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Wijk aan Zee

North Holland · Wijk aan Zee

also known as Strand Noordpier Velsen-Noord, Wijk aan Zee - Pier, Wijk aan Zee Noordpier, De HangOut, Aloha

Part of Wijk aan Zee →

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

wavesbeginner-friendlyhigh crowds

On this page

The spot
Wind
Forecast
Month by month
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
Schools
Tips
Getting there
FAQ

Riding essentials

Season

Oct–Aug

Months riders and schools name

How windy

15-25 kt

Character: synoptic

Room to launch

huge

access rules on record, below

Water

waves

18 °C in summerWide sandy North Sea beach: surf, shorebreak, waves

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Beginner to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

high crowds · busy Jun Jul Aug Sep

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

26 min

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)

When it fills in

No onset time is published for this spot.

Nearbystraight-line distance

Backup spotsWhere riders go when the wind doesn't work here.

Wijk aan Zee - de Bunkerno page yet
IJmuiden / IJmuiderslag
Castricum aan Zeeno page yet
Egmond aan Zeeno page yet
Schellinkhoutno page yet

The spot

Wijk aan Zee is a working North Sea kite beach at Strand Noordpier Velsen-Noord, just north of the IJmuiden harbour entrance and close enough to Amsterdam to be a day trip.

Zoning and water

Zoning is half the spot: kites belong in Zone 2, marked by a large pole just north of Aloha and de HangOut, and Zone 1 beside the pier is not yours. The Noordpier shelters the water at its end, so the first stretch is calmer and smaller than the open beach further north, and a southwest wind grooms the cleanest waves there. Everything else is waves, shorebreak, cold water and a current that runs south to north. The Pier works in northwest, west or southwest.

Learning and facilities

Beginners can learn here with a school in the sheltered corner, but if you cannot ride upwind the current takes you north and you walk back. Facilities are better than a North Sea kite beach has any right to be: food, drink, toilets, showers by Aloha and de HangOut.

The wind

Direction

cross-on

Direction to shore

cross-on

Dominant direction

Southwest dominates. The working set is N/NW/W/SW depending on which launch you use; NW and W give the best wave conditions, and SW cleans the waves up by the Noordpier.

Kite sizes

567891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

For a 75-85 kg rider: 10-12 m through the May-August spells, when the wind sits nearer 12-18 kt, and 7-9 m from October to March, when fronts run 20-30 kt. Reportedly the winter storm days call for the small end of that.

Character

synoptic

Average strength

15-25 kt is the figure that circulates for Wijk aan Zee and Dutch coastal kiting generally. No long-term average has been published for this beach itself.

Typical strength

15-25 kt when rideable; lessons start from 14 kt.

Steady enough for the Dutch coast when a westerly or southwesterly front is running. Summer is the less reliable half of the year, though a coastal sea breeze can top it up.

Open year-round. Spring and summer are the pleasant half of the year; autumn and winter are the strong, stormy, cold half. The best-month claims do not agree: May-August with October-March in one reading; March-May with September-November in another.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

riding season from the spot record · the wind series here holds no strength figure

No month-by-month share of windy days is held for this spot. The months riders and schools name are Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, and whatever the series does hold is in the table below.

Measured at Wijk aan Zee / De HangOut Kitespot (2021-06-01 to 2023-01-31 (station no longer reporting)).

Every figure, month by monthWind from

Month	Wind from
Jan	N
Feb	N
Mar	N
Apr	N
May	N
Jun	NNE
Jul	W
Aug	W
Sep	WSW
Oct	SSW
Nov	W
Dec	W

How this was measuredmeasured · 2021-06-01 to 2023-01-31 (station no longer reporting)

What was recorded here is in the table above, but it holds no wind-strength figure for any month, so no season is drawn from it. The season is the one the spot record names.

The direction is a column of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

Wijk aan Zee / De HangOut Kitespot · windfinder.com · 2021-06-01 to 2023-01-31 (station no longer reporting)

The water

Type

waves

Standing depth

Mostly deep North Sea water. Right by the pier the first 200 m or so can be shallow and calm enough to touch down on the right tide, but plan for deep. Descriptions conflict and it stays unconfirmed.

Tides

Tidal North Sea beach; depth and ability to stand vary with ebb/flood, and currents increase away from the Noordpier.

Temperature

18 °C summer · 6 °C winter

Wetsuit

Year-round wetsuit. August water is typically 16–20 °C, suited to a 3/2 mm sealed suit; late February runs 2–8 °C, needing 6/5/4 mm or 5/4 mm with hood, gloves and booties.

Currents

A strong south-to-north current runs here almost all the time. Close to the Noordpier the pier knocks it down; the further north or further out you go, the more of it you get.

Conditions

Wide sandy North Sea beach: surf, shorebreak, waves. In southwest wind the Noordpier grooms them cleaner, and the start of Zone 2 has smaller waves than the stretch further along. Sharp shells on the sand, reportedly.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

The official grading for the Pier and Zone 2 covers beginner through advanced, and the HangOut launch is graded beginner. Schools use the sheltered pier corner for first lessons. An independent beginner should not: the current, the shorebreak and water that deepens fast all punish anyone who cannot manage upwind drift.

