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The Pier 9.7

#5750 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇨🇦 Canada · Ontario · near Hamilton

Needs the right swell, wind is the enemy here, thick rubber.

Beginner
The Pier, Canada
Photo: Eric Marshall · CC BY 3.0 · source
Surf score9.7 /100
Surfable days27% of the year
Clean days0% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell0% period 11 s+
Typical size0.4 m 1.2 ft median
Water10°C a 6/5 with boots, gloves and hood

Best time to surf The Pier

It rarely works. The nearest airport is YHM (17 km) and the nearest town is Hamilton (5 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan54%0%0.6 m1°C6/5
Feb55%0%0.6 m0°C6/5
Mar39%0%0.5 m0°C6/5
Apr26%0%0.4 m3°C6/5
May11%0%0.2 m8°C6/5
Jun3%0%0.2 m15°C4/3
Jul1%0%0.2 m22°C2mm
Aug3%0%0.2 m22°C2mm
Sep15%0%0.3 m19°C3/2
Oct33%0%0.5 m16°C4/3
Nov41%0%0.5 m9°C6/5
Dec45%0%0.5 m4°C6/5

What is under The Pier

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor falls away into open ocean, 636 m, deep right up to the door, so swell arrives with its energy intact. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 1199 m against 636 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out636 m
Depth 4 km out396 m
Channel beside it1199 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 9.7

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%
1.2
Best days 22.4%
0.2
Clean days 18.4%
0.0
Consistency 10.2%
2.5
Season spread 4.1%
0.4
Water comfort 6.1%
0.0
Access 4.1%
4.1

The detail

Faces n/a with 0% open water around it. Friendly morning wind n/a. Mean peak period 3.3 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 0.9 m, with a peak period of 4 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 45%. Months that work: 2 of 12. Coordinates 43.274, -79.778 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€2,140/ month
typically €1,880 – €2,400
Rent, one bedroom€1,120
Groceries€449
Eating out€258
Getting around€148
Phone + internet€160
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€4,170/ month
typically €3,670 – €4,670
Somewhere to stay€2,450
Eating out€873
Car, transfers, fuel€566
Data + extras€264
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Airport and town on the doorstep, so the local estimate is 23% above the country average. Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Canada (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

Road K🇺🇸 United States of America · score 27.8Il Sasso (Sassi Neri)🇮🇹 Italy · score 17.9UAQ Beach🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates · score 20.8
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