SURFING is often associated with nature lovers and being at one with the ocean.

But anyone who has seen Point Break will also know that there are some proper nasty rascals lurking between the waves.

Now a surf expert has revealed the places in the world you are most likely to run aground or get roughed-up if you aren’t a local.

Expect attitude, aggro or even assault if a non-local tries to muscle in on a native’s much protected sweet spot.

Dan Harmon is a surfer from the UK who has spent years trawling some of the world’s most famous surf spots and hidden gems.

Chile

“Now, this might come as a surprise to many people because Chile, it’s an absolutely huge coastline, so it means you can drive up and down the coast and find waves to yourself.” Dan explained.

“However, when you drive around to some of the lesser known spots and you paddle out, you definitely get some funny looks from local surfers. If you’re filming things like that, you often get told off for that. They can be very hostile towards traveling surfers. And these aren’t even secret spots.

“It can be super, super hostile. I know recently they had the world bodyboard tour in Iquique. What happened to this body boarder was that he was walking back from one of his heats and he just knocked out one of the top local surfers.

“This crew of locals attacked him on the way back from a heat. Such rampant petty crime and you just can’t really walk around there without the fear of like getting robbed and it’s super-localised. It’s just a horrible environment”

Hawaii

“Hawaii is the most notoriously localised and hierarchical surf destination in the world. It’s still the only place in the world where I’ve seen somebody get punched in the head over a wave which is really, really shit.”

Dan recalls the story of one local punching a kid after he rode a wave after him (a no-go apparently).

“[the angry chap] surfed the wave down the line and then when he paddled back out the local just paddled up to the kid and punched him in the side of the head as he got to him. That’s the only place I’ve seen like kind of outright violence in the surf.”

Canary Islands

“There’s a lot of spots around the Canary Islands that you basically can’t even surf. I’ve heard plenty of stories of where someone’s paddled out and basically just been told to get out, and the locals won’t even have you out there.

“You basically just get told to get out. The locals there are very, very protective over their waves.”

Morocco

“The locals basically just burned everyone, snaked everyone, took every single wave. If a foreigner got a good wave, the locals would burn them and then scream at the foreigner.”

Burning someone is when you disregard the right-of-way rule, you’re ‘burning’ someone’s wave and displaying a significant lack of respect. They are deliberately spoiling the wave for the tourists.

“[This] local just basically got off his board, paddled up to [the tourist] and just started screaming at him. He was screaming in French so I didn’t understand but could make a pretty good guess what he was saying.”

Australia

“Australia, it’s got this real blokey culture just in general, not just in the surf but on the land as well. It’s that like beer drinking, working class, hard charging sort of attitude and that translates to a lot of aggression and testosterone in the line-up.

“The Gold Coast points and up in Noosa, a lot of almost fights and arguments and stuff all the time. People are really territorial and aggressive.

“My friend was telling me a story once about he went to surf this random wave in Victoria and a guy saw him just on his phone, he wasn’t taking photos of the wave or anything. But the guy came up to my friend and was like, ‘If you put a photo of this place on Instagram, I’ll f*cking kill you’.”

Mexico

“Oaxaca is where all those crazy beaches are. It’s an amazing and incredibly wave rich part of the world, but it’s also one that comes with real intense localism.

“I’ve seen a guy at Barra de la Cruz, it’s a super crowded spot and the locals kind of dominate. But then I saw one local, this French guy burned him. And then the local just went off at him, just went mental. The local ended up getting his board, which looked brand new, ripped his leg rope off,  grabbed his board, paddled it up behind the rocks at the point of Barra and shoved it in on a wave so it would go into the rocks and it got all smashed up.”

Portugal

“Portugal can be really localised. If you mess up in the etiquette or hierarchy, you definitely get told to go. Definitely a lot of aggression in the line-up.

“This local bodyboarder saw me paddling for a wave, I was trying to scratch into it and he just pointed at me and paddled right up to me and then turned around in front of me and went [on the wave] just to make a point of taking the wave off me, was just the stupidest thing in the world.”

So there you have it, if you like your teeth just how they are, perhaps it is more sensible to stay on dry ground.

To find out more about Dan visit his site or check out his YouTube channel here.

Watch Dan’s full video here