Big tidal sandy beach in North Norfolk beside the Royal West Norfolk Golf Club. Flat-water lagoons fill around 2/3 tide; experienced riders only — the tide floods fast across the sandflats and cut-off is a real danger. National Trust launch zone is west of the golf clubhouse; on the water stay west of the line to the shipwreck. IMPORTANT: the beach car park floods at high tide — always check the tide times before you go; the Royal West Norfolk Golf Club (rwngc.org), who manage the car park, update them regularly. Over 2.5 h from London — not a day-trip spot for most.
ParkingLaunch area➤Today's wind direction (SW ~17 kt at low tide ~15:05 (window 12:05–18:05 BST))🚗 Directions • Open in Google Maps: Parking • Launch area
Region
Norfolk
Skill level
Experienced only (tidal cut-off risk)
Best tide window
Mid (flat around 2/3 tide); fast flooding tide — cut-off danger, experienced only
Public-model blend: Met Office UKV 2km (direct), Met Office Global 10km (direct), AROME-FR, IFS-HRES, ICON, GFS (via Open-Meteo) and MET Norway, averaged across every model that covers each hour, out to day 7; temperature from the Met Office feeds
Last updated
Page rebuilt: 12 September 2026 18:59 BST Forecast data: 12 September 2026 17:17 BST Tide data: 12 September 2026 18:58 BST
📏 Tide heights — next 7 days(chart datum at Hunstanton)
No measured beach/groyne height for this spot yet — log a beach report to add one.
🧭 Wind directions
Brancaster, North Norfolk, faces ~N into the Wash/North Sea. Wide W-through-E onshore arc; S is offshore. FAR spot (data only).
green = works (brightest = side-on) · blue = cross-shore · orange = side-off / unproven (care) · red = offshore, never · grey = excluded locally
Next 7 days at Brancaster BeachLighter option: Sat 12 Sep ~16 kt — an OK session on a 12 m — powered-down at the bottom end. AROME and UKV 2km agree (within ~2 kt) over the next 60 h — confidence good (lead model here: UKV 2km).
Windguru forecast
7-day forecast
Wind scale:<1010–1112–1314–1516–1920–2930+ kt ⚠
Public-model blend, for the full 7 days: The Met Office UKV 2km and Global 10km runs are read directly from the Met Office open-data feeds; AROME-FR 1.3km, IFS-HRES 9km, ICON and GFS come via Open-Meteo, plus MET Norway. Direction is a circular mean; gusts average only the models that publish an hourly-maximum gust. These numbers are raw model output with no coastal correction, so in the same weather they can read a little lighter than a coastally-corrected forecast — treat them as a floor rather than a ceiling. Temperature is from the Met Office runs (interpolated between 3-hourly steps on later days). No sea-state data is available. Tides from UKHO Admiralty (BST, 7-day window). The Windguru widget above is the unmodified Windguru forecast and is a useful cross-check.
Runs out of daylight — ~15 kt WSW. Working direction (WSW) with ~15 kt for 3 h inside the tide window. an OK session on a 12 m — powered-down at the bottom end. ★ Gets dark at 19:16 — almost none of this window is in daylight.
Best window detail — 12:05–18:05 BST (UKV 2km hourly)
Hourly UKV 2km wind for the 2-hour tide window (★) plus an hour either side, averaging ~17 kt in the low-tide window.
Not kiteable today — wind from SW. Peak 10 kt from SW is cross-offshore (side-off) at Brancaster Beach. Working directions here: W / WNW / NW / NNW / N / NNE ….
Marginal — ~11 kt, big kites only. Peak ~11 kt W in the tide window. marginal — big kites (15 m+)/foils — most riders won't get planing; 15 m+/foil specialists only.
Best window detail — 13:31–19:16 BST (AROME-FR 1.3km hourly)
Hourly AROME-FR 1.3km wind for the 2-hour tide window (★) plus an hour either side, averaging ~11 kt in the low-tide window. Late-evening session — fine in summer, but a late drive home from London.
Marginal — ~13 kt, big kites only. Peak ~13 kt W in the tide window. marginal — big kites (15 m+)/foils — most riders won't get planing; 15 m+/foil specialists only. ★ Gets dark at 19:06 — window trimmed to daylight (15:00–19:06 BST); the wind carries on past sunset if you are happy riding into dusk.
Pick a past day to compare three things: the forecast we published (frozen before each hour, never revised afterwards), the wind that actually happened (Open-Meteo reanalysis, hours 05:00–21:00 UK), and what the live weather stations near the spot actually recorded (amber, from 2 Aug 2026). You can go right up to today — today shows the forecast and the live stations; the reanalysis for today lands tomorrow morning.
Important: Forecasts are model-derived and may change. Always verify on Windguru and check local tide tables before you go. LKSA accepts no liability for decisions made based on this forecast.
