left

From Middle English left, luft, leoft, lift, lyft, from Old English left, lyft (“weak, clumsy, foolish”), attested in Old English lyftādl (“palsy, paralysis”), from Proto-Germanic *luft-, from *lubjaną (“to castrate, lop off”) (compare dialectal English lib, West Frisian lobje, Dutch lubben), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lewp-, *(s)lup- (“hanging limply”). Compare Scots left (“left”), North Frisian lefts, leeft, leefts (“left”), West Frisian lofts (“left”), dialectal Dutch loof (“weak, worthless”), Low German lucht (“left”).

cog

(surfing) A wave breaking from left to right (viewed from the shore).


gun

Sranan Tongo: gon

From Middle English gunne, gonne, possibly from Gunnhild, a female given name formerly used as a nickname for engines of war. The name is composed of the Norse elements gunnr and hildr, both meaning "battle".

is that a gun in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me

you get more with a kind word and a gun than you do with a kind word alone

2000, Drew Kampion, surfline.com
by the winter of 1962, the Brewer Surfboards Hawaii gun was the most in-demand big-wave equipment on the North Shore.

(surfing) A long surfboard designed for surfing big waves (not the same as a longboard, a gun has a pointed nose and is generally a little narrower).


right

duty

antonym(s) of “legal or moral entitlement”

From Middle English right, righte, reght, reghte, riȝt, riȝte, from Old English riht, reht, ġeriht (“that which is right, just, or proper; a right; due; law; canon; rule; direction; justice; equity; standard”), from Proto-West Germanic *reht, from Proto-Germanic *rehtą (“a right”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵtom, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵt- (“to straighten; direct”). Cognate with Dutch recht (“a right; privilege”), German Recht (“a right”), Danish ret (“a right”).

der

(surfing) A wave breaking from right to left (viewed from the shore).


rail

→ Catalan: rail

→ Dutch: rail

→ French: rail

→ Japanese: レール (rēru)

→ Punjabi: ਰੇਲ (rel)

→ Spanish: raíl

→ Swahili: reli

→ Tibetan: རི་ལི (ri li, “train”)

From Middle English rail, rayl, *reȝel, *reȝol (found in reȝolsticke (“a ruler”)), partly from Old English regol (“a ruler, straight bar”) and partly from Old French reille; both from Latin regula (“rule, bar”), from regō (“to rule, to guide, to govern”); see regular. Doublet of regal, regula, rigol, and rule.

doublet

Rails alone can only ever have a marginal effect on a board's general turning ability.

c. 2000, Nick Carroll, surfline.com http://www.surfline.com/community/whoknows/10_21_rails.cfm

(surfing) One of the lengthwise edges of a surfboard.


catch

en-verb

catch (third-person singular simple present catches, present participle catching, simple past and past participle caught)

catches (present singular third-person)
catching (participle present)
caught (participle past)
caught (past)
catch (infinitive)

→ French: catch

→ Kabuverdianu:

→ Portuguese: cachir

→ Spanish: cachar

From Middle English cacchen, from Anglo-Norman cachier, variant of Old French chacier, from Late Latin captiāre, from Latin captāre, frequentative of capere. Akin to Modern French chasser (from Old French chacier) and Spanish cazar, and thus a doublet of chase. Compare ketch. Displaced Middle English fangen ("to catch"; > Modern English fang (verb)), from Old English fōn (“to seize, take”); Middle English lacchen ("to catch" and heavily displaced Modern English latch), from Old English læċċan.
The verb became irregular, possibly under the influence of the semantically similar latch (from Old English læċċan), whose past tense was lahte, lauhte, laught (Old English læhte), until becoming regularised in Modern English.

gloss

caught with one's fingers in the cookie jar

don't sell the skin till you have caught the bear

you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar

you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar

you catch more flies with honey than vinegar

you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar

If you are surfing a wave through the rocks, make sure you have a clear route before catching the wave.

2001, John Lull, Sea Kayaking Safety & Rescue, page 203:

(transitive, surfing) To contact a wave in such a way that one can ride it back to shore.


break

From Middle English breken, from Old English brecan (“to break”), from Proto-West Germanic *brekan, from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”). The word is a doublet of bray.
Cognates
Cognates of Germanic origin include Scots brek (“to break”), West Frisian brekke (“to break”), Dutch breken (“to break”), Low German breken (“to break”), German brechen (“to break”), French broyer (“to crush, grind”), Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (brikan, “to break, destroy”), Norwegian brek (“desire, yearning”).
Also cognate with Albanian brishtë (“fragile”), Latin frangō (“break, break up, shatter”, verb), whence English fracture and other terms – fragile, frail, fraction, and fragment.

cog

The final break in the Greenmount area is Kirra Point.

(surfing) A place where waves break (that is, where waves pitch or spill forward creating white water).


mal

(surfing) A longboard (type of surfboard).


kick out

en-verb

kick out (third-person singular simple present kicks out, present participle kicking out, simple past and past participle kicked out)

kicks out (present singular third-person)
kicking out (participle present)
kicked out (participle past)
kicked out (past)


hook

sometimes in Northern England and Ireland, otherwise obsolete

From Middle English hoke, from Old English hōc, from Proto-West Germanic *hōk, from Proto-Germanic *hōkaz, variant of *hakô (“hook”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kog-, *keg-, *keng- (“peg, hook, claw”).
Cognates
Compare West Frisian heak, Dutch haak (“hook”)) (compare West Frisian/Dutch hoek (“hook, angle, corner”), Low German Hook, Huuk); also related to hake.

This maneuver involves a sharp turn, back into the hook of the wave.

1963, Grant W. Kuhns, On Surfing, page 67:

(surfing) Synonym of shoulder (“the part of a wave that has not yet broken”)


log

From Middle English logg, logge (first recorded in Anglo-Latin as loggum), of uncertain origin, but probably from Old Norse lóg, lág (“felled tree, log”), derived from Old Norse liggja (“to lie”). If so, then cognate with Norwegian låg (“fallen tree”), Dutch loog (“wood, timber, lumber”).
Alternatively, directly from Norwegian låg (“fallen tree”), which could have been borrowed through the Norwegian timber trade. However the Old Norse/Middle Norwegian vowel is long while Middle English vowel is short.

1999, Neal Miyake https://web.archive.org/web/20060530122555/http://www.iav.com/~sponge/sesh/new2/sesh213.htm
I know he hadn’t surfed on a log much in his childhood


lid

Inherited from Middle English lid, lyd, from Old English hlid, from Proto-West Germanic *hlid, from Proto-Germanic *hlidą (compare Dutch lid, German Lid (“eyelid”), Swedish lid (“gate”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlitós (“covered”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (“to cover”).

