The best thing about the Netherlands is that all wind directions are covered.
As a general rule of thumb for the lakes, for nice bumps you'll want at least 18 knots with a fetch around 5-10km but it's doable with 12-15 knots with big foils (though expect a pump fest). For the North Sea it tends to get fun from 15 knots (again make sure to have some fetch, more relevant with side offshore wind or starting downwind of a pier), but its fairly doable for competent downwind foilers from 10-12 knots.
As a start to help people find runs I would recommend them to have a look at the Downwind Leaderboard as in each run you can see a map of the run and each rider on the leaderboard's instagram (if they have one) is linked. So you can reach out to them via instagram if you are visiting, or you can reach out to us and we can add you to the Dutch Downwind Whatsapp Community.
I've also created a Dutch DW Map with a lot of the runs we have done. However, please bear in mind it hasn't been updated for a while.
Ijsselmeer & Markermeer
Uniform bumps, steep short period, the lakes are a beginner downwind foilers dream.
The Classic Run is along the dijk in Almere. But between the Markermeer and Ijsselmeer there are run options for all wind directions ranging from 3km to 40km.
When the wind blows over 30-35 knots, especially when its more westerly. The North Sea often gets too hectic (especially the shore break) and the Lakes turn on with waist to shoulder high surfy bumps that you can even prone into with a midlength or downwind board.
The North Sea
One of my favourite places to downwind. 130km of open sandy beach and a coast that curves to suit wind directions from West South West through to Southerly, and East North East all the way round to North West even.
The North Sea is shallow, and it quickly goes from 6-10m deep to 1-2m deep within 500-1km of the coast. This has a huge impact on windswell / swell causing it to refract and bend towards the beach. Top tip therefore is to get out to deeper water (500m-1km off the coast depending where you are) to be less impacted by the refraction. I typically tend to then cut out to about 1-2km offshore in order to truly enjoy good bumps.
The Rivers
In the south of the Netherlands, there is a passionate crew of foilers unlocking runs on the various rivers and waterways such as the Lek,Haringvliet and the renowned "Vuile Gat". With so many waterways there are plenty options to find wind against current / tide set ups that allow for really fun downwinding with easy shuttles. Perfect for those getting into the sport or those looking for surfy steep bumps.