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Newgale 43.1

#4527 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Pembrokeshire · near Swansea

Very consistent, wind is the enemy here, no off season.

Works all yearBeginner friendlyBeginner
Newgale, United Kingdom
Photo: grumpylumixuser · CC BY 3.0 · source
Surf score43.1 /100
Surfable days73% of the year
Clean days4% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell8% period 11 s+
Typical size1.0 m 3.3 ft median
Water13°C a 5/4 with boots and hood

Best time to surf Newgale

The best time to surf Newgale is February, March, November. It rarely works. In February the water sits around 9°C, so pack a 6/5 with boots, gloves and hood, and the typical wave is 1.8 m. The nearest airport is CWL (133 km) and the nearest town is Swansea (84 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan84%5%1.4 m10°C5/4
Feb95%8%1.8 m9°C6/5
Mar80%6%1.0 m9°C6/5
Apr57%4%0.7 m10°C5/4
May62%1%0.7 m11°C5/4
Jun52%0%0.6 m13°C4/3
Jul47%0%0.6 m16°C4/3
Aug62%0%0.8 m17°C3/2
Sep70%0%0.9 m16°C3/2
Oct90%1%1.3 m15°C4/3
Nov93%8%1.4 m14°C4/3
Dec90%6%1.6 m12°C5/4

What is under Newgale

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor is still shallow, 20 m.

Depth 8 km out20 m
Depth 4 km out20 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 43.1

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%
10.1
Best days 22.4%
11.5
Clean days 18.4%
1.3
Consistency 10.2%
8.7
Season spread 4.1%
3.7
Water comfort 6.1%
0.0
Access 4.1%
2.1

The detail

Faces 235° with 33% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 47% of days. Mean peak period 8.0 s. Days over 3 m: 3%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 2.2 m, with a peak period of 11 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 48%. Months that work: 11 of 12. Coordinates 51.851, -5.123 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,560/ month
typically €1,370 – €1,740
Rent, one bedroom€816
Groceries€327
Eating out€187
Getting around€110
Phone + internet€115
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€3,030/ month
typically €2,670 – €3,400
Somewhere to stay€1,790
Eating out€638
Car, transfers, fuel€412
Data + extras€196
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 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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