Wakeboard Lingo / Vocabulary

Wakeboarding Lingo

Words and expressions all cool wakeboarders & wakeskaters should be familiar with.

For more wakeboarding vocabulary, visit the surface tricks, grabs, spins and inverts pages.

_______ This! : The rider explains to you they're going to pull off a stellar trick. For example, the rider tells you before the run "I'm going to pull of a big wurm!" After the rider fails to land the trick, you say "BIG WURM THIS!" and laugh in their face. (still giving respect to the attempt! all in fun, of course)

50/50: Sliding along a rail with the board parallel to the line of the rail.

Backside Rotation: A spin where the first 180 has your back facing the boat during the rotation. Can either be done with a handle-pass, cuffed, or wrapped.

Big Air: A jump that is done well enough to propell the boarder way into the flats on the other side of the wake.

Biggie Fries: When the wakeboard bites it, or wipes out really bad.

Blind: When a rider spins and lands in a direction that he is totally "blind" to the wake or boat. Simply put, you're probably looking at the shore. The rider can't see or orientate his landing.

Boardslide: Sliding along a rail with the board perpendicular to it.

Bonk: The rider hits, or bonks an obstacle above the level of the water with the bottom of his board. A missed bonk could result in swelling of the groin for males. A good bonk could make you look cool to the betty's and result in a different kind of bonk.

Brain Fart: When a rider is about to attempt a trick and thinks too much about what he is to do. He then attempts the trick and makes a total ass of himself because he totally messes up what he was planning to do.

Brake the Ache: The first ride of the year.

Burn the Toast: To burn the toast is to crash so hard that you can't wakeboard again that day.

Butter: Instead of saying "The water is smooth." you could sound cool and sophisticated by saying "The water is butter."

ButterBall: A rider that is so smooth and "flowy" in the way he rides. He's a ButterBall

Butter Slide: The boarder approaches the wake slowly, then hops the board and lands on the lip of the wake with the board perpendicular to the wake and slides the board on top of the wake.

Butt Check: When a rider lands out of position and lets his butt touch or slam against the water to remain riding, severely docking style points.

Chargin' the wake: When a rider cuts towards the wake with as much power as he or she possesses. It's about going as big as possible.

Constipation Face: The look on your face just before reaching the wake on a "big-air".

Crammit: To cram a heap of tricks into one big mutha f#@*in air.

Dentist check-up for a "new grill": A rider assumes a forward roll when contact with the water is too great and balance is completely gone. This has also been seen when doing a surface 360 at regular speed- why not eat jello the rest of your life.

Digger: Very similar to the durf, but only attained in more serious wipes: especially those accoplished by hitting the water completly inverted with the board directly above the rider. i.e. very f#cking painful.

Dope: Rad, totally awesome, something that your totally into.

Double up: When the boat makes a turn and comes over it's own wake at approximately 90 degrees. For regular, the boat turns right, for goofy, left. The rider pulls out and times his cut as to arrive at the wake when the two meet. When the wakes cross, the double up is set for the rider to take advantage of it. Dude, the wake is huge. He then gets huge air and either impresses all in the boat or has a major wipe.

Dude: A cool word that can be put at the beginning or the end of a sentence to give you a sense of being cooler. Ex. Dude, that was killer! or That was killer dude!

Durf: Any fall. The harder the fall, the bigger the durf. Usually accompanied by a grunt of pain.

Eating Sh*t: The feeling attained when the rail of your board catches the water, causing your face to meet the water at an extraordinarily fast speed.

Face Plant: Same as Eating Shit or Trapped Door.

Fakie: For a regular boarder, riding right foot forward. For a goofy rider, riding left foot forward.

Figley: Any trick that you begin to do, freak out on in the middle of it, but it still ends up looking killer and tricks the judges in competition. It is a figley as long as you don't fall. Most figleys look like real tricks.

Flats: The space on the sides of the wake where there is no transition to ease you down from the air. (you hit hard in the flats).

Frontside Rotation: Initiating a spin by turning the front side of your body to the direction you are traveling (opposite of backside rotation). The handle pass consists of your back hand staying on the handle, pulling it to the small of your back and into your other hand.

