Read the Site Before You Unload the Car

Arriving at a coastal campsite on a bright afternoon, it is tempting to dump the bags and get the kettle on. Resist that urge for ten minutes. Walk the boundary, stand on the pitch, and watch the grass. Where is it pressed flat? Which way are the windbreaks leaning? On exposed sites the wind rarely arrives from one tidy direction — a sea breeze can curve round a headland, and a gap in a hedge can turn a gentle onshore drift into a focused gust. Note the prevailing direction, then look for a second, quieter spot. South-west is the usual culprit in the UK, but the shape of the coastline always has the final say.

Pitch With the Wind in Mind

The single biggest favour you can do yourself is to orient the tent so the wind meets it at the lowest, strongest end. Most tents are designed to take weather head-on at the foot, with the sleeping pods behind the poles and the porch downwind. Pitching nose-to-wind lets the structure flex and shed gusts instead of catching them broadside — a tent hit side-on acts like a sail, and no amount of pegging will persuade it otherwise.

Put the door on the sheltered side, or at least so it opens away from the wind. If your tent has a low end and a high end, feed the low end into the weather. A tunnel tent should run with the wind along its length, never across it.

Find Shelter Without Creating Trouble

Shelter is a balance. A wall, hedge or dune will slow the wind, but stand too close and you are sitting in turbulent air that buffets the tent from odd angles. Aim to pitch roughly three to five times the obstacle's height away from it, so the airflow can smooth out again.

• Avoid the base of cliffs; wind accelerating over the top curls down and hits the ground with real force.
• Skip the gap between two hedges or buildings — funnelling can almost double the wind speed.
• Avoid lone trees; the shelter is patchy, and falling branches are a genuine risk.
• Choose gentle rises over hollows. Hollows collect the water that arrives behind the wind.

Pegs, Angles and Storm Guys

The pegs that come with a tent are a compromise, meant for a still night in a sheltered field. Coastal grass over sand or shingle needs more bite. Pack longer, wider pegs — delta or V-shaped profiles hold well in soft ground — and consider proper sand pegs if the site is sandy.

Drive every peg in at about 45 degrees, leaning away from the tent, so the line pulls against the ground rather than lifting the peg out. Push it in fully. A peg half out of the ground is doing half a job.

Storm guys are the next step up. These are extra lines attached to reinforced points on the flysheet, usually at pole crossings or the middle of a long panel. Rig them whenever strong wind is forecast, even if the sky looks calm. Where you can, add a short length of elastic shock cord in line with the guy — it lets the tent breathe with each gust rather than fighting it. Reflective lines make the midnight trip to the loo far easier. Set guys out at roughly 45 degrees from the tent, long enough that the peg is not fighting the panel for space.

Tension, Ventilation and Small Habits

A taut tent is a quiet tent, but over-tensioning can be as bad as slack. Guy lines should be firm enough to hold the shape and no more; a structure that flexes slightly will absorb gusts instead of snapping. Recheck everything once the tent has settled — fabric relaxes, lines loosen, and a pitch that was drum-tight at teatime may be flapping by midnight.

Ventilation matters even in a gale. Keep low-level vents on the sheltered side open to cut condensation, but close anything facing the wind or you will find fine mist blown inside. Zip doors fully; an unzipped porch panel is a sail with a zip on it. Store heavy kit against the windward wall for a little ballast, but keep it off the fabric itself. And peg everything out before dark — hunting for guy-line pegs by torchlight is nobody's idea of a good evening.

When the Wind Picks Up at Night

Listen to the tent. A steady roar is manageable; sharp cracks and waves of shuddering are your cue to get up and check the lines. Re-tension the guys, add a spare peg or two to the windward corners, and bring any loose gear inside. If gusts become genuinely severe, it is better to drop the tent and sleep in the car than to test the limits of a three-season shelter.

Pitch well and the morning after a blow is usually a pleasant surprise — a few pegs to reset, a bit of sand to shake out, and a flat calm sea beyond the dunes. Get the orientation, the pegs and the guys right, and a windy coastal night becomes part of the adventure rather than the end of the trip.