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16 October 2014
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Wales Surfing

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Taj Burrows gets some air - Getty Images

Surf Speak

Surfing lingo explained. Learning to surf is hard enough without having to learn a new language...


air - getting airborne with fins out of the water.

aerial - airborne manoeuvre with many varieties borrowed from snow & skateboarding.

amped - charged up - stoked - fired.

backdoor - to pull into a tube from behind the peak.

bail - to abandon a board - jump off - usually without regard to the boards future.

bashing - body surfing.

boost - getting airborne off the lip.

brah - from bruddah, Hawaiian pidgin for brother.

bro - a buddy or friend.

bucket - helmet.

bump - a swell.

bumps - the build-up of wax on a surfboard deck.

carve - symmetrical, fluid turns.

cheater five - hanging five toes on the nose - keep your weight back on the board to maintain trim and speed, squat down and extend one foot forward.

clucked- afraid, intimidated by the wave.

crew - a group of surfers defined by break or area.

dogging - going backside in the pit.

drop - as in dropping from the crest of the wave to the pit.

dropping in - catching a wave that is already occupied ... taking off on the shoulder while someone is taking off deeper.

drop in late - catching the steepest part of a wave

dune - a big peaky wave.

falls - the pitching lip of the wave, geting sucked into this = 'going over the falls'!

fan - a fan of spray off a turn.

fluff - throws a waterfall shoreward.

frigged - snaked, having a wave taken from you by a surfer paddling inside of you.

fully - with commitment and intensity.

full on - with commitment and intensity.

gash - very sharp turn.

gnarly - awesome and intimidating.

going off - a break under optimum conditions.

gouge - sharp, fast turn.

gremmies - grem or gremmie is short for gremlin - 60's slang for young, mischievous surfer, pre-adolescent surfer.

green room - inside a full cover-up tube.

grommet - adolescent surfer.

gunned - undergunned or overgunned refers to the size of your board in relation to wave conditions.

hanging five - lonboarding expression for dangling five toes over the nose of the board whilst trimming along the face of the wave.

hiddie - from hideous, intense.

hoot - howling approval and encouragement to friends.

jag - retreat after getting worked.

joy - Aussie slang for stoked e.g. sick joy, joyous.

kook - a bad surfer or learner.

nipped - nipples rubbed raw by board or wetsuit.

noodle - exhausted, overall condition or specific as in noodle arms.

pop - kickout.

pit - the hollowest portion of a breaking wave.

pitch - throw or angle of any run to rise.

pitted - being in the pit or barrel of a wave.

pearl - to go pearl diving, the nose of you board goes underwater and you normally follow it!

pumping - above average large swell.

quiver - a surfer's collection of boards or a board bag that holds several boards.

rip - to surf really well or a strong under current in the ocean.

Green room - inside a large barrel.

schlong - thick, long, old style single-fin surfboard.

squid-lips - an old skool insult used effectively in the film Big Wednesday!

scab - a reef or rock.

scabbed - getting damaged by a reef or rock.

shred - ability to execute rapid repeated turns - shortboard term.

sick - excellent, describing a surfer, stunt, manoeuvre or conditions.

sideslip - when your board stops tracking forwards and moves sideways.

slam - bounce off the lip as it begins to pitch.

slash - cutback.

snake - paddling around behind someone who is already in position and stealing their wave. Effectively the snake is taking ownership of the wave by being the closest rider to the breaking portion of the wave.

stink-eye - Mean stare, normally given/received when a surfer has done something particularly wrong in the water like dropping in.

stoked - Psyched up for a surf, wound up, full of enthusiasm.

stylie - with good form or grace.

surfer's knots - large bumps on the tops of feet and on knees caused by callousing where a surfer has continuously come into contact with a board.

stuffed - getting driven under the water by a wave coming down on you.

swish - a meek or fearful surfer.

thrashed - when a wave bashes you.

throwing tail - sliding the tail in a turn, breaking the grip of the fins.

tow-ins - getting towed into waves that are too large to paddle into.

trim - adjusting your position on a board so that it planes, and achieves its maximum speed.

tube - the cylindrical or cone shaped hole created when the lip pitches out far and clean enough to create a space between the wave and the falls.

vertical - turn straight up the wave.

waffling - rapidly working the board back and forth.

wannabe - wan-na-be, someone who wants to be a surfer, wears the clothes and talks the talk but can't surf.

wax - Used on deck of boards for traction. It's made from paraffin, colour, scent + additives.

wipe out - falling off your board spectacularly.

worked - Being pummelled by a wave. It often feels like your inside a large washing machine!

