Mar del Plata.

Mar del Plata is Argentina’s surf capital, an Atlantic city of ~700,000 people ~400 km south of Buenos Aires. The coast faces east-southeast, and the lineup is mostly beach breaks: Playa Grande, Waikiki, La Perla, Biologia, and Playa Bristol running through the city centre. El Cabo Corrientes is the area’s reef-point. Mar del Plata is the country’s biggest surf city, and locals are in the water through every winter.

April through September is the swell window. South Atlantic lows track north-east from the southern tip of the continent and send south to east-southeast swell at the coast. Periods are typical Atlantic, 8 to 12 s, fetch-limited compared to the open Pacific. A working day is 1 to 2 m. The clean wind is west to south-west, offshore at every break. The sudestada is the local storm wind, a south-easterly that brings swell with onshore conditions, hits hard several times a year, and turns the coast into rough water.

Water is the coldest in mainland Argentina: 10 to 11 °C in July and August, 20 to 21 °C in February. A 4/3 with booties and hood covers winter, a 3/2 the shoulder months, a springsuit through summer. Crowds are local and weekday-friendly. The summer beach scene is non-surf. Playa Bristol gets ~20,000 visitors a day in January, mostly swimmers, with lifeguards running roughly five rescues a day in season. El Cabo Corrientes is the play when the beach breaks are too small or too south. Cold is the real hazard, especially when winter WSW air pushes below freezing.