Etretat Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. I’ve been staring at the charts for the Etretat region and, well, I gotta be straight with you. It’s a pretty grim outlook for the next couple of weeks. The surf is going to be a real struggle, with hardly any days that get the heart pumping.

Let’s start with the big picture: We’ve got a long stretch of weak, short-period windswell and messy winds. The water is running at a very unusual 69° – that’s much warmer than we’d expect for this time of year, which is a nice touch for the rubber, but it doesn’t fix the waves.

The action kicks off on Monday, 31st of August, but it’s not the kind you want. A solid 7ft swell from the west is rolling in, but it’s got a short 8-second period and a brutal 25 mph cross-offshore wind. The combined energy is moderate at 553, but with that wind, it’s just a messy, blown-out wall. This is a day for the kite surfers, not paddle surfers. The afternoon drops to 6ft but the wind is still howling.

Tuesday, 1st of September, is a little less angry, but still not good. The swell drops to 3ft from the WNW with a 9-second period, and the wind is a lighter 9 mph cross-offshore. The wave energy is weak at 110. It’s small, gutless, and the conditions are just ordinary. Wednesday, the 2nd, is a total washout with nothing but 0.7ft.

Thursday, 3rd of September, the morning shows a slight pulse. A 4ft swell from the west arrives with a 6-second period, but the wind is a clean offshore from the SW at 16 mph. The energy is weak at 89. It’s clean, but incredibly short period and weak. Hard to get excited about.

Then we hit a massive dead zone. From Friday, 4th of September, all the way through to Monday, 14th of September, the swell is tiny or non-existent. We’re talking flat spells and days with 0.7ft to 1ft junk. The winds are all over the place, but it doesn’t matter because there’s no wave to push. It’s a long, dry spell of over a week with nothing worth paddling for.

Finally, on Tuesday, 15th of September, there’s a last gasp. A bigger swell builds in the morning, hitting 6ft from the west at 6 seconds, with a 19 mph cross-offshore wind. The energy is moderate at 263. The afternoon gets a bit more interesting: 8ft from the west, 7-second period, and a strong 25 mph offshore wind. The energy is strong at 542. The commentary says it’s strong offshore and clean, but hard to paddle into. That’s the truth. That’s a heavy, choppy, strong-wind session for experts only. The short period (6-7 seconds) means those waves will be steep and closey, and with that wind, it’ll be a battle.

So, the only real standout, if you can call it that, is the Tuesday, 15th of September afternoon session at Etretat. It’s the biggest, most powerful swell of the window, but it’s a real challenge. For the rest of us, this is a time to clean the wax off the boards and wait for a better forecast. The conditions tend to turn around, but right now, it’s a tough stretch.

Rusty.

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