Mal rider, shortboard or lid everyone surfs like a kook sometimes.

the rest of us managed to dodge out of control lid riders

(surfing, slang, chiefly Australia) A bodyboard or bodyboarder.


tube

From Middle French tube, from Latin tubus (“tube, pipe”), related to tuba (“long trumpet; war-trumpet”), of obscure ultimate origin, but possibly connected to tībia (“shinbone, reed-pipe”), see there.

you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube

you can't put the toothpaste back into the tube

(surfing) A wave which pitches forward when breaking, creating a hollow space inside.


rip

rip (third-person singular simple present rips, present participle ripping, simple past and past participle ripped)

rips (present singular third-person)
ripping (participle present)
ripped (participle past)
ripped (past)

From Middle English rippen, from earlier ryppen (“to pluck”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *rupjaną, *ruppōną (compare West Frisian rippe, ripje, roppe, ropje (“to rip”), Dutch dialectal rippen, Low German ruppen, German Low German röpen, German rupfen), intensive of *raupijaną (compare Old English rīpan, rīepan (“to plunder”), West Frisian rippe (“to rip, tear”), German raufen (“to rip”)), causative of Proto-Indo-European *roub- ~ *reub- (compare Albanian rrabe ‘maquis’, possibly Latin rubus (“bramble”)), variant of *Hrewp- (“to break”). More at reave, rob.

(intransitive, surfing, slang) To surf extremely well.


outside

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Nattes à chat-outside.wav

When a wave mounds on the outside and takes its shape, a surfer quickly paddles to the peak, positions himself in its evolving momentum, swings his board around, aligns with the peak, and thrusts himself into its cascading shape.

2011, Rick Hansen, Leadership and The Art of Surfing, page xi:

(surfing) The outer part of the sea, away from the peak of a wave.


soup

en-noun

soup (countable and uncountable, plural soups)

→ Tamil: சூப் (cūp)

→ Thai: ซุป (súp)

Wikiquote
The noun is from Middle English soupe, sowpe, from Old French soupe, souppe, sope, from Late Latin suppa (“sopped bread”), from Proto-Germanic *supô (compare Middle Dutch sope (“broth”)). Doublet of zuppa. See also sop and supper.
The verb is from the noun.

(figuratively) Any mixture or substance suggestive of soup consistency.


slot

From Middle English slot, from Old French esclot, likely from Old Norse slóð (“track”). As a gambling machine, via clipping of slot machine. Compare sleuth. The scheduling (calendar) sense is by a metaphor whereby the time span is equated with the segment of a page or part of a device that represents it.

(slang, surfing) The barrel or tube of a wave.


pocket

→ Japanese: ポケット

→ Welsh: poced

From Middle English pocket (“bag, sack”), from Anglo-Norman poket, Old Northern French poquet, poquete, diminutive of poque, poke (“bag, sack”) (compare modern Norman pouquette and modern French pochette from Old French pochete, from puche), from Frankish *pokā (“pouch”), from Proto-Germanic *pukkô, *pukô (“bag; pouch”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to blow, swell”). Doublet of pochette. Cognate with Middle Dutch poke, Alemannic German Pfoch (“purse, bag”), Old English pocca, pohha (“poke, pouch, pocket, bag”), Old Norse poki (“bag, pocket”). Compare the related poke (“sack or bag”). See also Modern French pochette and Latin bucca.

der

(surfing) The unbroken part of a wave that offers the surfer the most power.


kamikaze

[ˌkʰɑmɪˈkʰɑːzɪi̯]

Borrowed from Japanese 神風(かみかぜ) (kamikaze, “divine wind”).


barrel

From Middle English barel, from Anglo-Norman baril, Old French baril, bareil (“barrel”), of uncertain origin. An attempt to link baril to Old French barre (“bar, bolt”) (compare Medieval Latin barra (“bar, rod”)) via assumed Vulgar Latin *barrīculum meets the phonological requirement, but fails to connect the word semantically. The alternate connection to Frankish *baril, *beril or Gothic 𐌱𐌴𐍂𐌹𐌻𐍃 (bērils, “container for transport”), from Proto-Germanic *barilaz, *bērilaz (“barrel, jug, container”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry, transport”), is more plausible as it connects not only the form of the word but also the sense; equivalent to bear + -le. Compare also Old High German biril (“jug, large pot”), Luxembourgish Bärel, Bierel (“jug, pot”), Old Norse berill (“barrel for liquids”), Old English byrla (“barrel of a horse, trunk, body”). More at bear.

vat

round vessel made from staves bound with a hoop

(surfing) A wave that breaks with a hollow compartment.

tynnyri

surfing: wave that breaks with a hollow compartment


fin

Dutch language
German language
Latin language
Middle English language
Old English language
Old Irish language
Proto-Germanic language
Proto-Indo-European language
Sanskrit language
Swedish language
Tocharian A language
fin
fin (disambiguation)

From Middle English fin, from Old English finn, from Proto-Germanic *finnō, *finǭ (“dorsal fin”) (compare Dutch vin, German Finne, Swedish finne, fena), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pīn- (“backbone, dorsal fin”) (compare Old Irish ind (“end, point”), Latin pinna (“feather, wing, fin”), Tocharian A spin (“hook”), Sanskrit स्फ्य (sphyá, “splinter, staff”).

cog-lite

(surfing) A similar structure on the bottom of a surfboard, used to help steer it.


goofy

From the way the Disney character Goofy was first depicted surfing, with right foot forward.

(surfing, snowboarding) Riding with the right foot forward.


goofy

(surfing, snowboarding) One who rides with the right foot forward.


lull

From Middle English lullen, lollen. Originally, perhaps expressive in origin from la-la-la or lu-lu-lu sounds made in calming a child. Compare Finnish laulaa (“to sing”) and Hiligaynon lala (“to sing a lullaby”).
Cognate with Scots lul, lule, loll (“to lull, put to sleep, howl, caterwaul”), Dutch lollen (“to sing badly, caterwaul”), Dutch lullen (“to chatter, prate, cheat, deceive”), Low German lullen (“to lull”), German lullen (“to lull”), Danish lulle (“to lull, sing to sleep”), Swedish lulla (“to lull”), Icelandic lúlla (“to lull”).

onomatopoeic

expressive

cog

It is advisable to leave the surf zone during the lull between sets of larger waves, waiting outside the surf zone for a lull.

1992, John Warlaumont, The Noaa Diving Manual, page 19-19:

About 2 hours in, a long lull cleared everyone out, and then it started getting a little more consistent and pushing chest ta neck high.

(surfing) An extended pause between sets of waves.

зати́шье

an extended pause between sets of waves.


leash

From Middle English leesshe, leysche, lesshe, a variant of more original lease, from Middle English lees, leese, leece, lese, from Old French lesse (modern French laisse), from Latin laxa (“thong, a loose cord”), feminine form of laxus (“loose”); compare lax. Doublet of laisse.

