MapIrelandRosses Point (Sligo)Rosses PointRosses Point (Sligo)

Rosses Point

County Sligo · Rosses Point (Sligo)

also known as An Ros

Part of Rosses Point (Sligo) →

beginner-friendlymedium crowds

On this page

The spot
Wind
Forecast
Month by month
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
Schools
Tips
Getting there
Photos
FAQ

Riding essentials

Season

no season named

Months riders and schools name

How windy

15-25 kt

Character: synoptic

Room to launch

huge

access rules on record, below

Water

mixed

15 °C in summer2 km of sand near Sligo town, backed by dunes, boulders, rock pools, and best walked at low tide

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Beginner to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

medium crowds · busy Jun Jul Aug Sep

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

55 min

Ireland West Airport Knock (NOC)

When it fills in

Frontal, not thermal: there is no afternoon fill-in cycle here. The wind is either in the day's forecast or it is not, and when it is, it usually holds from morning through evening, building or easing with the passing system rather than with the clock.

Nearbystraight-line distance

Tullan Strand27 km

Backup spotsWhere riders go when the wind doesn't work here.

Strandhill Beachno page yet
Strandhillno page yet
Enniscroneno page yet
Streedaghno page yet
Lissadellno page yet
Bundoran Beachno page yet

The spot

Rosses Point is Sligo's home beach, out on the peninsula at the mouth of Sligo Harbour, facing west into whatever the Atlantic sends. It works on NW, W or SW, and it works all year. About 2 km of Blue Flag sand, with dunes, boulders, rock pools behind it and a view across to Coney Island and Oyster Island, with Knocknarea and Benbulben behind that.

Riding style

The water is chop and small waves rather than a flat lagoon, so this is a freeride beach. Mid tide is the usual call, though it is worked on both the rising and the falling water.

Summer crowding

The real constraint is summer: lifeguards and a flagged bathing zone take the middle of the beach out of play, and it is Sligo town's nearest strand so everyone else is on it too. Strong current runs by the headland and in the channel, so be conservative about where you would land downwind.

The wind

Direction

onshore

Direction to shore

The strand faces west into the prevailing Atlantic flow, so W arrives straight onshore and SW and NW come in cross-on. The hills around the bay channel the flow, and it often ends up sideshore rather than square onshore.

Dominant direction

SW is the primary direction. N, S, SSW, SW, WSW, W, WNW, NW and NNW are all listed as workable, but NW, W and SW are the ones that actually deliver.

Kite sizes

567891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

For a 75-85 kg rider the working pair is a 12 m and a 9 m. The 12 m covers the 15-20 kt days that make up most spring and early-autumn sessions, the 9 m takes over from about 20 kt, and a 7 m earns its place on the autumn and winter Atlantic days sitting at 25 kt and above.A 15 m is only worth carrying for marginal 12-14 kt afternoons. These are chart-derived planning sizes for the spot's wind band; nobody local publishes their own numbers, so ask on the beach.

Character

synoptic

When it fills in: see above ↑

Typical strength

Solid by Irish standards and rarely under 3 Bft, roughly 10 kt. March through May and September through October are the months named as best, when 15-25 kt is the normal working band. Autumn and winter fronts run well past 25 kt. No long-term wind station covers this beach, so treat any monthly figure as a planning range rather than a measurement and read the live marine forecast.

Exposed Atlantic wind that comes with the weather system rather than with the afternoon. No long-term station covers this beach, so every figure for it is a planning range.

Rideable year round. The months that get named as best are March to May plus September and October. Midsummer is both the lightest stretch and the crowded one, with lifeguard-managed bathing zones in force from June into September.

No station on the beach publishes long-term statistics, so plan from the live marine forecast rather than from monthly averages.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

15 ktJan9°
14 ktFeb8°
13 ktMar8°
11 ktApr9°
11 ktMay11°
10 ktJun13°
10 ktJul14°
11 ktAug16°
12 ktSep14°
13 ktOct13°
13 ktNov12°
14 ktDec10°

avg knots per month · water °C below · season highlighted

No month-by-month share of windy days is held for this spot, and no riding season is named.

Modelled from weather reanalysis on a 10–25 km grid, not a ground station: reliable for trade and synoptic winds, understates thermal sea breezes and valley winds.