More

Comments

Kinky kenzo
Gays on trays-you know who you are.

Adam - UK
I thought it was chav's that use the word 'bro' we sufers are more repeactable beings.

The Shed, Cornwall
Emmit, Annoying Tourists who get in the way!!!

Joe from Bridgend
Nailed - This is when a surfer trying to get "out the back" repeatedly fails to get past white-water waves that have already broken.

chris wales
ducklings......the train of beginners,following there instructor down the beach.!!!!!!!

Adam from swansea
Shrapnel or Flack - anyone who is not a surfer but is in the water E.g. Goat Boater, Body Boarders, those sad ass townies with the inflatable dingy etc..

paul pedersen from sa
body boarders- doormat riders

Mikey , cardiff
Body Boarders.....Shark Biscuits!!

Byron
Surfing is my life

sj from waya fiji
Twizler - gnarly wipe-out by a newby.

mike, london
AGNI: 'Townie', often 30-something, who buys a flash board and expensive wetsuit before he's mastered the basics. All the Gear, No Idea.

sam, cornwall
twat cap - the balaclava type thingy made from neoprene that people "who get a bit chilly" in winter wear because they dont like the cold and so shouldnt even b in the water

Mark - Bristol
In the washing machine - When you wipe out and tumble in the wave like being in the spin cycle, or so im told!

Sneaky Fox from Jersey CI
Lofties.. people who only get their board out of the loft in summer when the waters warm and won't brave it in the winter.

matthew richards
lump on - blow all your money

gareth maus from bryntirion
full on gutwig - gutting - missed a wave

G, Hardcore yorkshire lad
Goat boater-Kayaker aka water wheel chairs. Mary poppins, as in umbrella up cos your going over the falls.

Aaron Cook from Malawi
Outside!! - Calling the next set of waves that are rolling in

Alixe from Cornwall
Plankers - Surfer to a bodyboarder

Ed, St. Davids
Definately agree with Jack Woods on the usage of the word Grockles. Mac-Attack, having fast food after a surf, though it is quite difficult in St. davids!

Phil Jones Swanse
TOWNIE(S) Non surfers, those who choose the city over the coast. AKA INLANDERS.

Jack Woods from Haverfordwest.
Grockles- those annoying lumps of flesh that turn up in the summer to get in the way. Usually in inflatable boats or just standing around gigling that the waves are wet!!!!!

Lauren from Huntington beach CA
Duck dive / duck diving Diving under an oncoming wave when paddling out. crippled surfer-surfer who doesnt stand up, but sits on their knees to ride the wave Goofy Foot Surfing with your right foot forward. In the Soup A term used when a surfer is in the white foam of the wave after the wave has broken. Sick A term used to describe when someone does something impressive. e.g. "that was a sick air" - not just because you have swallowed too much sea water. dirty lickings- same as wipe out

Phil Jones,Swansea Wales
Townie(s)Anyone and everyone who doesn't surf. AKA "Inlanders" "Vals" and SC's (street creepers.)

Jacko from Perth (Aus)
Egg Beater-Goat boat or wave ski

Dan Thomas From Barry.
Boardie - Kayakers term for a Surfer.

Marty from Sydney
Shark Biscuit - A bodyboard and bodyboarder

Rich Weltch from Cardiff
Intense - extreme and forceful or (of a feeling) very strong. It can also be used in place of sick. Grom is used as short for grommet aswell.

Marcus from swansea
Going off - Huge swell breaking on a reef

Kieran (Aus)
Speed hump: any Body boarder, swimmer, diver, small family of brazilian backpackers or Finnish circus dwarfs that get in the way in a crowded summer line up.

Laura from London
Sponger - A bodyboarder, so named because the bodyboard looks like a big sponge. (Bodyboarding is seen as surfing's poor relation in some areas)

Steve from Gold Coast (Australia)
Lid - a bodyboard Sponger - a bodyboarder

What have we missed - do you have any local surf lingo from your area?



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