Rarotonga's best kept
Surfing Secret
Story by Chris Taylor. Photo's: Booghouse
From air and on land, the spectacular natural reef wonder
encircling Rarotonga is one of its most visually appealing
features. Separating the deep blue ocean and calm azure
waters of the lagoon, the crashing waves white wash makes
for a postcard perfect frame of the volcanic peaked Island.
And with the trade winds blowing across this pristine part
of the Pacific, accompanied by favourable swells rolling
in, local surfers wax up their short boards, frothing in
anticipation of
hitting the barrelling
breaks surrounding
‘The Rock’; as
Rarotonga is also
affectionally known.
The reef breaks are one
of the Island’s best kept
secrets, generally only
admired from afar by
the country’s 140,000
plus annual visitors,
typically flying in from
around the world just
to soak up the idyllic laidback lifestyle.
Even most locals commonly think,
‘you can’t surf in Raro!’. But it just so
happens, you can. In fact, for a select
few local board riders, the uncrowded
waves are something to be genuinely
stoked about, as they are just about as
epic as neighbouring Fiji’s Cloud Break,
or Tahiti’s Teahupoo. And if you can
Raro reef break.
master the powerful breaks at the north
eastern end of the Island at Nikao, or
on the south western passage at Rutaki, the likes of Pipeline on
Hawaii’s famed North Shore are nothing, says local ‘soul surfer’
Kevin Selam.
They are not for the fainthearted however, and experience is
a must, he adds, having witnessed fellow surfers in explosive
64 • Escape Magazine
wipe-outs and having hit the reef hard a few times himself.
Selam is a genuine surf legend, and his bravery in riding these
waves is only matched by his undying passion for the sport.
The 34-year-old lives and breathes the ocean and has surfed the
Island’s breaks for over 22 years. As a fresh-faced teen he would
come home buzzing with excitement after another big day out
in the surf. “My dad used to laugh… coming home I would tell
him, man it was the best day ever! And he would reply: Mate,
every time you come home, you say it
was the best day ever!”
It was inevitable that Selam would
be closely connected to te moana nui
okiva, since his mother introduced
him and his siblings to the water from
an early age in Tahiti. “Mum was of
Cook Islands and Tahitian heritage
and met my father who was part
Italian and Iranian in Tahiti.” They
were married there and Selam was
soon after born in
Rarotonga. “They
would always come
back and forth with
my grandparents
living here at the
time.”
And, as a grommet
he says his first surf
memories are of
riding white wash
up onto sand on
a boogie board
in Tahiti. “There
wasn’t any way around it when mum had surfed, and she really
wanted us to learn too.” Thanks to her, he adds, now all his
brothers, sisters, and cousins, can all catch a wave on the reef.
“Everybody surfs in our family now except for our parents.”
Selam’s mum sadly passed away when he was just 12, and his