Raglan’s Endless Summer Still Shines

New Zealand’s “surf mecca”, the “legendary” Raglan features this month in both the Wall Street Journal and Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine. “Legend has it this quaint settlement of about 3000 people has one of the longest left-hand point breaks in the world,” surf school student and Journal correspondent Javier Espinoza writes.

“Its surf was featured in the classic 1966 film The Endless Summer, back in the days when barely a handful of people surfed here. As news spread of Raglan’s waves, surfers came en masse from as far away as California and Hawaii.

“Wetsuit on, I am ready to hit the surf. But my instructor [Daniel or DK as he is known on his home turf] is laughing as I emerge from the changing room. I’m not even in the water yet. Do I look funny?

“‘I said zip at the back,’ he chuckles. ‘We’re not going to work, mate.’

“Once in the water … I’m determined to show him what I’m made of. I will stand up on that board.

“Tail between my legs, I get back on the board, and keep trying and failing to stand up. At last, by some miracle, I manage to stand up for a few seconds. Success.

“I wish I could report that I was riding high for longer. But who’s counting? I was happy just to get up.”