The report · Tiree · Windsurf · October · 6 pages

WindChaserSpot report

Inner Hebrides, United Kingdom

Tiree

WindsurfOctober

81% of October days clear 13 kt for three daylight hours or more.

01Hour-by-hour & month-by-month windp202The month's own recordsp303Full stays, schools & kitp404Per-launch tide notesp405Rocks, rips & the ferry pierp506Getting there, packing & best monthsp507Sources, and their limitsp6
Guide
Compiled by WindChaser
25 Sep 2026Record
2017 to 2026, hourly
Open-Meteo, ECMWF IFS HRES 9 kmNormals
2017 to 2026
Nine Octobers
Tiree · Windsurf · October · Generated 22 Oct 2026 from the 2017 to 2026 record1 of 6
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Hour-by-hour & month-by-month wind

Rideable-day share by month, all three sports

Share of days with three or more daylight hours over each sport's threshold, counted from the record at 12 kt, Windsurf 13 kt and Wing 12 kt. Tiree has been checked against the model at 12 kn only, so the 13 kn Windsurf figure is counted but not checked against it.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecKite8590797268636576878680Windsurf818675665662516074817875Wing8590797268636576878680

Blue fill scales with the share. Selected month outlined. Threshold per row: Kite 12 kt · Windsurf 13 kt · Wing 12 kt.

Where the wind sits, October

Share of daylight hours in each speed band, blue above the threshold.

4–7
8–11
12–15
16–19
20–23
24–27
28–31

Not drawn: 3% of daylight hours under 4 kt and 1% at 32 kt and over.

When in the day, October

Share of days over 13 kt at each daylight hour. The wind comes with passing weather, not by the clock.

8am
9
10
11
12pm
1pm
2
3
4
5
6pm
Wind directionSW to WThe prevailing wind. The bays face every way from north round to south, so pick the one the wind blows across.
Wind strength18 to 21 ktThe mean over rideable daylight hours, September to March, checked against the Tiree station. Fronts gust far higher.
When it blowsAll dayAtlantic fronts, not a sea breeze: the share of windy days moves only a little from 8am to 6pm.

Rideable hours, not all hours. Every wind figure in this report is the mean over hours above the threshold.

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October's own records

The month's own figures from nine Octobers in the record, 2017 to 2026. Not the year's average.

Rideable days27 of 31Nine Octobers in the record
Strongest measured gust83 ktOctober 2025, Met Office Tiree station, 60 m away. Twenty-six Octobers measured, 2000 to 2025. Station, not the beach.
Wind, rideable hours20 ktMean over daylight hours at 12 kt+
Air12.5°CMaximum
Hours over 12 kt10.3 a dayDaylight, all days averaged
BeforeSeptember76%23 rideable days in 30
Your monthOctober87%27 rideable days in 31
AfterNovember86%26 rideable days in 30

What the percentage hides. A month at 80% can be twenty-four steady days or three windy weeks broken by a dead front.

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Full stays, schools & kit

Stays

Scarinish Beach HotelHotel · Scarinish · Check it is openHotel with a bar and restaurant in Scarinish, the village by the ferry pier. It shut over the 2025 to 2026 winter and was taking guests again by summer 2026, but hours have been patchy. Check it is open before you travel.
Balinoe Campsite$··Campsite · Pods and bothies · 5.2 km from BalevullinCampsite in the south-west of the island with pitches, pods and bothies; the island portal calls it the Wild Diamond campsite. Its site still shows 2025 dates, so check the 2026 season.
Tiree Croft Camping$··Campsite · Croft pitchesThe island’s bookable croft pitches, three a site at 15 pounds a night, with fresh water and chemical disposal in Scarinish. Wild camping from vans is not allowed on Tiree.
The Reef InnGuesthouse · Crossapol · 4.9 km from BalevullinEight-room guesthouse with its own restaurant and breakfast at Crossapol, near south-facing Crossapol bay, open roughly April to September or October.

Lessons

Wild DiamondSchool · Kite · Wing · WindsurfCourses that rove round the coast to the day’s conditions. Booking office at Loch Bhasapol.
Blackhouse WatersportsSchool · KiteKite lessons from the Balevullin beach hut, in groups of two to four, from age 12.

Kit

Wild DiamondRental · Kite · WindsurfHire and a shop at Loch Bhasapol.

Price band $ to $$$ only where sourced; none shown means none held. Contact details and brands stocked join this table when the operator directory is connected.

04

Per-launch tide notes

Balevullin
Low—Mid—High—

Swirling rip currents form at high tide. Which tide states suit which level is unknown until tide data arrives.

Gott Bay
Low—Mid—High—

A large tidal range on a gently shelving beach: the walk to the water changes through the tide. Hours per tide state unknown until tide data arrives.

The Maze
Low—Mid—High—

No tide information found for this bay. Look at it from the shore before launching.

Tide data not yet available for this spot. The record holds wind, air and waves, not tide. Until a tide source is connected, the tables above stay empty rather than estimated. What the guide says about tide is on the next page, in words.

Tiree · Windsurf · October · Generated 22 Oct 2026 from the 2017 to 2026 record4 of 6
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Rocks, rips & the ferry pier

Every hazard on the spot page, repeated here in full. Read this before you get wet.

Conditions change. Check local rules and conditions before you ride.