Giver: When a wakeboarder or wakeskater is ready behind the boat, they yell "giver!" and the driver hits the throttle.

Glass: Like butter. When the lake is smooth as glass. Can be used when explaining sick tricks too. ie. That was pretty glass.

Goofy: When a rider's natural position is right foot forward.

Goin' Off: A commonly used expression which expresses a person's ability to go big (get lots of air). Eg. That dude is just goin' off huge dude.

Grind: Rider approaches a structure and slides the board along it. Also called a railslide.

Kicker: A curved ramp that pitches a rider into the air. Similar in shape to a ¼ pipe in skateboarding, but usually doesn't reach vertical in pitch.

Knarly: Cool word for awesome, ex: Knarly jump man or that was knarly!

Knocked Off: When the rider hits the wake and the rope pops so hard it comes out of his hands.

Kook: Old surfing term for a rider who needs to get a clue.

Load the Line: Simply put, it is increasing tension on the line as you approach the wake. The line should have the most tension as you hit the wake, creating kick butt pop!

Magic Carpet Ride:When you are tring to land an aerial and you don't land on edge and the board slips out from underneath you.

Normal: When a rider's natural position is left foot forward.

Nutter: When someone does something really crazy or something is cool. As in "Holy sh@t that was a nutter grab."

Off Axis Spins: Spins that are banked out, letting the board drift up and away from the boat.

Pop: When a rider loads on the line, hits the wake and gets killer air, he is said to pop off the wake. No, you do not hear a pop though.

Props: Respect, when someone does or tries something sick you can say I give you props for that ( I give you respect for that)

Rail: A horizontal bar that the rider slides upon.

Rictor: (adj.) A strong positive feeling like being stoked. For example, "I'm so rictor!" Or, "today is going to be a rictor day."

Ritchous: A great rush of feeling, in other words your mind is thinking "Holly f#cking, sh@t, this is sweet.", And your mouth says Ritchous!

Sick: When someone throws a massive something or other and pulls it off. For example, if you watch Scott Byerly do a Pete
Rose, you might react by saying, That was sick!

Slider: General term for a structure placed in the water that a rider ''slides'' upon above the water.

Steez: Style,"that grab was steez" or "that grab was steezy" or " that was steezed out".

Stellination: A rush of suprise like holy moly u landed that trick

Stoked: (adj.) Commonly used term by extreme board sport enthusiasts which refers to the highest attainable and most pleasurable emotional and physical sensation for a human being that is brought on by the accomplishment, or the sheer enjoyment of a physically challenging, adrenaline producing, mind bending, synapse snapping manoeuver. Eg. Dude, I'm so stoked!

Stomp: On the way down from doing a trick, if the wakeboarder lands on the second wake instead of landing on its downside, he or she is said to have stomped the wake.

Style: A word used to describe something that was excellent, great or cool. Ex, after a cool trick, one might say to another, "That was style man". Or, if they were discussing something that hadn't happened yet, it could be, " yah man, that would be style."

Suspect: When a rider tries to pull a knarly trick off and totally mess it up, you can say "dude that was suspect."

Tearing an eyelid: When you catch your toeside rail so hard that when you hit the water it feels like you tore your eyelids off. "Dude, i just ate shit, caught a rail, and tore my eyelids"

Tight: Cool

Trapped Door: When you catch an edge when you are not ready for it and you smack your face.

Wakeskating: Riding a board on the water with no bindings. The rider wears shoes instead.

Wakestock: A yearly summer event in Wasaga Beach Ontario where boarders gather to enjoy some killer boarding, plenty of bikinis and a few brews.

Who's your daddy? Another term which may be used whenever to show others your expert knowledge of the english language.

Wrapped: The rider initiates a spin (or a mobe) with the rope ''wrapped'' around his body to eliminate the need for a handle pass. Sometimes criticized for making the move easier, but allowing the rider to grab the board for a longer duration, making up for it in the style category.

Is there a word or expression that you believe should be added to this section? Do you think you have a better, or more appropriate definition for one or more of the terms? Hook me up!