page_title: Glossary of surfing
section_title: About the water
hierarchical_section_title: Glossary of surfing / About the water
caption_attribution_description: Ocean swell at Hermosa Beach, CA
context_page_description: This glossary of surfing includes some of the extensive vocabulary used to describe various aspects of the sport of surfing as described in literature on the subject. In some cases terms have spread to a wider cultural use. These terms were originally coined by people who were directly involved in the sport of surfing.
context_section_description: Barrel: (also Tube, Cave, Keg, Green Room) The effect when a big wave rolls over, enclosing a temporary horizontal tunnel of air with the surfer inside
  Beach break: An area where waves that are good enough to surf break just off a beach, or on a sandbar farther out
  Blown out: When waves that would otherwise be good have been rendered too choppy by wind
  Bomb: An exceptionally large set wave
  Chop or choppy: Waves that are subjected to cross winds have a rough surface (chop) and do not break cleanly 
  Close-out: A wave is said to be "closed-out" when it breaks at every position along the face at once, and therefore cannot be surfed
  Face: The forward-facing surface of a breaking wave 
  Flat: No waves
  Glassy: When the waves (and general surface of the water) are extremely smooth and glossy, not disturbed by wind 
  Gnarly: Large, difficult, and dangerous (usually applied to waves) 
  Line-up: The queue area where most of the waves are starting to break and where most surfers are positioned in order to catch a wave
  Off the hook: An adjective phrase meaning the waves are performing extraordinarily well. 
  Outside: The part of the water's surface that is farther from the shore than the area where most waves are breaking
  Point break: Area where an underwater rocky point creates waves that are suitable for surfing 
  Sections: The parts of a breaking wave that are rideable
  Set waves: A group of waves of larger size within a swell
  Shoulder: The unbroken part of the breaking wave
  Surf's up: A phrase used when there are waves worth surfing
  Swell: A series of waves that have traveled from their source in a distant storm, and that will start to break once the swell reaches shallow enough water
  Whitewater: In a breaking wave, it continues on as a ridge of turbulence and foam called "whitewater"
caption: Breaking swell waves at Hermosa Beach, California
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