Whether you’re packing your baggies and heading off to Newquay, or carving up the surf in Hawaii or Californ-i-a, get hip with the lingo dude, and blend in with the locals...
Aggro: Aggravation or annoyance, often caused by a breach of surfing etiquette
Air: A manoeuvre involving the surfer riding up the face of a wave and into the air above then landing back on top of the wave
Ankle Busters: Little waves
Avalanche: A huge breaking wave
ASP: Association of Professional Surfing
Bail out: Pulling out of a decision to surf a wave at the last minute, sometimes abandoning your surfboard before falling off
Baggies: Surfing shorts or trunks.
Barney: A newby or inexperienced surfer.
Barrel: See entry for Hollow
Bitchin': Awesome
Bogus: Disappointing
Blown Out: Surf rendered choppy and unrideable by onshore winds
Bodyboard: A soft foam board which is ridden lying face down
Bodysurf: Surfing the waves without a board
Bombs: Big big waves
Brah: Slang for buddy, derived from the Hawaiian word Bruddah, meaning brother
Brainfreeze: The result of having had your head submerged in very cold sea water
Bruddah: See entry for Brah
Carving: The classic surfing move where the surfer turns sharply on a wave
Choppy: Rough sea conditions
Cannon ball: Assuming a foetal position when falling off during a surf
Clean: Good sea conditions, waves and board
Cord or Leash: The usually plastic lead which attaches a surfer to their board
Cross stepping: Walking foot over foot up and down a longboard
Cut-back: Reverse surfing direction in a single smooth movement towards the white water, so as to increase the amount of time a wave can be ridden
Dawn patrol: An early morning surfing session
Deck: A surfboard's upper side
Ding: Surfboard damage
Drop in: A serious breach of surfing etiquette, this means coming in on a wave in front of someone already riding it, causing them to have to abandon the wave
Double up: Two waves combining
Face: The whole front of a wave as it approaches the shore
Fins: The control rudders found on the bottom of surfboards
Fubar: An acronym that commonly means "fucked up beyond all repair," "fucked up beyond all recognition," or similar. The phrase originated in the US armed forces
Get worked: To come off your board and get thrown around while being held under by the wave
Glassy: Very smooth sea conditions
Gnarly or Hairy: Describes an especially awesome wave
Ground Swells: Waves created over long distances by a broad and deep undulation of the ocean rather than waves formed close to the shore by the wind
Hairy: See entry for Gnarly
Hammered: Being pummeled by a wave
Hollow, Barrel or Tube: The cylindrical shaped hollow tube formed by a wave when it is breaking, as the lip of a wave curves over .
Inside: Surfing inside the hollow of a wave (see hollow above)
Kick-out: Pull out of a wave
Leash or Cord: The (usually) plastic lead which attaches a surfer to their board
Left and Right: A wave breaking from left to right as you look out to sea is called a left, while one that breaks from right to left is known as a right
Lip: The very top, curved over part of a wave
Long board: A board with a widened round end that is around three feet longer than the surfer's height
Mushy: Crumbling, weak waves
Nose: The front end of a board
Peak: A wave's highest part
Point break: Breaking waves off a rock formation that appears above the surface of the surrounding land
Pop-up: Get into a standing position after catching a wave
Rail: The surfboard's curved sides
Ripping: Surfing well
SAS: Surfers Against Sewage, an organisation dedicated to cleaning up the surfing environment. You can join online and buy stuff
Set: A succession of outside breaking waves
Shaka sign: This is a common greeting among surfers, and is one of the most well known and used gestures in Hawaii. It is formed by sticking out the thumb and pinky finger while keeping the other three fingers curled, with the back of the hand facing the person being greeted
Short board: A small surfboard
Shoulder: A breaking wave's unbroken edge
Snaking: Obstructing another surfer who has the right of way on a wave
Soft board: A safety-conscious surfboard made from a soft material
Soup: The white froth created by a broken wave
Stall: A move that slows the forward momentum of the surfboard so as to let a wave catch up
Stick: Nickname for a surfboard
Surf wax: Wax that is applied to the top side of a fiberglass surfboard to help create traction,
Swell: Building waves
Tail: The back end of a board
The Bomb: Fantastic, the best
Thruster: A surfboard with three fins
Tow-in: Being towed by a jet-ski or other machine into waves that are too big to be paddled into
Tube: See entry for Hollow
Walking the nose: Walking towards the nose or front of the surfboard
Whitewater: Breaking waves creating white, foamy water
Wind Swells: Waves formed close to the shore by the wind rather than those created over long distances by a deep sea conditions
Wipe out: Falling off the board in the middle of a surf ride
Zipper: A really fast breaking wave
Zone: When everything comes together perfectly - rhythm, timing. flow and breaking waves