This little pocket dictionary of common surf terms will help you make sense of conversations in the line up or car park.
Blown Out – Strong wind has made it un-surfable
Close Out – A wave that doesn’t peel in either direction as it breaks
Clean up set – A bigger than expected set that everyone out the back has to duck dive
Ding – A dent in your surfboard
Bomb – A really good (and usually big) wave
Ground Swell – A swell that has been formed by weather patterns a long way away and has travelled some distance. Ground swells produce much cleaner waves compared to wind swells
Grommet – (or grom) A young surfer
Glassy – The clean look on the ocean when there is no wind
Caught inside – Getting stuck while trying to paddle your way out through the white water, sometimes due to currents
Gun – A long board (with a short board shape) designed for surfing big waves
Kook – An incompetent surfer, who will surf conditions beyond their capabilities with no regard to other surfers and surf etiquette
Line up – the spot where all the surfers are sitting waiting for waves
Lip – the tip of the breaking wave which hits the water first
Out The Back – The area beyond the white water where you paddle into unbroken waves
Poo Stance – An extremely wide stance
Quad – A surfboard with four fins
Quiver – A personal collection of surfboards
Ripping – Surfing critically, powerfully and really well
Section – An area on an otherwise peeling wave, where the lip breaks in a big section. A section can make it difficult to surf around to stay on the face
Set – A group of waves rolling in
Snake (verb) A way to position yourself for wave priority that dismisses surf etiquette. Go to the module on surf etiquette to learn more about snaking
Snake (noun) A snake is also a title you give to somebody who snakes others in the surf
Shoulder – The unbroken end of a peeling wave face
Shredding – See ripping
Off shore – The wind direction is going from the beach out to sea
Over the falls – Getting dragged over with crest of a breaking wave
