| This is a selection of links that you may find useful. They are divided into categories to make it easier for you to find what you want. If any are out of date then please email me. |
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Weather and Sailing Conditions |
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| Isle of Wight Weather (Bleakdown) | WindGuru (Yaverland) | ||
| If you wish to know what the weather is like on the Island visit this site for up-to-date information. | This website forecasts the conditions for windsurfers but the information is still very useful for other water sports. | ||
| GB Wind Map | Webcam at Sandown Beach on the Isle of Wight | ||
| This site gives a graphical display of wind speed and direction over the whole of the United Kingdom. Clicking on an area will also give a forecast of wind speeds and direction in that area. | If you want to see what the conditions are like right in the middle of Sandown Bay then this is the webcam for you. As well as a live webcam there are recent images taken over the last 24 hours (but I have yet to catch a sight of my boat on it). | ||
| Satellite Pictures | Metcheck | ||
| This page displays an hourly satellite image of the whole of Europe. Unfortunately it does not give a close up of the Island. | This is another forecasting site that gives rain, wind speed and direction and cloud cover. | ||
| Accuweather | BBC Weather | ||
| This is another forecasting site. It gives a five-day forecast but includes individual day and evening forecasts for each day. | Five-day forecasting site giving temperature, wind speed and direction, UV and pollution figures. | ||
| Easy Tide | |||
| This website shows you the tide for Sandown over the next seven days. As well as giving the times of high and low tide it also shows how high and low the tides will be. | |||
Island Clubs |
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| Bembridge Sailing Club | Brading Haven Yacht Club | ||
| Bembridge Sailing Club was founded in 1886 and is on the edge of Bembridge Harbour. They have bar and dining areas that are open every weekend. As well as a very active Sailing and Social calendar they also have an extensive range of courses on offer. But if none of this interests you then they also have some very lovely pictures. | Brading Haven Yacht Club is based at Bembridge Harbour and have moorings in the harbour as well as a dinghy park on shore. They have a fleet of Optimists, Toppers, Picos and Wayfarers, which are used by Members. Onshore they have a bar and dining facilities where they run varied social events all year round. | ||
| Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club | East Cowes Sailing Club | ||
| This Club was established in 1952 and is based in Cowes, on the Western side of the River Medina. It has its own marina, toilets and hot showers and a bar. During the summer months, the Club’s marquee can be hired for wedding or birthday parties or other social functions. | East Cowes Sailing Club is based on the Eastern side of the River Medina. Members' boats can be kept either on moorings or onshore either inside or out. They organise sailing and fishing competitions along with social events. | ||
| East Wight Combined Clubs | Gurnard Sailing Club | ||
| East Wight Combined Clubs exists as a Committee created jointly by Bembridge Sailing Club, Brading Haven Yacht Club, Sea View Yacht Club and Royal Victoria Yacht Club to co-ordinate the Race Management of keel boats and dinghy Regattas organised by them in the Eastern Solent. | Gurnard Sailing Club was established in 1931 and is located on the shores of Gurnard Bay. They offer a full calendar of series races and one-off events along with regattas. They also play host to the Pico Nationals in May. | ||
| The Island Sailing Club | Junior Offshore Group | ||
| The Island Sailing Club have a pontoon where members can moor whilst visiting the Club's excellent facilities. They have a bar, dining room, conservatory looking out over the Solent, a balcony for those warmer days and accommodation. They own a fleet of nine Sonar yachts, which are available for hire by the members and charter by non members. Run Tuesday evening racing during the summer as well as putting on various races for clubs and classes. Each year they run the famous Round the Island Race that attracts up to 1800 boats and is the one event of the year where first time racers can find themselves up against the sailing rock stars. | Junior Offshore Group (JOG) started in 1950 and organises offshore races for IRC rated yachts racing both across the Solent and across the Channel. | ||
| Marina Mariners Association | The Royal London Yacht Club | ||
| The Association was formed in 1972 to further the interests of leisure users of the Medina estuary, and is a registered charity. It also provides storage space for dinghies and a scrubbing berth for yachts, and arranges regular dinghy racing on the river during the summer months. Cruises and social events are also organised, mainly in conjunction with Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club and East Cowes Sailing Club, with whom the Association has linked up to form Medina Combined Clubs. | The Royal London Yacht Club was founded in London in 1838. Their lovely facilities include a bar, large function rooms, balcony and overnight accommodation. They organise cruises throughout the season including the Deauville Seahorse Rally, which has been held every May since 1962 (Cowes was twinned with Deauville in 1964). | ||
