Etretat Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let's be straight with you – this outlook for Etretat is a tough one to write. We've got a solid 16 days ahead, but honestly, the surf doesn't show up for a party.

Looking at the overall picture, we're staring down the barrel of a long, drawn-out period of really small, weak swell and almost constant onshore wind. It’s a pretty bleak run for a wave, and you’d be hard-pressed to call any of it a standout. There's a long gap of poor to non-existent surf right from the start.

Tuesday the 7th and Wednesday the 8th kick things off with tiny, knee-high swell of less than a foot from the west. The wind is cross-shore and not helping at all, and those wave energy numbers are barely a whisper. It’s just not worth paddling out for.

We then hit a real dry spell from Thursday the 9th right through to Saturday the 12th. The swell is almost non-existent, just a few inches, and we're getting hammered by strong onshore winds from the NE and NNE, blowing 15 to 28 mph. The water will be a mess. The only positive note is the water temperature; it's sitting about average for this time of year.

The period from Sunday the 13th to Friday the 17th sees a slight pulse in energy, but it's all bad news. We get some windswell pushing in from the NNE, hitting 5 to 6 ft at times, and the combined energy climbs into the moderate range. But the wind is still howling onshore from the NE at 18 to 25 mph. The setup looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing. At 5 to 6 ft in those conditions, it's a washed-out mess.

Then, on Friday the 17th of July, the wind finally goes glassy light from the NNW at just 3 mph in the morning. The swell is still only about 3 ft from the NNE with a short period of 6 seconds, and the energy is weak. But that glassy condition is a rare gem. If you’re desperate for a small, clean wave on a longboard, this is your only window, but the quality is still poor.

After that, we go right back to the doldrums from Saturday the 18th all the way to the end of the outlook on Wednesday the 22nd of July. Tiny swell of a few inches to just over a foot, a mix of weak periods, and the winds keep switching around. Even when we get a morning like Monday the 20th with glass and a long period 11-second groundswell, at only a few inches, it's not enough to push through.

So here's the bottom line: there are no good surf options in this 16-day window. It’s a blank run, which isn't unusual for this area when the conditions don't line up. Keep the board in the car, watch the charts, and it tends not to stay this poor for long. Forecasts can change.

Stay patient,
Rusty

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