Probably the idea was around before that, but the first photo of the leash in action was published that year

1980 February, Drew Kampion, “As Years Roll By (1970's Retrospective”, in Surfing, page 43:


pearl

en-verb

pearl (third-person singular simple present pearls, present participle pearling, simple past and past participle pearled)

pearls (present singular third-person)
pearling (participle present)
pearled (participle past)
pearled (past)

Horace
Jean Jannon
New Testament
Vergil
en:pearl
en:pearl (disambiguation)
en:pearl (typography)

From Middle English perle, from Old French perle of uncertain etymology. Probably via unattested Medieval Latin *pernula, from Latin perna (“haunch; a marine bivalve shaped like a leg of lamb”) but also derived from Medieval Latin perla, from Latin perula (“little bag”). Its typographic use follows the name given by Jean Jannon to the type used in his miniature editions of Vergil, Horace, & the New Testament in the 1620s, which were the smallest printed works to his time. Its surfing use derives from the supposed resemblance to pearl diving.

der

Used a pointed tip today and learned why I kept pearling with my round tipped board. Round noses like to dig into the water, causing frustrating wipeouts.

1999, Joanne VanMeter https://web.archive.org/web/20071027111258/http://www.letsplay.net/archive99/020399.shtml

(intransitive, surfing) To sink the nose of one's surfboard into the water, often on takeoff.

He couldn't even turn the board or raise the nose. Consequently, the board pearled, nose-dived into the water, throwing Lee off almost like being thrown from a horse. But he persisted.

2017, Jian, Sh-Boom: The Way of the World:

(intransitive, surfing) Of the nose of the surfboard: to sink in this manner.


booger

Watch the local boogers charge it!

(surfing, slang, mildly derogatory) A bodyboarder.


mush

en-noun

mush (countable and uncountable, plural mushes)

Audio (UK)

Audio (US)

Probably a variant of mash, or from a dialectal variant of Middle English mos (“mush, pulp, porridge”); compare Middle English appelmos (“applesauce”), from Old English mōs (“food, victuals, porridge, mush”), from Proto-West Germanic *mōs, from Proto-Germanic *mōsą (“porridge, food”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“wet, fat, dripping”).
Cognate with Scots moosh (“mush”), Dutch moes (“pulp, mush, porridge”), German Mus (“jam, puree, mush”), Swedish mos (“pulp, mash, mush”).

der

And Rincon was all about surfing. Flash back thirty-odd years, to a skinny kid on a Styrofoam belly-board, pin-wheeling out into the mush of Jacksonville Beach, Florida.

2008, Bucky McMahon, Night Diver, page 80:


concave

From Middle English concave, from Old French concave, from Latin concavus.

(surfing) An indentation running along the base of a surfboard, intended to increase lift.


shoulder

From Middle English schuldre, sholder, shulder, schulder, from Old English sculdra, sculdor (“shoulder”), from Proto-West Germanic *skuldru (“shoulder”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *skelduz (“shield”), see shield. Cognate with Old Frisian skuldere (“shoulder”) (West Frisian skouder (“shoulder”)), Middle Low German scholder (“shoulder”), Low German Schuller (“shoulder”), Dutch schouder (“shoulder”), German Schulter (“shoulder”).

inh

you can't put an old head on young shoulders

(surfing) The part of a wave that has not yet broken.


shred

en-verb

shred (third-person singular simple present shreds, present participle shredding, simple past shredded, past participle shredded or shred)

shreds (present singular third-person)
shredding (participle present)
shredded (past)
shredded (participle past)
shred (participle past)
shred (infinitive)

The verb is derived from Middle English shreden, shred (“to chop, cut up; to cut, hack; to wound with a knife; to cut off a part of (something); to prune, trim”) [and other forms], from Old English sċrēadian (“to cut up, shred; to cut off; to prune, trim”), from Proto-West Germanic *skraudōn, related to Proto-West Germanic *skraudan (“to cut up; to shred”), from Proto-Germanic *skraudaną (“to cut up; to shred”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off”).
The adjective is derived from the past participle form of the verb.

nb...

schred, schredde, schrede, screde, shreade, shrede, shredde, shrid, (Early Middle English) screda, scradien, (Ormulum) shrædenn

inh

(snowboarding, surfing) To cut through (snow, water, etc.) swiftly with one's snowboard, surfboard, etc.; (by extension) to move or ride along (a road, track, etc.) aggressively and rapidly.

(snowboarding, surfing, etc.) To travel swiftly using a snowboard, surfboard, or vehicle.


wipe out

en-verb

wipe out (third-person singular simple present wipes out, present participle wiping out, simple past and past participle wiped out)

wipes out (present singular third-person)
wiping out (participle present)
wiped out (participle past)
wiped out (past)

A massive wave wiped him out.

(surfing, transitive) To knock (a surfer) off their board.


kahuna

Borrowed from Hawaiian kahuna (“shaman, wizard”).


hodad

Originally Californian surfer slang from the 1960s. Perhaps from the greeting Ho! Dad, though no evidence for this derivation is known. The suggestion that it derives from Western Hemisphere Spanish jodido (“fucked, difficult, annoying”) similarly lacks evidence; also the vowel change from -did to -dad is unexplained.

der

(surfing, slang, derogatory) Someone who comes to the beach and has a surfboard, but never surfs, or that surfs poorly and annoys the local seasoned surfers.


green room

First appears c. 1701 in the writings of Colley Cibber.

Never quite got covered up, but stood in the doorway to the green room with the lip feathering over my shoulders several times

1996, Surfer Bob, archived from the original on 2005-12-30:

(surfing) The inside of a tube (cylindrical wave).


backhander

From backhand + -er (patient suffix) or -er (agent noun suffix).

The morning brought an increased swell; long, perfect, down-the-line, 6-8' freight trains — a forehander's dream and a backhander's nightmare

(surfing) A surfer who approaches a swell with the wave behind them ("on their backhand") rather than facing the wave ("on their forehand").


tanker

I swung the tanker around just in time to take off with the lip.


backhand

(surfing) The hand towards the back of the board.


kook

(surfing, kiteboarding, wakeboarding) A boardsport participant who lacks style or skill; a newbie who acts as if they are better at the sport than they are.


bail out

en-verb

bail out (third-person singular simple present bails out, present participle bailing out, simple past and past participle bailed out)

bails out (present singular third-person)
bailing out (participle present)
bailed out (participle past)
bailed out (past)

(intransitive, idiomatic, surfing) To abandon one's surfboard when faced with a large or perilous wave.


peeler

From Middle English peler, piller, pyllare, pilour, pelure, pelour, equivalent to peel + -er.

Fancy a wave, one of those little peelers?

2010, Sam Bleakley, Surfing Brilliant Corners, →ISBN, page 174:

If he could ride a trend as well as he could ride a First Point Malibu peeler—well, that's how the game was played.

2011, Matt Warshaw, The History of Surfing, →ISBN, page 465:

As the next five-foot peeler rolled by, Lee grasped his board and clenched his teeth.

