Top 10 Terms Commonly Used by Surfers and Their Meaning

These are some terms commonly used by frequent surfers.

The Top Ten

1 Dawn patrol - Getting up early for a morning surf

2 Regular footer - Surfer who rides left foot forwards

3 Goofy footer - Surfer who rides right foot forwards

4 Beach breaks - Constant waves

5 Point breaks - Perfect waves

6 Aerial - Jumping your board into the air above a wave

7 Wicked drop in - Stealing another person's wave

8 Gnarly - The sea when the waves are very choppy

9 Hodad - A non-surfer

Originally this term was used specifically for "greasers", but the usage gradually expanded to include all non-surfers.

10 Shredding - Surfing like a pro

The Contenders

11 Closed out - Wave conditions that are un-rideable

12 Hang Ten - Riding the nose with all 10 toes over the edge of the board

See also "Toes over the nose", and "Hang five".

13 Kook - An inexperienced surfer who overestimates themselves

Common insult. If you've heard this the first time, welcome to surfing.

14 Surfed out - In need of a rest

15 Stoked - Happy, excited, exhilarated

16 Grommet - A very young beginning surfer

Usually just "Grom" for short, gradually evolved from the 50's-60's term "Gremmie" or "Gremlin".

BAdd New Item