NORTH SEA SURFFORECASTING, INTERPRETED
NORDR combines daily written forecasts, raw swell and wind tables, regional buoy maps, custom surf spots, personal scoring, quiver-aware recommendations, and alerts built around your own local knowledge.
WHAT YOU ACTUALLY GET
Windows, limiting factors, and how sure we are. When the forecast is shaky, you see why.
OPTIMAL WINDOW
Time
07:00 – 09:00
Conditions
High tide, offshore, 11s period
Swell
1.1m @ 11s
Wind
4kt S (offshore)
Tide
High at 08:15
Direction
SW 210°
MOST APPS SHOW THE FORECAST. NORDR HELPS YOU MAKE THE CALL.
North Sea and Nordic surf is rarely simple. NORDR keeps the raw data visible, interprets the day in plain language, and lets you tune alerts around how your own spots actually work.
THE FORECAST IS LIVE
Built for short, shifting North Sea and Nordic windows: Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, the UK and Norway. No login, no waitlist — get it on iPhone.
THE WRITTEN FORECAST GIVES THE CALL. THE TABLES SHOW THE EVIDENCE.
A written surf forecast for North Sea and Nordic spots in Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, the UK, and Norway. NORDR interprets swell, wind, tide, period, and buoy evidence into a daily call that points you to the best window.
SPOT
KNOKKE-HEIST
BEST 07:00-09:00
Tuesday opens with 1.1m @ 11s NW swell, waist- to chest-high sets, and light S offshore wind. The useful gate is the push into high tide around 08:15, with the banks filling by dawn. Westhinder is still reading the pulse clean, so make the call between 07:00 and 09:00. After that, the sea breeze adds texture and the window narrows fast.
Current spot
Now verdict, score dots, and plain-language go or wait call.
Later today
Checks if a cleaner window appears after tide or wind changes.
Buoy line
Compares model output with live buoy height, period, direction, and trend.
Short outlook
Expands into a 3-7 day brief with archetype, best day, and daily paragraphs.
WHAT THE NOTE READS
WAVE
1.1m · 11s · NW
Primary swell, period, and direction are kept visible so the written call never hides the raw setup.
WIND
4kt S offshore
Wind class is scored against the beach facing, including gust risk and the next shift.
TIDE
High 08:15
The call names the useful tide gate instead of showing tide height as a loose number.
BUOY
Westhinder fresh
Nearest and upstream buoys are used when they are fresh, aligned, and close enough to matter.
TRUST
High confidence
Confidence drops when the model drifts from buoy truth or the good window sits too far out.
MON
JUN 23
Go early. The high fills the banks, offshore wind keeps the face open, and the buoy still supports the model.
Fresh buoy pulse, mid-period NW swell, and a tide gate that lines up with dawn.
07:00-09:00
HIGH TRUST
4kt S
High 08:15
TUE
JUN 24
Surfable around the morning high. The note flags texture after lunch, so the window is useful but not generous.
Wind risk rises after the peak, while tide stays favourable for the first push.
08:00-10:00
MID TRUST
9kt SW
High 09:00
WED
JUN 25
Wait. Low water sits across the peak and the banks block enough energy to make the first half slow.
The period is usable, but tide timing is the limiter until the evening push.
After 17:00
MID TRUST
11kt W
Low 11:30
THU
JUN 26
Fresh mid-period swell arrives. The brief marks it as rideable if cross-shore wind does not overtake the tide.
A building archetype, afternoon tide gate, and no hard buoy contradiction yet.
15:00-17:00
LOW TRUST
8kt NW
High 16:20
FRI
JUN 27
Skip. There is wave height on paper, but the local note calls it blown out and not worth the drive.
Strong onshore wind dominates the whole period and collapses the score.
None
HIGH TRUST
22kt W
Low 05:40
SAT
JUN 28
Dropping swell but clean offshore all morning. A short session still makes sense near the high.
Fading archetype, clean wind, and a narrow high-water overlap.
07:30-09:30
LOW TRUST
5kt NE
High 08:40
SUN
JUN 29
Small and tide-dependent. The app would keep this as a wait unless the late high overperforms.
Low swell energy, longer horizon, and weak tide alignment.
Late high
LOW TRUST
7kt E
Low 14:10
The app uses the same underlying mechanics: local note, period brief, confidence detail, buoy provenance, tide gate, and deterministic fallback when on-device generation is unavailable.
DEPTH OVER THE BANKS
On the southern North Sea, sandbanks sit offshore in shallow water. At low water they absorb the swell before it reaches the beach. The forecast accounts for tide stage at each break.
Outer banks absorb the swell. Flat at the beach.
Banks still bleeding off energy. Marginal.
Enough water over the banks. Swell reaches the beach.
