Good waves draw crowds - and surf rage

Susie Smith says some locals are violent and intimidating to new surfers. Photo / Craig Bell

When the surf's up you can bet legions of wave followers will be out in force too.

But with growing numbers chasing the perfect ride or just an uncrowded wave come tensions - which can spill over into verbal abuse, dunkings, fist fights, cars being vandalised and arrests.

One woman on the receiving end of "surf rage" was Susie Smith, a 62-year-old grandmother, who last year was involved in at least three incidents at a Hawkes Bay beach.

On one occasion she said she was spat at, punched and elbowed in the face.

Other surfers committed the cardinal surfing sin of "dropping in" on her while another bashed her legs and shoved her head underwater.

"When I first arrived I realised it wasn't quite the same as the Mount [Maunganui] and I had to adjust to that," said Ms Smith, who has been surfing since 1960.

"I'm a good surfer but very mindful of waiting my turn and if there's five people out on the wave you're number six. I don't think they were very used to girls taking the initiative and I think that might have been the problem."

Reported surf rage attacks are uncommon but they can be nasty.

In 2006 a surfer terrorised other surfers at Sydney's northern beaches. He told those from out of the area to "f off", threatened to drown one man and told another he would "terrorise" him if he spoke to the police again.

He later admitted 29 charges including assault, stalking and property damage.

Constable Jason Kahika of Raglan police said there had been a number of prosecutions over surf rage incidents at hot spots Manu and Whale Bay.

"I'd say a lot of that stuff gets sorted out on the water and maybe in the carpark afterwards, but it's mainly the out-of-towners who have the problems," said Mr Kahika.

"They will come in and complain that they've been assaulted - the problem they have is they often can't identify who did it."

Mr Kahika's main concern, outside surf rage, was the potential for serious injury, as hundreds surf Raglan's beaches when conditions are good.

He recalled one incident where a man was hospitalised after another dropped in on him, causing severe lacerations to his neck.

"You can sometimes have 50 or 60 surfers fighting over one wave," he said. "It's a bit like learning the road rules before you learn to drive a car.

"The same applies when you are going to surf places like Manu or Whale [Bay] ... there are areas where beginners just shouldn't go around here and if you can't surf, do your time and start where the beginners are."

Greg Townsend has seen assaults in and out of the water and car windows smashed or done over with surf wax in his decades of surfing, and more recently as the chief executive of Surfing New Zealand.

He says the confrontations normally arise after a surfer "drops in" or tries to ride a wave someone else is on.

Other flare-ups happen when there is disrespect to local surfers, who can be territorial about their breaks.

Mr Townsend said that new surfers needed to be honest about theirlimits. They should also know thatthe surfer on the inside always hasthe right of way on the wave.

"All of this can be avoided quite easily because real surfers are cruisey and laid-back people in touch with nature and don't have an aggressive nature at all," he said.

"They need to keep out of the way of experienced surfers and sit on the inside of the main break. In time, they can work their way up in the line as they become more experienced and let their surfing do the talking."

New Zealand surfing identity Daniel Kereopa, known as "DK", agreed that a hierarchy and rules at any surfing spot were necessary because "without it there would be chaos".

Etiquette signs similar to those seen at surf hotspots in Queensland and New South Wales had been in place at Raglan for some years but were mysteriously missing when the Herald visited recently.

"When people do question what is happening, word gets out that there are rules about how to surf these places," he said.

"Without these rules people get run over, people get hurt just because they probably don't know what they are doing out there."

Mr Kereopa said the Hawaiian islands were an example of how locals would hang out waiting for the swells - only to be crowded by thousands of other surfers when the big waves arrived.

"The whole world of surfing goes there from the end of October to the end of December when the first swells turn up, so you can only imagine what that'd be like for the local people who see it year after year.

"When the surf comes it comes with an extra 10,000 surfers, all the locals want is a bit of respect."