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Kingston 74.9

#1906 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇳🇫 Norfolk Island · Norfolk Island · near Nouméa

Works almost every day, wind is the enemy here, no off season.

Works all yearBig waveAdvanced
Kingston, Norfolk Island
Photo: Steve Daggar · CC BY 3.0 · source
Surf score74.9 /100
Surfable days98% of the year
Clean days18% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell56% period 11 s+
Typical size2.2 m 7.2 ft median
Water22°C a rash vest or 2 mm

Best time to surf Kingston

The best time to surf Kingston is March, June, October. It rarely works. In October the water sits around 20°C, so pack a 2 mm shorty, and the typical wave is 2.0 m. The nearest airport is NLK (3 km) and the nearest town is Nouméa (771 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan99%7%1.9 m24°Cvest
Feb99%8%2.3 m25°Cvest
Mar96%25%2.1 m24°Cvest
Apr97%16%2.3 m23°Cvest
May95%13%2.5 m23°Cvest
Jun95%21%2.3 m21°C2mm
Jul99%19%2.4 m20°C2mm
Aug95%20%2.4 m19°C2mm
Sep98%19%2.3 m19°C2mm
Oct100%37%2.0 m20°C2mm
Nov100%20%2.0 m22°Cvest
Dec99%9%2.0 m23°Cvest

What is under Kingston

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 36 m.

Depth 8 km out36 m
Depth 4 km out30 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 74.9

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%
18.8
Best days 22.4%
17.4
Clean days 18.4%
7.9
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
3.9
Access 4.1%
2.5

The detail

Faces 155° with 56% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 32% of days. Mean peak period 11.5 s. Days over 3 m: 15%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 3.2 m, with a peak period of 14 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 1%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates -29.059, 167.956 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,810/ month
typically €1,590 – €2,030
Rent, one bedroom€948
Groceries€378
Eating out€217
Getting around€128
Phone + internet€136
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€3,530/ month
typically €3,100 – €3,950
Somewhere to stay€2,080
Eating out€740
Car, transfers, fuel€480
Data + extras€225
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Remote spot, so the local estimate is 15% below the country average. Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Norfolk Island (2025, United States = 1.00) (no separate series, so we scale AU) 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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