Surfline's global correspondent Nick Carroll replies:

OK well I would reckon there's a few ways into this one.

SIZE: Charts showing historical worldwide year-round frequency of surf ten feet and over tend to point to west-facing coasts between 35 and 50 degrees north or south of the Equator: SSW Australia, Tasmania, S NZ, Chile, Oregon, Iceland(!).

The trouble with most of these coasts is that they're bloody freezing and susceptible to long bursts of appalling anti-surf weather -- howling onshores, rain, even snow and sleet. (Margaret River does stand out but ... man ... it can be foul there too, for weeks on end.)

CONDITIONS: Obviously the tropical tradewind belt provides the best surface conditions on a year-round basis, especially for west facing coasts where trades blow offshore. These coasts are also far enough away from swell generators not to experience the accomanying filthy weather. The closer you get to the Equator, the more variable the winds and less likely the tropical cyclones. Tropical waters also have the almost inestimable value of being warm!

OH, THE HUMANITY: Making a living, health care, social needs such as the ability to raise and family and connect with a community of friends etc ... these aren't raised as issues by old Douglas, but they're surely as important to surfers as to any other form of human life over the longer term. (Maybe not when you're 23 years old and frothing.)

Once you take those into account, many surfers in CA, Eastern Oz, and even SW France might end up saying home isn't so bad after all.

Personally I think if you take out most considerations other than quality and frequency of surf, Tahiti and her neighbor islands have to be high on the list ... it doesn't pump every day, but even the most avid surfer needs down time, and when it DOES pump, my god, nowhere else quite comes close.