Gone with the wind

Once we'd dragged our craft on to the beach - again an easy task as they're very light - the instructions were simple. "Steer with your feet, pull the rope in to go faster, let it out to slow down, and if you want to stop just let go of the rope. Away you go..." So I did, on a 30m tack up the beach.

I'm not a natural sailor and have always had trouble manoeuvring windsurfers and boats, so when a fast-approaching pebble bank made a turn back towards the ocean advisable, I was a little wary of what might happen. I gingerly put the front wheel into a gentle right-hand turn, the boom swung over my head, the sail briefly flapped around before the wind caught it again, I pulled tighter on the rope and hey, presto, off I went, straight back where I'd come from. When I learnt to sail a dinghy, it took me the best part of a day to perfect this manoeuvre; in a sandyacht it had taken less than a minute. Well, kind of. Because over the next hour or so, a good 50% of my tacking manoeuvres resulted in the sail and mast becoming intertwined, which was a result of not letting the sail out quickly enough. However, as Andy pointed out, this would sort itself out with practice.

Within half an hour, he'd encouraged me into doing skidded turns in the sand, which is when you realise just how stable a Potty is. Approaching my first turn, I felt like I was careering down the beach at about 30mph, although it was probably nearer to 15mph, and was convinced the thing would flip over if I put it into a sharp turn. But my instructor had told me to do it, so it must be safe... I cranked the front wheel around tightly, let the sail out slightly, and heard the satisfying shush of short, sturdy pneumatic tyres sliding across packed, damp sand as my Potty skidded across the beach with what I at least thought was style and aplomb. Simple.

I also soon learnt that by turning into the skid, as you would in a rally car, you can come straight out of it and continue sailing back in the opposite direction from which you've just come, a most satisfying move. And as Andy then said, "That's about it - let's go for a sail up the beach."

There is, however, a lot more to sandyachting than just belting up and down the beach and sliding into skids from time to time. Experienced sailors can pull off moves such as 360s, and will regularly have their craft sailing along on two wheels (I even managed it myself once or twice, although not always through choice); there are races for larger classes of sandyachts where top speeds can reach 75mph or more; and you can also use them to explore.

We covered the whole of Newgale's two-mile stretch several times over, easily negotiating our way around rock pools, rock outcrops, small streams, flotsam and jetsam and various dogs eager to leap aboard. Humans and dogs are an obvious "hazard" and should be given right of way and prime consideration, although most of the people we passed seemed intrigued by our mode of transport rather than irritated, and several stopped to ask questions when we pulled over for a break.

On larger beaches you can travel for miles to areas few walkers would ever be likely to reach - at eight miles long and three miles wide, Cefn Sidan in South Wales, for example, is one of Europe's premier sandyachting beaches, where you can journey over vast areas - Andy's description of exploring the sand banks and channels here put me in mind of a land-based version of Erskine Childers's classic tale, The Riddle Of The Sands.

Sandyachts have a surprisingly long history, possibly dating back some 4,000 years to the ancient Egyptians, and certainly as early as 16th century China, where there are records of royalty taking part in wind powered chariot races. In the 20th century, the modern version of the sport developed first in Belgium, was later dominated by the Brits, and is now a stronghold of French, German, Dutch and Belgian racers (it's even on the curriculum of French schoolchildren living on the Channel coast).

Sandyachting is so easy to learn, and so much fun, and Britain has such fine beaches and sailing conditions, that there seems to me little reason why anyone getting into it now couldn't soon be up there challenging those on mainland Europe.

· The home of sandyachting in the UK is Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, where the first British sandyachting club was formed in 1951, and where sailing still enthusiastically continues today. Just down the coast, Hoylake, near Liverpool, has perhaps the best club facilities in the UK. Westward Ho! in Devon, Brean Sands near Weston-super-Mare, and Cefn Sidan in South Wales are also top venues, while London-based sailors head to the Kent coast.

For more information on where to sail, clubs and lessons, see britishlandsailing.co.uk, or Kent-based Kirrawee Landyachts (01303 872189, kirrawee.com), which offers courses from £50 for three hours to £80 for a full day, including helmet, goggles and gloves.

For more information on Potty mini landyachts, check out minilandyachts.com or call Andy Parr on 01437 7814548.