WorldAngola › Luanda › Shipwreck

Shipwreck 78.3

#1429 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇦🇴 Angola · Luanda · near Luanda

Works almost every day, clean mornings are the norm, no off season.

Works all yearWarm waterBeginner friendlyBeginner
Surf score78.3 /100
Surfable days99% of the year
Clean days61% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell70% period 11 s+
Typical size0.9 m 3.1 ft median
Water25°C a rash vest or 2 mm

Best time to surf Shipwreck

The best time to surf Shipwreck is June, July, August. The season runs Feb to Nov. In July the water sits around 20°C, so pack a 2 mm shorty, and the typical wave is 1.1 m. The nearest airport is LAD (39 km) and the nearest town is Luanda (40 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan95%36%0.8 m26°Cboardies
Feb99%43%0.8 m28°Cboardies
Mar100%57%0.9 m27°Cboardies
Apr99%75%1.0 m27°Cboardies
May100%80%1.0 m25°Cboardies
Jun100%81%1.1 m23°Cvest
Jul100%95%1.1 m20°C2mm
Aug100%83%1.1 m20°C2mm
Sep100%64%1.0 m22°Cvest
Oct99%52%1.0 m25°Cvest
Nov100%43%0.9 m26°Cboardies
Dec98%33%0.8 m26°Cboardies

What is under Shipwreck

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 38 m. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 84 m against 38 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out38 m
Depth 4 km out46 m
Channel beside it84 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 78.3

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%
19.6
Best days 22.4%
6.8
Clean days 18.4%
18.4
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
5.1
Access 4.1%
3.7

The detail

Faces 239° with 61% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 88% of days. Mean peak period 12.6 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.4 m, with a peak period of 14 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 81%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates -9.109, 13.000 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€890/ month
typically €783 – €997
Rent, one bedroom€465
Groceries€185
Eating out€105
Getting around€60
Phone + internet€65
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€1,740/ month
typically €1,530 – €1,950
Somewhere to stay€1,020
Eating out€365
Car, transfers, fuel€235
Data + extras€110
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Angola (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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