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Bay of Skaill

★★★★★Small
Beach break Faces W all tides Offshore east Best swell west

Best of the week: Tuesday around 06:00, 4–6 ft and offshore.

Surf now8–11ft1.5 m at 9 s from the NW, wind sea 2.9 m from the W
Wind26mphSW · onshore · gusts 41
Tide 2.9mFalling · low 05:12 (1.4 m). Works all tides.

Seven days

best session each day · swipe
Sat
8–10 ft Swell W 9s Wind 7 mph ★★★★★
Sun
12–16 ft Swell NW 12s Wind 13 mph ★★★★★
Mon
10–13 ft Swell N 10s Wind 7 mph ★★★★★
Tue
4–6 ft Swell N 8s Wind 9 mph ★★★★★
Wed
3–5 ft Swell N 8s Wind 12 mph ★★★★★
Thu
4–5 ft Swell N 9s Wind 5 mph ★★★★★
Sat 14 Sun 15 Mon 16 Tue 17 Wed 18 Thu 19
Time 06 09 12 15 18 06 09 12 15 18 06 09 12 15 18 06 09 12 15 18 06 09 12 15 18 06 09 12 15 18
Surf ft 10–13 10–14 11–14 9–12 7–10 12–16 12–16 11–15 10–14 9–12 10–14 9–13 8–11 7–10 6–8 4–6 3–5 3–4 2–4 2–4 2–3 3–4 3–5 3–5 4–5 4–6 4–6 4–6 4–5 3–5
Swell 7s 7s 7s 9s 9s 12s 12s 12s 12s 11s 10s 10s 9s 9s 9s 8s 7s 7s 7s 7s 7s 7s 8s 8s 9s 9s 9s 9s 9s 9s
Wind mph 27 25 25 22 7 17 14 14 13 15 18 20 17 12 8 9 8 9 8 10 15 13 12 14 11 7 7 6 4 3
Tide m 1.5↑ 2.6↑ 3.2↓ 2.1↓ 1.3↑ 1.6↑ 2.3↑ 3.0↑ 2.4↓ 1.4↓ 1.7↓ 2.0↑ 2.8↑ 2.7↓ 1.7↓ 2.0↓ 1.9↑ 2.5↑ 2.8↓ 2.0↓ 2.2↓ 1.8↓ 2.2↑ 2.7↑ 2.4↓ 2.5↓ 1.8↓ 1.8↑ 2.6↑ 2.7↓
Rating ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★

Surf is the face height at the beach after the swell is filtered for the way Bay of Skaill faces. Arrows point to where the swell and wind come from: an arrow pointing up means from the north. Tide is the height at Stromness above chart datum, rising ↑ or falling ↓; the rating drops when the tide is outside the window this break works on. Amber marks the sessions worth setting an alarm for. From Tuesday the swell comes from Météo-France's 10-day model, which is coarser than the 5 km German model used close in. Hours no model reaches are left blank, not shown as flat.

Exposure

Bay of Skaill faces west. Measured from the seabed, it is open to swell from S round to N; the brighter a wedge, the deeper the water in that direction and the more of the swell gets in. Anything from behind the headlands scores nothing, however big the buoy says it is.

NESWfaces WNWW
NW
1.5 m at 9 s (swell) · 100 % reaches the beach
W
2.9 m at 7 s (wind sea) · 100 % reaches the beach

How Bay of Skaill works

Swell
Best from the west.
Wind
Offshore is from the east; anything with west in it is onshore and messes it up.
Tide
all tides.

Orkney's main surf beach, beside Skara Brae.

Tide times

  • Fri 23:33High3.0 m
  • Sat 05:12Low1.4 m
  • Sat 11:35High3.2 m
  • Sat 17:47Low1.3 m
  • Sun 00:20High2.8 m
  • Sun 05:51Low1.5 m
  • Sun 12:21High3.0 m
  • Sun 18:36Low1.4 m

Stromness station, 10 km away. Heights above chart datum, UK time.

Photos

In the gallery
Sandwick Bay of Skaill coast next to Skara Brae 3 Beach on the Bay of Skaill - geograph.org.uk - 7397264

Ymblanter, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. David Medcalf, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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Nearby

No other breaks within 40 km on the guide.