WorldNew Zealand › Waikato › Raglan - Indicators

Raglan - Indicators 80.3

#1140 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇳🇿 New Zealand · Waikato · near Hamilton

Works almost every day, no off season.

Works all yearIntermediate
Raglan - Indicators, New Zealand
Photo: anja. anja_r · CC0 · source
Surf score80.3 /100
Surfable days96% of the year
Clean days35% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell75% period 11 s+
Typical size1.8 m 5.8 ft median
Water17°C a 3/2 wetsuit

Best time to surf Raglan - Indicators

The best time to surf Raglan - Indicators is January, May, November. The season runs Jan to Feb. In January the water sits around 21°C, so pack a 2 mm shorty, and the typical wave is 1.5 m. The nearest airport is HLZ (48 km) and the nearest town is Hamilton (44 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan99%47%1.5 m21°C2mm
Feb96%42%1.4 m21°C2mm
Mar99%37%1.5 m19°C2mm
Apr97%37%1.9 m18°C3/2
May92%45%1.9 m17°C3/2
Jun94%37%1.9 m16°C3/2
Jul95%25%2.0 m15°C4/3
Aug96%24%2.0 m14°C4/3
Sep94%27%2.1 m14°C4/3
Oct97%23%1.7 m16°C4/3
Nov99%46%1.8 m18°C3/2
Dec99%27%1.6 m20°C2mm

What is under Raglan - Indicators

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor is still shallow, 17 m. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 28 m against 17 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out17 m
Depth 4 km out15 m
Channel beside it28 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 80.3

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%
16.9
Best days 22.4%
16.9
Clean days 18.4%
16.0
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
1.9
Access 4.1%
3.5

The detail

Faces 335° with 36% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 47% of days. Mean peak period 12.6 s. Days over 3 m: 11%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 3.1 m, with a peak period of 15 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 18%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates -37.823, 174.793 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,770/ month
typically €1,560 – €1,980
Rent, one bedroom€930
Groceries€370
Eating out€215
Getting around€125
Phone + internet€135
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€3,460/ month
typically €3,040 – €3,880
Somewhere to stay€2,040
Eating out€725
Car, transfers, fuel€470
Data + extras€220
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for New Zealand (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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