The Bunker further north is an advanced beach.

The scene

What riders come here for

wavesfreeridefoilfreestylesurf-kite coaching

The Amsterdam area's busiest North Sea kite beach, with several schools and beach pavilions. Aloha and Timboektoe pick up the post-session crowd. On a warm windy weekend the launch itself gets tight.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

6 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: huge

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

4 spots nearby

All 4 spots within 40 km are under Nearby

Rescue

The local rescue brigade publishes the beach-zone rules for Strand Noordpier and IJmuiden. No dedicated kitesurf rescue for this launch is on record, so plan on none.

Launch

Sandy launch in Zone 2, starting at a large pole just north of Aloha and de HangOut. There is plenty of sand to rig on, and food, drink, toilets, showers are all a short walk away.

Hazards riders report 14 reported

Wind

Hard Noordpier structure downwind/nearby depending on wind angle; keep clear of the pier.
Potential turbulence near dunes reported by a local school source.
Northeast wind pushes drift toward the pier structure
Wind tumbling off the dune line can be turbulent close to the beach

Crowds and zones

Zone 1 near the pier is off-limits to kiters (swimmers/surfers only)
Zone boundaries are strict; launching or riding outside the correct zone risks conflict with swimmers, surfers and enforcement.
Beach can be busy with kite schools and students; give lessons extra room.
Swimmers have absolute priority in the beach zones

Bottom

Sharp shells on the sandy beach/bottom reported by local school sources.
Sharp shells on the sand and in the shallows

Waves and currents

Nearly constant strong current flowing south to north
Almost always strong south-to-north current reported by NKV.
Current and shorebreak increase away from the Noordpier and toward the Bunker area.
Northwest wind can stack up heavy swell and shorebreak on this stretch

Rules & access

1 min read

2026 check: kitesurfing at Strand Noordpier Velsen-Noord is allowed only in Zone 2, and the zone starts at a large pole just north of Aloha and de HangOut. Zone 1, beside the pier, is for swimmers and surfers. The Velsen 2019 beach-zoning decision makes Zone 2 of Velsen-Noord the year-round exception to the local ban on (kite)surfing.

2026: one beach-zone list allows kitesurfing and windsurfing in Zone 1 outside high season, 1 October to 1 April, while another reading keeps Zone 1 closed to kites all year, so read the signs on the day rather than assuming. Park only in painted road bays; parking outside them can be fined. Follow instructions from supervisors and police.

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Schools that ride here

Rider tips

Read the signs and the beach poles before you pump up. Zone 2 is the kite zone, and the descriptions of the seasonal detail do not agree with each other.
In southwest wind, walk to the pier end first. That is where the waves groom cleanest and the current is weakest.
Do not drift north unless you can hold upwind, because the current builds the further you get from the Noordpier.
Rig a size down on winter front days: 20-30 kt here arrives with swell and shorebreak, not flat water.
Bring booties, and wear them year-round if sharp shells bother you.
Arrive early on a sunny windy summer weekend; the launch is shared with schools and beach visitors.
Park only in the painted bays. On summer weekends the Noordpier parking fills early and IJmuiderslag, a short drive south, is the usual fallback.
Check the beach webcams before you drive out, then make the real call from the sand.

Getting there

Airport

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)

Route

Driving from Schiphol to Wijk aan Zee is about 31 km and roughly 26 minutes in normal traffic. By public transport, take the train to Beverwijk and a bus toward Wijk aan Zee; Beverwijk is the nearest station, about 8.3 km away, and the train-plus-bus run from Schiphol takes about 1 h 43 min.

Transfer

26 min

Cost level

medium

Staying

Stay in Wijk aan Zee for beach access and the small-town restaurants, or use Beverwijk, IJmuiden, Haarlem or Amsterdam for more choice. The Aloha and Timboektoe pavilions sit at the Noordpier, and the beachclub school setup there has warm showers, a shop and lockers.

No-wind days

Surf/SUP at Noordpier Surf, beach time at Aloha/Timboektoe, cycling or walking in Nationaal Park Zuid-Kennemerland, the Een Zee van Staal sculpture park, Beverwijk Bazaar on weekends, and Amsterdam/Haarlem day trips.

FAQ

Is Wijk aan Zee suitable for beginners?

Schools teach beginners in the protected pier area, but independent beginners should stay close to instruction given the strong current, shorebreak and quickly deepening water.

What is the wind like at Wijk aan Zee?

Safe directions are N, NW, W and SW, with NW/W best for waves and SW producing clean waves by the Noordpier; a local school starts lessons from 14 knots.

Are there rules or a designated zone?

Kiting is only allowed in Zone 2, marked by a large pole north of Aloha/de HangOut; Zone 1 beside the pier is reserved for swimmers and surfers.

What is the current like at Wijk aan Zee?

NKV warns of an almost always strong south-to-north current that increases the farther north or offshore you ride, though the pier reduces current close by.

Are there kite schools at Wijk aan Zee?

Yes, Noordpier Surf/Kiteflow, Wijkiki Kitesurfschool and Loops and Barrels all operate near the spot.

The bigger pictureEverything about Wijk aan Zee

Last updated: August 2026