In my profession, documentation is God, and based on the recent inquiry and Robs excellent start, it gave me the idea to create the Glossary of common surfski terms which may help beginners understand the sport specific lingo many of us take for granted.
I copied the first section the Rob typed up (thanks Rob!) and added on from there. Obviously I am no authority on the sport, but everything is described to the best of my ability. Many of these topics could fill a book by themselves, so its just a basic starting point for most things.
If anyone would like to correct or add anything, feel free! This is certainly not comprehensive yet.
Boat terminology -
- Cockpit: the part of the boat that you sit in, including both the area where your bum goes and where your feet rest.
- Bucket, Seat - the part of the cockpit that your bum sits in.
- Footwell: the forward part of the cockpit where your feet go.
- Footplate: the flat board that your feet rest on.
- Foot pedals/rudder pedals: the pedals that the tops of your feet press on to activate the rudder.
- Nose/bow: the front-most part of the ski
- Tail/stern: the rear-most part of the ski
- Rails: the top edges of the cockpit.
- Rocker: the amount of curve in the bottom of the ski. A ski that has a lot of rocker looks like a banana; a ski that has little rocker looks much flatter. Skis with plenty of rocker catch waves more easily but are slower on flat water (as a general rule).
- Wave deflector: A small shield taped to the front deck in front of the cockpit that deflects water coming over the nose of the ski and helps prevent the cockpit from being flooded.
- Leash: made from rope or coiled plastic with a padded, Velcro fastening on end that typically goes around a paddlers ankle and a rope loop on the other end that generally goes through an anchor point on the bottom of the cockpit. Prevents the paddler from losing the ski when they fall off in windy conditions. Anytime there is even light wind, it is strongly recommended to use a leash since a boat can very easily be blown away faster than you can swim.
-Stringer - a piece of foam that provides strength and rigidity to boats. It typically is a vertical piece in the nose and tail. Some boats have horizontal pieces as well. Stringers are critical to boat strength in designs that use them. (newer monococque designs typically do not have a stringer)
Beam - the maximum width of the boat
Bailer / Scupper / Venturi - the drain in the bottom of the cockpit that operates on the Venturi pressure differential principle
Paddle Stroke terms -
Catch - part 1 of 4 in the paddle stroke. This involves the motion of placing the blade in the water at the proper position and orientation. It ends as soon as the power phase begins
Power Phase or Pull - part 2 of 4The power generating portion of the stroke. It begins once the blade is fully planted in the water. It ends around your hip or slightly before. It is important to not allow the power phase to go too far back, as this can be a waste of energy and detrimental to speed.
Exit - Part 3 of 4 - the motion of pulling the blade out of the water at the endof the power phase
Recovery - Part 4 of 4 - the time when both blades are outof the water and you are setting up for the Catch on the opposite side
Dive under - the tendency for some blade designs to twistunexpectedly and pull the blade inward towards the hull, which often leads to a capsize
Brace - using the paddle to provide stability. There are 3 types -
Skim brace - when the boat is surfing down a wave, it is common to stick the paddle far out to one side and let it gently skim over the top of the water. When at medium to high speed, this provides a lot of stability and can compensate for unexpected loss of stability. This is particularly useful when going downwind or riding any wave. Standard operating procedure is to skim brace when riding a wave. When done properly, very little or no speed loss should be observed, except when a strong brace is needed. In that case you push the paddle into the water more to provide additional stability as needed.
Slap Brace / Stalling brace / Hard brace - (at least that's what I call it, not sure if there is a better term) - a hard, violent brace that greatly reduces your speed. It is typically only used to prevent an uncontrolled capsize. Although a strong slap brace will slow you down a lot, it’s still better than capsizing. It is similar to a skim brace, except you violently push the blade down into the water.
Stroke Brace - Each stroke can be used to make small corrections to your position and center of mass. One great thing about wing paddles is that they provide lateral resistance which can be used as a 3rd point of stability.
When properly executed, stroke braces do not cost any speed at all. 90+% of the energy still goes into forward motion, but maybe you push, pull, or rotate the blade slightly such that you stabilize yourself without breaking cadence. This
is the most preferred method of bracing, since you're still propelling yourself forward. This is particularly useful in tippy boats and rough conditions. In really rough conditions, every stroke is also a brace in the sense that it is providing lateral stability.
