The most common surf fear is that of wave height. Many fear to ride big waves for three commonly cited reasons: the wipeout from the top of a giant wall of water; the chance of hitting a reef or a rocky bottom; and drowning, or the loss of breath.
Cymophobia is an abnormal fear of waves, sea swells, and other wave-like motions.
The study found 60% of surfers are not afraid of sharks despite 52% having seen sharks while surfing. And 17% said either they or someone they knew had been bitten by a shark.
Surfers can get angry for lots of reasons, some of the most common are not catching any waves, localism and other surfers acting dangerously. Normally angry surfers are just angry people, thankfully they're few and far between.
The most common cause of death among surfers is drowning, often due to being held underwater or tangled in their leash, combined with strong currents and waves overwhelming the surfer.
Banzai Pipeline may not always fall under the “big wave” category, but it holds the crown as the world's most dangerous wave. The wave at Pipeline travels thousands of miles as open ocean swell before it collides with the relatively shallow limestone reef right in front of the beach.
If you did try to surf a tsunami, there's a strong chance you would not survive. Because the water from the tsunami does not recede quickly like a surface wave does, you would likely be carried from the water to land, where the tsunami picks up debris.
AGGRO. Aggro is surf slang for an aggressive surfer. You know the ones, they usually paddle around splashing and cursing.
The Surfer Mentality is a simple, powerful application of this metaphor: When a surfer gets up on a wave, they enjoy the present moment, even though they know with certainty that the wave will eventually end. They fully enjoy THIS wave, with the wisdom and awareness that there are always more waves coming.
The endorphins, adrenalin and serotonin we receive from surfing combined with the dopamine from the unexpected reward of waves make surfers not only feel good, but wanting more. The fact is, if we're not surfing, we're thinking about surfing, and that's just in our nature.
In the past, studies have shown that when viewed from below, surfers on boards have a silhouette similar to that of pinnipeds (seals and sea lions) – these animals are among the great white's natural prey.
One theory for bites occurring at the surface, e.g. on surfers, is that of mistaken identity, whereby sharks mistake humans for their typical prey (pinnipeds in the case of white sharks).
ESDs aim to overwhelm a shark's electro-sensory system. They emit electrical pulses (each one does so in a different way) that are supposed to repel the shark. So far, ESDs have been the most effective type of personal shark repellent.
Thalassophobia is a type of phobia characterized by a persistent and intense fear of deep water, such as an ocean or a lake. People with thalassophobia either avoid deep bodies of water altogether or endure them with overwhelming anxiety.
Another word for fear of horses is hippophobia. “Hippos” is the Greek word for horses. In the English language, equine is more commonly associated with things related to horses.
There is no specific term for a female surfer. You can call a girl who surfs just "surfer", although, there are terms like gurfer, wahine that are used to refer to a female surfer.
There is mounting evidence that surfing does, in fact, make you happier. Most recently, in December of 2022 a study was released in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health that showed a positive relationship between surfing and mental well-being.
Grom – a young and inexperienced surfer; also known as a grommet or gremmie.
Conversation. How do surfers say hello to each other? They wave!
Brah. Slang term for brother, friend, fellow surfer.
The odds of being attacked by a shark while surfing is actually incredibly low, according to the Florida Museum there is a 1 in 4,332,817 chance of dying because of a shark attack with between 70 and 100 attacks a year leading to approximately 5 deaths.
Well, that sport lost an icon last week. The famed Brazilian surfer Marcio Freire died tow-in surfing in the Portuguese town of Nazare. An underwater canyon there that is three miles deep generates some of the biggest surfable waves in the world, including the biggest wave ever surfed at 86 feet.
In the last ten years only four big wave surfers have died; Sion Milosky at Mavericks in 2011, Kirk Passmore, at Alligators, Hawaii in 2013, Alec Cook in Hawaii in 2015 and Zander Venezia in Barbados last year.