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JOURNAL

What we found out about water, fish, and surf.

NORDR·10 August 2026·5 min

Why Height and Period Belong to the Same Wave Train

A mixed North Sea often carries wind chop and a swell train at once. Height in metres and period in seconds only describe a real sea when they belong to the same train.

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GILLI·22 July 2026·6 min

Sea Bass on the Swedish West Coast

European sea bass are ordinary on warmer Atlantic coasts. On the Swedish west coast they arrive as visitors at the edge of the range, so a summer harbour day still starts with whether the fish is even there.

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NORDR·15 July 2026·7 min

Why Two Beaches a Few Kilometres Apart Surf Differently

The same swell can line up at one beach and stay soft at the next. Between the buoy and the sand, waves shoal, bend, break on banks, and run through tide and current.

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NORDR·9 July 2026·6 min

How Tide Opens the Flemish Banks

On the western Belgian sandbanks, outer crests can take the swell at low water. Rising tide puts water over those crests and can turn the same sea into a session.

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GILLI·8 July 2026·6 min

Why Atlantic Salmon Enter the River

Adult Atlantic salmon leave the sea and run the river to spawn. They will still take a fly on that journey, because the strike remains even when the day's work is the run.

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GILLI·3 July 2026·6 min

Where Coldwater Fish Hold in July

In many northern lakes, July surface water sits near 18 °C. Vendace still prefer about 6 to 12 °C, so they gather in the cool band below, on the thermocline or a cold inflow.

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NORDR·12 May 2026·6 min

What a Wave Buoy Can See

A wave buoy records height, period, and direction in the water it sits in. The rideable face is made in the last shallow stretch, where sandbars, harbour walls, and tide finish the job.

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NORDR·6 May 2026·5 min

How a Swell Pulse Crosses the North Sea

Wave energy travels in groups, and longer-period waves outrun shorter ones. By the time a pulse reaches a Dutch or Belgian beach, it arrives as a span of hours, not a single clock time.

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GILLI·6 May 2026·6 min

Turbidity Changes How Fish Hunt

Suspended silt and algae shorten how far a pike can see. Rain on clay, wind on a shallow lake, and a bloom each stain the water on a different clock, and colour itself fades with depth.

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NORDR·6 May 2026·4 min

How Tide Changes a Sandbar

A tide table times the rise and fall. On Belgian and Dutch beaches the surf depends on how that changing depth sits on a named sandbar and an outer bank.

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GILLI·6 May 2026·6 min

How Moon, Tide and Light Overlap

The Moon pulls the sea, lights the night, and traces a path overhead. Those are three different jobs, and they overlap on some nights more than others.

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GILLI·6 May 2026·7 min

Oxygen and Light Under Ice

A lid of ice seals a lake from the air. Snow on that lid cuts the light. Fish then live in a thinning budget of oxygen and a dimmer day, and they move to where both still work.

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NORDR·6 May 2026·5 min

How to Read a Wind Diagram for North Sea Surfing

A 270° wind is a westerly. On a Belgian beach that faces north-northwest, that same wind is slightly cross-shore. The diagram only becomes a surf tool once the coastline is in the picture.

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GILLI·6 May 2026·5 min

How a Lake and a Coast Ask Different Questions

A summer lake splits into warm and cool layers. A coast moves bait with the tide. Each process sets a different question for the same afternoon.

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NORDR·6 May 2026·4 min

How Dogger Bank Changes Incoming Swell

Dogger Bank is a huge shallow area in the central North Sea. For some swell directions and periods it slows, bends, and weakens energy before that energy reaches Belgium or the Netherlands.

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GILLI·6 May 2026·6 min

What a Falling Glass Does to the Water

A falling barometer is a messenger. The front behind it changes wind, light, temperature, and runoff, and those are the changes fish meet in the water.

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FREYJA·5 May 2026·6 min

When a Cycle Log Leaves the Phone

A cycle log can sit only on a locked phone. It leaves the handset when a network request carries a copy, or when that copy lands on a company machine. Airplane mode is a simple way to watch the difference.

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GILLI·4 May 2026·6 min

How Tide Moves Bait and Hunting Ground

Twice a day the sea rearranges food, mixing, and the ground you can actually fish. Light, temperature, and whether bait is there decide how that moving water fishes.

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NORDR·3 May 2026·6 min

North Sea Water Temperature by Month for Surfers

Southern North Sea water runs about 5 to 7 °C in January and often peaks in August. Air warms and cools first. The water lags, which is why March can feel like a trick and September can still feel mild.

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FREYJA·2 May 2026·6 min

What Moves a Day's Water Need

A day's water need is water in against water out. Heat, exercise, and salt move the total. A luteal temperature rise of 0.3 to 0.5 °C sits in a smaller place on the same ledger.

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FREYJA·15 April 2026·6 min

What Actually Sets a Burn Time

Burn time is set by UV dose, the index, skin type, and shade. SPF measures how much of that dose the cream holds back. A luteal shift in the skin barrier sits in a smaller place next to noon at index 8.

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GILLI·14 April 2026·7 min

How Lakes Layer in Summer

When the surface warms, many lakes split into a mixed top, a cold deep, and a thin band between them. Fish live in the slice of that column that is still cool enough and oxygenated enough to use.

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GILLI·22 January 2026·6 min

Why Empty Days Belong in the Log

An empty day still records the water. Rain can lift clay into a river, cut how far a pike can see, and shut a sight-feeder down before the first cast.

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