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Teawanga 54.3

#3682 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇳🇿 New Zealand · Hawke's Bay · near Hastings

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

Works all yearIntermediate
Teawanga, New Zealand
Photo: Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK · CC BY 2.0 · source · photo taken 2.4 km from the spot
Surf score54.3 /100
Surfable days95% of the year
Clean days18% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell26% period 11 s+
Typical size1.2 m 3.8 ft median
Water15°C a 4/3 with boots

Best time to surf Teawanga

The best time to surf Teawanga is April, May, August. It rarely works. In May the water sits around 15°C, so pack a 4/3 with boots, and the typical wave is 1.1 m. The nearest airport is PMR (139 km) and the nearest town is Hastings (13 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan95%15%1.1 m18°C3/2
Feb99%15%1.3 m19°C3/2
Mar100%14%1.3 m17°C3/2
Apr93%26%1.2 m16°C3/2
May94%27%1.1 m15°C4/3
Jun96%20%1.3 m14°C4/3
Jul95%20%1.2 m14°C4/3
Aug95%21%1.2 m13°C4/3
Sep93%20%1.1 m12°C5/4
Oct94%21%1.0 m13°C4/3
Nov90%6%1.0 m16°C4/3
Dec94%6%1.1 m17°C3/2

What is under Teawanga

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 43 m.

Depth 8 km out43 m
Depth 4 km out29 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 54.3

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%
10.5
Best days 22.4%
10.2
Clean days 18.4%
7.8
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
1.0
Access 4.1%
3.1

The detail

Faces 35° with 39% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 68% of days. Mean peak period 10.2 s. Days over 3 m: 1%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.9 m, with a peak period of 12 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 52%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates -39.634, 176.984 (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.

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