Backdoor
(verb) The act of taking off deep behind the peak or a section on a hollow wave, and surfing through the barrel or tube of the wave to the other side of the peak. (Also a proper noun: the short intense right peeling off the reverse side of Pipeline in Hawaii.)
Backing off
The action of a wave as it passes from shallow water into deeper water closer to shore. The wave becomes less steep, or the broken whitewater fades away. Tends to occur shoreward of offshore reefs or sandbars. The wave may reform and break again in even shallower water closer to shore.
Backside
Surfing with your back to the wave, a goofy foot going right, or a regular foot going left. (Also called 'backhand'.)
Backwash
A reflected wave, caused by water pushed up onto a steep grade of beach, which then rushes back out to sea against the general wave movement. This can create spectacular explosive wave effects, as the backwash and incoming waves collide.
Baggies
Surf Trunks about knee-length or a little longer.
Bail,Bail out
To abandon or ditch one's surfboard before getting wiped out by the wave, either paddling out, or while riding the wave.
Bajawaller
Highway surfer that occasionally travels to Baja and brags about the killer waves he scored. Generally no one can corroborate his story.
Bake
Wave that closes out, and essentially just dumps over without peeling left or right. A characteristic often found at a beach break.
Balsa
Light, porous wood used through the 1940s and 50s as a key core material for surfboard manufacture. Balsa grows only in Ecuador and must be imported to the USA; it became popular when laminating techniques allowed surfboard cores to be sealed from contact with water. By the early 1960s it had been largely replaced by polyurethane foam, but is still used for some big wave guns and collector pieces. .
Bamboo
Can be used in thin laminar sheets as a replacement for fiberglass in the surfboard manufacturing process; i.e., Bamboo Surfboards Australia.
Bammerwee
When something is just okay, not all that good.
Bananas
To go nuts; anything good or crazy.
Bannocked
An open cut resulting from any surfing activity.
Barney
Someone who is less than skilled at surfing. Originally derived from the cartoon character Barney on The Flinstones because he was similar to a hodad.
Barnwaller
Surfer exhibiting poor style.
Barnyard
Another name for a kook, beginner, wavehog, non-surfer coming out and screaming about how they're ripping when they're actually stinkbugging, squatting, and surfing with the poorest style possible. Common with high school jocks, preppies, and others who are trying to fit into the surf community.
Barrel
The space inside a breaking wave between the lip and face. A surfer may be completely hidden from view during a barrel ride, especially from shore. One of the most difficult, best and most enjoyable acts in surfing, but often very difficult to complete due to changing variations in every different wave. Another name for tube. >
Bathymetry
The measurement of depths of water in oceans, seas, and lakes. The topography of the ocean floor or underwater bottom.
Bashing
Body surfing. Also what a surfer does when he smacks the lip.
Bat Tail
As inferred, tail shape resembling the spread wings of a bat. Augmented by channels carved into the deck bottom, this shape affords the prone rider a looser grip on the wave face thus promoting maneuverability.
Beach break
Waves breaking over a sand bottom.
Beach Bunny
'70s era moniker for good looking girl.