Surfing in South Africa in November

Conditions in November

Water temp. : 18 °C
Wetsuit : 3/2 mm, 4/3 mm for long sessions

November is the changeover. The Southern Ocean lows have moved south for the summer, and the Eastern Cape drops back into the two to four foot range that suits beginners and longboarders. The point stops linking up and becomes a series of shorter, friendlier waves.

The country has not gone quiet, it has moved. The Indian Ocean season on the KwaZulu-Natal coast starts in December, so November is the last month before Durban's sand-bottom points take over as the place to be. The water at J-Bay is at 18°C and climbing.

Learning in November

The Eastern Cape opens up again. Small, warm and manageable, and the winter crowd is long gone.

Where a beginner goes in November

These spots are reachable all year. What the month changes is the size of the waves, not the access.

For an experienced surfer

Surf : Good

Winding down. If November is your only window, look at what the Indian Ocean is doing rather than the Southern Ocean.

How November compares

All twelve months, side by side

Where these figures come from

Air, rain and sunshine: WMO / NOAA 1991-2020 normals for Agadir Al Massira, a station some twenty kilometres inland and so a little warmer than the coast in summer. Swell, period and share of workable wind: Swell Archive and surf-forecast. Water temperature: seatemperature.org and weather-and-climate. Crowds and prices are an editorial judgement, not a measurement.