Surfing
Lineup
The area just outside the breaking waves where surfers sit and wait for sets, plus the unwritten queue of who goes first.
Also known as: line-up
The lineup is two things at once. Physically: the strip of water just past where waves break, where surfers paddle out to wait. Socially: the rotation of riders that determines who has priority on the next wave.
The unwritten rules:
- Furthest out and deepest gets priority
- One surfer per wave (unless it’s a party wave)
- Don’t paddle through the breaking section — go around
- New arrivals wait their turn; don’t sit on top of a regular’s peak
Lineup etiquette is what separates a fun crowd from a tense one. Spots like Pipeline, Jaws or Uluwatu enforce strict lineup hierarchies; mellow beach breaks are looser.
Related terms
- Set A group of larger, well-formed waves arriving together after a lull — usually 3–8 waves in a row.
- Drop-in Taking off on a wave that another rider already has priority on — the cardinal sin of lineup etiquette.
- Peel The way a wave breaks along its length — a clean peel means the break travels smoothly down the face instead of collapsing all at once.
- Okabewari A Japanese-origin term for swapping the rider who has priority on a wave — usually after a wipeout or missed take-off.