EmergenciesIn an emergency call 999 or 112 and ask for the Coastguard. On Tiree the ambulance, fire service and coastguard are staffed by volunteers.
Balevullin rock and ripsA large rock sits in the middle of Balevullin bay. At high tide swirling rip currents form and can carry a rider away. No rescue is stationed at the beach. Find the rock before you launch and keep away from high water.
Gott Bay rocks and the ferryRocks and reefs are scattered through the middle of Gott Bay. The harbour and ferry pier are on its south-east side: stay clear of the ferry, the pier and the moorings. There is no lifeguard or patrol.
Vehicles and the machairMotor vehicles may use only public roads. Driving or parking away from roads and verges, on croft tracks, unfenced land or beaches, is permitted only if the landowner has authorised it. Use the marked parking areas and do not park in pockets on the road.
Offshore wind and cold waterCheck the wind angle at each bay before you rig. A wind blowing off the beach carries a rider or a dropped kite out to sea. The water is around 7 to 13°C from September to March. Do not ride in an offshore wind.
Rock in the bays

A large rock sits in the middle of Balevullin bay. Rocks and reefs are scattered through the middle of Gott Bay, and the large tidal range moves where the water is deep enough to ride. Find them from the shore before you launch, and do not assume a line that was clear at high water is clear at low water.

Rips, the tide and the ferry

At high tide swirling rip currents form at Balevullin and can carry a rider away. The harbour and the ferry pier are on the south-east side of Gott Bay: keep clear of the ferry, the pier and the moorings. There is no rescue stationed at Balevullin and no lifeguard or patrol at Gott Bay.

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Getting there, packing & best months

Nearest airportTiree (TIR)On the island. Loganair flies from Glasgow.
SeasonSeptember to MarchThe months the record shows the most rideable days. February is the pick.
Getting aroundFerry, then a carCalMac sails from Oban, about 4 hours, and recommends booking. Vehicles on public roads only; park in the marked areas.
What to pack
BeachSand. Sand bays on every coast, with rock in some of them: the middle of Balevullin, scattered through Gott Bay.TideCheck first. It sets the walk out at Gott Bay and brings the rips at Balevullin at high water.Water7 to 13°C. September to March, from compiled research, not measured. A 5/4 with hood and gloves from November to March.LaunchPick by wind. Choose the bay the wind blows across, and walk the launch before you rig.KitRent or bring. Wild Diamond hires kite and windsurf kit. Bring your own spares.
Kite sizes for October

Derived from the 18 to 21 kt mean over the season’s rideable hours in the record, September to March, checked against the Tiree station, not from a fitted quiver. Fronts gust far higher: size down on those days.

60 to 70 kg7 and 9 m70 to 85 kg8 and 10 m85 kg and up9 and 11 m
JFMAMJJASOND

Best months, Kite. Record.

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Sources, and their limits

Where each section of this report comes from. Record is measured. Modelled is computed by a formula because no measurement exists yet; it looks like data and is not. Written is WindChaser's editorial copy, compiled from the sources below.

§WhatSourceLimit
01Kite month sharesRecordCounted at 12 kt for three daylight hours from ecmwf_ifs at 9 km, cell 3.12 km from the spot, January 2017 to September 2026, 9 to 10 years a month, checked against the Met Office station at Tiree airport 0.06 km away (MIDAS Open hourly means, 2017 to 2025, Open Government Licence v3.0), which needed no correction. April and May are withheld: their error out of sample is over 10 points.
01Windsurf and Wing month sharesRecordCounted at 13 kt (Windsurf) and 12 kt (Wing) from the same series, by the same rule as the Kite share.
01Direction, strength, when it blowsWrittenDirection from spot guides (Kite Insider, KiteReady) and compiled research. Strength and time of day read from the record.
02The month’s recordsRecordNine to ten years a month, checked against the Tiree station. No share shows for April and May.
03Stays, schools and kitWrittenChecked on each business’s own website or a named rider source, most recently on 27 September 2026. Price bands only where a price is published.
04Tide windowsMissingNo tide source in the pipeline. The section renders its empty state.
05Hazards, rocks, rips and the ferryWrittenVehicle rules and emergency numbers from the Tiree Trust visitor guide. Physical hazards from spot guides, not surveyed.
06Airports, access, packing, kite sizesWrittenFerry from CalMac, flights from HIAL. Water temperature from compiled research, not measured. Sizes derived from the session mean.
MapsMissingNo drawn maps for this spot. No surveyed coordinates for the launches.

The record

Hourly wind, 2017 to 2026, from ECMWF IFS HRES via Open-Meteo: a 9 km grid, read at the cell 3.1 km from the spot. It knows the wind over the cell, not the gust on the sand in front of you, and it knows the bearing, not the coastline: "side-onshore" is a rider's reading of the bearing. Each month is counted over nine to ten years.

What we could not source for Tiree

Crowds by month: compiled research only, no count. A water quality classification, and a first-hand reading of the local vibe. Tide tables and per-launch tide windows. Figures for April and May, where the station check left too wide a margin. Surveyed launch coordinates, and a wing launch named by a school. A measured water temperature. Where any of these is missing above, the section says so rather than filling itself.

Conditions change. Check local rules and conditions before you ride.

Compiled by WindChaser, 25 Sep 2026. Contains Met Office MIDAS Open data, Open Government Licence v3.0. Met Office (2026): MIDAS Open: UK mean wind data, v202607. NERC EDS Centre for Environmental Data Analysis. doi:10.5285/c7393fdc2c974071a2efd7f8601b1bab. Licence: Open Government Licence v3.0 (https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/); commercial use allowed with attribution. Hero photograph on the spot page by Gordon Hatton, CC BY-SA 2.0. Report generated 22 Oct 2026 from record version 2026.10; a report and its spot page are rendered from the same data and cannot disagree.

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