What’s All The Talk!
A fat one, a peeler, a dumper, the green room, for the life of me what are these crazy people talking about. Surfers seem to have their own language & when they talk sometimes sounds like a regurgitated sentence of adjectives. Listen up potential surf groms I’ll let you in on a little secret, we are crazy! but these mixed enthusiastic words to describe our passion are actually quite accurate. Waves are formed out at sea by storms & just like when you throw a stone in the water, the ripple effect of waves move in a certain direction (helped by wind). When the force of these waves hit something such as rock or a sand bar they build up & fall on top of themselves creating the necessary ingredients to surf. Now depending on what a particular wave hits, how deep the water is & if there is any wind around will determine the shape of that breaking wave. Ideal conditions for a surfer would be a consistent rolling swell of waves hitting a reef or sand bar that is shaped on an angel so the wave breaks (peeler) from left to right or vice versa. To top it off we want an off shore wind (wind moving from land out to sea) which makes the ocean clean, smooth & creates a tube inside the wave (green room). What’s not good is a wave that hits the shore, breaking at the same time (dumper). Waves are naughty too, sometimes they tease you as they start to peel & look like they will break but then fade away to nothing (fat one).
The dictionary of surf jargon stretches longer than your grandad’s nose hair but at least now you will have a few crazy adjectives up your sleeve.
The school bell rings loud & clear though, no matter what the shape, size or power of the wave its just all about being in the big blue. After the last 2 weeks of storms the ocean is back to its lovely self with plenty of fun waves on all beaches for all levels of abilities. info@skylaphuket.com
Tip: when paddling for a wave & you think your on it, do 2 more paddles just to make sure.
Happy Surfing!
Tim Campbell
