A numerical model for the hindcasting of waves in shallow-water () is described and comparisons are made between observations and model results in a realistic field situation. The model is based on a Eulerian presentation of the spectral action balance of the waves rather than on the more conventional (at least in coastal engineering) Lagrangian presentation. Wave propagation is correspondingly computed on a grid rather than along rays. The model accounts for refractive propagation of short-crested waves over arbitrary bottom topography and current fields. The effects of wave growth and dissipation due to wind generation, bottom dissipation and wave breaking (in deep and shallow water) are represented as source terms in the action balance equation. The computational efficiency of the model is enhanced by two simplifications of the basic balance equation. The first one is the removal of time as an independent variable to obtain a stationary model. This is justified by the relatively short travel time of waves in coastal regions. The second simplification is the parameterization of the basic balance equation in terms of a mean frequency and a frequency-integrated action density, both as function of the spectral wave direction. The discrete spectral representation of wave directionality is thus retained. An untuned version of has been tested in a closed branch of the Rhine estuary where measurements with buoys and a wave gauge are available. In this situation, where wave breaking and short-crestedness dominate, rms-errors in the significant wave height and mean wave period are about 10 and 13% respectively of the observed values.