Every figure, month by monthKnots · Wind from · Air · Water

Month	Knots	Wind from	Air	Water
Jan	14.6 kt	S	5.6 °C	8.9 °C
Feb	13.8 kt	S	5.6 °C	8.3 °C
Mar	13.1 kt	W	6.7 °C	8.3 °C
Apr	11.4 kt	W	8.3 °C	8.9 °C
May	10.9 kt	W	11.1 °C	11.1 °C
Jun	10.3 kt	W	13.3 °C	12.8 °C
Jul	10.1 kt	W	15 °C	14.4 °C
Aug	10.5 kt	W	15 °C	15.6 °C
Sep	11.6 kt	W	13.3 °C	14.4 °C
Oct	12.5 kt	S	10.6 °C	13.3 °C
Nov	13.1 kt	S	7.8 °C	11.7 °C
Dec	13.8 kt	S	6.1 °C	10 °C

How this is modelledmodelled

A weather model's cell over this place, not a station on it. Good for comparing places, weaker for one beach.

The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

Sligo (WeatherSpark modeled climatology) · weatherspark

The water

Type

mixed

Standing depth

Shallow and forgiving over a wide area. The water reportedly never gets past about waist height across the usable ground, and at low tide the sand runs a long way out before it drops away. Depth is governed by the tide state more than by distance from the beach.

Tides

Tidal Atlantic bay. Mid tide is the usual recommendation, and the spot is worked on both the rising and the falling tide, with some descriptions calling it usable at all states.At low tide the sand opens out a long way and you can walk from one end of the strand to the other; at high tide a rocky headland separates the first and second beaches, so anyone walking between them can be cut off by the flood.

Temperature

15 °C summer · 8.7 °C winter

Modelled monthly average: 8–16 °C

Wetsuit

Full wetsuit required year-round for most riders; Rosses Point average sea temperatures are about 15 °C in summer and 8.7 °C in winter, and a local lesson provider states wetsuits are needed but not supplied for lessons.

Currents

Strong current runs at the headland past the sailing club, in the channel between Oyster Island and Rosses Point.

Conditions

2 km of sand near Sligo town, backed by dunes, boulders, rock pools, and best walked at low tide. The kite water is chop and small waves, calmer than the open coast because the bay encloses it, and with far less surf than Strandhill.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Big sand, small waves and a long lesson history make this a beginner and intermediate beach, provided the beginner respects the tide, the bathing zone, the lifeguards and the current in the channel. Advanced riders get their days out of the stronger Atlantic fronts, but nobody rates Rosses Point as a wave spot.

The scene

What riders come here for

freeridewaveswingfoilwindsurfsmall wavesscenic sessions

Who it suitsbeginner

A Sligo village beach: walkers, swimmers, families, golfers, windsurfers, wingfoilers, kiters, all on the same Blue Flag sand, looking out at Coney Island and Oyster Island with Knocknarea and Benbulben behind. It feels busy in summer because it is the nearest strand to Sligo town.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

3 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: huge

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

1 spot nearby

Tullan Strand27 km

The one spot within 40 km is under Nearby

Rescue

Sligo Bay RNLI keeps a lifeboat station at Rosses Point and council lifeguards cover the bathing zone from June into September, but neither is a kite rescue service and neither belongs in a session plan.

Ride with somebody, agree the downwind exit before you launch, and leave a phone ashore where you can reach it.

112 or 999 raises the Coast Guard.

Launch

Launch locationLaunch from the second beach, the kilometre-long middle strand reached from Rosses Point village past the golf course and the beach car parks. It is more open and exposed than the first beach and it is where kiters go when it blows.Soft, wide sand with plenty of room to lay out lines.Beach restrictions and alternativesThe bathing zone running from the first beach car park to midway up the second beach is closed to kites while lifeguards are on duty, so rig above that line.The third beach, running on to the Drumcliff river mouth, is the most secluded and is never patrolled.

Hazards riders report 12 reported

Crowds and zones

Summer swimmers and flagged bathing areas; the swimming zone from the first beach car park to midway up the second beach is out of bounds when summer restrictions apply.
Busy beach in summer because it is close to Sligo town.
Summer swimmers and flagged bathing areas; the zone from the first beach car park to midway up the second beach is closed to kites when lifeguards are on duty, June to September.
Busy beach in summer because it is Sligo town's nearest strand, with walkers, swimmers, families and other watersports sharing the sand.

Bottom

Rocky headland with a sudden drop between the first and second beaches; keep clear when riding close in.

