Wave Terminology

Learning to surf in a warm tropical place like Costa Rica is a common dream. For those of you that are just learning about the magical waves the ocean delivers to our shores, our surf staff has put together this list of wave terminology. Hope to see you surfing in Costa Rica soon!

ground swells - waves formed over vast distances, well formed and powerful

wind swells - waves formed close to the shore by local wind conditions, unorganized; tendency to be slop

reef breaks - wave is formed over an underwater reef or rock, consistent

beach breaks - wave is formed over sand and sand bars, can shift seasonally and from storm to storm

point breaks - wave forms in reaction to the land form, consistent

river mouth breaks - wave forms on the sediments deposited at the river mouth, similar to beach breaks but sometimes more susceptible to change

backwash - flood of water returning off the foreshore against incoming waves

cnoid waves - as waves come in to shallow water their shape changes to something called a 'cnoid' which has a short, steep crest and a long shallow trough - those are what we see as lines of corduroy (when viewed from a cliff or higher viewpoint)

channel - a channel of deeper water where excess water, piled up by waves, flows out to sea

clean - faces are unrippled - usually offshore or no wind

face - clean, smooth wall on the shore side of a wave

fetch - determines the size of a wave. wind speed X time X distance

impact zone - the point where the waves break for the first time

inside - where waves continue to break, reform, and break again if it's big enough

lip - curling lip at the top of a wave

line-up - just beyond the impact zone where you wait to catch waves

outside - offshore, beyond where the waves break

pitch - the act of the lip throwing out in front of the wave

period - time between waves. wind swell less than about 10 seconds /approx/ 12 seconds and longer is ground swell (the energy / power of a wave is proportional not only to its height but its period.)

section - any appreciable length of wave that has common characteristics and timing
ie: breaking in sections - sectiony

shore-dump / soup / slop - unorganized sloppy foam, undesirable for surfing

steep - refers to angle or pitch of wave face