Surf break
A surf break is a permanent obstruction such as a coral reef, rock, shoal, or headland that causes a wave to break, forming a barreling wave or other wave that can be surfed, before it eventually collapses. The topography of the seabed determines the shape of the wave and type of break. Since shoals can change size and location, affecting the break, it takes commitment and skill to find good breaks. Some surf breaks are quite dangerous, since the surfer can collide with a reef or rocks below the water.
Surf breaks may be defended vehemently by surfers, as human activities and constructions can have unintended and unpredictable consequences on the quality of the break.
Types
There are numerous types of surf breaks. These are defined as permanent or semi permanent obstructions that causes a wave to break, rather than by the nature of the wave itself.Artificial wave pools are an example of technology changing what is considered a 'surf break' or 'surfable wave'.
Some 'surf break' locations may be partly or wholly formed and influenced by human activities. These effects are variable and may be either negative or positive with respect to the effect on local surf quality.
Point break
A point break refers to the place where waves hit a point of land or rocks jutting out from the coastline. Bells Beach in Australia and Jardim do Mar in Madeira, Portugal are examples of point breaks.They can break either left or right, and in rare cases forms a central peak which breaks both ways around a central headland. The bottom can be made of rocks, sand, or coral.
Beach break
A beach break takes place where waves break on a usually sandy seabed. An example of a classic beach break is Hossegor in Southern France, which is famous for waves of up to.Sometimes 'beaches' can contain little or no sand, and the 'beach' bottom may be only rock or boulders and pebbles. A 'boulder beach' is an example.
Reef break
A reef break happens when a wave breaks over a coral reef or a rocky seabed. Examples are Cloudbreak in Fiji and Jaws in Maui.A reef break may occur close to the shore, or well offshore from the shoreline, breaking in open ocean and petering out before the wave reaches the shore. Examples include Queenscliff Bommie in Australia and Dungeons in South Africa. In Australia these open ocean reefs are sometimes called Bombora or 'Bommie' waves, after the aboriginal word for offshore reef, 'bombora'. Sometimes reefs which occur in open ocean but which do not breach the surface are also called 'Banks'. The Cortes Bank off California is an example.
There are also examples of human-made reefs specifically designed and made for surfing. Some artificial harbours also create new reef break waves. Examples include Newcastle Harbour in Australia.
Shipwreck break
A "Shipwreck break" usually forms from sand built up over submerged or partly submerged shipwrecks. They may be either temporary or more or less permanent, depending on whether the wreck remains in place for a significant period.Examples occur at the at the Silver Strand, The Wreck, Byron Bay, NSW, and at Stockton Beach, Newcastle, NSW.
Shore break
A shore break is a wave that breaks directly on, or very close to the shore. This happens when the beach is very steep at the shoreline. These waves are really just a form of beach or reef break, but breaking very close to the shore.Rivermouth break
A rivermouth break breaks at or near the entrance to a river or creek. It can break as either a left-breaking or right-breaking wave, or a peak which breaks both ways. The bottom is usually sand, but can be pebbles, rocks, or even coral reef.Examples include Mundaka in Spain, and Merimbula bar in Australia.
They are sometimes called 'Bar' breaks because of the way the sand piles up along the shoreline.
Jetty break
These waves break along or near a jetty. They are also called 'groynes' in some places. Examples include Long Beach in New York, The Wedge in California, and Duranbah Groyne in Australia.Jetty and groyne style waves are known for often exhibiting constructive interference between different incoming waves to produce a significantly larger, 'wedging' style of wave, due to the unusual extension of obstruction that juts out significantly from the shore, and which wave shape is often favored by surfers. This is an example of a human influence which actually may improve a wave's shape and quality for surfing, however in other cases the effect for surfing may be negative.
Natural 'wedge' style constructive interference can however occur on any type of surf break, provided the local wave dynamics are favorable.
Outer banks
A type of open ocean surf break, these occur where sand build ups occur well offshore to produce breaking waves in the open ocean, which are sometimes called 'Outer Banks', which are similar to open ocean reefs except that they are generally made of sand, and may disappear or change with storms. The 'Outer Banks' in North Carolina is an example. They can also be made of more permanent rocky reefs.Tidal bore breaks
Numerous tidal bore waves are known, some of which have also been surfed for several kilometres or more and many kilometres from the ocean, making them the longest rideable waves in the world.They are formed where stronger and larger tides enter a river or deltaic system, allowing the tide to forcefully push and extend up the river, sometimes forming rideable waves. The waves can be singular or multiple crested.
