell
• quiver - a surfer's collection of boards, a board bag that holds several boards
• regular foot - right foot back is the power foot, left foot forward
• rip - to surf to the height of one's abilities
• repechage - in competition, especially amateur, the runners up from a heat compete against each other in a repechage round. The winners advance to the final rounds.
• room - inside a large barrel.
• schlong - thick, long, old style single-fin surfboard
• squid - unlikeable individual
• scab - a reef or rock
• scabbed - getting damaged by a reef or rock
• shred - ability to execute rapid repeated turns - shortboard term
• sick - excellent, top notch - describing a surfer, stunt, manoeuvre or conditions
• sideslip - when your board stops tracking forwards and moves sideways
• slam - bounce off the lip as it begins to pitch
• slash - cutback.
• snake - paddling around behind someone who is in position and stealing their wave. effectively the snake is taking ownership of the wave by being the closest rider to the breaking portion of the wave.
• stink-eye - hard, cold, menacing stare
• stoked - geared up, wound up, full of enthusiasm
• stylie - with good form - with grace
• surfer's knots - large bumps on the tops of feet and on knees caused by callusing where one continuously contacts a board
• stuffed - getting driven under the water by a wave coming down on you
• swish - a meek or fearful surfer
• thrashed - when a wave lays a beating on you
• throwing tail - sliding the tail in a turn, breaking the grip of the fins
• toeside - the rail [side] that your toes point at
• tow-ins - getting towed into waves that are too large to paddle into
• trim - adjusting your position on a board so that it planes, and achieves its maximum speed
• tube - the cylindrical or cone shaped hole created when the lip pitches out far and clean enough to create a space between the wave and the falls
• vertical - turn straight up the wave
• waffling - rapidly working the board back and forth
• wannabe - wan-na-be, someone who wants to be
• wax - paraffin + colour + scent + additives to make it apply at specific temperatures. used on deck of boards for traction
• whack - as in whack it off the top [of the wave], hit the lip hard
• wipe out - a fall, particularly a spectacular fall
• worked, getting - the action a wave plays on you. it feels like being in a large washing machine.