Large sheltered Olympic-venue harbour offering butter-flat water at most tides. SW/W gives silky side-offshore flat conditions; launch from the pebble/grass shore at Ferrybridge by Billy Winters. A Portland Port day permit (and insurance) is required to ride, and on easterlies kiting is low-tide only. Over 2.5 h from London — not a day-trip spot for most.
ParkingLaunch area➤Today's wind direction (SW ~15 kt at low tide ~13:12 (window 10:12–16:12 BST))🚗 Directions • Open in Google Maps: Parking • Launch area
Region
Dorset
Skill level
Intermediate+ (permit + insurance required; offshore in SW/W)
Best tide window
All states (sheltered; flattest low–mid). HARD NO: easterlies are low-tide only, not at HW
Bathing water
The bathing water at Portland Harbour Sandsfoot Castle is rated Excellent. (EA)
Public-model blend: Met Office UKV 2km (direct), Met Office Global 10km (direct), AROME-FR, IFS-HRES, ICON, GFS (via Open-Meteo) and MET Norway, averaged across every model that covers each hour, out to day 7; temperature from the Met Office feeds
Last updated
Page rebuilt: 12 September 2026 18:59 BST Forecast data: 12 September 2026 17:17 BST Tide data: 12 September 2026 18:58 BST
📏 Tide heights — next 7 days(chart datum at Portland)
No measured beach/groyne height for this spot yet — log a beach report to add one.
🧭 Wind directions
Portland Harbour — enclosed by breakwaters; flat and sheltered, launch to suit the wind. A facing bearing does not apply; curated list trusted wholesale.
Next 7 days at Portland HarbourLighter option: Fri 18 Sep ~15 kt — marginal — larger kites (14 m+). Models diverge on Sunday: UKV 12 kt vs AROME 7 kt — lower confidence; lead model here is UKV 2km, check both before driving.
Windguru forecast
7-day forecast
Wind scale:<1010–1112–1314–1516–1920–2930+ kt ⚠
Public-model blend, for the full 7 days: The Met Office UKV 2km and Global 10km runs are read directly from the Met Office open-data feeds; AROME-FR 1.3km, IFS-HRES 9km, ICON and GFS come via Open-Meteo, plus MET Norway. Direction is a circular mean; gusts average only the models that publish an hourly-maximum gust. These numbers are raw model output with no coastal correction, so in the same weather they can read a little lighter than a coastally-corrected forecast — treat them as a floor rather than a ceiling. Temperature is from the Met Office runs (interpolated between 3-hourly steps on later days). No sea-state data is available. Tides from UKHO Admiralty (BST, 7-day window). The Windguru widget above is the unmodified Windguru forecast and is a useful cross-check.
Brief peak — under the 2-hour session rule. ~15 kt WSW in the tide window but the ≥15 kt stretch lasts under 2 hours — not a full session for a long drive; locals already nearby might grab it. ★ Gets dark at 19:16 — almost none of this window is in daylight.
Best window detail — 10:12–16:12 BST (UKV 2km hourly)
Hourly UKV 2km wind for the 2-hour tide window (★) plus an hour either side, averaging ~15 kt in the low-tide window.
Marginal — ~11 kt, big kites only. Peak ~11 kt WNW in the tide window. marginal — big kites (15 m+)/foils — most riders won't get planing; 15 m+/foil specialists only.
Best window detail — 12:13–18:13 BST (AROME-FR 1.3km hourly)
Hourly AROME-FR 1.3km wind for the 2-hour tide window (★) plus an hour either side, averaging ~11 kt in the low-tide window. Late-evening session — fine in summer, but a late drive home from London.
Pick a past day to compare three things: the forecast we published (frozen before each hour, never revised afterwards), the wind that actually happened (Open-Meteo reanalysis, hours 05:00–21:00 UK), and what the live weather stations near the spot actually recorded (amber, from 2 Aug 2026). You can go right up to today — today shows the forecast and the live stations; the reanalysis for today lands tomorrow morning.
Important: Forecasts are model-derived and may change. Always verify on Windguru and check local tide tables before you go. LKSA accepts no liability for decisions made based on this forecast.