FORECAST VS WHAT YOU PADDLE INTO
Standard forecast
"1.2m @ 10s from WNW" — reads surfable.
Tide-adjusted
Flat at the beach until 14:30. Window opens through the high, then closes with the drop.
Regional tide dependency
Belgium (Oostende, De Panne, Knokke)
Flat at low water
Zeeland (NL)
Rideable, off-peak
North Holland (NL)
Larger swells push through
DIRECTION FIRST
Wind direction relative to the beach decides whether the face holds or breaks up. Speed determines how forgiving that direction is.
Land to sea. Holds the face open at moderate speed.
Along the beach. Rideable, but shape depends on shielding.
Sea to land. Chops the face and stacks swell on swell.
SPEED PENALTY
Even offshore goes off above a certain speed. Penalties stack with the direction score.
FROM BASIN TO BEACH
Energy travels, bends, and dissipates before it reaches the lineup.
GENERATION
Track basin-scale wind forcing and offshore energy formation.
PROPAGATION
Model travel speed, decay, and direction shifts across the shelf.
TRANSFORMATION
Apply depth and orientation effects that reshape wave quality.
BREAK-LEVEL OUTPUT
Present likely session windows with confidence and limiting factors.
SOURCE TO SHORE
Offshore buoy readings don't tell you what reaches the beach. We model energy loss, refraction over bathymetry, and nearshore shoaling so the number on screen is the wave that arrives.
GROUP VELOCITY ETAs
Arrival windows from wave period physics, not rule of thumb.
BUOY NETWORK TRACKING
Energy picked up offshore and propagated forward to your coastline.
SHALLOW-BANK ATTENUATION
Energy lost crossing Dogger Bank and other shallows, accounted for with bathymetry.
NARROW ARRIVAL WINDOWS
Where period, direction, tide, and wind align — and why.
Deep Water Group Velocity
Cg = gT / (4π) ≈ 0.78 × T (m/s)T is wave period in seconds. A 15-second groundswell travels at ~11.7 m/s.
GET NOTIFIED WHEN YOUR WINDOW OPENS
Set your own scoring logic and get alerts when your spot starts to line up. Three preset rules run for free; custom alerts fire when the forecast matches the conditions you configured. Pro pushes them from the server, even when the app is closed.
AUTO RULES
FREEThree preset rules run locally: tomorrow morning, dawn patrol, and conditions improved.
TRIGGER: Best window in a defined look-ahead
CUSTOM ALERTS
FREESet the score, wave, period, wind, and tide states you want. Two alerts free, unlimited on Pro.
TRIGGER: Your conditions match within 48h
SMART ALERTS
PRONORDR's servers watch your spots and push alerts even when the app is closed.
TRIGGER: Server-side push via Expo token
TYPICAL ALERTS
Drop everything. Knokke-Heist is on.
1.2m @ 10s, wind 4kt around 07:00. NORDR has it at 8.4.
Dawn cleared at Scheveningen
0.9m @ 9s, offshore. Best 06:30 – 08:30.
«Dawn patrol» just improved
Tomorrow's window moved up a tier to Surfable.
CONTROLS
NORTH SEA BASIN
Tide-adjusted forecast windows for North Sea and cold-water surf coasts, calibrated against buoy and coastal model data.
BE / BELGIUM
BLANKENBERGE
Flemish Banks. Tide-dependent.
NL / NETHERLANDS
SCHEVENINGEN
Open North Sea exposure.
DK / DENMARK
KLITMØLLER
Wind swell, exposed coast.
UK / UNITED KINGDOM
EAST COAST
North Sea exposure, wind windows.
NO / NORWAY
JÆREN
Cold-water swell, exposed coast.
TEACH NORDR YOUR LOCAL LOGIC
Your home break does not behave like a generic forecast point. Create custom spots and tune the scoring to your own local knowledge. Drop a pin, set the wind and swell windows that work, and NORDR scores it exactly like a curated spot.
PIN
Drop a pin on the map at your break. NORDR warns you if a curated spot is nearby but never blocks you.
BASICS
Name it, pick the break type, and set the tide it works best on.
PREVIEW
Wind and swell sectors are derived from the beach direction. Override anything that's wrong.
TUNE
Rate a handful of sample conditions per board. NORDR fits the model to your judgement.
SAVED
Forecast, alerts, and board recommendations run on your spot from here on.
SHARE LINK
Send a spot to a friend. They tap the link and it imports with sectors and tuning intact.
nordr.app/s/d8x2k
Up to 250 custom spots. Free tier keeps one actively tuned spot.
MODELS PREDICT. BUOYS REPORT. NORDR SHOWS BOTH.
Track buoys across the North Sea and Nordic region to see what the ocean is actually doing, not only what the model expected. NORDR reads every working wave buoy across six institutions and reconciles them with the forecast.
