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Ocean Lane, Deal 42.1

#4610 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇺🇸 United States of America · New Jersey · near Newark

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

Works all yearIntermediate
Surf score42.1 /100
Surfable days92% of the year
Clean days4% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell5% period 11 s+
Typical size1.1 m 3.4 ft median
Water13°C a 4/3 with boots

Best time to surf Ocean Lane, Deal

The best time to surf Ocean Lane, Deal is March, September, October. It rarely works. In September the water sits around 22°C, so pack a 2 mm shorty, and the typical wave is 1.2 m. The nearest airport is JFK (47 km) and the nearest town is Newark (52 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan90%4%1.3 m6°C6/5
Feb93%1%1.3 m2°C6/5
Mar93%5%1.3 m4°C6/5
Apr90%2%1.1 m8°C6/5
May94%2%1.0 m12°C5/4
Jun92%2%0.9 m18°C3/2
Jul94%2%0.8 m23°Cvest
Aug89%0%0.8 m24°Cvest
Sep96%14%1.2 m22°C2mm
Oct95%8%1.2 m19°C3/2
Nov97%1%1.1 m14°C4/3
Dec86%3%1.1 m9°C6/5

What is under Ocean Lane, Deal

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor drops to 67 m.

Depth 8 km out67 m
Depth 4 km out42 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 42.1

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%
7.1
Best days 22.4%
10.1
Clean days 18.4%
1.3
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
0.2
Access 4.1%
3.4

The detail

Faces 105° with 50% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 76% of days. Mean peak period 7.4 s. Days over 3 m: 3%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 2.0 m, with a peak period of 10 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 60%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates 40.254, -73.990 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,700/ month
typically €1,500 – €1,900
Rent, one bedroom€892
Groceries€357
Eating out€204
Getting around€119
Phone + internet€128
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€3,320/ month
typically €2,920 – €3,710
Somewhere to stay€1,960
Eating out€697
Car, transfers, fuel€450
Data + extras€212
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 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
Own a cabin on a surf coast in Sumba

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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