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Eastbourne 29.9

#5320 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · East Sussex · near Brighton

Wind is the enemy here, thick rubber, gentle enough to learn.

Beginner friendlyBeginner
Eastbourne, United Kingdom
Photo: Michal Dzierza midz · CC0 · source
Surf score29.9 /100
Surfable days59% of the year
Clean days0% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell0% period 11 s+
Typical size0.7 m 2.4 ft median
Water14°C a 4/3 with boots

Best time to surf Eastbourne

It rarely works. The nearest airport is LGW (54 km) and the nearest town is Brighton (33 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan70%0%0.9 m8°C6/5
Feb77%0%1.2 m9°C6/5
Mar66%0%0.8 m9°C6/5
Apr50%0%0.6 m11°C5/4
May46%0%0.6 m13°C4/3
Jun43%0%0.6 m16°C4/3
Jul33%0%0.4 m18°C3/2
Aug48%0%0.6 m20°C2mm
Sep48%0%0.6 m18°C3/2
Oct75%0%1.0 m16°C4/3
Nov74%0%1.1 m14°C4/3
Dec75%0%1.1 m11°C5/4

What is under Eastbourne

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor drops to 128 m, shoaling steadily over the last kilometres. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 561 m against 128 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out128 m
Depth 4 km out76 m
Channel beside it561 m

Measured, not estimated: NOAA ETOPO 2022 global relief at 15 arc-seconds, about 460 m per cell, sampled along this spot’s own swell window. At that scale the survey sees passes and channels; it cannot see a reef ledge, so nothing here is said about how the wave breaks.

Why 29.9

Seven parts, each normalised 0 to 1 and multiplied by its weight; the sum is scaled so the best spot in the world scores 100. Wave quality and what the spot does on its best days carry more than half of it, which is what separates this from a ranking of where the water is warm.

Wave quality 34.7%
5.8
Best days 22.4%
7.3
Clean days 18.4%
0.0
Consistency 10.2%
6.7
Season spread 4.1%
2.2
Water comfort 6.1%
0.2
Access 4.1%
3.6

The detail

Faces 135° with 42% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 46% of days. Mean peak period 5.0 s. Days over 3 m: 1%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.8 m, with a peak period of 6 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 52%. Months that work: 7 of 12. Coordinates 50.762, 0.287 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,830/ month
typically €1,610 – €2,050
Rent, one bedroom€960
Groceries€385
Eating out€220
Getting around€130
Phone + internet€135
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€3,570/ month
typically €3,140 – €4,000
Somewhere to stay€2,100
Eating out€750
Car, transfers, fuel€485
Data + extras€230
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for United Kingdom (2025, United States = 1.00) applied to a fixed surfer basket, then adjusted for how remote the spot is. Your own number moves with the season and how you live.

Our own project · Sumba, Indonesia
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Sumba has eight spots in this ranking, the best of them inside the world top 50. A cabin is €11,500. The land it sits on is separate, from €6,500 (€9,950 oceanfront), on an 80-year lease that extends at the end. Water, septic and electricity are another €6,500, and furniture is on top, so a finished cabin lands around €28,000 plus the land, payable in instalments.

Eco Beach City is run by the same people as SurfRanking, so treat this as our own advert, not a recommendation. It is an off-plan property in Indonesia: take your own legal and financial advice before paying anything.

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