If you want to be in the know about surfing, you’re going to need to learn the lingo. We’ve put the most commonly used surfing terms in one handy list for you.
👉 Go to Part 1, letters A – L.
Messy
Irregular surfing conditions when the waves aren’t breaking cleanly.
Mush
Poor quality, slow, or non-powerful waves, often onshore.
Nose
The area at the tip of the surfboard.
👉 More about surfboard parts in our blog here!
Nose-dive
The nose of a surfboard diving underwater, usually when a surfer’s weight is too far forward.
Offshore wind
The real deal. Wind traveling from land out to sea, going against the direction that the waves is traveling which holds it up longer before it breaks.
Onshore wind
Wind blowing from the sea towards the land often making the surf look more messy and less defined.
👉 We’ve got a video about on- and offshore winds. Check it out here!
Overhead
Approximated wave height measured on surfer’s height.
Peak
The the highest breaking point of a wave and the point where the wave begins to break.
The section of the wall of a wave just ahead of the lip where the wave breaks.
Point-Break
A wave that breaks over land or rocks.
Pop-Up
The move a surfer performs to get into standing position on the surfboard and surf the wave. There are two types of pop ups, we’ve blogged about both of them here:
Priority
Refers to the right of a surfer to ride a wave before other surfers who are also riding waves at that time. Knowing “surf etiquette” is very important, first and foremost so that you and surfers around stay safe.
Pumping
1. The act of surfing up and down the face of the wave in a smooth flowing motion.
2. Also epic surf conditions. Not always big, but nice and consistent.
Rails
The outline or edges of the surfboard. Here’s our blog on the
Regular-footed
The opposite to goofy footed. Surfing with your left foot forward.
Right-hander
A wave breaking to the right from the surfer’s perspective.
Rip
The path the water being pushed onto the shore by the waves takes to run back into the ocean. Rips can be dangerous, why?
Section
A part of a wave.
Set
A series or group of waves that are generally larger and often more powerful than the average for a given period of time or day.
Shaka
The shaka is made by extending the thumb and pinky fingers and curling in the three middle fingers and waving or rotating the hand back and forth. The shaka has many meanings including, hello, goodbye, nice job, how’s it going, and hang loose.
Shaper
Someone who makes and shapes surfboards.
Shorebreak
Waves directly breaking on the shore.
Shortboard
A type of surfboard. Usually between 5 and 7 feet long with a pointy nose designed for performance. Want to know more about the different types of surfboards?
Snaking
Occurs when a surfer deliberately paddles inside of another surfer in order to steal wave priority and get closest to the breaking part of the wave. Not cool.
👉 Learn about surf etiquette here!
Stoked
The feeling of being excited and happy to the point that you cannot contain yourself.
Stringer
A surfboard stringer is a thin strip of wood that runs from nose to tail down the center of the polyurethane foam blank.
Swell
Waves produced by storm winds raging hundreds of miles out to sea.
Tail
The back end of a surfboard.
👉 More about the individual parts of your surfboard here
Take-off
Catching a wave.
Thruster
A type of surfboard. Created in 1982 by Simon Anderson. A thruster setup uses three equal-sized fins with the two outer fins being more forward, and the center fin being more to the rear of the board.
Tube ride
A tube ride is when a surfer rides inside the breaking wave.
Wall
Another word for the face of a wave.
Wax
A surf wax gives grip to your stance on the surfboard used to rub on the deck of a surfboard for better grip.
White water
The foam of a breaking wave.
Wipeout
Classic term used in surfing lingo to imply one being thrown off the board by a wave.
Zephyr
The lords of Dogtown.