Zandvoort Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you – if you’re looking to paddle out at Zandvoort over the next couple of weeks, you’re gonna be fighting an uphill battle. The forecast is a long stretch of poor surf conditions, with very few moments that even come close to being worthwhile. From now through to around the 20th of September, there’s a whole lot of nothing that I’d call a proper surf session. The first week is particularly grim, with small, weak swells and a lot of cross and onshore wind messing things up.

Let’s be honest, the pick of a very sad bunch is probably a few brief windows where the wind works in your favour. On the morning of Thursday, the 10th of September, the wind goes cross-off from the SSW at 16 mph, cleaning things up for a tiny 3 ft swell from the NW. The wave energy is weak. It’s not going to be big, but it might be the only time the surface looks halfway decent and ridable for a beginner. Similarly, the morning of the 12th of September has a clean look with a cross-off wind, but again it's ankle-snapping at 3 ft.

Later in the run, the swell does try to kick up. On the 20th of September, we start seeing consistent 5 ft swell, but the wind is mostly cross or cross-off at best, keeping the surf sloppy. For the morning of the 20th, there’s a cleaner window with a cross-off SSSW breeze at 19 mph and a 5 ft swell out of the W. The combined energy is moderate, but the direction is not all that great for the break, which really needs a NNW to make the most of things.

The real standout in terms of size comes on Monday, the 21st of September. There’s a chunky 8 ft NW groundswell pushing in with very high energy. The period is a solid 9 seconds. That’s a powerful wave. But it’s accompanied by a fresh onshore NW wind. That combination makes for a powerful, messy and dangerous wave that is only for experts. Even then, the poor surf condition rating holds. For a beginner or intermediate, this is a massive miss.

Unfortunately, most of the other days in the second week are plagued by strong onshore winds (up to 28 mph on the 18th of September) or messy cross-chop. The water temp is about 68°F which is much warmer than normal for the time of year, but that’s small comfort when you’re fighting a washing machine.

Bottom line: there are no good surf options in this 16-day window. It’s a frustrating stretch. With the amount of wind and poor quality, especially on the beach and sandbar setup here, this honestly looks more interesting for a kite surfer than a paddle surfer for a lot of these days. We just have to hope the forecast changes.

Rusty.

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