Minilandyachts

13/06/2026

It’s certainly been a windy June so far … it’s only the 13th and I’ve already been sailing 12 times ( 577 miles clocked in 26 hours ) and none of those times have been with a sail bigger than 4 sq m … but they have included yet another noteworthy First. My birthday was on the 11th and I usually try to sail my age in miles - if the chance arises - but sadly the forecast was always for rain on the 11th so the chance didn’t arise, but instead I seized the opportunity to do the “double” on the day before. The Double involves sailing the early morning tide, then returning later in the day to sail the evening tide, which I did on Newgale … it’s been a while since I last did that, and I’ve never done it twice in one year … but I did it again on the 12th … caught the morning tide at Newgale, then took the caravan to Pembrey and sailed the evening tide there - it was a glorious evening, gorgeous light, pleasing westerly breeze etc - and I ended up coming off the beach at 10 past 9 pm. Given that we’re still a fair way off the longest day - long enough for the tides to be right again too - there’s every chance I might be able to manage it again. I’m also hearing a lot about El Niño … nothing specific, but … suffice to say it bodes well for a mild and windy autumn !

09/06/2026

Today’s excitement included watching this arrive on the beach …

06/06/2026

Thursday 4th June’s sail was simply fantastic - up there with the best- so good I’ve simply got to tell you all about it.
The ‘guru (windguru.cz, the only forecast worth bothering with) said 23 mph Westerly winds, with gusts around 34 …
Cefn Sidan sands faces SW, so … fast tacks upwind on a rapidly drying beach followed by downwind Hooning were foreseeable … I couldn’t wait, so I got there early … hoisted the 3.6 sail and set off.
The beach was surprisingly wet … it was only 2 hours before low tide, so perhaps there had been rain recently, and the sky looked as though there might be more to come. We Brits are obsessed with our weather, and that interest further enhances the enjoyment of sailing on sand, particularly on the larger beaches - I was on Newgale the day before, scorching around with the storm sail, when a shower came through, and there was no way of escaping it … at a mere 2 miles long the beach was too small - anyway, I tacked my way north, felt the first drops of rain, turned, and shot south again - 42 mph, lovely - then tried again, and made it further up the beach before reaching the rain … and eventually made it up to the river - 5 miles from the slipway - on the 3rd or 4th attempt. The wind was strong, I was nicely powered up - possibly too powered up - and the thought occurred that perhaps the storm sail would be the better sail for the conditions … the rain had cleared, the beach was drying rapidly and seemingly in exquisite condition … the golden rule of Hooning is Never hoon into the unknown - always check out the terrain first before hitting it at full speed - but the beach was like a billiard table, dead flat and free of holes - so I focussed on having fun … heading inland at the northern end of the beach seemed to be the quickest point, with the top speed peaking at 44 mph. Eventually it was time to change sails - it was clearly going to be a long day, and the storm sail would be less strenuous - so, with 28 miles in the bag, up went the storm sail, 2.8 sq m, possibly 3, but with really stiff battens in it. My opening move was to head south, and clocked 52 mph for starters … which meant a 50/50 day (50 miles sailed, 50 mph top speed) was on the cards … and with that the sun came out and the day became an absolute joy. The next couple of hours were simply delightful … the storm sail was a joy to use, so easy after the 3.6 - less sudden sheeting out, less flapping on the tack turns, less of a fight generally - and this was Hooning at it’s best … flying along, throwing in exuberant impulse gybes, savouring exquisite slides that seemed to go on for ever … I did do another 2 full length-of-the-beach speed runs, but was unable to improve on the 52 mph of the first run, and it wasn’t long before the 50/50 day was in the bag … but the day was too good to simply stop and walk away without good reason, so … the hooning continued … then 3 hours were up, and that’s enough in those sort of conditions, so … I eyed up the Garmin and concluded that a 52/52 day with the storm sail would do the conditions justice, so headed north towards the Control Tower, turned just short thereof, scorched south and stopped at the slipway with 52 miles on the clock. What a day ! Pure exhilaration, for 3.2 hours, 80 miles total … Hefnly Cefn Sidan at it’s absolute best.
That was Thursday … which was followed by 52 miles on Friday on Pendine, then another 50/50 day on Cefn Sidan again on Saturday - even windier, 28 mph W, gusts of 41, commendably extreme conditions, stupendous acceleration, 55.4 mph tops, 57 miles sailed in 2.6 hours.

