Merthyr Tydfil Sailing Club - Useful Internet Links

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.

Sailing Weather Boating Accommodation Places to Visit General

Sailing

The Royal Yachting Association homepage.
The Welsh Yachting Association homepage.
The web page of the UK Enterprise Class Assocaition.
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. Here is their latest news...


You need a Java-capable web browser to see the applet.

A specifically Welsh water-sports website is www.watersportswales.co.uk
MadForSailing.com are a broad based website based in the UK with stuff for sale as well as information.
Caution-Water is a website that brings together a lot of information especially for people who are interested in starting to sail. There are some explanations of terminology, demostrations and instruction. Assiciated to the is site is findasailingclub.com which does "exactly what is says in the URL".
Sail-the-net have also got a comprehensive site with a marine directory, crew swap, boat jumble, on-line cruising guide, and extensive links sections at www.sail-the-net.com.
UK Dinghy Racing - A site dedicated to dinghy racing with lots of useful links, especially in the UK, including to class associations, clubs and manufacturers.
www.yachtingtv.co.uk is a great online TV channel here in the UK dedicated to, you guessed it, yachting. They also host RYA.TV for the RYA.
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.

General Boating Links

Chandlery

A rather nifty device that allows you to use your boats motive power to lift your anchor and save your back is the AnkaYanka; available in the UK and Europe for the first time from Anchor Retrieval Solutions who now also offer a wide range of other chandlery items from the UK and around the world.
Link to Rat Rigs a dinghy and windurfing supplier in Cardiff.
Purple Sails and Marine a dinghy, yachting and all things wet.
Want something to stop your boat? Then try The Anchor Store.
Speed Sails a specialist dinghy supplier in Aldridge (just north of Walsall).

Sailing Schools

Brittany Sailing are a small British RYA Sailing School offering tidal sailing courses in Brittany.
Powersailtraining are a RYA Recognised Sea School operating out of Dartmouth during the summer and the Solent during the winter offering practical yacht sailing courses at all levels from beginner to Yachtmaster.
Adventure Cardiff is the local authority sailing centre based on Cardiff Bay. This has taken over from Llanishen sailing centre where I was taught to sail many, many years ago.
Cardiff Yacht Club also have a training section that is growing with the help of the Cardiff University Students Union sailing section.
Dolygaer Outdoor Education Centre are partly based at Merthyr Tydfil Sailing Club offering courses and outdoor activity experiences for school-children and adults. Their activities include Sailing, canoeing, windsurfing, hill-walking and climbing, caving and orienteering.

Sailing Holidays

Self-catering dinghy sailing holidays based on the Balearic island of Minorca can be found at www.minorcasailing.co.uk
Whereas Sunsail offer half-board dinghy sailing "club" holidays in Greece and Antigua with bareboat and flotilla yachting holidays available in these and many more locations globally. They are now offering similar activity facilities to their traditional "club" centres alongside some of their sister company Robinsons resorts in Greece, Spain and Egypt.
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

Link to Yacht Club Burgees around the world.
BoatShop24.co.uk list all types of classified advertising for all things marine.
Link to AutoHoot.com A company with lots of information regarding racing sailing dinghies.
Want to see where a ship is? Then try MarineTraffic.com.
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 start looking for a new boat or gadget.
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.

Weather

For general weather links this cannot be beaten www.greatweather.co.uk.
Of course there's always the Met-Office. This is a link to the Inshore Waters forecast and here is a link to their Brecon Beacons Mountain weather sponsored by the Welsh Assembly Government. But here is the detailed forecast page for the Merthyr Tydfil area.
Here is the current forecast for MTSC...

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Wind speeds have been modified to allow for local topology (I'm giving away some local knowledge here).

Accommodation Related Links

Click here for local accommodation in and around Pontsticill, home of Methyr Tydfil Sailing Club.

For further and the most up-to-date information I shall recommend you visit the officialVisitWales tourist information site which is available in several languages.
For a nice hotel with spa and cracking restaurant that is 'out-of-town' but less than 20 minutes from the Sailing club try the Nant-Ddu Lodge.
A group of friendly looking self catering cottages with good facilities can be found at Gaer Cottages.
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.
Wales Cottage Holidays We have a range of self catered cottages in Wales available through our in-depth directory.
Welshholidaycottages.com have a selection of four cottages in the Swansea valley.
Canal Barn Bunkhouse, Brecon. Group accommodation specially designed for Outdoor Activity people. The Bunkhouse has a superb setting on the canal towpath, but close to Brecon town centre.
Try for cottages around the Pembrokeshire coast at www.welsh-cottages.co.uk and also their sister site www.lastminute-wales.com.
The information provided by Cottage Holidays Wales can prove useful if you are looking for self-catering accommodation.
This is a link to Milfords accommodation index.
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.

Places to Visit

For the most up-to-date information I shall direct you to the Visit Wales site.
The VisitOurBeacons website provides more information about facilities around the Tal-y-Bont on Usk area and the Beacons in general.
A useful website for information about Wales in general and with some accommodation links is the Data-Wales site.
The Brecon Beacons National Park's own website has lots of information regarding what's on around the park each year.
A cool site giving lots of information about the Brecon Beacons National Park the area north of Merthyr Tydfil which includes Pontsticill and Merthyr Tydfil Sailing Club, is the Mountain Hut Newsletter
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.

General

Visit SearchInWales.com an independent Welsh based search engine for Welsh based web sites. Local links for local people.
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Councils website.
Cardiff Rugby Club's Homepage
The Centre for Alternative Technology are an interesting organisation researching and promoting the use of many different forms of technology in environmentally friendly ways.
Brecknock Wildlife Trust
Black Mountains Smokery
One famous resident of Merthyr Tydfil in the past was Johnny Owen the boxer, he now has a website giving his biography and other related information.
The nearby town of Aberdare now has its own information service offered by Aberdare Online.
The BBC's south-east Wales webpage can be found to have links to many other useful and interesting sites.

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.

I 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.