Surfing Waves

Would a surfer call himself a kook to describe his incompetence at something not related to surfing at all. Here is the bit of dialogue that I have written, and I hope it makes sense (just a note, Russ---the surfer in question---has a very thick English accent to go along with the slang.)
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"How's it going with you?" asked Mark. "I heard your grandpa was trying to teach you electronics?"
"Tryin' t', but I'm a total kook at it," sighed Russ. "I try, but I can't get me 'ead around it!"

If you could hang out with your selected dialogue speakers and get the natural flow of their speech, BTW you can call yourself a Kook at something, you are learning!

Alas, I am unable to hang out with surfers In Real Life, as I myself live in Alberta. Forums are as close as I can get for surfer speak and very old Andy Capp comics for his accent.

That gives me a thought that might help, the ski fields would have scattering of snowboarders and skiers who also surf!
They may provide you with a lexicon of surfers jargon and usage

Surfers are pretty migratory I am an Austrlian surfing river waves in Austria not a coast line in sight!

In the above dialogue, did I at least use the term "kook" correctly?

Yes no wukkas

Write what you know. Accomplished writers talk and listen their way around the world.

True dat!

Perhaps something that isn't clear is that surfers are not a homogeneous group. Surfers come from all categories of humans and likewise will say all sorts of things.

I thought Point Break did a decent job with the surfing sub-culture and the different groups he would run into at each local. Might be a good one to check out for context.

It's funny to see how Cambridge define kook as a "strange person"
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictio ... glish/kook