Zandvoort Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right, folks, Rusty here. We’ve got a look at the 16-day forecast for Zandvoort, and I’ll be honest with you, it’s a tough stretch. The first week and a half is mostly a write-off, with a couple of very small windows of hope.

The overall pattern is dominated by strong, onshore and cross-shore winds, with moderate to fresh breezes keeping things messy and choppy for the vast majority of the period. Combined wave energy values are often in the low two-digit range, indicating weak energy, or even lower, before a few bursts of more significant power. The swell is short-period windswell for the most part, which doesn't help.

To start off, there’s a gap of nearly five days with no real surf on offer. The first hint of something surfable arrives on Sunday, the 6th of September. The morning session is the only real standout of the entire outlook. Zandvoort is an exposed sandbar break that is inconsistent, and it’s only a beginner-level spot. Sunday morning, we’ve got a light offshore wind from the ESE at 6 mph, creating clean conditions. The swell is a tiny 3 ft from the NNW, with a short period of 7 seconds. The combined energy is a weak 70, so it’s “surfable waves but very ordinary conditions.” The water temperature is about average for the time of year. It’s small, but it’s the cleanest we’ll see, and it’s the only time the wind really works for us. The afternoon goes glassy, but the swell drops right off to 2 ft and the energy halves to 47, so it’s not worth the paddle.

After that, it’s back to the doldrums for another four days of flat, choppy, or cross-off junk. The only other real highlight is Saturday, the 12th of September. Again, a morning session with glassy conditions and a light NNE breeze at 3 mph. The swell is a tiny 2 ft from the NNW with a period of 7 seconds and a combined energy of 57. It’s “surfable waves but very ordinary conditions” again. This is more of a longboard or foiling session for the very keen.

The rest of the outlook is a mix of poor conditions, strong winds, and very small swells. For example, on Friday the 4th and Thursday the 10th of September, we get larger swells – up to 7 ft and 8 ft – but they are accompanied by strong to gale-force cross-shore winds and combined energies of 368 and 678 respectively. That’s a complete mess, and at Zandvoort, a beach setup, that’s more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing. The swell periods are short (7-8 seconds), so it’s just wind-chop.

So, the standout is clearly Sunday the 6th of September morning. Saturday the 12th of September morning is a very, very distant second option. The rest of the 16 days is a long run of poor to flat conditions. We’ve got a few days of clean cross-off wind in the second week, but the swell is so tiny (1.0 ft to 3 ft) it’s barely worth mentioning. It’s a classic North Sea run of bad luck.

Rusty, signing off.

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