glossary
Glossary
The words on the board. Short, slang included.
- Energy
- The power a wave carries to the beach, in kilowatts per metre of crest (kW/m). It grows with the square of the height and with the period: 0.6 m at 3 s is about 0.5; 1 m at 5 s about 2.2. The score is built on it, the same measure on every sea.
- Flat
- Breaking wave too small to count. The sea is asleep.
- Weak
- There is a wave but the size or period is weak; wind and face are clean. Longboard, warm-up.
- Blown out
- Wind or chop has wrecked the face. Waves, but no proper wall.
- Worth a look
- Middling score. Paddle out with low expectations, check it with your own eyes.
- On / Go
- High score. Energy, wind and face all hold.
- Breaking
- The face of the wave as it breaks on the beach; that is the height on the board, not the offshore one. It is the set-wave height, the mean of the biggest third; an ordinary wave runs about two thirds of it.
- Offshore height
- Wave height at the forecast point, before it reaches the shore.
- Swell
- Long-period, organised waves from far away.
- Wind sea
- Short-period messy waves made by the local wind. The source of soup.
- Period
- Seconds between two crests. Long period is strong and organised. The bar for the words short, mid and long depends on the sea, higher in the Black Sea; the score looks at energy, the same on every sea.
- Glassy
- Barely any wind, dead flat surface.
- Offshore
- Wind blowing from land to sea; it combs and cleans the face.
- Onshore
- Wind from sea to land; it breaks up the surface and makes soup.
- Cross-shore
- Wind parallel to the beach; neither cleans nor wrecks.
- Lodos, Poyraz, Karayel
- The region's storm wind: Lodos south-west (Aegean, Mediterranean), Poyraz north-east (Black Sea), Karayel north-west (Beren).
- After the storm
- Storm has died, swell still coming, wind calm or offshore. The window to chase.
- Open water
- Open sea in the direction the waves come from. A nearby island or headland puts the wave in shadow.
- Models disagree
- The two wave models clearly disagree on height; trust that hour less.
- Score
- One number from energy, wind, open water and face, 0 to 100. The same for every board.
- League
- Monthly standings; logbook sessions become points. Blown out, Worth a look, Go, Lodos.
- Confidence
- How much four wave models agree and how far ahead the hour is, folded into one percentage. As it drops, the height is written as a range.
- Longboard / Shortboard
- One score. The board only says which it suits: longboard below 1.4 m, shortboard above 0.8 m with enough energy.