INTERNATIONAL SURF DAY: SHREDDING THE ZEN GNAR
Our family’s surf history spans Hawaii, Mexico, up and down the California Coast and now here in Wrightsville Beach! We were super grateful for the locals here who actually offered us the solid 411 on when and where to catch the best surf.
For us, the ocean and surfing is meditation, surrender, wonder, respect, friendship and having a totally present, in the moment, fun time!
Wilmington Days friend, photographer, drone pilot and local surfer, Madi Smith, whose photos capture the essence of the surf vibe, shares, “Surfing for me has become so much more than just the thrill of catching waves. Beyond teaching me patience to wait for the right one and endurance to keep paddling even when a bigger set comes in, the connection you feel to the ocean as you stare out into the most beautiful view is indescribable. I’ve made life-long connections out on the water and couldn’t be more grateful for my surfer girls.”
My daughter Milan says, “When I stand up on the board, I love the feeling of accomplishment. My dad has been surfing for a long time and now it’s a really fun way for us to spend time together out in the ocean!”
Photo by Madi Smith
Happy International Surf Day from Wilmington Days to you & your surf fam! SHAKA!
Thank you to Madi Smith for sharing her gorgeous photos of the surf with us. Find her at @madismith_photography and @calivalleydrone.
S U R F-TIONARY
Quiz your friends—who knows the most surf-slang among you?!
Aerial - a surfing maneuver where a surfer hits the crest of the wave and flies through the air
A-frame - a wave peak breaking left and right with perfect shape
Aggro - an Australian expression for aggressive surfing or aggressive surfer
Alaia - a surfboard made of wood originally used by Hawaiians to surf breaking waves in the late 19th century
Akaw – awesome, cool
Aloha - a Hawaiian greeting that means "hello" or "goodbye"
Amped - excited or stoked before, during or after a surf session
Ankle slappers – waves that are too small to ride
Backdoor - when a surfer pulls into a hollow section from behind the section
Backside - when a surfer rides with his back to the wave
Backwash - when a wave sweeps up the beach and returns to the ocean, sometimes colliding with incoming waves
Bail - an evasive maneuver activated when a surfer is caught inside or when he is about to wipe out
Bailing - letting go of your surfboard
Bank - a sandbank
Barrel - the tube, the curl of the wave
Bathymetry - the measurement of depths of water in oceans and seas
Beach break - waves that break over sandbars
Beach bum - someone, usually a surfer, that hangs around the beach
Bellyboard - a bodyboard, a small board used to ride waves in a prone position
Bitchin’ – awesome, amazing, great—as in 'bitchen waves bro'
Blank - a rough block of polyurethane foam that will be transformed into a surfboard
Photo by Madi Smith
Bodysurf - the sport of riding waves the body and swim fins
Bogging - what happens when a surfer's weight is too far back, and the surfboard nose lifts up
Bombora - a deepwater offshore reef break
Booger - a bodyboarder
Bottom turn - when a surfer turns at the bottom of the wave to start trimming the optimal surf line
Bro - brother, mate
Burn - to drop in on someone, or steal a wave from another surfer without priority
Carve - a sharp turn on the wave face
Caught inside - when a surfer is too close to the beach in the impact zone
Chandelier - water falling at a barrel opening threatening the tube rider
Charging - when a surfer is really giving it all and putting on a show - "he's charging!"
