A Dutch Surf Girl in the Gower

Michelle and myself: post surf, Llangennith

In early February this year, whilst waiting to load my surf board into my friends van, a blonde girl comes up to me with a shy and friendly smile, also, with a surfboard. I have never met her before; I am under the impression that I know all the female surfers on campus… Obviously I am wrong.The girl, Michelle de Groot (soon to become a good friend) has a rolling European accent, it sounds very Dutch. And after shy introductions, we get into the nitty gritty surf talk… I learn a lot from that conversation, not just about Michelle (Dutch exchange student to Swansea for the semester) but about the surprisingly strong surf scene in the Netherlands. Good memories…

And when other people learn that Michelle surfs in the Netherlands, in The Hague, nonetheless, people are understandably surprised, and somewhat confused. So, I have asked Michelle to write a little bit about ‘Surfing in the Netherlands’, her experiences in the waters where the North Sea and Wadden Sea meet, and as a Dutch Surf Girl.

Hope you enjoy…

Michelle: surfing her home break, De Pier

Ok, surfing in the Netherlands… what’s it all about?

“Even though surfing might not be the first thing to come up talking about The Netherlands, you sure can! We have a long coastline with decent beaches to surf. It is always cold though… there are only about 3-5 days in the year you can surf without wetsuit, but in summer it’s often flat.”

What does the Dutch surfer’s map look like? And what is the surf crowd like in these places?

“Basically, all beaches are beach breaks, going both left and right. I must say, coming to Wales and seeing beautiful long lines… I have never seen The Netherlands that clean. When a good swell comes in, it is often still stormy, no long clean lines. However, surfing in The Netherlands is very safe! But of course, there are still rip currents.

There are many different beaches where you can surf. Most of them are in the North Sea, but you can surf the Wadden Sea when surfing at Texel. I myself surf in Scheveningen, The Hague. In my opinion (and many others) the best beach to surf in The Netherlands! This is the most common place to surf. It is definitely the busiest at the harbour. There you can find Hartbeach, which is a well-known surf school, shop and they organise events as well. I never surf at the harbour, as it is too crowded and locals want to dominate the spot as well.

I surf at the pier of Scheveningen, which is not only less crowded, but the scenery is also better! Here it is mainly people from my surf school or locals that prefer a less crowded spot. When a good swell comes in it can get quite busy at the pier. I think Scheveningen is very competitive. Good surfers surf here, like surfers that are in the national team. Sometimes it can be very intimidating when the older men with their shortboards start paddling around you and trying to catch every wave before you. They often think they own the place. And then there are the groms, they are most often in the water and they are seriously good! Most of them surf at my surf school as well, which is why I often recognise them and feel less intimidated, because they will try to take every wave possible.”

Michelle: De Pier, Scheveningen, 

Do you guys get good conditions?

“I think trying to learn how to surf is good in The Netherlands until you reached the point of being able to go down the line. Then it becomes very difficult to progress. I remember my trainer saying to me: if you can surf well in The Netherlands, you can surf almost anywhere. And as soon as I went to Matosinhos (Porto, Portugal) 2 years ago, I understood. My first time surfing abroad and it was the easiest thing to do. I was actually able to trim across the wave, instead of it closing out immediately.”

Obviously we’re both female surfers, but here in the Gower, there are very few of us in the lineup (in comparison to the men). So what’s the female surf scene like for you guys?

“Even though its mostly men surfing, about 1.5 years ago two women in The Netherlands started a community for women that surf in The Netherlands. I remember when my friends and I saw the Facebook post: A line up with only women! I couldn’t join that day unfortunately, but it was a success! The women came from all over The Netherlands to join. Soon another meet up came, which I did join and it was the best! The atmosphere is just so different when there is only women in the water, no competitiveness and only joy. The youngest girl was about 16 and the oldest was 45. And then the two women organising the session brought their friend Benny, who is a water sport photographer and he took amazing pictures of us. And just like this about 5/6 more sessions followed throughout the years. The community grew rapidly and they are even organising trips to for example Morocco!”

Myself and Michelle: April 2023, Ericeira surf trip

We joke a lot about how people don’t really expect surfers to be coming out of the Netherlands, but what are other Dutch people’s reaction and opinion about surfing?

“If you would tell a random person on the street you surf, they are most of the times surprised in a positive way. Often people think it is impressive. Yet, when in 2020 five surfers died in Scheveningen, people thought it was a dangerous sport and became worried when you would tell them you surf. The people that died were indeed surfers, but they were not surfing, they were swimming. The conditions were really tough and they went in to do lifeguard training and then they got caught up in foam and unfortunately suffocated. The whole community was devastated and peoples perception about surfing changed. Now after about three years later it is better and the surf community is growing.

I wish that we would have more sport societies in The Netherlands at our Uni’s. It is not common at all. In my Uni there are no sport societies, which is why I love it here at Swansea so much. We only have general student societies, which is mainly for partying and drinking. I think it is amazing that you find people with the same interest as you and surf together.”

Do you have any last words for people? :)

“Overall I think more people should try to surf! The surf community in Scheveningen is quite exclusive and everyone knows everyone. It is quite difficult to get into as well, you would really have to live in Scheveningen or in The Hague and know people from Scheveningen. This goes for every surf city/town in The Netherlands. The only widespread community that I know is SurfgirlsNL.”

Michelle: surfing her home break, De Pier

I want to say a massive thank you to Michelle for taking the time to answer my questions! I’m going to be really sad to see her go at the end of June, but I’m hoping for many more surf adventures together in the future, wherever in the world we may find ourselves.

I hope you guys have learned some stuff about surfing in the Netherlands; if you find yourselves on the Dutch coast some day, maybe go for a surf…