The Raglan community is coming together to try and educate visitors about the proper etiquette when out in the surf.

A deep puncture wound in a surfer's side has revealed simmering tensions in Raglan's growing surf community.

Warning: this story contains graphic images

An itinerant surfer was allegedly injured and insulted by a Raglan local while surfing at Manu Bay on Wednesday.

DOMINICO ZAPATA/STUFF A surfer "drops in" on another surfer. This is considered dangerous and bad etiquette.

Blood on the water is nothing new at the country's most popular surf spot, but locals warn collisions are increasing with the number of uninitiated surfers crowding top waves.

Concerned surf veterans are putting unwritten surf rules on paper, in the hope of avoiding a return to the old school way of enforcing order.

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DOMINICO ZAPATA/STUFF Matti Thorley-Symes is a surf instructor from Raglan who is asking the community to look out for each other, after a friend was injured and insulted on the water.

Raglan resident and surf instructor Matti Thorley-Symes, 22, has asked for all surfers to keep their cool after driving his bleeding friend from Manu Bay to the doctor on Wednesday morning.

The friend – who declined to comment and has since left town – required stitches under his right arm after a surfer collided with him at 8.30am.

"He was trying to paddle off of the wave, out of the direction of the local dude, and the guy just kept aiming for him."

DOMINICO ZAPATA/STUFF Raglan resident Miles Ratima, cafe owner and surf coach, says Raglan is the most crowded surf spot in New Zealand.

The local's board struck him sharply under the right arm, to which the response was said to be abusive: "You better not have damaged my board."

The struck surfer is no beginner and has overseas experience, Thorley-Symes said.

And while he has his suspicions about the angry local's identity, he declined to provide a name.

SUPPLIED A gash sustained by an itinerant surfer allegedly by the board of a Raglan local, who was then abusive.

"Maybe he was having a bad day, maybe he was having a bad surf. It gets pretty stressful out there – in the holiday season especially."

Unimpressed by the abusive response to the collision, he posted photos of his friend's injury on the Raglan Community Noticeboard Facebook page asking people to check on each other when collisions happen.

Veteran surfer Miles Ratima, 41, who has lived and instructed in Raglan for 20 years, said there had already been five or six ambulance callouts to the water this summer.

DOMINICO ZAPATA/STUFF Luke Hughes, owner of Raglan Surf Co, is part of an effort to put educational signage at Raglan's main breaks, informing locals and newcomers of surf rules.

"If you don't want to get run over, don't come to Raglan. It's the most crowded surf spot in New Zealand."

Ratima said up to 1000 surfers hit Raglan's coveted breaks on a summer day, and more beginners were heading for bigger waves previously surfed only by experts.

"I have a close call every frickin' day."

DOMINICO ZAPATA/STUFF Professional surfer Daniel Kereopa says locals should have right of way on the waves, but they've come to understand and deal with the influx at Raglan.

In collisions such as Wednesday's, no-one is in the wrong, he said, but locals will be pissed off if a surfer gets in the way.

"Usually if you hit someone you should ask, 'Hey, are you all right?'"

Ratima is one of many in the community who met in July to form the Surf Safe Management Committee, and put together a set of rules for both locals and newcomers.

DOMINICO ZAPATA/STUFF Vincente Ihnen, 25, and Ignacio Troucoso, 27, from Chile, are travelling around New Zealand looking for surf. Troucoso appreciated the friendly nature of Raglan locals; peaceful, he said, compared to those in Australia.

Raglan Surf Co owner Luke Hughes, 30, said the group is now fundraising for signs to be placed at the main breaks.

A representative of the group, he ensures anyone hiring a board from his store reads the rules and he makes surf suggestions based on their competency.

"It's a changing demographic. If you wind the clock back, there were local regulators that would tell people to move on if they're not good enough to surf it.

DOMINICO ZAPATA/STUFF German surfer Volker Korn, 38, was out enjoying the surf at Manu Bay, Raglan on Thursday. He says Raglan is kinder to surfers than elsewhere.

"It's either people start to learn, or the old school heavies that enforce the lineup come back – which I don't agree with."

Rules include paddling in wide around the waves, keeping clear of the wave face, communicating to others when committing to a wave, and not "dropping in" on the line of other surfers.

"It's amazing to say you've been and surfed Raglan, but if you shouldn't be out there, you shouldn't be out there – it's for everyone's safety," Hughes said.

DOMINICO ZAPATA/STUFF "Drop-ins", where a surfer drops into the wave in front of another already riding, are a frequent problem at Raglan's popular breaks. "Snaking", where a surfer cuts in line when waiting for a breaking wave, is another oft-cited issue.

At Manu Bay on Thursday, many near-misses and drop-ins could be seen among the group of around 20 surfers braving the rain.

Internationally competitive surfer and Raglan resident Daniel Kereopa, heading in with a student, said there was less respect for locals these days.

"If you broke the rules back in the day, it wasn't words that sent them back to the beach, so to speak.

"In my eyes, the guys who live here have the right to choose the surf. But we've learnt to live with the crowd … and just get on."

Watching the waves was Chilean surfer Ignacio Troucoso, 27, who arrived in Raglan and surfed Manu Bay on Wednesday.

He said New Zealand was one of the friendliest places to surf. "In Australia it's way worse. It's a war on the water."



Volker Korn, 38, from Germany and fresh out of the water, agreed Raglan was kinder to surfers than elsewhere.

"Two days ago there were 70 people out there, three people would take to a wave at a time, and mostly everyone is really respectful."