Chop - bumpy ocean and wave conditions that are rough due to strong winds and/or currents
Cleanup set - a set of powerful waves that clears the lineup
Closeout - when a wave breaks all at once, with no shape or shoulder
Corduroy - the vision of a series of swells marching in from the horizon
Crease– damage to the surfboard by the impact
Crest - the top and highest point of a wave
Cross step - a footwork technique that allows surfers to walk up and down the surfboard
Cutback - a turn performed on the flats or in the shoulder of the wave in order to get the surfer back on the surf line
Dawn patrol - early morning surf session
Deck - the top of the surfboard
Ding - a crack, hole, or fracture in a surfboard
Doggy door - the small exit hole a surfer finds to get out of the barrel
Drop in - to get in the right of way of a surfer who is already riding a wave
Drop - the moment after paddling in and standing up, just before the first turn of the wave face
Duck Diving - the technique of pushing the surfboard under and through a breaking wave
Dude - a cool person, surfer or skateboarder
Epoxy - a type of plastic resin used to produce surfboards
Fetch - the uninterrupted distance over which the wind blows without a significant change of direction
Fin - a hydrofoil mounted at the tail of a surfboard to improve directional stability and control through foot-steering
Firing - amazing and spectacular wave conditions
Flat - with no waves or with no surf
Flats - the horizontal part of a breaking wave, also known as the shoulder
Flippers - swim fins
Floater - a surfing maneuver where the rider goes over the top of a crumbling section and ends up in the flats
Foam - whitewater
Foam blank - the block of foam from which a surfboard is shaped
Foam board - a surfboard for beginners, with an exterior shell made of soft foam
Frontside - when a surfer rides facing the wave
Froth - stoked, amped, or excited
Funboard - a mid-length surfboard, also known as Malibu or minimal
Glassy - a maritime condition when there is no wind to ripple the wave face
Glass job - the fiberglass coat added to a surfboard during the shaping process
Green room - another word for tube or barrel
Gnarly - awesome
Goofy foot - a surfer who rides waves with his right foot forward
Greenroom or Inside The Greenroom– the inside of a barrel
Gremmie - nearly the same as grommet. An inexperienced newbie surfer of any age
Grommet, Grom - a young surfer
Groundswell - a swell that traveled thousands of miles through the ocean, with a period of 15 seconds or more
Gun - a big surfboard for riding big waves
Hang loose - a Hawaiian expression for a relaxing, easygoing and carefree attitude
Hang Ten - to surf a wave with all ten toes on the nose of the surfboard
Haole - a Hawaiian word for "foreigner"
Hawaiian scale - an underestimated way of measuring waves by the Hawaiians
Heat - a competitive period held in surf contests
Ho-dad - a wannabe surfer, someone pretending to be a surfer or a beach bum
Impact zone - the area where waves break
Inside - the area where waves end, as opposed to outside
Juice – the power of the wave
Junkyard dog – a surfer with poor style
Kahuna - wizard, magician
Kick out - a surfing maneuver performed at the end of a wave ride to exit it
Kneeboarding - a wave riding discipline in which the surfer rides a board on their knees
Knot - a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour;
Kook - a beginner surfer, an inexperienced surfer, or a bad surfer
Leash - the cord that attaches a surfboard to the surfer
Leg rope - another term for leash
Line-up - the spot in the ocean where surfers line up to catch waves, just behind the breaking zone
Lip - the curling part of a wave
Localism - aggressive territorial protection of a surf spot by local surfers toward non-locals
Log - another word for longboard
Longboard - the longest surfboard
Lull - the time between sets of waves with no waves breaking
Macking – huge waves breaking or when it's really fun and powerful
Mental - crazy or radical
Mushburger - a slow and fat wave
Mysto spot - a surf spot that breaks on a faraway reef
Neoprene - an ultra-stretchy rubber made from melted-down petroleum chips used to make wetsuits
Offshore wind - wind blowing from the shore out to the ocean, holding the curl line and smoothing the wave face
Onshore wind - wind blowing from the ocean toward shore, destroying the quality of waves
Out the back - an Australian expression for paddling through the breaking waves into the line-up zone
Outline - the shape of a surfboard from nose to tail
Outside - the line-up area, as opposed to inside
Over the falls - a free fall from the top of a wave into the tumbling water cylinder
