Useful Links
This page contains a simple set of links to other sites that may be relevant to sailing in or staying in and around Wales. They are not under our control so may become out-of-date.
Sailing
- The Royal Yachting Association: From here you can find links to your local sailing club and lots of information about sailing, powerboating, yachting, windsurfing etc. This is always a good place to start.
- The RYA Cymru • Wales homepage.
- The Comet Class
Association web page
- The Solo class
association
- Link to Yachts &
Yachting magazine. One of the best sources of information
for dinghy and small boat sailors in the UK.
- Sail-World.com is a website that collects vast amounts of news and articles from all round the world every day. There are always some interesting articles there... and there is a UK specific section too.
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General Boating Links
Chandlery & Repairs
- A formerly local provider of speedy and effective sail repairs is Jon Iliffe of Jon Sails. He's now moved to Bodmin but will work by post for those of you a little further away too.
- Trident UK another chandlery for dinghy sailing and similar.
- Sailboats UK a specialist dinghy chandler.
- Force 4 are a yacht and dinghy chandler with physical shops in convenient locations around the country and a great on-line selection.
- Coast Water Sports are a specialist dinghy & paddling and surfing supplier in Axminster, Devon with a great online shop.
Sailing Skills & Training
- Dolygaer Outdoor Centre are partly based at Merthyr Tydfil Sailing Club offering courses and outdoor activity experiences for everyone. Their activities include Sailing, canoeing, windsurfing, hill-walking and climbing, caving and orienteering. They also have a cottage and other accommodation that can be booked and a small cafe on their site.
- Cardiff Yacht Club also have a training section.
- Cardiff Bay Yacht Club also have a training section.
- Cardiff Sailing Centre are a training centre that offers a range of courses.
- Knots that are useful to sailors and others can be seen here. The main ones to concentrate on for dinghy sailing are:
- Figure of eight
- Round turn and two half hitches
- Clove hitch
- Reef knot
- Bowline
- Dinghy Sailing Termininology, a reminder of what and how to teach you to sail. There are vast amounts of information provided for free on this website. One that is well worth bookmarking.
- Sailing Termininology, primarily the RYA recommended list for their advanced powerboating and yacht navigation courses.
- A free online navigation course for those wishing to sail a little further away than around a lake.
This is only a small subset of a vast number of resources out there. I suggest you visit the RYA website for a comprehensive list of sailing schools in the UK and beyond. The RYA also post a variety of videos on YouTube related to sailing; have a browse.
Sailing Holidays
- Self-catering dinghy sailing holidays based on the Balearic island of Minorca can be found at www.minorcasailing.co.uk
- If you're looking to charter a yacht somewhere around the world The Globe Sailor is a great place to start looking. You can charter "bareboat" or with a skipper.
- Whereas Sunsail offer yacht sailing around the world with bareboat and flotilla yachting holidays available in these and many more locations globally. They no longer operate "clubs" where dinghy sailing is done (see Neilson and Ocean Elements below for these).
- Neilson offer "beach club" holidays in many locations in Greece and Turkey some previously operated by Sunsail. Take a look: neilson.co.uk.
- Seafarer Sailing offer beach club & flotilla holidays Seafarer Sailing.
- Another company offering beach club holidays & flotilla sailing is Ocean Elements.
- Classic sailing offer holidays and RYA sailing courses in Scotland, Cornwall, Devon, Brittany and Tall Ships in the Caribbean.
All Sorts of General Sailing & Boating Links
- Apolloduck is a most improbably named directory of second-hand boats and baoting related hardware.
- Boats.Com are another database of boats for sale in the UK.
- Boats and Outboards is another site allowing free advertising for all sorts of marine stuff.
- BoatShop24.co.uk list all types of classified advertising for all things marine.
- Want to see where a ship is? Then try MarineTraffic.com.
- Looking for a bigger boat, try Network Yacht Brokers who have listings from yacht brokers all around the UK and Europe.
- Want to ship a boat or something else somewhere and save money AND CO2? Try Shiply Boat and Yacht Delivery who aim to match people needing stuff moved with people who have space on a suitable truck.
- All At Sea is a great place to look up what is happening in the sailing world or to start looking for a new boat or gadget.
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Weather
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Go to this page specifically for nearby accommodation in and around Pontsticill, home of Merthyr Tydfil Sailing Club.
Here are links that are more general for the whole of Wales.
- For further and the most up-to-date information I shall recommend you visit the official VisitWales tourist information site which is available in several languages.
- The Bear-Hotel in Crickhowell provides a lovely small town centre location very convenient for the Eastern Brecon Beacons or the Black Mountains.
- The Farm-Stay UK index provides a useful source of information about staying on farms in wales.
- Welshholidaycottages.com have a selection of four cottages in the Swansea valley.
- Try for cottages around the Pembrokeshire coast at
www.welsh-cottages.co.uk
- The information provided by Wales Cottage Holidays can prove useful if you are looking for self-catering accommodation.
- Hot Tub Hideaways offer breaks in log cabins with hot tubs all over the UK, this link shows those in Wales. So if whiling away the hours in bubbles is your thing, give them a try.
- Hoseasons - have Holiday Cottages near Dan-yr-Ogof in the South West of the National Park which are convenient not only for the mountains but are close enough for day-trips to the West Wales Coast too.
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Places to Visit
- For the most up-to-date information I shall direct you to the Visit Wales site.
- The Brecon Beacons National Park's own website has lots of information regarding what's on around the park each year.
- The Taff-Trail is a footpath/cycle route that runs from Cardiff Bay to Brecon passing near the sailing club and through 50 miles of Historic and scenic countryside.
- The Brecon Mountain Railway runs alongside the Taf Fechan from Pant just north of Merthyr Tydfil to Dol-y-Gaer just beyond the sailing club.
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General
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If you would like to have another link added to this page, send me an
e-mail
with the URL and I'll check it out to see if it contains relevant information.
We must state that the sites referenced by these links are not under my control I am making no recommendation of any kind and their content may have changed, disappeared or has become inappropriate over time; if you believe there is a problem then send me an e-mail.
Link back to Merthyr Tydfil Sailing Club's Home
Page
