The Ultimate Surfer Dictionary: Vocabulary to Avoid Looking Like a "Kook"

You get to the beach, lay down your towel, and hear someone say: "The swell is pumping, wind is offshore, the peak is glassy, but it's full of kooks wiping out." If that sounded like a foreign language to you, don't worry, we've all been there.

Surfing has its own language. Knowing this vocabulary will not only help you understand surf forecasts but will also give you confidence in the water when communicating with other surfers. Here is your ultimate linguistic survival guide for La Cícer.

Surf Terms: From A to Z

• Barrel (Tube): The ultimate surfing maneuver. It consists of riding inside the hollow space formed by a breaking wave, getting completely covered by water.
• Bottom Turn: The fundamental turn. It’s the first maneuver you do at the base of the wave after the take-off to project yourself onto the clean face.
• Drop-in: The greatest sin in surfing. It means catching a wave when another surfer is already riding it and has priority.
• Duck dive: A technique used to sink your board underwater (like a duck) to prevent the wave from dragging you back to shore while paddling out.
• Glassy: When there is no wind at all and the surface of the ocean looks like a perfect mirror. These are dream conditions for any surfer.
• Goofy / Regular: Defines your surfing stance. You are "Regular" if you surf with your left foot forward, and "Goofy" if your right foot is forward.
• Kook: A slightly derogatory but funny term for a beginner surfer who doesn't respect the rules, gets in the way, or acts like a pro without having the skills. Exactly what we want to prevent you from being!
• Leash: The urethane cord that attaches your ankle to the surfboard. It’s your lifeline and prevents the board from hitting other surfers when you fall.
• Line up: The exact area in the ocean, just past where the waves break, where surfers sit on their boards waiting for their turn.
• Offshore / Onshore: Types of wind. Offshore blows from the land to the ocean (grooms the wave and makes it perfect). Onshore blows from the ocean to the land (crushes the wave and makes the sea choppy).
• Peak: The exact point where the wave starts to break. Whoever is closest to the peak has priority.
• Quiver: A surfer's collection of surfboards. ("I have a three-board quiver for different types of waves").
• Swell: The energy generated by storms thousands of miles away that travels across the ocean to reach our coast as organized waves.
• Take-off: The magical (and critical) moment of jumping to your feet on the board.
• Wipeout: A spectacular fall. Rolling underwater as if you were inside a washing machine.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to know all the words to start surfing?
Not at all. The most important terms you need to know on your first day are Take-off, Leash, and Peak. You will naturally absorb the rest of the vocabulary by spending time in the water with your instructors.

Now that you speak the language, it's time to put the theory into practice. Avoid being the beach "Kook" by booking one of our Beginner Surf Courses at Oceanside. Our instructors will teach you how to read the ocean faster than a swell hits the coast!