The UK’s windsurfing destination – Tiree

During this trip we’ve found that there are different levels of “light wind”. There’s the type of wind where the flags don’t even move, which you won’t get out of bed for. That teaser wind which you can hear the flags flap, and the wind whip through the window but isn’t enough to kite in. And the wind where you can possibly get a kite in the sky and give it a go. Today, when we all piled into the rib, it was this final type. We all agreed we could launch the kite into the sky and I’d be able to get going, albeit at a struggle. But Stew needs that tiny bit more power, and this trip is a team effort. So back out we got, and agreed we’d have a cup of tea and try again in half an hour.

The kettle didn’t even have time to boil before Stew was back inside saying there was enough wind for the 15m kites. We only had a short day with just under 20 miles to Tiree, so although I’m always hesitant about using the 15m kites, I was keen to get going.

Within 30 minutes, my hesitancy proved correct; the wind started to build and I already had half depower. Its been blowing northerlies almost every day since we got to Ireland, so we’ve now had lots of practice going upwind. A lot of it overpowered on the 15m kites. So as the wind built, I just cranked on more and more depower and pinched a little higher (which helps drain the power in the kite). With the gap between Tiree and Coll in sight, the wind increased even more. We decided it might be being squeezed through the gap, so would likely continue to build as we approached the islands. At this point the tide was almost slack, so the chop in the gap would be the calmest it would get, so now would be the best time to go through. We therefore decided to swap down to the 9m and 11m kites and cross the channel now, rather than have to wait for the right tide tomorrow. The wind was so strong that if it had been flat water I would have asked to swap to the 7m, but even from this distance I could see the waves crashing on the rocks ahead. I knew we’d need some extra power to get up and over those monsters.

Around Portnahaven on Islay, we crashed around pretty hard. But today was worse. Even from about 2miles out, you could see the walls of water rising up. The channel looked like a wash of white water, with all this chop we didn’t want to have to tack, so we approached high, almost passing the channel before turning into it. So with the two kiters and Mentor in relative proximity, we made a go of it. We all got a beating. When we got back to the boat afterwards, some of the hooks had fallen off the wall as Mentor bashed down the back of one wave, the kettle was on the opposite side of the kitchen, and the doors had managed to unlatch themselves. As kiters it took lots of concentration, you’d be surfing down one wave thinking you had a few seconds left until the bottom when suddenly the whole thing would disappear and you’d find the foil hovering in mid-air. There was no trying to go upwind, we just had to cross it as best we could. Psychologically it’s quite hard going into what looked like open ocean, in seas that are just building. But we knew it was just the squeeze through the islands, and it would die down further out. And of course it did, after 10 minutes of struggles it was almost like a switch, we crossed the last big wave and it was back to rolling swell.

Once we were far enough away from this mess of water, we called it a day. We’d already been going for 5hours, and with another 20miles or so to go to Barra, we knew we wouldn’t make it there today. Plus, Tiree has been on our list since we all learnt how to windsurf. It’s home to one of the longest running windsurfing events in the world. Famous for always being windy, and having perfect beaches facing every direction so perfect whatever the conditions. I.e. perfect conditions for Joe and Jeremy. Tiree certainly lived up to expectations, Joe landed his highest ever jump, and Jeremy aced two back rolls back to back on opposite tacks. Go team!

Map of today’s route

Map Key: Stew (Red), Islay (White) and Mentor (Blue)

Tiree is statistically the windiest & sunniest place in the British Isles. As the most westerly island in the Inner Hebrides is also picks up a lot of Atlantic swell earning it the knickname “Hawaii” of the north.

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