Kijkduin Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Gather 'round, folks. Rusty here, and I've got to be straight with you – the outlook for our stretch of coast is about as flat as a Dutch pancake for the vast majority of this 16-day run. We're looking at a grim, drawn-out stretch of tiny, wind-chopped mush with hardly a single session worth paddling out for. This is one of those periods where you might be better off checking the surf forecast for some faraway point break, because Kijkduin is locked in a bit of a doldrum.

The whole forecast is a mess of "poor surf conditions" and scores that are basically zero. The combined swell energy is weak to non-existent, mostly in the single digits or low teens – that's barely a ripple. The only flicker of life comes right at the very end, on Tuesday the 25th of August. The morning shows a bit of a pulse: 3ft of west swell, with glassy conditions and light southerly winds. The combined energy climbs to 66, which suggests a bit more push than we've seen all fortnight. The water temp is a warm 70°F, which is much warmer than normal for this time of year. But even then, the comment is 'surfable waves but very ordinary conditions'. It's the only day that even gets a score of a 1 out of 10, and that's not saying much.

Let's run through the carnage. From Thursday the 13th all the way through Monday the 24th of August, it's a desert. Nothing. Nada. Waves barely break 2ft, the period is short and weak, and the wind is mostly onshore or cross-onshore, turning the ocean into a washing machine. There's a brief moment on the morning of the 23rd with glassy conditions, but with only 1ft of 4-second wind swell, you'd be doing little more than bobbing around. That's a 12-day gap of junk. Even the slightly bigger days on the 18th and 19th, which kick up to 4ft, are ruined by onshore wind and lumpy conditions.

The only real standout, and I'm using that term loosely, is Tuesday morning, August 25th at Kijkduin (Netherlands). It's a beach/jetty setup, exposed to the north-northwest. Swell is a tiny 3ft from the west, but the period is a meager 5 seconds, so it'll be weak and crumbly. The saving grace is the southerly breeze – that's offshore here – making for a glassy surface. The energy (66) is moderate, but for this area, on this day, it's the best we've got. The crowds can be *sometimes* an issue, but with such small, ordinary surf, you might still find a bit of space. Beginners will be fine in these ankle-to-knee-high conditions.

After that, it's back to the grind from Wednesday the 26th onward. The swell starts to wind down again, with moderate to fresh cross-shore winds, and you're looking at messy, lumpy conditions all the way through to the 28th.

So there you have it. A long, dry spell punctuated by one very average, barely surfable window on the morning of Tuesday the 25th. The area is fairly consistent, but this run is just one of those blank spells. Forecasts can change, but for now, you're not missing much.

Rusty.

Read more