Surf Culture

Surfing here runs on cold water and a very long coastline. Raglan, on the Waikato's west coast, has the best-known break: Manu Bay, a left-hand point that peels along a boulder shelf and appeared in the 1966 film The Endless Summer, which put it on maps everywhere. North of there, the black-sand beaches west of Auckland, Piha and Muriwai among them, deliver heavy beach breaks and some of the strongest rips in the country. Gisborne on the east coast surfs a sunnier, more consistent scene. In the far south around Dunedin people paddle out year-round in thick rubber. Surf lifesaving clubs, patrolling between flags each summer, are the other half of the culture.

What you actually see

• Manu Bay at Raglan - the long left point break and the line-up sitting on it.
• West coast black sand - Piha and Muriwai, heavy beach breaks below dark iron sand.
• Surf lifesaving - the patrolled flags, club carnivals and the volunteer culture behind them.
• Cold-water surfing - the southern breaks where wetsuits, boots and hoods are normal kit.

When to go

There is surf year-round. Winter brings the biggest, cleanest swells and the emptiest line-ups, at the cost of cold water and short days. Summer is warmer and far busier, and it is when the main beaches are patrolled. Mornings are usually cleanest, before the sea breeze fills in. Lessons run mainly in the warmer months at Raglan and the city beaches.

Honest expectations

Water temperatures need a wetsuit almost everywhere for most of the year. West coast rips are strong and people drown every summer, including confident swimmers, so swim between the flags and treat unpatrolled beaches with respect. Popular breaks get crowded and localism is real at a few of them. Black sand gets hot enough to burn bare feet on a still day.

Nearby

Raglan sits below Mount Karioi with the Waikato coast road running south; Piha and Muriwai back onto the Waitakere Ranges.