2016, William Povletich, Some Like It Cold: Surfing the Malibu of the Midwest, →ISBN:


pipeline

→ Japanese: パイプライン (paipurain)

→ Korean: 파이프라인 (paipeurain)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-pipeline.wav

(surfing) The inside of a wave that a surfer is riding, when the wave has started closing over it.


cuttie

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-cuttie.wav


cut in

cut in (third-person singular simple present cuts in, present participle cutting in, simple past and past participle cut in)

cuts in (present singular third-person)
cutting in (participle present)
cut in (participle past)
cut in (past)

(surfing) To begin riding a wave in front of someone else whose legitimate turn it is.


grommet

From obsolete French gromette (“curb chain”) (modern spelling gourmette).

(slang, surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding) A young or inexperienced surfer, skateboarder, or snowboarder.


scoop

From Middle English scope, schoupe, a borrowing from Middle Dutch scoep, scuep, schope, schoepe (“bucket for bailing water”) and Middle Dutch schoppe, scoppe, schuppe ("a scoop, shovel"; > Modern Dutch schop (“spade”)), from Proto-Germanic *skuppǭ, *skuppijǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kep- (“to cut, to scrape, to hack”). Cognate with Old Frisian skuppe (“shovel”), Middle Low German schōpe (“scoop, shovel”), German Low German Schüppe, Schüpp (“shovel”), German Schüppe, Schippe (“shovel, spade”). Related to English shovel.

gloss

"a scoop, shovel"; > Modern Dutch <i class="Latn mention" lang="nl">schop</i> (“spade”)

cog

This brings the scoop into play as additional wetted surface and slows the board due to its fore-and-aft curvature

1965, John M. Kelly, Surf and Sea, page 116:

[T]he scoop or upward curvature in the front or nose section of a board is designed to keep the board from diving under the surface of the water when the surfer is catching a wave.

1977, Fred Hemmings, Surfing: Hawaii's Gift to the World of Sports, page 59:

(surfing) The raised end of a surfboard.


reo

(Australia, surfing, informal) A re-entry (climbing a wave and then returning down its face).


pullout

en-noun

pullout (countable and uncountable, plural pullouts)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-pullout.wav

Most pullouts, then and today, are done by simply angling or pivoting the board up and over the wave crest.

2005, Matt Warshaw, The Encyclopedia of Surfing, page 482:

[…] Machado, who turns what might seem like a handicap, that lankiness, to rubbery advantage in his sinuous carving and slackly cool pullouts.

2015, John Engle, Surfing in the Movies: A Critical History, page 131:

(surfing) The ending of a period of surfing by navigating the board into or over the back of a wave.


floater

From float + -er (suffix forming agent nouns).

kelluja

person who physically floats in a gas or liquid

paikanvaihtaja

person without a fixed or lasting affiliation, position, or role

kelluva esine

thing which physically floats in a gas or liquid

leijuri

(figurative) A thing which moves from place to place, as if floating.

(surfing) A manoeuvre in which a surfer transitions above the unbroken face of a wave on to the lip, or on top of the breaking section of the wave.


landlord

From Middle English londlord, landlorde, from Old English landhlāford, equivalent to land + lord. Cognate with Scots landlaird, Middle Low German lantlord (“homeowner, landlord”).

cog

the lurking presence of “The Landlord”

2004, Drew Kampion, publisher's blurb for, Stories from the Surf – The Lost Coast:

(surfing, slang, with "the") A shark, imagined as the owner of the surf to be avoided.


back door

en-verb

back door (third-person singular simple present back doors, present participle back dooring, simple past and past participle back doored)

back doors (present singular third-person)
back dooring (participle present)
back doored (participle past)
back doored (past)

If you survive the heavy take-off at 'The Chair' (which is very close to the rocks) you will find you're in 'The Suck-up', which offers either a spectacular barrel or a bonecrunching wipeout, but you might find you have to back door it.

1999, Mark Warren, Mark Warren's Atlas of Australian Surfing, traveller's, →ISBN, page 103:

(surfing) To enter a tube by accelerating from behind; to surf into an already formed hollow wave, in contrast to the normal method of slowing to allow a surfable wave to form.


stringer

(surfing) Wooden strip running lengthwise down the centre of a surfboard, for strength.


ollie

From Ollie. Named after American skateboarder Alan Gelfand (1963–), via the Floridian skateboarder's nickname.

named-after

In short tutorials, the player learns the basics of skating: reverts, manuals and the ollie […]

2007, Friedrich von Borries, Steffen P. Walz, Matthias Böttger, Space Time Play: Computer Games, Architecture and Urbanism, page 124:

(skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding) An aerial maneuver in which one catches air by leaping off the ground with the skateboard and into the air.


pintail

(surfing) A surfboard with a pointed back end.


dumper

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-dumper.wav

The choice of a dumper can be disastrous for a comparatively unskilled surfer […]

1959, John Bloomfield, Know-how in the Surf, page 28:

[…] learning how to slide across the face of a wave is put to practical use when inadvertently catching a dumper (plunging wave).

2004, Australian Mathematical Society, Gazette, volume 31, page 249:

(surfing) A wave that knocks a surfer into the water.


glasser

The glasser wraps the board in a thin, brittle layer of fiberglass and resin

1999 January 14, Surfer Magazine, archived from the original on 2005-09-30:

(surfing) A person who applies fibreglass and resin to a surfboard during its manufacture.


longboard

In the past three weeks on Victoria's Surfcoast I've ridden my longboard probably 90% of the time as well. — Coastalwatch.com.au http://www.coastalwatch.com.au/news/news.aspx?newsId=55&newsType=admin&adType=news

(surfing) A large surfboard, around 9 or 10 feet long with a wide nose.


goat boat

en-verb

goat boat (third-person singular simple present goat boats, present participle goat boating, simple past and past participle goat boated)

goat boats (present singular third-person)
goat boating (participle present)
goat boated (participle past)
goat boated (past)

Do us surfers a favour please and goat boat at Nobblers or Sumpters - please. — BBC Cable Bay message forum https://web.archive.org/web/20040207131935/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northwest/sites/surfing/pages/cablebay.shtml

(surfing, mildly derogatory) to ride a wave ski.


Huey

en-proper noun

Huey (countable and uncountable, plural Hueys)

The spilt milk would be offered as a gift to Surf God Huey who would surely reward our kindness with sick waves. — surfingnz.com, Road Trip #6

(uncountable, surfing) Imaginary god who creates surf (waves, and associated conditions), generally used humorously.


wind swell

Ground swell is sometimes defined as having a period (the average time between the crests of two consecutive waves) of more than 15 seconds, while a locally generated wind swell can be defined as having a period of 11 seconds or less.

2005, Matt Warshaw, The Encyclopedia of Surfing, page 239:

(surfing) Waves generated by local winds.


shaper

From Middle English shapper, shapere, schapare, scaper, scheppere, schuppere, alteration (perhaps due to Old Norse skaperi, skapari) of Old English sċyppend, sċieppend (“shaper; maker; creator”), equivalent to shape + -er. Cognate with Dutch schepper, German Schöpfer, Danish skaber, Swedish skapare, Icelandic skapari.

en:person who designs and builds surfboards

(agent noun) Any agent that shapes (something), whether literally or figuratively.

