There are hundreds of special terms in the surfing world. Here is your first glossary list of surfing terms. This nice and short list only contains the selected essential words for beginner surfers!
- Aggro – an Australian expression for aggressive surfing/surfer
- Backwash – when a wave wash up the beach and returns back to the ocean, sometimes crashing with incoming waves
- Beach break – waves that break over sandbars
- Bogging – what happens when a surfer’s weight is too far back, and the surfboard nose lifts up
- Chop – bumpy ocean and rough waves due to strong winds/currents
- Closeout – when a wave breaks all at once, with no shape or shoulder
- Ding – a crack, hole or fracture in a surfboard
- Drop in – to get in the right of way of a surfer who is already riding a wave
- Duck Diving – the technique of pushing the surfboard down under and go through a breaking wave
- Epoxy – a type of plastic resin used to produce surfboards
- Eskimo roll (turtle roll) – a surfing technique where the surfer flips the board over in front of an oncoming wave to get under it
- Flat – with no waves
- Foam – whitewater
- Foam board – a surfboard for beginners, with an exterior shell made of soft foam
- Frontside – when a surfer rides facing the wave
- Glassy – a maritime condition when there is no wind to ripple the wave face
- Goofy foot – a surfer who rides waves with his right leg forward
- Grommet – a young surfer
- Groundswell – a swell that traveled thousands of miles through the ocean, with a period of 15 seconds or more
- Gun – a big surfboard for riding big waves
- Inside – the area where waves end, as opposed to outside
- Kook – a beginner surfer, an inexperienced surfer or a bad surfer
- Leash – the cord that attaches a surfboard to the surfer
- Line-up – the spot in the ocean where surfers line up to catch waves, just behind the breaking zone
- Lull – time between sets of wave with no waves breaking
- Offshore wind – wind blowing from the shore out to the ocean, holding the curl line and smoothing the wave face
- Onshore wind – wind blowing from the ocean toward shore, destroying the quality of waves
- Outside – the line-up are, as opposed to inside
- Peak – the spot in the ocean where the wave breaks for both sides
- Pearling – what happens when a surfer’s weight is too far forward and the surfboard nose dives underwater
- Polyurethane – the most common type of material used in surfboard manufacturing
- Pop-up – the quick move a surfer makes to rise to a standing position when taking off on a wave
- Rash guard – a form-fitting shirt made of nylon-polyester-spandex mixture used under the wetsuit
- Reef break – a wave that breaks over rock or coral
- Regular foot – a surfer who rides waves with his left leg forward
- Right of way – priority given to the surfer closer to the breaking part of the wave
- Rip – to surf very well
- Rip current – a strong surface current of short duration flowing seaward from the shore, also known as rip tide
- Rocker – the curve of the surfboard bottom from nose to tail viewed from the side
- Set – a group of waves
- Snaking – the aggressive act of paddling under, around, or over the top of another surfer to get right of way
- Soup – the broken foam of a wave
- Swell – energy powered by strong winds which produces wave trains
- Take-off – the start of a wave ride
- Wave period – the time between two consecutive wave crests
- Wax – a paraffin-based product which is applied to the surfboard deck to increase traction and reduce slippery
- Whitewater – the foamy, white-colored water created where a wave breaks
- Wipeout – an unexpected fall off a surfboard while surfing a wave, or surf accident
In addition, surf equipments we use at Odysseys Surf School are described HERE. All the names of each parts on surf board and other required terms will be taught by our helpful instructors during our beginner surf lesson, so no worries! Book our surf lessons today! Click here
Let us know in comment below if you know any beginner surfing terms we missed out on this list!
Source: surfertoday