Rudder types
Flat water - a small, short rudder that is used when waves are very small, typically less than 4" or 100mm. They are as small as possible to minimize drag
Weedless - a rudder with a backwards rake angle typically higher than 25 or 30°. The steeper angle sheds weeds and is very useful in waters with Eurasian milfoil or kelp mats.
Shark fin - exactly as it sounds, shaped like a shark's dorsal fin. This rudder is best used in races with a beach finish. Its design is not easily damaged by dragging the boat up the beach haphazardly. However, the smallest part of the rudder is at the tip, so in large or steep waves it is not very effective
Elliptical - a rudder in the shape of 1/2 of an ellipse.This is the typical 'large' rudder available from most OEM's. although its surface area is larger, it still has a small tip which may be an issue in steep or short waves
Surf - a generic term for a large rudder which is best used in large conditions.They are typically in the 7-10" range
Airfoil - Debatably the best shape for a rudder according to hydrodynamics. It has a similar cross section to an airplane's wing, except both sides are convex and a mirror image of each other. The end is cut off bluntly which provides full surface area down to the tip (where you need it most in steep conditions). They can be any length. The most common source currently is DK Rudders from Don Kiesling, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. (Side note - I highly recommend his products)
High Chord - a modifier to an airfoil rudder. A high chord means it’s longer in the length direction (the long axis of the boat) as opposed to the depth. This adds more surface area to the rudder and thus makes it more powerful
Stall - term in fluid dynamics when the flow around a surface is no longer laminar (smooth). Stalled flow is turbulent and much of the turning power is lost when an airfoil is stalled. A thicker leading edge on a rudder reduces its
tendency to stall because the sharpness of the angle/radius that replacement water must make is larger. Thus, higher angles of attack are possible before stall.
Wind and Waves
- Runner/Run: A wave on the open ocean that can be surfed. The Aussies call them runners, South Africans call them runs.
- Downwinder/downwind: a paddle where you're going with the wind,surfing the waves. Aussies call them downwinders, Saffas call them downwinds!
-Side Saddle - a method of remounting the boat from the water from the side. You flop yourself onto the bucket perpendicular to the boat, then kick, twist, and plop your butt in the bucket. This is the most common and probably first choice method to remount.
- Cowboy or Scramble - a method of remounting where you lay on the back deck behind the bucket, slide forward until your butt is over the bucket, then sit up. This method may be better in very rough conditions because your
arms and legs provide stability throughout the process.
Link / Linking waves: When going in the same direction of the waves or at a shallow angle to them, linking waves is when you choose a line that allows you to jump over the wave in front of you and begin surfing a new wave. Linking
waves is critical to peak downwind speed. It is an art that is learned over time. Not all conditions allow linking. Typically shorter period waves are easier to link (as in approximately less than 8 second interval). Typically to link a set of wave you travel at an angle to the wave, not straight down it or else you will run into the wave directly in front of you.
Swamp - a flooded cockpit. This is not desirable because a cockpit full of water adds significant mass to the boat, and makes it harder to accelerate onto a wave
Interval or Period - a reference to the amount of time between the peaksof waves. (i.e. how long does it take for 2 waves to pass the same point in space). Theoretical open water wave speed is 1.5*Interval(though in reality interaction with the ocean floor changes this, but that’s too complex to estimate) It is very important to understand the relationship between wave height and interval because it determines how steep a wave is and how easy it is to surf. A 3m 15 second wave is unsurfable because it is moving so fast and has a shallow face due to its long period. On the
other hand, a 1m 5 second wave is perfect surfing because they are spaced closely, moving at a reasonable speed, and steep enough that you don’t have to work too hard. In general, 2-5 second interval is considered short and steep wind waves. Depending on height, they may be too steep. 6-9 seconds are low-medium interval wind waves perfect for surfing. 10-15 second is long period ocean swell generated over long distances. 16+ second swell is very
long period swell with a ton of energy when they approach shore. The longer the period, the more the wave will build when it approaches shore, since there is more water in the wave to stack up. Consider that a 0.3m wave at 20 second interval can easily stack up to over 1.5m when it breaks.
Crumbling waves / Whitecaps - Open water waves that are so steep, they collapse on themselves. Whitecaps often indicate good downwind conditions.
