Surf town statistics
Every figure below is computed from open data by a published, versioned model — one claim per heading, each with its honest sample size and provenance. Published editions are frozen: a cited number stays resolvable at its edition URL forever.
edition 2026-10 · data updated · model v3 · 133 towns (131 ai-seeded, 2 spot-checked)
This page always shows the latest edition. The permanent, citable copy of this edition lives at /stats/2026-10.
April is the month when the most surf towns are in their best window — 68 of the 103 with a reliable season
the 103 reliable-season towns of 133 total — season aggregates exclude towns with no reliable season · fields: season.bestMonths, season.reliableSurf · how this is computed
July is the thinnest, with 43.
View as table
| Month | Towns in best window |
|---|---|
| Jan | 57 |
| Feb | 52 |
| Mar | 61 |
| Apr | 68 |
| May | 55 |
| Jun | 47 |
| Jul | 43 |
| Aug | 46 |
| Sep | 62 |
| Oct | 66 |
| Nov | 57 |
| Dec | 56 |
31 of 103 reliable-season surf towns hold their best window all 12 months of the year
the 103 reliable-season towns of 133 total · fields: season.bestMonths, season.reliableSurf · how this is computed
The median surf town's best window lasts 7 months of the year
the 103 reliable-season towns of 133 total · fields: season.bestMonths, season.reliableSurf · how this is computed
18 of 103 reliable-season surf towns have a split season — two or more separate best windows in the year
the 103 reliable-season towns of 133 total · fields: season.bestMonths, season.reliableSurf · how this is computed
A split season is what a per-spot model surfaces: a north-facing spot working in winter and a west-facing one in autumn roll up to two windows, not one averaged blur.
None of the 10 Europe · Mediterranean surf towns has a reliable surf season in our model
the 10 Europe · Mediterranean towns; regions qualify at 5+ towns (7 of 14 regions); the 15-town "Other" bucket is not a region and is excluded · fields: region, season.reliableSurf · how this is computed
Smaller regions are listed with their n and not ranked — n too small to rank is the honest state.
View as table
| Region | Reliable season | Towns |
|---|---|---|
| Europe · Atlantic | 36 | 42 |
| North America | 18 | 20 |
| South America | 12 | 12 |
| Southeast Asia | 9 | 11 |
| Europe · Mediterranean | 0 | 10 |
| North Africa | 6 | 6 |
| Oceania | 4 | 5 |
44 of 133 surf towns are boardshorts-warm (24 °C or above) in every month of the year
all 133 surf towns — sea temperature is computed for every town · fields: wetsuit.recommendationByMonth · how this is computed
69 of 133 surf towns need a 4/3 wetsuit or thicker in their coldest month
all 133 surf towns · fields: wetsuit.recommendationByMonth · how this is computed
Monthly sea temperatures across 133 surf towns span 27 °C — from 4.2 °C to 31.2 °C
all 133 surf towns · fields: wetsuit.seaTempByMonth · how this is computed
The coldest monthly water is Wenningstedt-Braderup (Sylt), Germany (4.2 °C); the warmest is Phú Long, Vietnam (31.2 °C).
The median measured fixed download speed across surf towns is 259 Mbps
126 of 133 towns measured — Ookla town medians; the unmeasured 7 are stated, never imputed · fields: workAbility.internetMbps · how this is computed
101 of the 126 measured towns clear 100 Mbps.
133 surf towns carry 500 mapped surf spots within 25 km of town
all 133 surf towns — spot locations from OpenStreetMap and open spot registries · fields: wave.spotCount, wave.radiusKm · how this is computed
The median town has 2 evidenced spots; only spots with real open-data evidence count.
How to reproduce these numbers
- Surf model v3 over ERA5 / ERA5-Ocean reanalysis 2015–2024 and sea temperature 2023–2025 — thresholds and known limits on the methodology page.
- Descriptive town fields are 131 of 133 ai-seeded; no statistic on this page reads those fields — every input is a computed, surveyed or open-data field, and each claim lists its source fields above.
- Editions are frozen files: new data produces a new edition at a new URL, and published editions are never edited or removed.
- The CSV at /data/surfbase-towns.csv carries the per-town rows these aggregates are computed from, under ODbL 1.0 with full attribution. Ookla internet figures are published on this page only and are not in the CSV.
Data: Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0), ERA5 / ERA5-Ocean reanalysis (Copernicus) · OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · GSHHG coastline (Wessel & Smith, LGPL) · World Bank ICP 2021 (CC BY 4.0) · internet speeds: Ookla town medians, on-page only.