Surfing decent waves in Holland requires a lot of effort. But that’s also part of what makes it special; it keeps you hungry. You don’t take it for granted, you really appreciate it.
It’s like being in the opposite dimension of a country with consistent quality waves. There is so much anticipation for those sweet little sessions, whether it’s just really fun, rippable onshore slob on a good sandbank, or those very few clean days. The tide in the North Sea is massive and influences the waves a lot, which means timing is everything over here.
Don’t get me wrong. Scoring waves in a place that is blessed with consistent surf never gets boring. It’s what surfing is about. Whether that is on a epic French sandbank, barreling Portuguese reef, an Irish slab, a Californian A-frame skatepark, Australian pointbreaks or the perfect chunk of tropical coral. Yet scoring quality waves at a place that doesn’t receive swell so often is a different experience.
It’s different because the energy of the entire place changes.
Or maybe it’s because not many people have ridden waves at that location before and it’s usually uncrowded. Maybe it’s because there are plenty of discoveries to be made. Maybe its because those few times a year, exceptional sessions almost feel like a miracle when they happen. Maybe it’s just a silly sentiment, but it’s almost like all those conditions coming together to give us great waves shouldn’t even be possible here to begin with. Or maybe you just have to come from such a wave poor country to recognize and appreciate that level of anticipation – to fully feel the reward. I don’t know exactly, but I definitely can say I’m a big fan of surfing these different, wave starved places during those special moments.
This first episode is all filmed on a Saturday in September. A few of my friends and myself having fun right out front where I live in Scheveningen, The Netherlands.
Hollandsch is a series of visual odes to North Sea seduction in every form and function.