Paddle battle - a race between surfers to get into a curl first and thus gain the right of way
Paipo - a small bellyboard
Photo by Madi Smith
Party wave - a wave that is shared and enjoyed by several surfers at the same time
Peak - the spot in the ocean where the wave breaks for both sides
Pearling - what happens when a surfer's weight is too far forward, and the surfboard nose dives underwater
Perfect 10 - a perfectly ridden wave in competitive surfing
Pit - the impact zone of the wave, or the most hollow part of the tube
Pitted - tubed, barreled
Polyurethane - the most common type of material used in surfboard manufacturing
Pop-up - the quick move a surfer makes to rise to a standing position when taking off on a wave
Priority - the right of way rule in the surf
Punt - to perform an aerial maneuver
PWC - personal watercraft; a generic term for a jet ski
Quiver - the number/collection of surfboards owned by a surfer
Rail - the edge of a surfboard
Rashguard - a form-fitting shirt made of a nylon-polyester-spandex mixture used under the wetsuit
Reef break - a wave that breaks over rock or coral
Reflection - when a wave strikes a hard object and bounces some of its energy off into another direction
Refraction - the effect by which a swell moving along a point of land slows down where it feels shallow water
Regular foot - a surfer who rides waves with his left foot forward
Right of way - the priority given to the surfer closest to the breaking part of the wave
Rip - to surf very well
Rip current - a strong surface current of short duration flowing seaward from the shore, also known as riptide
Rocker - the curve of the surfboard bottom from nose to tail viewed from the side
Rogue wave - an open ocean wave bigger than the current sea condition
Section - a part of the wave that breaks ahead of the curl line
Set - a group of waves
Shacked - another expression for getting barreled;
Shaka - a Hawaiian hand gesture used to say "hello," "great," "cool," and "alright"
Shaper - a surfboard designer and producer;
Shoaling - the effect by which waves entering shallower water increase in height
Shoulder - the clean, unbroken, and rideable part of the wave
Shore break - the area where the ocean waves meet the beach
Shortboard - a small surfboard
Shred - to aggressively ride a wave to the fullest
Sick - impressive, amazing, crazy
Skagged by the rail - to be cut by the surfboard fin upon wipeout
Skeg - an old expression for surfboard fin
Slab - a heavy reef break coming out of deep water and breaking in very shallow water
Snaking - the aggressive act of paddling under, around, or over the top of another surfer to get right of way
Soup - the broken foam of a wave
Stall - a surfing technique that allows a surfer to slow the speed of the surfboard to let the tube catch up
Stance - the surfer's feet position on a surfboard
Stick - a slang for surfboard
Stringer - the wooden material that runs down the center of the surfboard to give strength and flexibility to the foam
Stoked - enthusiastic, exhilarated, or excited
SUP - stand-up paddleboard
Surging wave - a wave that doesn't have time to break because the transition from deep water to shallow water is too fast
Swell - the energy powered by strong winds that produce wave trains
Take-off - the start of a wave ride
Thruster - the three-fin surfboard design created by Simon Anderson
Tidal bore - a rare phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave that travels up a river
Tow-in - when surfers use personal watercraft to tow into waves that can't be paddled into
Trimming - finding the perfect surf line for speed on the wave face
Trough - the bottom of the wave, the opposite of a crest
Tsunami - a giant and deadly wave
Tube - the hollow interior of a wave, also known as barrel
Turtle roll - a surfing technique where the surfer flips the board over in front of an oncoming wave to get under it
Twin-fin - a surfboard with two fins
Wahine - a female surfer
Wave height - the difference between the elevations of a crest and a neighboring trough
Wave period - the time between two consecutive wave crests
Wave train - a group of swells of similar wavelengths
Wavelength - the distance between the crest of one wave to the crest of the next wave
Wax - a paraffin-based product that is applied to the surfboard deck to increase traction and reduce slippery
Wedge - a steep wave
Wetsuit - a garment made of neoprene that provides thermal insulation
Whitewater - the foamy, white-colored water created where a wave breaks
Windswell - a group of waves generated by local winds within less than 800 miles from the coast
Wipeout - an unexpected fall off of a surfboard while surfing a wave or a surfing accident