They form at specific times of the day, month, and year due to tidal currents, and can be accurately predicted.
Well-known examples include several in the Amazon Basin, in Brazil, at the Severn Bore in the United Kingdom, and in Sumatra, Indonesia.
Standing river breaks
These are waves which are created in some fast flowing rivers or creeks, allowing a surfer to ride a wave for several minutes or more whilst standing or lying more or less stationary within the river. The force of the flow along an uneven river bed allows a standing wave to form, and the surfer to be able to ride the wave successfully. They are relatively rare as local wave dynamics tend to be very specific.Examples include on the Zambesi River in Africa, on the St Lawrence River in Montreal, Canada, and on the Eisbach river in Munich, Germany.
They also sometimes form when an inland lagoon or lake breaches its entry to the sea, forming standing waves in the channel between the lagoon and sea. Examples include at Waimea in Hawaii.
Artificial wave pools
These are waves generated in an artificially created pool with a powerful wave-generating device, to form waves which can be surfed without any need for an existing, natural water environment, such as an ocean or shoreline. Wave pools can therefore be built almost anywhere, and several designs and models are in use.In December 2015, the former world surfing champion and current professional surfer Kelly Slater revealed a new type of wave pool at an unknown location, which was able to demonstrably show well-shaped barrelling style waves over several hundred metres at around head-high or more, a quality and size not previously achieved by any wave pool. The ability to create genuine, long, barreling, surfable waves at locations far from natural shorelines may prove important in surfing culture and history.
Wave pools are currently the subject of much research and development, and there are a number of planned and existing commercial operations.
Types of surfable waves
As opposed to permanent or semipermanent obstructions which cause waves to break, surfable waves are sometimes defined by the nature of their generation.Swell waves
Ocean swells form from the longer term amalgamation of wind-generated waves on the surface. The stronger the wind and the longer the area over which it blows, generally the larger the swell.Wind waves
If large enough, local wind-generated chop can be surfed, but usually only after it has amalgamated into genuine swell from a distance.Ship waves
A large ship such as an oil tanker can sometimes create rideable waves at the shoreline. These are usually surfed only when the waves are otherwise very small, such as in a large inland lake.There has been unconfirmed reports of an offshore boat being used to make waves during surf contests when the surf was otherwise very small.
Tsunami waves
Although rare, surfable tsunami waves from earthquakes have been recorded. One documented place an earthquake-generated tsunami has been surfed is at Punta Hermosa in Peru, at the offshore Kon Tiki reef, where tsunami-generated waves from the 1974 Lima earthquake were ridden about from the shore, before further rising and crashing into the nearby shoreline. The surfers did not know these were tsunami waves until after the event.Surfable seismic-style waves generated from landslides, volcanic eruptions or meteorite impacts into the ocean are all possible, but all of these are very rare, unpredictable, and have not been documented as being surfed.
Glacial calving waves
Waves have been surfed and documented from the action of calving ice from glaciers, which falls into the adjacent water and forms a tsunami-type wave which surges away from the glacier.Storm surges
These form when a large storm or hurricane forces water in front of it, due to the combined action of strong winds over long distances. The water can pile up towards the shore and create a moving surge of water.These surges can be surfed, although they have not been specifically documented.
Backwash and sidewash waves
These occur where waves are formed from the returning backwash of a wave which has previously gone up a steep shoreline or beach, or sometimes reflected from an ocean rockface or wall. They can sometimes form a surfable wave in a direction oblique to, or opposite from the original wave direction. An example was shown in the film Endless Summer, in Tahiti, called 'Ins and Outs'.Backwash breaking parallel to or obliquely to the angle of the shore is sometimes also called sidewash, which can form from the reflection of a wave breaking against adjacent obstructions such as jetties, groynes, or rockwalls, or simply from the action of backwashing waves which strike a shoreline at an angle.
Sidewash and backwash is relatively common, and may amplify another incoming breaking wave's size due to constructive interference. When this process happens with an open ocean swell the resulting wave can also be significantly larger due to constructive interference from either deep water refraction or diffraction, or both. This type of effect is suggested to occur at two of the largest surf breaks in the world, at Nazaré in Portugal, and Jaws in Hawaii.
Backwash and sidewash also sometimes form in conjunction with rips on beaches.