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Leucadia 83.7

#610 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇺🇸 United States of America · California · near Oceanside

Works almost every day, no off season, gentle enough to learn.

Works all yearBeginner friendlyBeginner
Leucadia, United States of America
Photo: Tim Buss from North County, San Diego, California, USA · CC BY 2.0 · source
Surf score83.7 /100
Surfable days96% of the year
Clean days53% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell55% period 11 s+
Typical size0.9 m 3.0 ft median
Water18°C a 3/2 wetsuit

Best time to surf Leucadia

The best time to surf Leucadia is April, May, September. The season runs Jan to Jan. In April the water sits around 18°C, so pack a 3/2 wetsuit, and the typical wave is 1.0 m. The nearest airport is SAN (40 km) and the nearest town is Oceanside (13 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan91%43%0.9 m16°C3/2
Feb90%26%0.8 m16°C3/2
Mar96%51%1.0 m17°C3/2
Apr99%70%1.0 m18°C3/2
May100%68%1.1 m17°C3/2
Jun100%63%0.9 m19°C3/2
Jul99%63%0.9 m20°C2mm
Aug100%59%0.8 m22°C2mm
Sep100%68%0.9 m20°C2mm
Oct97%55%0.8 m18°C3/2
Nov87%30%0.8 m18°C3/2
Dec90%34%0.9 m17°C3/2

What is under Leucadia

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor is still shallow, 18 m. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 44 m against 18 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out18 m
Depth 4 km out16 m
Channel beside it44 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 83.7

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%
26.7
Best days 22.4%
6.7
Clean days 18.4%
18.4
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
2.3
Access 4.1%
4.1

The detail

Faces 250° with 44% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 95% of days. Mean peak period 13.3 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.3 m, with a peak period of 16 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 86%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates 33.075, -117.310 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€2,460/ month
typically €2,160 – €2,760
Rent, one bedroom€1,290
Groceries€517
Eating out€295
Getting around€172
Phone + internet€184
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€4,800/ month
typically €4,220 – €5,370
Somewhere to stay€2,830
Eating out€1,010
Car, transfers, fuel€652
Data + extras€308
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Airport and town on the doorstep, so the local estimate is 23% above the country average. Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for United States of America (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.

Spots nearby

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