Surfing with boils: hazards and lineup gold

I always wanted to say this: Let’s talk about boils.

You’re paddling out, scanning the surface—or not—when you notice a weird patch of water ahead, like it’s bubbling or swirling in place. That’s called a boil. And if you’ve never paid much attention to them, you probably should.

In surfing, a boil is a disturbance on the water’s surface, a circular pattern between 3 and 15 feet long, caused by something underneath, like a rock, a reef, or just a different shape of the seabed in that spot.

A boil forms when water passes over those irregularities and currents push water upward. It might look like bubbling or swirling patterns. When it’s choppy, it may look the opposite—glassy. Sometimes even like a little “dome” of water rising and falling.

⚠️ Why should you caare about boils?

They can tell you a lot about what’s happening under your board:

• Hazard warning: If you see a boil consistently appearing in the same spot, there could be a shallow rock or reef lurking just below the surface. That’s a big deal, especially if you’re riding at low tide.
  
• Wave behavior: A sudden rise in the sea floor will cause a wave to pitch or steepen quickly—sometimes forming a hollow section or throwing a barrel. If you see a boil, expect the wave to behave differently as it hits that spot.

️ How boils can help you

They do have their advantages. Boils can help you line up. At many reef breaks, surfers use boils as landmarks:

• “Take off just to the left of that boil.”
• “When the boil moves closer, the set is about to peak.”

Both Waimea Bay in Hawaii and Todos Santos in Mexico feature boils near the takeoff zone.

On big days, boils can be more pronounced as more water moves over underwater features. Even if you’ve surfed a spot a hundred times, take a minute to watch how the boils appear when the swell is pumping.

Stay safe! Keep your eye on them boils!

Author: The Wipeout Weekly team