Waves and currents

Strong current reported near the headland past the sailing club in the channel between Oyster Island and Rosses Point.
Tidal range changes the beach and usable water; the beach is best explored at low tide, and kite guide sources differ on best tide.
Strong current near the headland past the sailing club, in the channel between Oyster Island and Rosses Point.
Tidal range changes the beach and the usable water; guidance differs on the best stage, with mid tide the common recommendation.
A rising tide can cut off anyone walking between the first and second beaches, which are joined only at low water.

Protected areas and rules

Rock pools and protective boulders are present; keep setup and riding clear of hard obstacles.
Rock pools and protective boulders behind the sand; keep setup and lines away from hard obstacles.

Rules & access

1 min read

Permits and bathing zone

2026: no kitesurf permit is required and no county bye-law naming kitesurfing was found for Rosses Point. What binds you is the bathing zone. Kiting is not allowed inside the lifeguarded area, which runs from the first beach car park to midway up the second beach, and cover there runs June to September.

Lifeguard cover and zones

Sligo County Council staffs the beach on weekends in June, daily in July and August, and on selected September weekends. Marked riding zones exist on the spot and are expected to be respected.

Confirm before riding

Confirm the flagged line with the lifeguards on the day; the whole strand is not open to kites in summer.

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Schools that ride here

Rider tips

Launch from the second beach, past the golf course and the car parks. The first beach is the family one and the third runs on to the Drumcliff river mouth, unpatrolled.
Rig above the flagged bathing stretch, which runs from the first beach car park to midway up the second beach and is closed to kites while the lifeguards are on duty.
Ask the lifeguards where the line is that day between June and September, because the whole strand is not open to kites in summer.
Mid tide is the safe default, and the beach is worked on both the rising and the falling water.
At low water you can walk between the beaches. On the flood you can be cut off at the headland, so think about that before you land downwind.
Stay out of the channel between Oyster Island and Rosses Point, and off the headland past the sailing club; the current there is strong.
Bring a proper full wetsuit even in August. The sea averages about 15 C in summer and 8.7 C in winter, and lesson providers do not supply suits.
Plan from the live marine forecast. No station on this beach publishes long-term statistics, so any monthly average for Rosses Point is a guess.
March to May and September to October are the months worth booking; midsummer is the lightest wind and the busiest sand.
A 12 m and a 9 m cover most days for a 75-85 kg rider, with a 7 m for the autumn fronts. Those sizes are chart-derived, so ask on the beach.
Keep your lines and your setup away from the boulders and the rock pools at the back of the sand.
Phone before you count on a lesson here: the long-standing local school's website no longer resolves and one directory has it closed.
Ride with somebody and agree the downwind exit before you launch. The lifeboat station and the lifeguards are not a kite rescue service.
Leave a phone ashore where you can get to it. 112 or 999 raises the Coast Guard.

Getting there

Airport

Ireland West Airport Knock (NOC) is the nearest airport, about 46.6 km in a straight line and 61.9 km by road.

Route

By car, drive to Sligo and take the R291 northwest to Rosses Point. By bus, Bus Eireann route S2 links Sligo with Rosses Point in about 20 minutes; the published frequency is hourly in one place and every 30 minutes until evening, then every 60 minutes, in another, so check the timetable on the day.

Transfer

55 min

Cost level

medium

Staying

Base in Sligo town for the widest range, from budget to higher-end hotels, or stay in Rosses Point village for direct beach access and pubs/restaurants; Sligo has accommodation from cheap to five-star luxury.

No-wind days

Walk Rosses Point Beach and coastal paths, explore Sligo town, climb Knocknarea's Queen Maeve Trail, surf or visit cafes at Strandhill, play County Sligo Golf Club, visit Lissadell House, or use Sligo Bay boat trips when operating.

Photos

FAQ

Is Rosses Point suitable for beginners?

The large sandy beach and freeride conditions suit beginners and intermediates, though tides, swim zones and channel current call for caution.

What is the wind like at Rosses Point?

Northwest, west and southwest are the suitable directions for this west-facing beach.

Is the tide important at Rosses Point?

Mid tide is often called best, though sources also describe the beach as usable through rising and falling water.

Are there rules at Rosses Point?

As of 2026, lifeguards cover weekends in June and daily July-August, with a flagged summer swim zone off-limits to kiting.

What are the main hazards?

A strong current is reported near the headland past the sailing club, in the channel toward Oyster Island.

The bigger pictureEverything about Rosses Point (Sligo)

Last updated: August 2026