What land sailing is
A land yacht is a light three-wheeled cart with mast and sail. On hard, flat sand at low tide it reaches speeds no sailing boat can: the big classes go up to 130 km/h. The principle is the same as on ice – little resistance, lots of apparent wind.
The sport is about 400 years old. Around 1600 the Dutch mathematician Simon Stevin built a sailing cart for the Prince of Orange. In the early 1950s the first land yachts ran on the beach at St. Peter-Ording.
Where we land sail
Our beach venues are in Denmark: the wide, firm beaches of Rømø and Fanø. Land sailors from all over northern Europe meet there, and that is where our Class 3, Standart and Libre yachts run.
Pilot licence and insurance
In Germany land sailors are organised in the German Sailing Federation (DSV); internationally in the world federation FISLY with 21 member countries. Because of the high speeds the DSV strongly recommends training for the FISLY pilot licence (from age 14, theory and practice). The licence is usually required to rent a yacht and to take out liability insurance.
The basic licence allows you to drive land yachts up to Class 5 Promo size. The big classes – including our Class 3 – require an additional endorsement noted in the licence.
From the beach to the ice
Some of our land yachts run on runners in winter: wheels off, runners on, and the Class 3 land yacht becomes one of the fastest machines on the ice.
