Etretat Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Looking at the chalk cliffs, and to be blunt, the next week is a pretty bleak picture for waves. We've got a long stretch of tiny, weak surf, and a big gap of nothingness before we get to anything worthwhile. A few days of knee-slappers means you might as well wax the kiteboard or catch up on sleep.

The swell finally starts to fill in on Saturday the 29th, but it's messy. The wind is howling offshore from the SSW at 25 mph, which keeps the surface clean but makes it a real fight to paddle into anything. The energy jumps to 276, but it's short-period wind swell, full of chop.

Sunday the 30th is where it gets interesting. We've got a proper SW groundswell and cleaner conditions. The swell holds at 5ft with a period of 6 seconds—not the best period, but the morning wind is a solid offshore at 16 mph. This is your window. Etretat is the main show, a reef setup that loves a good SW push. The energy is up to 212, and it's going to be contestable. Not for the faint of heart though; at this size, it’s pushing past beginner territory.

The afternoon glass-off looks tempting, with the swell dropping to a clean 3ft and the wind going glassy. The period jumps to 9 seconds from the west. It's smaller and more user-friendly, but with less power behind it. It's a classic Sunday sesh.

After that, we're back to the waiting game. The surf drops right off again on Monday and stays tiny, with poor conditions and weak energy readings in the low 20s. This flat spell drags on for most of the week, with barely a ripple.

We finally get another pulse around the 7th of September, a tiny 3ft SW swell with a clean offshore wind in the afternoon, but it’s only enough for a longboard if you're desperate. The energy is still weak at 94.

The end of the forecast window is properly moody. Around Tuesday the 8th, the swell pushes back up to 5ft, but the 25 mph cross-offshore winds will turn it into a wind-blown mess. Then, on Wednesday the 9th, we've got the biggest swell of the period – 7ft at 7 seconds from the W. The energy is strong at 508, but that kind of short-period swell with strong sideshore winds is going to be a washing machine. It’s going to be a battle. Given the size and the wind, it may be a better day for the kite surfers than for us paddle surfers.

So, the standout is the Sunday morning surf. It's the cleanest combo of size and wind all forecast. Everything else is either too small, too messy, or too blown out.

Alright, stay stoked, and keep an eye on the charts. This is Rusty, signing off.

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