Special wind and weather forecasts for windsurfing, kitesurfing and other wind related sports. Forecasts for any location on planet Earth!

01/06/2026

Here’s a pic of me sailing my Indy - a beefed-up version of the Race Potty, Indy as in indestructible - at Kilcummin back in April, sporting it’s smart new Airtrack wheels.
If you zoom in on the buildings on the other side of the bay, one of them is Spillane’s bar and eatery … we tend to eat there several times during the Kerry trips, purely because it’s such a scenic spot - the view from the car park is incredible - the food is good and the staff are a delight. It is also possible to sail there, too … round the bay in an anticlockwise direction … Chris W did 5 full laps of the 7-mile long beach on his last visit, a record that still stands, and we only managed the one lap on the May trip, an experience that was best described as being akin to an assault course.
On our first visit to the bay - a mere 32 years ago - Chris and I sailed down the road to Spillane’s, clipped the power cable above the entrance to the car park with our masts, and sauntered in in our dry suits … we enjoyed a Guinness or 2 then booked into Eleanor Herlihy’s B&B next door … and the next morning I threw open the curtains to the most glorious view over the bay to Mount Brandon … and, as I focussed on it, a gannet dived in the foreground. It’s little wonder we keep going back.

01/06/2026

Here’s another Alan Watson video, this one showing the southern end of the beach … it shows the yachts going upwind over a series of undulations known as whups … which are perfectly pleasant going upwind, but a complete nightmare if you’re belting downwind at speed. I was following Mike H downwind when he hit the whups at speed, had his feet bounce off the steering, and spun his yacht - the bend on his mast during the spin had to be seen to be believed - but no damage was caused.
Mike H is 80 on 23rd June … yes, 80 ! He’s an inspiration to us all.

01/06/2026

The May Kerry trip was a success … I clocked 382.82 miles in @23.55 hours in 9 sailings over the 10 days of the trip. We lost one day (Day 4) to persistent light rain and no wind; had a minimal wind day on Kilcummin for starters followed by a belter on Day 2 - we managed one end-to-end, no mean achievement given the “challenging” nature of the beach, and it was arguably the highlight of the trip - then the rest of the trip was over on Inch … a mixed bag of light winds, rain, slightly stronger winds, rain, and occasional sunshine. The video - courtesy of Alan Watson - captures the weather quite nicely … yes, rain did feature … but it wasn’t biblical downpour-type rain, it was more a persistent / steady light rain … the sort you can easily ignore / treat as a minor inconvenience … to give you an idea, I did not wear my dry suit at all on this trip - and that is an absolute First - and there was only one day where all the gear was put away wet, as - for all that at least half of the days could have been described as wet - we invariably were able to pack up with everything nice and dry. I used the 5.6 sail on 8 of the 9 days, which is an indication of the lightness of the winds, but I also used the 4.2 on 4 of the days … if that sounds confusing, the wind strength varied during the day and - if you’ve got a selection of sails available - it makes sense to use them. Another feature of this trip - for me - was including a pre-ferry sail at each end of the trip. The outgoing ferry was preceded by a wild, madcap hoon on Newgale in a serious wind that lead to the ferry being hopelessly delayed - which had the delightful and completely unexpected consequence of being able to trim a full 15 minutes off my record time for the Trans Ireland Dash - and the homeward ferry was preceded by the merest little sail - 500 feet in 3 minutes - !!! - I sailed, so it counts ! - when the lightest wind was Not off the sea - as promised - but at 90 degrees to the limited strip of available beach, and wasn’t strong enough to cope with the uphill leg … but … there you have it … another successful Kerry trip in the bag … No.62, if my records are correct.

