Surfing Terms you might want to know about!

| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O |
| P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

A

Aerial
Part of a maneuver where the surfer and his/her board leaves the water. This maneuver requires split second timing and is only performed by expert surfers.

Air
After a good bottom turn with lots of speed, head up the face, off-the-lip, and into the sky!

B

Barrel
A hollow faced wave and great to ride.

Blown-out
winds blowing so hard as to chop up the surf and render it unridable.

Booger
Bodyboarder

Bottom
referring to the ocean floor or to the lowest part of the wave the surfer can ride on - the bottom of the wave.

Bottom turn
turning on the bottom of the wave, up toward the murderous lip.

Bowl
a shallow spot in the path of the wave, causing the wave to break a little harder.

Bozos
Surfers with clown-colored wetsuits who surf pretty well, but have stupid styles and show off too much.

Caught Inside
a surfer on the shore-side of a breaking wave (then he's going to take-it-on-the-head.)

Channel
a relatively deep spot where the waves don't normally break.

Choppy
Very small waves on the surface created by local winds.

Clean-up Wave
A wave that breaks outside of the line-up and dumps on the entire line-up.

Close out
when waves break all the way across a bay or normally safe channel rendering a surf spot unridable (because surfers can't paddle-out to the line-up.)

Covered
Same as "toobed."

Cut
surfing along the green part of the wave by leaning on your toes or your heels.

Cut-Back
A 180 degree turn that's done on either of the two rails of the surfboard. Turn back toward the curl or breaking part of a wave.

Cut out
Same as pull-out or kick-out.

D

Da kine
Hawaiian style talk: The best kind of wave, as in, "I jus caught da kine wave, brah."

Drop
The initial downward slide on the face of wave after taking off and before the bottom turn.

Drop in late
When you take off on the steepest possible part of a wave.

Drop-knee
One foot on the bodyboard, with the other hanging off the back. Difficult and fun.

F

Floater
Where the surfer rides his board loosely along the top of the breaking up or foam of the wave.

Face-of-the-Wave
The front part of the wave. One rides on the face of the wave.

G

Get spit
when you come out of the shutting tube with the spray.

Get worked
1. When the ocean overpowers you and spins you like you're in a washing machine's spin cycle. 2. When you're at the top of the wave trying to stand, and the wave throws you to the bottom, and you fall into the trough of exploding water. 3. When you're paddling out, and an incoming wave clobbers you off of your board. 4. Anytime the ocean fucks you up.

Goofy-foot
Rider who surfs with right foot as lead foot.

Green face
the part of a wave that isn't whitewater.

Grom
From grommet. A young surfer.

Gun
About seven feet long. Used for big-wave riding.

H

Hang Ten
All ten toes on the nose. Gotta be on a log to do this one.

Hollow
extremely concave curling wave (a good thing!)

Hodad
A beginner or non-surfer.

Honey
A female surfer.

K

Kook
If you don't know then you are one (dat's OK. We all were once.)

L

Line-up
Place in the water where the wave breaks. Naturally, all the surfers "line up" there and wait for the perfect wave.

Log
Longboard, nine feet and longer.

Longboard
The old school of boards. The kind people rode in the '50s and '60s. Today a lot of people still use them because they're easier to paddle and are better for mellow, laid-back, non-aggressive surfing.

Lip
The top of the face of the wave. Usually curling forward some.

M

Make a wave
To go for a wave and "make it" as opposed to getting tossed off your board and pounded by the wave.

Mushy
Slow, sloppy waves of little power. (Better than no waves.)

O

Over-the-falls
Not good!

P

Paddle out
To put your board in the ocean pointing out to sea, lie on it, and stroke out toward the line up one arm, then the other arm.

Pit
Place directly in front of the crest of the wave. Usually, if you get in the pit you lose speed, get caught and pounded.

Pull in to a deep grinding death barrel
Turning the board into a particularly dangerous tubing wave with tons of murder power over a reef made up of beginners' skulls.

Pitched
Tossed of the lip of the wave and usually off the board.

Prone
Ride with your belly on the board. The most common and easiest way to ride a bodyboard.

R

Rickt
deriving from "Richters" deriving from "Off the Richter Scale" meaning that something is awesome / cool / da bomb / etc... 

Rip a slash under the lip
A fast, radical turn up under the roof of the barrel.

Rip one off the lip
A fast, radical turn up on top of the wave.

Ripping
Executing drastic and radical moves on the wave. Having it your way with a wave.

Re-Entry
Attacking the lip, usually going vertically and then turning nose down and re-entering the wave.

Roll in
An old-fashioned skateboard maneuver, in which the skater skates along the flat section on top of a vertical ramp or pool, then turns off the edge, shoves the nose down, and lifts the back tail to not hang up the back wheel on the lip.

S

Short Board
About six feet long or less.

Shore break
Waves break very close to the beach.

Sick barrels
Hollow, tubular waves that surfers ride inside of; considered the best waves you can get.

Sick tubes
Same as sick barrels.

Single fins
Surfboards that have one fin on the bottom instead of two, three, or four. They are the most stable boards.

Spazzes
Dudes who think they're in the Bud pro tour who take a lot of waves and look like they're being attacked by a swarm of flies because they're flapping their arms so much.

Sponge
Bodyboard. Called sponge because its core is made of a sponge like material. Your bodyboard.

Sponger
Somebody that bodyboards.

Standup Surfing
To stand up on the board and ride. Only a hand-full of bodyboarders are doing this one and all from Hawaii at last count.

Stick
Your board.

Stoked
"I'm stoked man! I jus got toobed!"

Surfz up!
Waves are breaking and surfable. I'm outta here!

Swell
A good thing.

T

Tanker
Same as a log.

Tailslide
Part of a larger maneuver in which the surfer purposely makes his/her fins lose their grip and the board slides.

Take-off point
The best spot to be in the line-up to catch the best part of a breaking wave.

The ZONE
This is the place where there is no escape from the wrath of the on-coming wave.. You are caught inside, too far in to catch the wave, and the wave is breaking to far out for you to paddle outside . You get pounded in the zone.

360
A maneuver done wherein the board (and rider) spin 360 degrees on the face of the wave.

Toes-on-the-Nose
Riding a wave with one's toes curled around the nose of the board.

Toobed!
Riding inside the "tube." In the green room.

Top Turn
Similar to the re-entry but the approach is less vertical and usually performed to gain speed.

Trim
To walk on your board to the spot at which you can feel it going the fastest.

Tube
When the crest falls over the hollow barrel, it forms a pipe shaped wave.

Tube-Ride
Where the surfer rides behind or inside the broken curl of the wave. Also known as "In the Barrel"

W

Weekend warriors
Yuppie surfers who take a lot of waves, have top-of-the-line equipment, and have crappy style and skills.