(surfing) A person who designs and builds surfboards.


duck dive

en-verb

duck dive (third-person singular simple present duck dives, present participle duck diving, simple past and past participle duck dived)

duck dives (present singular third-person)
duck diving (participle present)
duck dived (participle past)
duck dived (past)

From the way a duck puts its head down and bottom up in the air when diving underwater.

(surfing) To push one's surfboard (usually a shortboard) underwater nose-first, to get the surfer and board under a wave that has broken or is just about to break.


duck dive

(surfing) The action of duck diving (see verb).


drop in

drop in (third-person singular simple present drops in, present participle dropping in, simple past and past participle dropped in)

drops in (present singular third-person)
dropping in (participle present)
dropped in (participle past)
dropped in (past)

Most beginners are blissfully unaware that dropping in on someone is a cardinal sin.

2003, Neal Miyake, “The Unwritten Rules of Surfing”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), archived from the original on 2005-10-14:

(surfing, intransitive) To paddle into and take off on a wave another surfer is already riding.


kook cord

As recently as 1971, surf leashes were called "kook cords" by a surfing world that grew up thinking that a surfer must pay for his mistakes by swimming.

2000, Ben Marcus, surfline.com http://www.surfline.com/surfaz/surfaz.cfm?id=921


pope's living room

From the tube (i.e. tubular wave) being a highly desirable place and imagining the Pope has the privilege of going there or being there all the time.

It was the layback, a casual declaration of civil disobedience in the pope's living room, our own aquatic limbo act.

2001, Jason Borte, surfline.com http://www.surfline.com/surfaz/surfaz.cfm?id=847

(surfing slang) The inside of a tube (i.e. of a wave making a tube).


beach break

(surfing, slang) The place where waves break, at a beach (as distinguished from other types of breaks).


turn turtle

turn turtle (third-person singular simple present turns turtle, present participle turning turtle, simple past and past participle turned turtle)

turns turtle (present singular third-person)
turning turtle (participle present)
turned turtle (participle past)
turned turtle (past)

/ˈtɜːn ˈtɜːtəl/

Possibly from the fact that turning a turtle and placing it on its back renders it helpless.

As you encounter waves on the way out, you have five ways of getting past them: […] Turn turtle. Turn upside down and hang onto the rails (i.e., the edges) near the nose of the board, pulling it downward, so that the oncoming wave pushes on this slanted shield, forcing you and the forward part of the board downward[…].

2009, Robert “Wingnut” Weaver, with Scott Bannerot, “Getting Started: A Complete Mini-primer”, in Wingnut’s Complete Surfing, Camden, Me., New York, N.Y.: International Marine; McGraw-Hill, →ISBN, page 23:

(intransitive, surfing) To roll upside down with one's surfboard (usually a longboard) to allow a wave, especially a wave that has already broken, to pass over.


deck grip

(surfing) Rubber non-slip pads glued to the top of a surfboard to stand on.


tail pad

And it's cheap—a bar of wax usually costs around $1.00 and will last for weeks (depending on how often you surf), whereas a tail pad (the cheapest deck grip you can buy) costs around $30.

2009, Louise Southerden, Surf's Up: The Girl's Guide to Surfing:

(surfing) A deck grip pad at the rear (ie. tail) of a surfboard, for the surfer's back foot to stand on.


closeout

Dealing with closeouts is something every surfer should learn – especially if you live and surf in California.

2004, Chris Cote, “HOW TO Backside Closeout Snap with Andy Irons - Ending your ride with style and drama.”, in Transworld Surf:

(surfing) A wave which breaks all at once, as opposed to breaking progressively along its length.


close out

close out (third-person singular simple present closes out, present participle closing out, simple past and past participle closed out)

closes out (present singular third-person)
closing out (participle present)
closed out (participle past)
closed out (past)

You either want to land on the top of the wave (if it has closed out), or in the transition

2005, 'Pete Devries, Surfing Vancouver Island:

(surfing) Of a wave, to break all at once, instead of progressively along its length.


rocker

From Middle English rokker, rockere, rokkere, equivalent to rock + -er.

All modern surfboards share a similar rocker design — Bruce Jones https://web.archive.org/web/20051212041317/http://www.brucejones.com/longboar.htm

(surfing) The lengthwise curvature of a surfboard. (More rocker is a more curved board.)


cutback

en-noun

cutback (countable and uncountable, plural cutbacks)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-cutback.wav

The cutback is one of the sport's three fundamental turns, along with the bottom turn and top turn. "It's the purest power move in the book," Australian surf journalist Nick Carroll wrote in 2000.

2005, Matt Warshaw, The Encyclopedia of Surfing, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 146:

(surfing) Maneuver where the surfer turns and surfs back towards where the wave is breaking.


coffin ride

(surfing) A longboard move where the surfer lies down on their back on the board with hands folded across their chest as if in a coffin, and continues down the line in that pose.


cheater five

(surfing) A form of hang five move, but where the surfer keeps their body and their weight well back from the front of the board and just reaches out with one leg to get five toes over the nose (as opposed to standing properly at the front).


hang five

en-verb

hang five (third-person singular simple present hangs five, present participle hanging five, simple past and past participle hung five)

hangs five (present singular third-person)
hanging five (participle present)
hung five (participle past)
hung five (past)

(surfing) To perform a longboard move where the surfer goes to the front of the board and rides from there, one foot on the nose and the five toes of that foot extended out over the front of the nose, the other foot placed further back.


hang ten

hang ten (third-person singular simple present hangs ten, present participle hanging ten, simple past and past participle hung ten)

hangs ten (present singular third-person)
hanging ten (participle present)
hung ten (participle past)
hung ten (past)

(surfing) To perform a stunt on a longboard in which a surfer moves to the front of the board and rides with ten toes extended out over the nose, after positioning the board so the back of it is covered and held in place by a wave.


kooky

en-adj

kooky (comparative kookier, superlative kookiest)

kookier (comparative)
kookiest (superlative)

From Kook to Classic A new appreciation for the grace (and glory) of longboardsmanship changed the image of longboarding from kooky to classic. Longboarding became a class-act and the classic essence of the surfing lifestyle.

1996, Doug Werner, Longboarder's Start-up: A Guide to Longboard Surfing (Start-up Sports; #6), San Diego, Calif.: Tracks Publishing, →ISBN, page 10:

I realized that the strain of the aloha spirit that surfing was bringing out in me was extremely aggressive. […] In my third week I had a revelation. I returned to Seal Beach, where Kim was still in school with the Michaels, and paddled straight out to the pier. I looked around and realized that the lineup was all kooks. In fact, I was the least kooky. I couldn't believe it. Where was the gang?

