Shonan

Best Surf Season (October - March)

The core of the surf year at Shonan comes when the Pacific storm track and the Siberian High start flexing their muscles. From October through March, strong offshore N-NNE winds blow down the coast, grooming the south-facing beaches while low pressure systems spinning up in the East China Sea and western Pacific send S, SSE and SSW swell into Sagami Bay. Average wave heights sit around 2.3-2.6ft (0.7-0.8m) with periods in the 7.8-8.7s range, and the ideal-wind count peaks near 20% in October. It is not Hawaii-sized, but the combination of clean texture, punchy period and south-quadrant swell makes this the most consistent window for quality surf. Water temperatures drop from the low 20s to the mid-teens Celsius, so a full wetsuit is in order.