Outlier / Sneaker / Standout - Wave height is distributed along a bell curve. Most waves will be within a certain, small-ish range,however there are outliers that are both much smaller and much larger. Small outliers will be a lull in the waves. Large outliers may be 2-3x the median wave height. Outliers are very important to watch out for when surfing near or just outside shore break. If you surf in a medium size wave and a large outlier is behind it, it will break further out, and you may be trapped inside the break zone, which is where most boat damage and injuries occur. For this reason, it is a good idea to bail off a wave with some buffer in case a bigger wave is behind it. If you wait until the very last moment, the larger wave will likely break on you before you can paddle out far enough, which is bad, mkay.
Critical - the point at which a wave begins to curl over itself and break, typically this occurs at shore, a reef, or sandbar.
Set - in reference to a set of waves, typically only formed on large bodies of water like oceans, seas, or the great lakes. Waves travel in sets typically between 6 and 12 waves long. a set will have a similar size, either smaller, average, or larger than median. Typically a large set will be followed by a smaller set, then some median sets, then another large set. Local conditions determine how consistent wave size is. Depending on where you are, there may be a small or large difference in wave size between sets.
Drafting or Wash Riding - most useful in flat water racing, but can be used upwind and crosswind as well. Similar to a race car or bicycle, the lead boat experiences more resistance than the boats immediately behind and to the side of it. Also, the lead boat generates a wave that following boats can use to their advantage. For this reason, in races it is very common for packs to form and for following boats to 'ride the wash' or 'draft' the boat in front. Be sure not to hit the boat you're drafting. Also, best etiquette says you should take turns 'pulling' the pack, assuming you're not going for Gold. You typically cannot wash ride downwind or down-wave. Even if you could, its more useful to look for a good wave.
Hole - A hole in surfskiing hopefully is not referencing a leak in your boat. Typically a 'hole' is the part of the wave you want to paddle for. Holes are areas the provide excellent surfing on the down-slope side of a wave. The goal is to get on a set of wave, then traverse left or right to find a 'hole' which will allow you to 'link' a 'set' together.
Climbing - the uphill side of a wave. This is where you dont want to be. On longer period swell, the uphill side of a wave may be quite large, and you are literally paddling up hill for a while. This costs you speed and energy. You want to avoid paddling up hill as much as possible by effectively linking sets.
I copied the first section the Rob typed up (thanks Rob!) and added on from there. Obviously I am no authority on the sport, but everything is described to the best of my ability. Many of these topics could fill a book by themselves, so its just a basic starting point for most things.
If anyone would like to correct or add anything, feel free! This is certainly not comprehensive yet.
Boat terminology -
- Cockpit: the part of the boat that you sit in, including both the area where your bum goes and where your feet rest.
- Bucket, Seat - the part of the cockpit that your bum sits in.
- Footwell: the forward part of the cockpit where your feet go.
- Footplate: the flat board that your feet rest on.
- Foot pedals/rudder pedals: the pedals that the tops of your feet press on to activate the rudder.
- Nose/bow: the front-most part of the ski
- Tail/stern: the rear-most part of the ski
- Rails: the top edges of the cockpit.
- Rocker: the amount of curve in the bottom of the ski. A ski that has a lot of rocker looks like a banana; a ski that has little rocker looks much flatter. Skis with plenty of rocker catch waves more easily but are slower on flat water (as a general rule).
- Wave deflector: A small shield taped to the front deck in front of the cockpit that deflects water coming over the nose of the ski and helps prevent the cockpit from being flooded.
- Leash: made from rope or coiled plastic with a padded, Velcro fastening on end that typically goes around a paddlers ankle and a rope loop on the other end that generally goes through an anchor point on the bottom of the cockpit. Prevents the paddler from losing the ski when they fall off in windy conditions. Anytime there is even light wind, it is strongly recommended to use a leash since a boat can very easily be blown away faster than you can swim.
-Stringer - a piece of foam that provides strength and rigidity to boats. It typically is a vertical piece in the nose and tail. Some boats have horizontal pieces as well. Stringers are critical to boat strength in designs that use them. (newer monococque designs typically do not have a stringer)
Beam - the maximum width of the boat
Bailer / Scupper / Venturi - the drain in the bottom of the cockpit that operates on the Venturi pressure differential principle
Paddle Stroke terms -
Catch - part 1 of 4 in the paddle stroke. This involves the motion of placing the blade in the water at the proper position and orientation. It ends as soon as the power phase begins
Power Phase or Pull - part 2 of 4The power generating portion of the stroke. It begins once the blade is fully planted in the water. It ends around your hip or slightly before. It is important to not allow the power phase to go too far back, as this can be a waste of energy and detrimental to speed.
