Windsurfing and Kitesurfing in Pembrokeshire

The thing Pembrokeshire has in abundance is wind. A peninsula sticking into the Irish Sea with nothing between it and America gets an average that other British venues would envy, and the county has been a windsurfing destination since the sport arrived.

Newgale is the main event. Over a mile of open, west-facing beach in St Brides Bay with a huge car park behind the shingle bank, plenty of room to rig, and enough space that windsurfers and kitesurfers can keep out of each other's way. It works in most westerly quadrants and it is where you will find people out on days that look unpromising from the road. Broad Haven, a couple of miles south round the bay, is the more sheltered alternative and a better place to be learning.

Dale is the other side of the coin: flat water in the lee of the peninsula, no swell to speak of, and steady wind funnelling up the waterway. For learning to windsurf, flat water is worth more than good wind, and Dale is the sensible first venue in the county. Dale beach itself is small, so it gets busy in season.

For experienced windsurfers, Freshwater West offers wave sailing at a level that has nothing to do with holidays. It is exposed, powerful and unlifeguarded for most of the year, and the local etiquette is to know what you are doing before you rig up. Whitesands and Newport Sands work in the right directions and are subject to seasonal restrictions where swimmers and lifeguarded areas are involved — check the signs on the beach rather than assuming.

A windsurfing lesson day starts on the beach with a rig on a simulator, moves to a big stable board in shallow water, and ends with most people sailing across the wind and back. Kitesurfing takes longer. The first session is kite control on land with no board at all, which feels like a waste of a day and isn't; it usually takes several sessions before you are riding, and considerably more before you are safe on your own.

The season for tuition is roughly April to October, but the wind is best from September onwards. Autumn gives strong, consistent systems and water that is still relatively warm; midwinter gives the strongest wind and the coldest everything. Summer is the least reliable time of year for wind, which surprises people who booked a July course.

What catches people out: gusts. An average of 18 knots with gusts to 32 is a completely different day from a steady 18, and the forecast that only shows the average will get you overpowered. Second, the tide at Newgale — at high water on a big spring the beach almost disappears and the shorebreak against the shingle is brutal, so plan around the bottom half of the tide. Third, offshore wind. If it is blowing off the land, go somewhere else. That is not caution, it is the rule.