57
STATIONS
6
OPERATORS
6
COUNTRIES
NL
Rijkswaterstaat
8
STATIONS
- Europlatform52.00°, 3.28°
- K13a Platform53.22°, 3.22°
- K1453.27°, 3.63°
- Eierlandse Gat53.28°, 4.66°
- J653.82°, 2.95°
- F354.85°, 4.73°
- A12 Platform55.38°, 3.80°
- L953.62°, 4.97°
BE
Meetnet Vlaamse Banken
17
STATIONS
- Westhinder51.39°, 2.44°
- Thorntonbank Zuid51.56°, 2.99°
- Akkaert-Zuidwest51.42°, 2.82°
- Kwintebank51.35°, 2.71°
- Wandelaar51.39°, 3.05°
- A2 Boei51.36°, 3.12°
- Bol van Heist51.39°, 3.20°
- Scheur Wielingen51.40°, 3.30°
- Zeebrugge Zandopvangkade51.35°, 3.20°
- Blankenberge51.32°, 3.10°
- Oostende Noord51.35°, 2.88°
- Oostende Poortjes51.29°, 2.86°
- Oostende Oosterstaketsel51.25°, 2.93°
- Raversijde 151.21°, 2.84°
- Raversijde 251.24°, 2.81°
- Nieuwpoort51.16°, 2.69°
- Trapegeer51.14°, 2.58°
UK
CEFAS WaveNet
15
STATIONS
- Poole Bay50.63°, -1.72°
- Hastings50.75°, 0.76°
- South Pembrokeshire51.46°, -5.23°
- Liverpool Bay53.53°, -3.35°
- Arbroath56.54°, -2.51°
- Tyne/Tees54.92°, -0.75°
- Eyemouth55.87°, -2.06°
- Moray Firth57.97°, -3.33°
- Southwold52.31°, 1.78°
- Scarweather51.43°, -3.93°
- Firth of Forth56.19°, -2.50°
- Blackstone56.06°, -7.06°
- Dowsing53.53°, 1.05°
- South Knock51.57°, 1.58°
- West Gabbard51.95°, 2.11°
NO
MET Norway
8
STATIONS
- Borestranden58.75°, 5.47°
- Karmøy59.26°, 5.16°
- Stad62.15°, 5.10°
- Hustadvika62.95°, 7.00°
- Unstad68.30°, 13.55°
- Ersfjord69.65°, 18.52°
- Trøndelag63.65°, 8.60°
- Skagerrak58.40°, 8.50°
SE
SMHI
5
STATIONS
- SMHI 3300258.93°, 19.17°
- Finngrundet WR60.90°, 18.62°
- Knolls Grund57.52°, 17.62°
- Väderöarna WR58.48°, 10.93°
- Brofjorden WR58.25°, 11.22°
IE
Marine Institute
4
STATIONS
- Ireland M253.48°, -5.43°
- Ireland M351.22°, -10.55°
- Ireland M551.69°, -6.70°
- Ireland M653.07°, -15.88°
Buoy observations are bias-corrected against the forecast each cycle. When the model drifts, the buoy wins.
FREE SIGNAL. PRO DEPTH.
The surf call is free. The reasoning behind it is Pro.
FREE
The call
Today's window, the five-day outlook, data freshness, safety context. Enough to decide whether to go.
PRO
The reasoning
For surfers who want to know why the call is what it is.
- Full wind and swell analysis
- Break-level intelligence
- Unlimited custom and smart alerts
- Spot optimizer and forecast reliability
- Session match and journal depth
SURF FORECAST QUESTIONS
Fast answers for surfers comparing NORDR with generic weather and wave apps.
Which countries does NORDR target?+
NORDR targets Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, the UK and Norway, with coverage prioritized by coastal demand and model validation.
Does NORDR work for UK surf?+
The UK is a target coast for NORDR, especially North Sea and exposed cold-water breaks where wind, tide and local exposure change the call.
Does NORDR cover Norway?+
Norway is part of the target region. The page currently positions Norway as a priority cold-water coast and uses coverage requests to guide rollout.
How is NORDR different from a normal surf forecast?+
NORDR is a North Sea and Nordic surf decision app. It interprets the forecast in plain language, keeps the raw swell and wind tables visible, tracks regional buoys, lets you create custom spots with your own scoring, and fires alerts when your configured conditions line up.
Is the surf call free?+
The core surf call is free. Pro adds deeper reasoning, alert depth, custom spot tools and extended tuning.
Can I request my coast or break?+
Yes. Use the coverage request form to tell us where you surf and how often. Demand helps decide which coastlines move up next.
REQUEST COVERAGE
NOT IN A COVERED REGION?
NORDR targets Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, the UK and Norway. Tell us where you surf and how often — we prioritise new coastlines by demand.