| The Royal Solent Yacht Club | Royal Victoria Yacht Club | ||
| The Royal Solent Yacht Club was founded in 1878 and occupies a superb position in Yarmouth. Enjoy excellent food in either their restaurant or on the balcony while enjoying the lovely views of the Solent. | The Royal Victoria Yacht Club is a friendly, family Club based at Fishbourne, which was established in 1845. The Club offers a wide range of activities from Cruisers to Dinghy racing, a strong Youth sailing section and facilities for persons with disabilities. | ||
| Royal Yacht Squadron | |||
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The Royal Yacht Squadron (or 'The Yacht Club' as it was originally called) was formed in 1815. They moved into their current building, West Cowes Castle, in 1855 after it was renovated. If you are interested in the history of Cowes this website is highly recommended. |
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| Sea View Yacht Club | Shanklin Sailing Club | ||
| The Sea View Yacht Club was established in 1893 and they have their own fleet of keel boats known as Mermaids, which are available to charter. Their sailing and social calendar runs from March to October. | Shanklin Sailing Club was founded in 1931 and is a small happy Club. They have all the usual facilities and race on Sunday and Thursdays during the Spring, Summer and Autumn. Club Members sail Sprint 15's, Enterprises, Lasers, Picos, Toppers and Mirrors. | ||
| Yarmouth Sailing Club | |||
| Yarmouth Sailing Club is based next to the swing bridge over the River Yar. They have a very active sailing membership and race both on the river and in the Solent. | |||
Associations |
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| Island Youth Water Activities Centre | Catamaran Sailing Site | ||
| Island Youth Water Activities Centre is a voluntary charity run for the benefit of all young people on the Isle of Wight. They offer a wide variety of water sports for both young people and adults. Their training courses cover Yachting, Dinghy Sailing, canoeing, power boats and theory. | This site is run by cat sailors for cat sailors and is not linked to any one make or model. They have links to individual Associations as well as a list of catamaran clubs. | ||
| Sailability | Sprint 15 (previously known as Dart 15) website | ||
| Sailability is a "not for profit", volunteer-based organisation which, through the activity of sailing, enriches the lives of people with any type of disability, the elderly, the financially and socially disadvantaged. | This site is dedicated to the Sprint 15. The Dart 15 was designed in 1979 but in 2004 Laser decided to stop production but one of the original builders bought the rights and in 2005 they launched the newly named Sprint 15. Over 1900 boats have now been sold in the UK. So this is the site if you want to know anything about the boat. | ||
Companies | |||
| Red Funnel Ferries | Wightlink Ferries | ||
| Red Funnel Ferries run both the car ferries and the passenger high speed "Redjet" ferry from Cowes and East Cowes. | Wightlink Ferries run car ferries between Yarmouth and Lymington, and Fishbourne and Portsmouth. They also run the passenger Fastcat between Ryde and Portsmouth. | ||
| Laser | Cat-Bitz | ||
| This company is based in England and offers a huge range of small sailing boats and catamaran. The range includes Picos, Lasers and Darts as well as a large number of other models. | Cat-Bitz offers a wide variety of spares for different makes of catamaran like Laser and Hobie. They also sell the TopCat range of boats. | ||
| Hobie Cat (Europe) | Marine Megastore | ||
| Hobie Cat Centre is the sole UK importer for Hobie
catamarans. As well as selling boats they also stock a large amount of
spares as well as organising training courses. Incidentally, the boat filmed in the background of a scene in "Casino Royale" was in fact a Hobie Bravo. |
This website is exactly as described - it is a marine megastore with a huge range of parts and accessories for every water sport. | ||
| Sailboats (online shop) | Wightwater Adventure Watersports | ||
| This is a sailing superstore. They stock a huge range of dinghy sailing and small boat equipment, chandlery and clothing. | Wightwater has over 20 years practical experience and knowledge. They offer a broad range of water-based activities and training courses. | ||
Other | |||
| Boats and Outboards | Island Life Pictures | ||
| This site puts those people who wish to sell their boat or boating equipment in touch with those that wish to buy. There are thousands of boats, of all types, for sale. This site is where I bought my Hobie Wave. | Island lifestyles 2020 provides a high quality photography service. But they also offer a private gallery service for photographers to promote and sell their work. | ||
| Tollesbury's Knots Page | |||
| This website has an excellent Knots Page. It has animations showing how to tie each knot. | |||