Surfing in Zandvoort
Today
Today's forecast · Good
Next update at 06:35There's a proper session out there. 1.2 m (chest-high) at 7 seconds, out of the north-northwest.
Good size, and the waves are peeling nicely.
Sessions today17:00-19:00 offshore 6 kn, around low tide
The days ahead
Best day: Sun 18 Oct · 6.3Live from the water
All cameras →Hourly
Surf score and wave height
Hourly · our own model, Open-Meteo and othersThe dotted lines are midnight.
The tide
RijkswaterstaatThe tide at IJmuiden. The dotted yellow line is now.
All high and low tide times →Wind and tide · today
Wind
Cross-shore, but light enough not to matter.
6 kn · 2 Bft · from NE
Tide
High tide 08:50, low tide 16:20.
The surf report for today, Sun 18 Oct
It's blowing 6 knots (2 Bft) from the northeast, cross-shore, gusting to 13 knots (4 Bft).
High tide at 08:50 is still a long way off.
Low water: the break sits further out than at high water, so it is a longer paddle. Roughly 120 to 160 m from the water's edge, in other words middle. Count from where the water is now.
It's at its best today between 17:00 and 19:00.
It gets dark soon after.
At 17.6° the sea's warmer than the air.
If you go: a funboard or shortboard and a 3/2 full wetsuit.
By level
Where it breaks
The beach from above
Sandbars · wind · swellSouth, centre, north
Based on satellite imagery from 6 September and aerial photographs from 7 October.
- South: Zuiderduin beach entrance and south of it. The kite zone is here, so on a windy day the sky is full of kites.
- Centre: Boulevard de Favauge and Fenemaplein. The busiest stretch. In season there are lifeguarded swimming zones here, and they're off limits for surfing.
- North: Boulevard Barnaart up to the Noordboulevard. Most of the surf schools are here, so mornings often have groups in the whitewater.
What to bring · today
Which wetsuit
3/2 full wetsuit
Which board
A shortboard will do. A funboard is the safe bet.
Ten days ahead
| Day | Score | Swell | Wind | Weather | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| today18 Oct | 6.3 | 0.9 m 7 s N | 6 kn 2 Bft · E | 11° | |
| Mon19 Oct | 3.5↓ | 0.6 m 7 s NNW | 10 kn 3 Bft · E | 11° | |
| Tue20 Oct | 1.7↓ | 0.2 m 3 s E | 12 kn 4 Bft · ESE | 11° | ° |
| Wed21 Oct | 3.2↑ | 1.2 m 5 s SW | 9 kn 3 Bft · S | 12° | ° |
| Thu22 Oct | 3.0 | 1.7 m 7 s WSW | 14 kn 4 Bft · SSW | 11° | ° |
| Fri23 Oct | 3.8↑ | 1.8 m 7 s WSW | 8 kn 3 Bft · ESE | 11° | °⇣ |
| Sat24 Oct | 0.5↓ | 1.5 m 7 s WSW | 16 kn 4 Bft · SW | 10° | ° |
| Sun25 Oct | 1.9↑ | 0.9 m 6 s NNW | 11 kn 4 Bft · SW | 12° | ≈° |
| Mon26 Oct | 3.8↑ | 1.5 m 7 s WSW | 12 kn 4 Bft · S | 11° | ≈° |
| Tue27 Oct | 3.1 | 1.1 m 6 s W | 14 kn 4 Bft · S | 12° | ≈° |
- ° Wind still uncertain
- ⇣ May come in smaller
- ≈ Still far off, uncertain
The week in brief
There's one clear day in it: Sunday, 0.9 m around 18:00.
Mostly westerly swell, which this beach picks up well.
From Sunday 25 Oct onwards, the forecast is still uncertain.
Surf alerts on your phone
Starting out
Lessons, camps and hire →Zandvoort as a surf beach
Wind, period, tide and rips
Zandvoort is a beach break. The waves break over sandbars, and the bars move with every storm. A stretch that worked in May can be doing nothing by September, so have a look from the boulevard first. Where the waves build cleanly and run a long way is where you want to be.
Wind, period and tide
- Wind. Offshore wind, an easterly here, keeps the waves clean. Onshore wind soon makes it messy. When it blows hard offshore, waves are hard to get into, because the wind is pushing against you.
- Period. The time between two waves, in seconds. Under five it's short wind chop with no power behind it. From about seven there's real power in them.
- Tide. Around the turn of the tide, things can change fast here. A sea doing nothing at ten can be working by twelve.
Getting in safely
A rip is water running back out to sea through a channel between two sandbars. You can spot one as a calm, darker strip between two patches of whitewater: the waves break over the bars, but not in the channel. Don't go in at that calm spot.
Rips move with the tide and after every storm. Watch the water and the flags.
- Caught in one? Don't swim against it; you won't last. Hold on to your board: it keeps you afloat and makes you easy to see. Raise a hand and shout for help. If you can stand, walk rather than swim. Otherwise swim parallel to the beach until you're out of the current, then head in.
- Pick a landmark. The current along this beach is often stronger than you'd think. Line yourself up with a landmark (a pavilion or beach entrance) and check now and then that you're still level with it.
- Don't go alone. And never outside lifeguard hours, or on an empty beach.
- Where can you surf? From 15 April to 1 October the beach is split into zones. Surfing and SUP are allowed everywhere, but in the swimming zones (blue signs) you're a guest and swimmers come first. Kiting and windsurfing are only allowed in the watersports zones (black signs), including at The Spot and at the watersports club, or more than 150 metres out. The rest of the year, anything goes anywhere.