Exit - Part 3 of 4 - the motion of pulling the blade out of the water at the endof the power phase
Recovery - Part 4 of 4 - the time when both blades are outof the water and you are setting up for the Catch on the opposite side
Dive under - the tendency for some blade designs to twistunexpectedly and pull the blade inward towards the hull, which often leads to a capsize
Brace - using the paddle to provide stability. There are 3 types -
Skim brace - when the boat is surfing down a wave, it is common to stick the paddle far out to one side and let it gently skim over the top of the water. When at medium to high speed, this provides a lot of stability and can compensate for unexpected loss of stability. This is particularly useful when going downwind or riding any wave. Standard operating procedure is to skim brace when riding a wave. When done properly, very little or no speed loss should be observed, except when a strong brace is needed. In that case you push the paddle into the water more to provide additional stability as needed.
Slap Brace / Stalling brace / Hard brace - (at least that's what I call it, not sure if there is a better term) - a hard, violent brace that greatly reduces your speed. It is typically only used to prevent an uncontrolled capsize. Although a strong slap brace will slow you down a lot, it’s still better than capsizing. It is similar to a skim brace, except you violently push the blade down into the water.
Stroke Brace - Each stroke can be used to make small corrections to your position and center of mass. One great thing about wing paddles is that they provide lateral resistance which can be used as a 3rd point of stability.
When properly executed, stroke braces do not cost any speed at all. 90+% of the energy still goes into forward motion, but maybe you push, pull, or rotate the blade slightly such that you stabilize yourself without breaking cadence. This
is the most preferred method of bracing, since you're still propelling yourself forward. This is particularly useful in tippy boats and rough conditions. In really rough conditions, every stroke is also a brace in the sense that it is providing lateral stability.
Rudder types
Flat water - a small, short rudder that is used when waves are very small, typically less than 4" or 100mm. They are as small as possible to minimize drag
Weedless - a rudder with a backwards rake angle typically higher than 25 or 30°. The steeper angle sheds weeds and is very useful in waters with Eurasian milfoil or kelp mats.
Shark fin - exactly as it sounds, shaped like a shark's dorsal fin. This rudder is best used in races with a beach finish. Its design is not easily damaged by dragging the boat up the beach haphazardly. However, the smallest part of the rudder is at the tip, so in large or steep waves it is not very effective
Elliptical - a rudder in the shape of 1/2 of an ellipse.This is the typical 'large' rudder available from most OEM's. although its surface area is larger, it still has a small tip which may be an issue in steep or short waves
Surf - a generic term for a large rudder which is best used in large conditions.They are typically in the 7-10" range
Airfoil - Debatably the best shape for a rudder according to hydrodynamics. It has a similar cross section to an airplane's wing, except both sides are convex and a mirror image of each other. The end is cut off bluntly which provides full surface area down to the tip (where you need it most in steep conditions). They can be any length. The most common source currently is DK Rudders from Don Kiesling, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. (Side note - I highly recommend his products)
High Chord - a modifier to an airfoil rudder. A high chord means it’s longer in the length direction (the long axis of the boat) as opposed to the depth. This adds more surface area to the rudder and thus makes it more powerful
Stall - term in fluid dynamics when the flow around a surface is no longer laminar (smooth). Stalled flow is turbulent and much of the turning power is lost when an airfoil is stalled. A thicker leading edge on a rudder reduces its
tendency to stall because the sharpness of the angle/radius that replacement water must make is larger. Thus, higher angles of attack are possible before stall.
Wind and Waves
- Runner/Run: A wave on the open ocean that can be surfed. The Aussies call them runners, South Africans call them runs.
- Downwinder/downwind: a paddle where you're going with the wind,surfing the waves. Aussies call them downwinders, Saffas call them downwinds!
-Side Saddle - a method of remounting the boat from the water from the side. You flop yourself onto the bucket perpendicular to the boat, then kick, twist, and plop your butt in the bucket. This is the most common and probably first choice method to remount.
