slab

Thick, lurching type of a wave that heaves into a violent, often malformed tube. Slabs are created as deep-water swell run into an abrupt rise in the seafloor--usually a reef. As the swell energy is suddenly pushed up and out, the wave face will sometimes crease and buckle, and the entire wave will drop slightly below sea level as it drains water from the preceding shallows. Because they break har...