Surf Terminology: The Surf Dictionary | About the water

About the water

Glossary of Surfing

• Beach break: An area where waves that are good enough to surf break just off of a beach, or on a sandbar further out
• Blown out: When waves that would otherwise be good have been rendered too choppy by wind
• Bomb: An exceptionally large set wave
• Choppy, chop: Waves that are subjected to cross winds have a rough surface (chop) and do not break cleanly
• Close-out: A wave is said to be "closed-out" when it breaks at every position along the face at once, and therefore cannot be surfed
• Face: The forward-facing surface of a breaking wave
• Flat: No waves
• Gas chamber: The effect when a big wave rolls over, enclosing a temporary horizontal tunnel of air with the surfer inside^[3]
• Glassy: When the waves (and general surface of the water) are extremely smooth and glossy, not disturbed by wind
• Gnarly: Large, difficult and dangerous (usually applied to waves)
• Line-up: The area where most of the waves are starting to break and where most surfers are positioned in order to catch a wave ^[4]
• Off the hook: A positive phrase meaning the waves are a very good size and shape
• Outside: The part of the water's surface that is further from the shore than the area where most of the waves are breaking.
• Point break: Area where an underwater rocky point creates waves that are suitable for surfing
• Sections: The parts of a breaking wave that are rideable
• Set waves: A group of waves of larger size within a swell
• Shoulder: The unbroken part of the wave
• Surf's up: A phrase used when there are waves worth surfing
• Swell: A series of waves that have traveled from their source in a distant storm, and that will start to break once the swell reaches shallow enough water
• Whitewater: After the wave has finished breaking, it continues on as a ridge of turbulence and foam, the whitewater

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Categories: glossary of surfing