Wiktionary
n. A type of boat used in surf lifesaving to go from shore out through the breaking waves, and back again. Current designs are rowed by a crew of four, with a sweep at the back steering. Originally used for mass rescues, but now superceded by powered craft and used only for competition.
Usage examples of "surf boat".
The wireless operator at Tillamook Rock, off the Oregon Coast, heard the last signal and alerted the Klipsan Beach lifesaving station, here on the peninsula, to hitch a team to a surf boat and start patrolin' the beach, that the Vamoose was headin' for shore, a derelict with nobody mannin' the helm an' not a scrap o' canvas on her spars.
The dhow caught one of the taller swells, threw up her stern and went racing down upon it like a surf boat, with the skinny old Arab at the tiller prancing like a trained monkey on the stick of the tiller to hold her in the wave, but the dhow was not built for this work, and she dug her shoulder rebelliously into the sliding, roaring chute of green water, breaching so fiercely to the wave that the water poured aboard her in a green wall and she wallowed broadside, half swamped before she took the reef with a force that snapped off her single mast at deck level and sent yard and sail and rigging crashing .
If any were spotted, the horsemen rushed back for the surf boat and rowed out through the breakers to save anyone who was still alive.
The taxi smacked in the invisible waves and bounced like a surf boat.