Argyll and the Isles Strategic Tourism Partnership has just circulated news that Sky is to televise a series of 8 slots on the 2009 Tiree Wave Classic on its Sky Sports Xtra and Sky Sports 2 Digital channels.

This is very good news for Tiree and for  Argyll’s growing activity tourism sector.

The event is one of the highlights of the sporting year in the K and draws international competitors to Tiree’s first class windsurfing (the pros say wavesailing) conditions.

The photograph below is just in case you’d forgotten just how spectacularly hairy the Tiree Wave Classic - and the sport it presents - actually is.

The transmission schedule is:

• Tiree Wave Classic 2009: 05/01/10 18:30 Sky Sports 2 Digital
• Tiree Wave Classic 2009: 05/01/10 21:30 Sky Sports Xtra
• Tiree Wave Classic 2009: 13/01/10 18:30 Sky Sports 2 Digital
• Tiree Wave Classic 2009: 13/01/10 21:00 Sky Sports Xtra
• Tiree Wave Classic 2009: 13/01/10 23:30 Sky Sports 2 Digital
• Tiree Wave Classic 2009: 13/01/10 26:30 Sky Sports Xtra
• Tiree Wave Classic 2009: 14/01/10 14:00 Sky Sports 2 Digital
• Tiree Wave Classic 2009: 14/01/10 18:30 Sky Sports Xtra
• Tiree Wave Classic 2009: 15/01/10 14:30 Sky Sports 2 Digital

The big question is will Sky show the action (above) on the day Louise Emery led a team into the waves as a diversion on a day the weather was against competition? Now that really was commitment.

Check out the Isle of Tiree Diary for a great video on the island’s own 2008 British Women’s Champion Kitesurfer, Helen Thompson.