Wave
Curl
The steepest breaking part of the wave where it pitches over into whitewash, marking the powerful edge of the pocket.
The curl is the steepest, most powerful part of the wave face, right next to where the wave is breaking—the same region surfers call the pocket. It is where the face transitions from clean, rideable water into the rolling foam of the whitewash.
In wakesurfing the curl marks the back boundary of the rideable zone; riding just ahead of the curl, in the pocket, is where the wave's push is strongest.