- Cowboy or Scramble - a method of remounting where you lay on the back deck behind the bucket, slide forward until your butt is over the bucket, then sit up. This method may be better in very rough conditions because your
arms and legs provide stability throughout the process.
Link / Linking waves: When going in the same direction of the waves or at a shallow angle to them, linking waves is when you choose a line that allows you to jump over the wave in front of you and begin surfing a new wave. Linking
waves is critical to peak downwind speed. It is an art that is learned over time. Not all conditions allow linking. Typically shorter period waves are easier to link (as in approximately less than 8 second interval). Typically to link a set of wave you travel at an angle to the wave, not straight down it or else you will run into the wave directly in front of you.
Swamp - a flooded cockpit. This is not desirable because a cockpit full of water adds significant mass to the boat, and makes it harder to accelerate onto a wave
Interval or Period - a reference to the amount of time between the peaksof waves. (i.e. how long does it take for 2 waves to pass the same point in space). Theoretical open water wave speed is 1.5*Interval(though in reality interaction with the ocean floor changes this, but that’s too complex to estimate) It is very important to understand the relationship between wave height and interval because it determines how steep a wave is and how easy it is to surf. A 3m 15 second wave is unsurfable because it is moving so fast and has a shallow face due to its long period. On the
other hand, a 1m 5 second wave is perfect surfing because they are spaced closely, moving at a reasonable speed, and steep enough that you don’t have to work too hard. In general, 2-5 second interval is considered short and steep wind waves. Depending on height, they may be too steep. 6-9 seconds are low-medium interval wind waves perfect for surfing. 10-15 second is long period ocean swell generated over long distances. 16+ second swell is very
long period swell with a ton of energy when they approach shore. The longer the period, the more the wave will build when it approaches shore, since there is more water in the wave to stack up. Consider that a 0.3m wave at 20 second interval can easily stack up to over 1.5m when it breaks.
Crumbling waves / Whitecaps - Open water waves that are so steep, they collapse on themselves. Whitecaps often indicate good downwind conditions.
Outlier / Sneaker / Standout - Wave height is distributed along a bell curve. Most waves will be within a certain, small-ish range,however there are outliers that are both much smaller and much larger. Small outliers will be a lull in the waves. Large outliers may be 2-3x the median wave height. Outliers are very important to watch out for when surfing near or just outside shore break. If you surf in a medium size wave and a large outlier is behind it, it will break further out, and you may be trapped inside the break zone, which is where most boat damage and injuries occur. For this reason, it is a good idea to bail off a wave with some buffer in case a bigger wave is behind it. If you wait until the very last moment, the larger wave will likely break on you before you can paddle out far enough, which is bad, mkay.
Critical - the point at which a wave begins to curl over itself and break, typically this occurs at shore, a reef, or sandbar.
Set - in reference to a set of waves, typically only formed on large bodies of water like oceans, seas, or the great lakes. Waves travel in sets typically between 6 and 12 waves long. a set will have a similar size, either smaller, average, or larger than median. Typically a large set will be followed by a smaller set, then some median sets, then another large set. Local conditions determine how consistent wave size is. Depending on where you are, there may be a small or large difference in wave size between sets.
Drafting or Wash Riding - most useful in flat water racing, but can be used upwind and crosswind as well. Similar to a race car or bicycle, the lead boat experiences more resistance than the boats immediately behind and to the side of it. Also, the lead boat generates a wave that following boats can use to their advantage. For this reason, in races it is very common for packs to form and for following boats to 'ride the wash' or 'draft' the boat in front. Be sure not to hit the boat you're drafting. Also, best etiquette says you should take turns 'pulling' the pack, assuming you're not going for Gold. You typically cannot wash ride downwind or down-wave. Even if you could, its more useful to look for a good wave.
Hole - A hole in surfskiing hopefully is not referencing a leak in your boat. Typically a 'hole' is the part of the wave you want to paddle for. Holes are areas the provide excellent surfing on the down-slope side of a wave. The goal is to get on a set of wave, then traverse left or right to find a 'hole' which will allow you to 'link' a 'set' together.
Climbing - the uphill side of a wave. This is where you dont want to be. On longer period swell, the uphill side of a wave may be quite large, and you are literally paddling up hill for a while. This costs you speed and energy. You want to avoid paddling up hill as much as possible by effectively linking sets.