2010, Peter Heller, Kook: What Surfing Taught Me about Love, Life, and Catching the Perfect Wave, New York, N.Y.: Free Press, →ISBN:

(surfing) Behaving like a kook (a person with poor style or skill); kook-like.


thruster

From thrust + -er. The surfboard sense was coined (but never trademarked) by Simon Anderson, who created the design in 1980. The name was almost immediately applied generically to any surfboard with that fin design.

(surfing) A surfboard (usually a shortboard) with three fins of approximately equal size, one centred at the back, one on each side about 25cm forward and out near the rails.


reef rash

en-noun

reef rash (countable and uncountable, plural reef rashes)

Even mild cases of reef rash can be worrisome, as any break in the skin while in the tropics can lead to a staph infection.

2005, Matt Warshaw, The Encyclopedia of Surfing, page 498:

(surfing) A scraping injury caused by falling on or being dragged over a reef.


Maccas

(surfing, slang) "Macaronis", a surf break in Mentawai Islands Regency, West Sumatra, Indonesia.


greenback

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-greenback.wav

When the surfer has passed the point where the waves are breaking, and is among the waves which are known as “greenbacks”, he may either dive through them or float over them, […]

1965, John Bloomfield, Know-how in the Surf, page 28:

(surfing) A wave that has not yet begun to break.


tombstone

en-verb

tombstone (third-person singular simple present tombstones, present participle tombstoning, simple past and past participle tombstoned)

tombstones (present singular third-person)
tombstoning (participle present)
tombstoned (participle past)
tombstoned (past)

Before the contest even started, Slater went down hard in a warmup session. He took a two-wave hold-down in the semifinals, his board tombstoning eerily for all to see, […]

2005, Bruce Jenkins, Surfer magazine, (referring to Kelly Slater) http://surfermag.com/features/events/mav05/

(surfing) For a surfboard to stand upright half-submerged in the water (like a tombstone, above) because the surfer is underwater with his or her legrope pulled tight. Often this indicates a surfer in difficulty, either held down by the power of a wave or unconscious and unable to get to the surface.


gremlin

Oxford English Dictionary
Roald Dahl
The Gremlins

Uncertain; the following etymologies have been suggested:
* A variant of goblin.
* From Irish gruaimín (“gloomy little person”); or from Dutch gremmelen (“to soil, stain; to spoil”), or griemelen, grimmelen (“(obsolete) to abound, teem; to swarm”), but according to the Oxford English Dictionary there is little evidence for such derivations.
The word was popularized, especially in the United States, by the children’s novel The Gremlins (1943) by the British author Roald Dahl (1916–1990), in which gremlins sabotage Royal Air Force aircraft in revenge for the destruction of their forest home to make way for an aircraft factory; the creatures later join forces with the British to fight the Nazis.

der

(surfing, skateboarding, slang) A young, inexperienced surfer or skateboarder, regarded as a nuisance.

keltanokka

young, inexperienced surfer, seen as being a nuisance


glassy

en-adj

glassy (comparative glassier, superlative glassiest)

glassier (comparative)
glassiest (superlative)

From Middle English glasy, equivalent to glass + -y. Compare Saterland Frisian glääsich (“glassy”), Dutch glazig (“glassy”), German Low German glasig (“glassy”), German glasig (“glassy”).

a fair day on a glassy sea

Of or like glass, especially in being smooth and somewhat reflective.

(sailing, surfing, of water, not comparable) Lacking any chop; smooth and mostly flat.


waterman

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-waterman.wav

From Middle English waterman, equivalent to water + -man.

(surfing) A man skilled in multiple aquatic sports disciplines, such as surfing, bodysurfing, undersea diving, canoe paddling, fishing, etc.


Eddie would go

Named after Hawaiian waterman Eddie Aikau (1946–1978).

named-after

Just imagine what it must feel like to make it out of one of those Teahupoo tubes? ¶ *THAT'S* why we continue our quest and challenge. ¶ Eddie would go. ¶ (and we're right behind you Eddie)

2000 April 27, m@rk, “Re: Whats it worth?”, in alt.surfing (Usenet):

We'd bodysurf Pounders, north shore areas, Pupukea... I remember dolphins ( or would that be porpoises?) alongside us in most every wave, which would many times drop us onto the sand with a thud, knocking the wind outa us! Then, like the hardy keiki o ka aina buggahs we were, go right back in for more punishment! Eddie would go, and so, to an extent would us keiki!

2000 August 16, Alkahuna Kekaula Kamauoha, “Re: Screened Lanais/Porches?”, in soc.culture.hawaii (Usenet):

While they debated over the safety of the surfers, big-wave maverick Mark Foo looked out into the maelstrom of waves and whitewater and nonchalantly told one cameraman, “Eddie would go.” The saying stuck, and it eventually became popular in the Islands and in the international board-riding community.

[2002, Stuart Holmes Coleman, Eddie Would Go: The Story of Eddie Aikau, Hawaiian Hero and Pioneer of Big Wave Surfing, New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 255:

I guess we could've easily called it a day and left, but when you drive an hour to surf, you gotta go. Eddie would go, right? OK, maybe not in waist-high slop with fifty-degree air and water temps, but, I mean, like, if he were a NH surfer, he would go, wouldn't he?

2002 June 16, Atticus Fisher, “Surf Report: Finding Gems In Shit”, in alt.surfing (Usenet):

(Hawaii, surfing) Said of challenging surfing conditions, often as an encouragement.


dawn patrol

en-noun

dawn patrol (countable and uncountable, plural dawn patrols)

(surfing) The act of going out for a surf at dawn.

(surfing) The surfers who go out to surf at dawn.


forehand

(surfing) The hand towards the front of the board.


grom

They were having this contest for grommets. The waves were micro. Even the groms were disgusted.

(surfing, snowboarding, skimboarding, slang) A young surfer, wakeskater, wakeboarder, snowboarder, skimboarder, skateboarder, or kiteboarder.


nuch

(surfing, slang, dated) Not much, hardly, barely, to an insignificant degree.


nuch

Dude! Sup? - Nuch.

(surfing, slang, dated) A response to the greeting/question What's up?


re-entry

re-entry (countable and uncountable, plural re-entries)

(surfing) A trick involving climbing a wave and then returning back down its face.


wahine

Borrowed from Maori and Hawaiian wahine (“woman”), from Proto-Polynesian *fafine.


screamer

That set the pattern for us both. Catch a screamer, work it hard for as long as you could, then drop back over the shoulder and paddle back out to the line-up.


leg rope

Laird Hamilton considers the leg rope the single most dangerous thing involved when surfing waves over 20 feet.

2011, Douglas Booth, Surfing: The Ultimate Guide, page 102:

(surfing) A cord tied to the surfboard (usually near the tail) and attached to the surfer's leg.


prone out

en-verb

prone out (third-person singular simple present prones out, present participle proning out, simple past and past participle proned out)

prones out (present singular third-person)
proning out (participle present)
proned out (participle past)
proned out (past)

I proned out in the white water, letting the wave break over me inside, riding the white water into the deep channel.

