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Upper Trestles 80.7

#1080 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇺🇸 United States of America · California · near Oceanside

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

Works all yearBeginner friendlyBeginner
Upper Trestles, United States of America
Photo: Jeremy Bishop tidesinourveins · CC0 · source
Surf score80.7 /100
Surfable days96% of the year
Clean days57% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell58% period 11 s+
Typical size0.9 m 3.0 ft median
Water19°C a 3/2 wetsuit

Best time to surf Upper Trestles

The best time to surf Upper Trestles is April, May, July. The season runs Jan to Jan. In April the water sits around 18°C, so pack a 3/2 wetsuit, and the typical wave is 1.0 m. The nearest airport is SNA (41 km) and the nearest town is Oceanside (32 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan91%47%0.9 m17°C3/2
Feb90%28%0.8 m17°C3/2
Mar96%57%1.0 m17°C3/2
Apr99%75%1.0 m18°C3/2
May100%74%1.1 m18°C3/2
Jun100%69%0.9 m19°C2mm
Jul99%70%0.9 m21°C2mm
Aug100%66%0.9 m22°Cvest
Sep100%70%0.9 m21°C2mm
Oct97%61%0.8 m20°C2mm
Nov87%35%0.8 m19°C3/2
Dec90%35%0.9 m18°C3/2

What is under Upper Trestles

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor drops to 98 m. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 346 m against 98 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out98 m
Depth 4 km out62 m
Channel beside it346 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 80.7

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%
24.0
Best days 22.4%
6.9
Clean days 18.4%
18.4
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
2.5
Access 4.1%
3.8

The detail

Faces 225° with 50% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 98% of days. Mean peak period 13.3 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.3 m, with a peak period of 16 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 85%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates 33.386, -117.594 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€2,000/ month
typically €1,760 – €2,240
Rent, one bedroom€1,050
Groceries€420
Eating out€240
Getting around€140
Phone + internet€150
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€3,900/ month
typically €3,430 – €4,370
Somewhere to stay€2,300
Eating out€820
Car, transfers, fuel€530
Data + extras€250
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for United States of America (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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