Types of waves and what to call them

[RobSF]

I have now been in the water often enough over the last three years to get a feel for at least a certain gamut of waves, and am - well - better than I was three years ago at picking the better and worse bets to try to catch. But I've been surprised not to hear, so far at least, of much of a vocabulary of wave forms. There's the inside and the outside, of course. There are close-outs and tubes. But not much else. Chop. Ok. And I've heard of a "bowl" but am not quite sure what it describes. I've occasionally been out at a line that's kind of crescent-shaped like the lip of a dish, and I guess that's what that is. Also recently read about "corduroy waves," basically a very uniform group of three or four or more wave lines that resemble that fabric. Beautiful (and, in my experience anyway, a complete myth).

But if there are other wave words that people know of, I'd love to hear them. In particular, I wonder if there's a term for the intersection of two waves crossing obliquely, which I call a "pinch," a completely dead zone to ride, where I see a fair number of courteous beginners struggling (courteous because it isn't crowded there, struggling because it isn't crowded for a reason). Or certain kinds of waves that show up with an outgoing tide that seem just about to break for the longest time but never quite do until right at the shore. And at least at Linda Mar, there's one place like this where it's just about impossible to ever get to shore. It's a bit of a rip, but not a very powerful one. Just enough to make you swear. I also get into places on really poor days where I call the waves "herringbone," another fabric term that basically means get out of the water and go have a beer. And a notch below that, the what I call Genesis waves, "without form, and void."

Anyway, old timers, teach me. I want to learn.

[oldmansurfer]

A frame- a wave that has a central peak and breaks in both directions
freight train wave - a wave that breaks very fast in one direction usually called a freight train right or a freight train left
clean up wave/set - one or more waves that break so far outside of the normal lineup that it catches everyone and pushes them all inside.
gun shot wave- surfer friend showed me this one before I started surfing, a wave that makes a sound like a gunshot and it is a very hollow wave that has a good portion of it pitch over all at once.
backwash - a wave that goes from the beach out due to waves hitting a steep shoreline
tidal bore - a wave that goes up a river due to tides

A bowl is part of a wave that has a marked curve in it due to underlying structure it's usually a very hollow section in a wave

[oldmansurfer]

a double wave - two waves so close together that they are touching. Usually they combine and the front wave breaks but sometimes the back wave breaks and the front only in the reforming wave, sometimes they both break independently
reform wave - a wave that forms after a wave breaks and the wave travels inside a ways

[oldmansurfer]

there is this resource https://surfing-waves.com/waves/wave_terms.htm

[waikikikichan]

Triple ups - one more than Double Ups
Pocket - the focused energy part of the wave, usually right in front of the curl
Wind swell waves -
Ground swell waves -
Typhoon swell -
Glassy -
Mid-Tide -
On-shore - wave's tops get pushed down
Off-shore - wave's face get held up
Top to Bottom closeouts -
Elevator Drops -

[jaffa1949]

Slabs
Death slabs
Measured in increments of fear

Shore break , breaks right on shore it sure breaks boards.
A frames an A shaped peak you can split with another surfer going each way.
Wedge A frame with attitude.
Pipe tube with attitude, original supreme attitude.
Bowl, a curved shape wave face, great for high speed work, just make it .

Thought ' if it's bitchen and pitchen you may need stitchen, if you come to,grief upon that reef.

Soup, old fashioned term for white water.

There are wave you name as they change to vicious just as you take off,. Usually the statement starts with a drawn out F

[RobSF]

I knew I could count on you guys. Thanks especially, old man, for the link to the wave terms.

[oldmansurfer]

Mushburger - a good sized wave that is slow breaking and crumbly
There are two main types of ocean waves that you surf wind swell or ground swell. Wind is what makes the wave and when the wind blows from way out at sea all the ways to the beach it is called a wind swell. When the wind is blowing a different direction from the wave it is called a ground swell.
There are three main types of breaks although maybe others might say more - shore break : which is usually sandy beach breaking near shore -reef break: obviously over a reef - point break where the waves come in at an angle to the shoreline and break usually along a point of land

[waikikikichan]

Pit - The area on the wave that allows you to get "pitted" ? Well, I will let the the Surfer Dude surf expert explain.

[RobSF]

The best thing about this video is that if you control-click on it, one of the options is to Translate Into English.

[oldmansurfer]

One thing about surfing is if you want to you can makeup words to describe the waves. There are standards and then there are local standards and then there break standards and then there are whatever you want to call them. Surfing has an extensive lingo however it is often extremely inaccurate and open to interpretation. Seems to me somewhere I heard of someone describing two waves joining at different angles and for sure I have seen that surfing so somewhere there is likely surfer lingo for that but I can't recall any specific word for it. Pinch sounds good to me. I have heard of waves that are look like they are going to be good but you can't catch them. The lingo I heard is F#$& S*^$ waves because when you try to catch one you end up screaming that.

[RobSF]

Every group has its constantly improvising language, which is what I love about it. I just occasionally want shorthand to describe what that was thing was that just made a fool of me, whether it was a pinch, a slab, backwash, or the four horsemen.

What would be very cool, actually, would be an atlas of wave forms, either still images or videos. Curated, to keep only the most beautiful examples of each.

[oldmansurfer]

Well sometimes the words used to describe waves change in meaning like mushburger. Originally just a big mushy wave but I just checked in the urban dictionary and it says a mushy wave that is unsuitable to ride with any board. My question about that definition is unsuitable for who to ride? Since it is the person that is the most important part of that equation. Anyway I think it would be a good project for some photographer to document all the varieties of waves. I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't already a book about waves. I just looked on the internet and there is a book titled "Waves" by Steve Hawk that seems to have a variety of waves in it. Maybe not quite what you want

[IB_Surfer]

Wave I am riding: Awesome
Wave some else is riding: Ok

[BoMan]

For those who enjoy images.


Death Slab…Holy Sh#%t


A large wave hit by a backwash.


Triple up I’ve never seen one but have fallen on my share of doubles!

[RobSF]

This are fantastic!

People here could put together a pretty impressive wave atlas, I think. (I mean, if copyright infringement isn't a consideration.)