2012, Ted Gugelyk, Mango Lady & Other Stories from Hawaii:

(intransitive, surfing) To lie flat on one's board (face down) in order to be propelled shorewards by a broken wave.


shoulder surfing

shoulder surfing (computer security)
shoulder surfing (surfing)

(surfing) a technique in surfing requiring less skill, riding the wave lower down than its critical point


greenie

From green + -ie. Environmentalist sense first attested in Australia in 1973, referring to trade unionists who supported green bans.

“Come on Lil, catch a greenie,” I say. In between wipe-outs, Lily is having a great time too, occasionally catching waves all the way into the beach.

2014, Dianne Ellis, A Surfer's Healing Journey: The Beauty Beneath Life and Death, page 110:


groundswell

(nautical, surfing) A broad undulation of the open ocean, often as the result of a distant disturbance.


Hughie

From Hugh + -ie. Regarding rain, various etymologies have been proposed; see Send 'er down, Hughie!.

2006, DC Green, Surf Europe
Pipe scowled. “Hughie... send us swell! Not just any swell, but a grand macking swell! In return, we pray you will accept this near-virginal surfboard sacrifice that we make in your name!”

(surfing, chiefly humorous) Imaginary god who creates surf (waves, and associated conditions).


pig dog

In Sense 2, a calque of German Schweinehund. Taj Burrow offers two (perhaps fanciful) explanations for Sense 3: that surfers tend to assume a dog-like expression when in this stance (page 119) or that the stance is low and sturdy like a dog (glossary page 171).

The trick here is to do a so-called “pig-dog”. Standing sideways on your board with your back to the wave you will stall by twisting forward (in relation to the tip of your board) shoulder back, and using the arm belonging to it, drag your hand in the water. At the same time your rear hand grabs just behind the outside rail just somewhere near your forward foot. Now look at yourself and you will know why it is called a ‘pig-dog’.

2008, Peter Diel, Eric Menges, Surfing: In Search of the Perfect Wave, page 99:

(surfing) A stance used for surfing tubes on one’s backhand. The surfer crouches low over a bent front knee, back leg extending back, outside hand holding onto the outside rail, and inside arm extended upwards touching the face of the wave as a guide (or digging in to slow down).


curler

Oft considered the most even playing field on which to measure surf mastery, Slater’s innovative machine is a barrel-synthesizing environment and engineering feat. In a single round, The Wave produces a 6-foot curler capable of traveling 2,300 feet for up to one gnarly minute.

2021 August 25, Jilli Cluff, “Kelly Slater’s Artificial Wave Will Crown ‘The Ultimate Surfer’ on Hulu”, in GearJunkie:

There’s the mesmeric, thrumming beat. (Sound very much “on” for this one.) Dark purples and roiling seas under heavy storms. Then Manuel, barreling perfect curler after perfect curler.

2023 March 18, Sam Anderson, “Weekend Warm-Up: Liquid Lines, Entrancing Tunes, Mesmerizing Moments in ‘MALIA’”, in Explorersweb:

(surfing) A wave which breaks with a barrel


Eskimo roll

(surfing) The act of rolling under one's surfboard to dive through a wave, when heading out from shore.


drop-in

Drop-ins can and often do happen accidentally. Sometimes you're so focussed on your take-off that you just don't see the other rider.

2004, Bill Mattos, Kayak Surfing, page 37:

(surfing) The act of dropping in; that is, taking a wave that another surfer is already riding.


rogue wave

Then one giant crest spills green water over the bow and stops our 100-ton vehicle as though it had ploughed into a gargantuan hay bale. . . . The rogue wave our experimental 78-foot craft hit must have been well over 10 feet high.

1974 June, Ben Kocivar, “75-knot ocean-going surface-effect ship”, in Popular Science, volume 204, number 6, retrieved 2015-10-28, page 91:

One of her owners, Mark Litchfield, was quoted by United Press International as saying a “rogue wave” might have knocked the ship over.

1984 June 4, Robert D. McFadden, “18 Missing, 1 Dead and 9 Rescued as Tall Ship is Lost near Bermuda”, in New York Times, retrieved 2015-10-28:

Scientists still don't know exactly how rogue waves occur, nor do they know how to predict them.

2010 March 4, Bryan Walsh, “Cruise-Ship Disaster: How Do ‘Rogue Waves’ Work?”, in Time, retrieved 2015-10-28:

(nautical, surfing) An unexpected, dangerously large wave.


reef break

(surfing, slang) A wave that breaks over a projection from the seabed formed from coral reef or rock shelf.


point break

Latigo Beach. Nice point break. Long workable rides.

(surfing slang) The location where a wave breaks as it hits a point of land jutting out from the coastline.


shortboard

From short + board. Such a board is short in comparison to a longboard and the boards which preceded the shortboard historically.

(surfing) A type of surfboard which is about 6 to 7 feet long (boards are always measured in feet, even in metric countries), and with a tapered pointy nose.


mini-mal

(surfing) A type of surfboard which is similar in shape to a mal (i.e. a malibu, or longboard) but shorter, being perhaps 7 to 8 feet where a mal is about 9 feet (surfboards are always measured in feet, even in metric countries).


funboard

(surfing) A type of surfboard which is roughly in between a shortboard and a mini-mal. A funboard is a little longer than a shortboard and with wider and somewhat rounded nose and tail, making it easier to paddle but still having most of the performance of a shortboard.


slab

From Middle English sclabbe, slabbe, of uncertain origin; possibly from *slap, related to dialectal slappel (“portion, piece”), along with slape (“slippery”), sleip (“smooth piece of timber”), borrowed through Old Norse sleipr from Proto-Germanic *slaipaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leyb-. See also Norwegian sleip (“slippery”) and Icelandic sleipur.

After being towed into a massive slab, Dorian dropped down the face and caught a rail, putting him in a near-impossible situation.

2009, Bruce Boal, The Surfing Yearbook, SurfersVillage, page 31:

In August 2000 he successfully rode a slab of unfathomable power at Teahupo′o.

2011, Douglas Booth, Surfing: The Ultimate Guide, page 95:


PWA

(surfing) Initialism of Professional Windsurfers Association.


kneeboard

(surfing) A short (often less than 6'), broad (sometimes extremely broad) surfboard designed to be ridden in the surf in a kneeling position, and often having traction pads in the central area as an alternative to wax, to help the knees grip the deck.


wipeout

Ha ha! Did you see that wipeout?

(surfing) The act of falling off one's surfboard.


popout

Popout boards were also available in do-it-yourself kits. Non-popout surfboard manufacturer and retailers viewed popouts as a threat to business […]

2005, Matt Warshaw, The Encyclopedia of Surfing, page 471:

(surfing) A cheap surfboard manufactured from a mold.


malibu

Named for the town of Malibu, where the boards were first made.

