Gills Bay Surf Forecast and Surf Reports

(Scotland – North Coast, UK)

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- Hourly Forecast
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Spot Info

Gills Bay Surf Guide

Gills Bay on the North Coast is a reasonably exposed beach break that has reasonably consistent surf and can work at any time of the year. Ideal winds are from the southwest. Most of the surf here comes from groundswells and the ideal swell direction is from the northwest. Waves at the beach break both left and right. Surfable at all stages of the tide. Watch out for dangerous rips.

Gills Bay Spot Info

Type:	Rating:
Beach	3.2
Reliability:	Todays Sea Temp*:
fairly consistent	6.9°C*ocean temperature recorded from satellite

Surfing Gills Bay:

The best conditions reported for surf at Gills Bay occur when a Northwest swell combines with an offshore wind direction from the Southwest.

Surf Forecasts:

Hourly Forecast

7 Day Forecast

What's the best time of year to surf Gills Bay (for consistent clean waves)?

decemberBest Season: winter

The best time of year for surfing Gills Bay with consistent clean waves (rideable swell with light / offshore winds) is during Winter and most often the month of December. Clean surfable waves are typically found 50% of the time in December while 36% of the time it tends to be blown out. For the remaining 14% of the time it is considered too small by most surfers but may still be OK for beginners and groms at times.

clean

50%

Surfable waves that hold up well for longer rides in prevailing cross-offshore, offshore or light wind conditions.

blown out

36%

Surfable sized waves that are of poorer quality due to prevailing onshore, cross-onshore or windy conditions (may be preferable for kitesurfing).

too small

14%

Waves usually considered too small for good surf. Some wave-magnet breaks may still work though if conditions are right (on occasion).

Explore Gills Bay Location Map

Interactive Gills Bay surf break location map. View information about nearby surf breaks, their wave consistency and rating compared to other spots in the region. Current swell conditions from local buoys are shown along with live wind speed and direction from nearby weather stations. Click icons on the map for more detail. The closest passenger airport to Gills Bay is Wick Airport (WIC) in U.k., 21 km (13 miles) away (directly). The second nearest airport to Gills Bay is Kirkwall Airport (KOI) in Scotland, 38 km (24 miles) away.

Break

Live Wave Height (m)

Live Wind Speed (km/h)

Please note that some surf spot locations are approximate to protect their exact location while others are not shown at close zoom level.

Gills Bay Surf Forecasts:

Hourly Forecast

7 Day Forecast

Todays Surf Summary
Saturday, 10 April 2021, 19:18 Local Time

m, °C	Saturday 10			Sun
ft, °F	4PM	7PM	10PM	1AM
Wave (m)	NW	NW	NNW	NNW
Period (s)	9	9	12	11
Wind (km/h)
Wind State	cross	cross	cross	cross

What does Gills Bay look like?

Latest photos from Gills Bay. Upload your own or view all photos on the gallery page.

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Tides at Gills Bay

Current tide and informaton

For Freswick Bay, 23.0 km from Gills Bay.

Next High Water: 11:33pm | 2.62m

Next Low Water: 05:30am | 0.51m

NEXT	IS AT (local time)	remaining
high tide
low tide

Gills Bay Sea Temperature

Very cold water temperature (6.9 °C) at Gills Bay accompanied by sub-zero wind chill temperatures (-2.0 °C). Wearing a thick winter wetsuit, neoprene hood, gloves and boots will be little defence against the cold, making it difficult to stay in the sea for very long. Feeling bitterly cold and cloudy.

Today, many surfers would wear a winter wetsuit, a neoprene hood, gloves and boots.

Current Temp*: 6.9°C*ocean temperature recorded from satellite

View Sea Temp Map

Swell History at Gills Bay

Surf stats for Gills Bay, see the swell variation by month or season on the history page here.

Average Swell

View Swell Statistics

Wind History at Gills Bay

Wind stats for Gills Bay, see the variation in direction and stength by month or season on the history page here.

Average Wind

View Wind Statistics

Other Nearby Breaks Closest To:

Discover surf breaks near Gills Bay. Click below to view there surf guides.

Tang Head
- Reef
- 4.0
Reliability: fairly consistent
5km away
Skarfskerry
- Reef
- 3.5
Reliability: fairly consistent
7km away
Freswick Bay
- River
- 3.5
Reliability: fairly consistent
8km away
Skirza Harbour
- Point
- 4.2
Reliability: fairly consistent
8km away
Ham
- Reef
- 3.8
Reliability: fairly consistent
9km away

Wave Buoys Nearest To Gills Bay:

Closest Wave BuoyEMEC Waverider at Billia Croo wave power test site26 mi
Second closest Wave BuoyMoray Firth WaveNet Site47 mi
Third closest Wave BuoyClaymore Buoy104 mi
Fourth closest Wave BuoyK7 Buoy132 mi
Fifth closest Wave BuoyGoldeneye135 mi

We hope you find the new 12-day forecasts and additional details useful.

Kudos to everyone who helped us debug this over the past 3 months.

Be sure to click on the Advanced Surf option to see extra details about the sea-state. Look out for crossing swells and short period local wind swells and chop that will often spoil a groundswell even if the wind is perfect. As yet there is no allowance for this in the swell rating. This is something we are working on.

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