On an island every property is a coastal property. That is not marketing, it is corrosion chemistry and wind physics, and it changes what a roof needs to last.
Salt attacks the fixings before the covering
Slate and tile are largely indifferent to salt. Nails, clips, screws and roofline metalwork are not. Salt laden air accelerates corrosion, which is why a roof in Seaview or Totland will often lose slates while the slates themselves are still perfectly sound. The material has outlived what was holding it on.
The answer is specifying fixings for the exposure rather than for a sheltered street, and checking fixings as part of any inspection rather than only looking at the covering.
Wind does not push, it lifts
Wind flowing over a pitched roof creates suction on the leeward slope and at the edges and ridge. That is why storm damage so often starts at a verge, an eaves course or a ridge tile rather than in the middle of a roof. Out in the West Wight, where the prevailing westerlies arrive first, perimeter fixing is not an optional extra.
Driving rain gets under things
Rain arriving almost horizontally, which is normal along the south coast between Sandown and Ventnor in a storm, can be pushed up under a covering that has insufficient headlap. The symptom is distinctive: a roof that is completely dry in ordinary rain and leaks only in a gale. If that describes yours, the fix is not a single tile.
What this means when you get a quote
If someone quotes an exposed seafront roof exactly as they would quote one in a sheltered inland street, they have not accounted for any of the above. Ask what fixings are specified, what the headlap is, and how the verges and ridge are secured. A roofer who understands coastal work will have an answer ready.
We are happy to talk any of this through before you commit to anything. Give us a call.