WorldAustralia › Queensland › The Groin

The Groin 47.4

#4231 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇦🇺 Australia · Queensland · near Sunshine Coast

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

Works all yearBeginner friendlyBeginner
The Groin, Australia
Photo: Kgbo · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Surf score47.4 /100
Surfable days85% of the year
Clean days6% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell6% period 11 s+
Typical size0.9 m 2.8 ft median
Water24°C a rash vest or 2 mm

Best time to surf The Groin

The best time to surf The Groin is January, February, March. It rarely works. In February the water sits around 27°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 1.1 m. The nearest airport is BNE (111 km) and the nearest town is Sunshine Coast (33 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan92%7%0.9 m26°Cboardies
Feb99%15%1.1 m27°Cboardies
Mar94%10%0.9 m26°Cboardies
Apr83%7%0.9 m25°Cboardies
May85%6%0.9 m24°Cvest
Jun65%3%0.7 m22°Cvest
Jul68%6%0.7 m21°C2mm
Aug62%6%0.7 m21°C2mm
Sep91%3%0.9 m22°C2mm
Oct95%6%0.9 m23°Cvest
Nov89%0%0.9 m24°Cvest
Dec94%5%0.9 m25°Cboardies

What is under The Groin

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor falls away into open ocean, 864 m, deep right up to the door, so swell arrives with its energy intact. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 1504 m against 864 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out864 m
Depth 4 km out207 m
Channel beside it1504 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 47.4

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%
10.7
Best days 22.4%
5.8
Clean days 18.4%
2.4
Consistency 10.2%
10.1
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
4.7
Access 4.1%
3.1

The detail

Faces 15° with 19% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 96% of days. Mean peak period 8.8 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.3 m, with a peak period of 11 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 81%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates -26.384, 153.087 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,840/ month
typically €1,620 – €2,060
Rent, one bedroom€970
Groceries€385
Eating out€220
Getting around€130
Phone + internet€140
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€3,600/ month
typically €3,170 – €4,030
Somewhere to stay€2,120
Eating out€755
Car, transfers, fuel€490
Data + extras€230
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Australia (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.

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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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