29/04/2026

The April Kerry trip was a great success, with 361 miles sailed in 21.5 hours over 7 sessions. One day was lost due to no wind, but we went for a tour round the Ring of Kerry instead, which was an absolute delight - proper sensory overload for the eyeballs - gorgeous scenery, rugged rocks, pretty beaches etc all helped by glorious sunshine and a complete lack of traffic. The sailing lived up to expectations, 2 days on Inch, 5 on Brandon, 2 days of Hooning with the storm sail, 3 days of good wind and 2 days of lighter wind. I did manage a First - for me - my first 50/50 day in Kerry - that’s 50 miles sailed and 50 mph top speed - doing 50 miles in a day is a regular occurrence - we’re there to sail, after all - and 50 mph has been achieved before too, but … in 60 trips over the last 32 years, I’d never had a 50/50 day … until Day 7 of this trip, in a stiff ESE at Kilcummin, when I clocked 51.6 mph and 71 miles in 4 hours. The beach faces North, so that wind direction was pretty hopeless … but the wind got stronger and stronger … I’d been using the 3.6 sail and my top speed had been creeping up with each and every dash downwind … it peaked at 48.6 mph, just as the sky looked murderous, as though it was going to lash down with rain any minute, so I seized the initiative and put the storm sail up … and got 51.6 on the first run. The downpour missed us - only a few drops fell, so I was sheltering for barely 5 minutes - then carried on again, but didn’t beat the 51.6 … didn’t need to, as the 50/50 was in the bag !
We’re back there again next month for the main Kerry trip, 14th to 24th May, so feel free to join us !

13/04/2026

It’s been pretty windy recently … so much so that I see I’ve been sailing 11 times this month - 525 miles in 24.7 hours - and today’s only the 13th … and I’m about to pop across the ditch for the April Hooning with Hickey trip over in Co. Kerry. We had Storm Dave over Easter, and I did 60+ miles each day for the 4 days of the Easter Weekend. I’ve had the storm sail out 3 times, and probably should have used it on another couple of occasions, but - apart from all the airborne sand playing havoc with the visibility, which certainly gets the pulse racing when you’re belting along a high water line that’s strewn with logs, branches and general flotsam - my lasting memory will be of meeting 4 deer out on Pendine. I was heading downwind and my arrival came as a surprise to them, and they ended up running along 80 yards inland of me for maybe half a mile until I was able to ease ahead of them - I was doing 38 mph. I’d seen a magnificent stag, posing on top of a dune there a few years ago, and the Pendine Security guys had told me they had a herd of deer “on the range” there, hence these 4, presumably. Another memory was clocking 58.4mph ahead of an incoming squall, slaloming through the firewood … that was the same day another squall came through as I was tacking through a carpet of clam shells, which suddenly became airborne too, which was both painful and alarming. I think I’ve done well not to hit anything of consequence … no breakages either, but I did pick up a 5th puncture at some point. Another point of interest was watching a large dead fish come in with the tide while sailing on Newgale … I couldn’t make out what it was, but a bloke rolled up his trouser legs and dragged it out … a 4’ tuna, which looked absolutely delicious … Deb’s middle daughter is into Marine Conseravation, so she went down to take a look … and found blood and guts everywhere, and a chap happily butchering it on the beach … she queried the wisdom of his actions, but he told her to clear off, then loaded it all up and took it home !
It’s been all go on the sailing front here … and for once I’m hoping the winds over in Ireland aren’t too wild …

04/04/2026

Yay ! A 50/50 day ! As the wind speed increased ahead of Storm Dave, so did the yacht speed - it’s definitely highly addictive !

01/04/2026

Edit - Ignore this below - the whole lot is Gone, in a mere 9 hours !

It’s CLEAROUT time …

- 2 x ‘A’ sails, complete with 22” mast head crane, as used on my Class 5 to clock 68.2 mph at the Americas Cup event at Ivanpah in 2000.

- approx 5.4m long wing mast, made by Seagull (France), with a pole inside it with external bearings at the base, 3 sails, new spare track and partially made mould to make a shorter wing mast to go on a Miniyacht.

- used Potty 4.2 miniyacht sail - the prototype for our 4.6Race sail that used to come as standard on the Potty Max yachts - with the batten pockets at 90 degrees to the mast. A seam at the bottom of the mast pocket needs restitching.

- used Potty 3.6Race sail - used 494 times for 1072 hours to cover 22,372 miles in 2 weeks short of 9 years. The mast pocket was replaced at 12,635 miles, after 591 hours in 282 sessions. A seam at the bottom of the mast pocket needs restitching.

- used Potty storm sail, with captive windsurfer-style batten pockets and the mast pocket to suit the original 3 pulley Potty set up. Plenty of life left in this one - it’s perfect for nervous beginners or lightweights, as well as high wind hooning.

All the above items are FREE.

Please note that there are No battens or tensioners with the sails. If you want battens and tensioners, they’re extra.

All enquiries to Andy Parr, 0791 994 3456, [email protected]