(surfing) A type of lightweight longboard known for its stability.


layback

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-layback.wav

From lay + back (presumably from confusion between lay and lie).

(surfing) A surf maneuver where the upright surfer leans back against the wave.


legrope

(surfing) Alternative spelling of leg rope


cut back

cut back (third-person singular simple present cuts back, present participle cutting back, simple past and past participle cut back)

cuts back (present singular third-person)
cutting back (participle present)
cut back (participle past)
cut back (past)

I cut back again myself and went over the top of the wave.

2016, Michael Panckridge, Chasing the Break:

(intransitive, surfing) To perform the cutback maneuver.


noseride

noseride (third-person singular simple present noserides, present participle noseriding, simple past noserode, past participle noseridden)

noserides (present singular third-person)
noseriding (participle present)
noserode (past)
noseridden (participle past)

We strewed the contents of the box across the bench and clawed through them to find other images of Sando. There was even an old picture of him as a jug-eared kid in sandshoes, noseriding a longboard with his back arched and his arm and head thrown back like a matador.

2008, Tim Winton, Breath, Picador UK Paperback edition 2008, p.71

The idea behind the shape, reminiscent of an hourglass, is to emphasize noseriding and tailriding for recreational surfers.

2009 July 14, Joshua Robinson, “Going Beyond the Waves to Reshape an Experience”, in New York Times:

(intransitive, surfing) To manoeuvre a surfboard from the front end.


hellman

Let the hellmen down the beach tilt against 100 yards of whitewater trying to paddle out.

1997, “Kelly's Cove is where I go to surf in the City”, in Surfer, volume 38, numbers 1-6:

Surfer magazine introduced the break to the surf world at large in early 1992, describing the dark-haired, strong-jawed Clark as a "hellman," and the " unofficial guardian of a true secret spot." As Maverick's popularity skyrocketed over the next two years, Clark remained the break's unofficial spokesman, [...]

2005, Matt Warshaw, The Encyclopedia of Surfing, page 124:

I only got to my feet from instinct, but there I suddenly was, upright and alive, skittering in front of all that jawing mess with my little board chattering underfoot. Within three seconds I went from saving myself from certain disaster to believing I was a thirteen-year-old hellman.

2008, Tim Winton, Breath, Picador UK Paperback edition 2008, Ch.11, p.53, 54


rippable

en-adj

rippable (comparative more rippable, superlative most rippable)

more rippable (comparative)
most rippable (superlative)

If you can't look good while surfing Chun's, it's time to take up another sport. The biggest danger in surfing the easy, rippable waves at Chun's is tripping over your newly inflated ego.

2006, Greg Ambrose, Surfer's Guide to Hawaii 2nd Edition, page 86:

(surfing) Easy to rip on; allowing a surfer to perform like an expert.


backoff

en-noun

backoff (countable and uncountable, plural backoffs)

The surfer is in the middle of a backoff. Paddle for unbroken waves butterfly-style, with both arms at the same time, instead of using the crawl stroke that got you out to where the waves are breaking.

1997, James MacLaren, Learn to Surf, page 82:

I fastened the board's leash to my ankle, jumped on and paddled past the backoff.

2012, Kimberly Young Chopin, Metamorphosis: A Love Story, page 22:

(surfing) The situation where an incoming wave passes from shallower water to a deeper area, making the wave less steep and potentially unsurfable.


shorepound

(surfing) A dangerous condition, due to high tide or larger surf, where the waves break in one single "wall" onto the beach, often in shallow water.


switchfoot

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-switchfoot.wav

(surfing, skateboarding) Riding with one's wrong foot forward, i.e. opposite to one's usual natural/goofy preference.


switchfoot

(surfing) A surfer who can surf with either foot forward.


forehander

The morning brought an increased swell; long, perfect, down-the-line, 6-8' freight trains — a forehander's dream and a backhanders nightmare

(surfing) A surfer who approaches a swell facing the wave ("on their forehand") rather than with the wave behind them ("on their backhand").


tailride

en-verb

tailride (third-person singular simple present tailrides, present participle tailriding, simple past tailrode, past participle tailridden)

tailrides (present singular third-person)
tailriding (participle present)
tailrode (past)
tailridden (participle past)

(intransitive, surfing) To manoeuvre a surfboard from the rear end


shortboarder

(surfing) A surfer who rides a shortboard.


take gas

take gas (third-person singular simple present takes gas, present participle taking gas, simple past took gas, past participle taken gas)

takes gas (present singular third-person)
taking gas (participle present)
took gas (past)
taken gas (participle past)

Jordan took gas. He got rolled around the rocks and eventually came to a stop.

2014, Greg Gutierrez, Zen and the Art of Surfing:

He really took gas on that one.

2014, Douglas Preston, The Kraken Project: A Novel:

(slang, surfing, of a surfer) To be knocked off one's surfboard by a wave.


kickout

(surfing) A rapid turn performed by shifting one's weight to the rear of the surfboard.


gremmie

(surfing, skateboarding, slang) Alternative form of gremmy (“a young or inexperienced surfer or skateboarder”)


gremmy

(surfing, skateboarding, slang) Synonym of gremlin (“a young or inexperienced surfer or skateboarder”)


sausage board

From the resemblance in shape to the meat product.

But in my dream or whatever it was I imagined Harley opening a surf shop. […] But Harley was known for his long Malibu sausage board.

1996, Crazy Horse, numbers 50-51, page 105:

(surfing) A surfboard with two rounded ends.


catch a wave

catch a wave (third-person singular simple present catches a wave, present participle catching a wave, simple past and past participle caught a wave)

catches a wave (present singular third-person)
catching a wave (participle present)
caught a wave (participle past)
caught a wave (past)

Like surfers trying to catch a wave, balloonists try to ride jet streams.

1999 March 29, Nadya Labi, “Around the World in a Balloon in 20 Days”, in Time, retrieved 2020-04-04:

As anyone who has ever caught a wave on her own knows, surfing is a profound confidence booster.

2015 May 10, Ondine Cohane, “A Small Child, a Big Board, on Oahu’s North Shore”, in New York Times, retrieved 2020-04-04:

(surfing) To mount one's surfboard at a distance from shore, turn it toward land, and control it for a successful, satisfying ride on inrushing water.


drop-knee

(surfing) Performed with one foot and one knee on the board.


pig board

(surfing) A kind of surfboard with a wide, blunt tail and a relatively narrow nose.


surfer's knot

en-noun

surfer's knot (countable and uncountable, plural surfer's knots)

(surfing, slang) Synonym of surfer's knob


surfer's knob

surfer's knob (countable and uncountable, plural surfer's knobs)

(surfing, slang) A hard bump or nodule on a surfer's knee, shin or ankle, resulting from recurrent contact with the surfboard.


rail saver

(surfing) A piece of fabric at the point where the leg rope is attached to the surfboard, to protect the rail when the rope is pulled taut.


fin chop

(surfing) An injury caused by the fin of a surfboard.