Six surface drifters were tracked in the inner German Bight for between 9 and 54 days. Corresponding simulations were conducted based on currents from two hydrodynamic models. Effects of including either a direct wind drag or simulated Stokes drift were similar during most of the time. Results suggest that main sources of simulation errors were inaccurate Eulerian currents and lacking representation of sub-grid-scale processes. Substantial model errors often occurred under low wind conditions.