A round of the British Federation Land Sand Yacht Club Championships hosted by the Brean Land Yacht Club, Somerset, South-West England FRIDAY, MARCH 8: Left Mablethorpe with a forecast for a windy weekend, nearly did not make it as out in the Wold, eight mile out from Louth the chassis broke on the trailer. The box section had sheared on three sides, leaving the 2mm bottom section flexing as the trailer lifted up and down on the bumpy road. In a panic I make a jury rig out of a rachet strap to compress the fracture and crawled back to Louth to find a welder. I managed to go about 25mph and found an engineer in Louth. He put another box section underneath the break and welded it all up so I was back on the road after a three-hour delay. If I had not noticed the trailer unnaturally bouncing up and down and stopped and seen the break when I did I dread to think of the consequences, especially on the motorway. The rest of the drive was busy, especially down past Lincoln onto the A46. It was then on to the M1 then M69 and the M42 then the long drive down the M5 to Brean. Arrived Brean at 4pm. Rigged the yacht and finished up for the day just before the beach closed at 5pm. SATURDAY, MARCH 9: Saturday started off nice and sunny with a gentle breeze. I rigged the yacht and waited as the wind was strengthening. The beach had a lot of debris placed just in the middle of the hard dry sand. That left a runway strip that was dry and hard above the debris with the wet hard beach below it. In a Class 3 you needed all the beach to turn. No one went out to try! I surveyed the debris to find large tree trunks, large blocks of wood and lots of damaging timber that would wreck a yacht. By now the wind was up to 35-40mph I was just phoning Mervyn Hurley on the mobile when a squall hit and the yacht decide to back pedal. Even when secured, it took three of us to de-rig the sail! By now the wind meter up in the clubhouse was topping 48mph. Andy Parr was out on the Potty (one of his mini-yachts) when he did a fast spin, the front spring steel bracket broke and he did a cartwheel as well, luckily with no ill effects. I dared to venture out with only the wing mast hoisted to see what speed I could do with the GPS in my pocket. I did two passes and was trying to turn upwind, but the mast was shaking badly and I started to go through the debris, that causing the mast to hop off the mast step and fall down - all at about 50mph. Fortunately only my pride was hurt. My maximum speed during the runs was 59.9mph! Bugger 60mph! After some pilots came to the rescue I made my way back to the pits and decided that it was too dangerous to sail with anything at all. While having a cup of tea and clearing the brown trouser marks from my clothing the wind continued to pick up to 58mph then gusts up to 62 mph. The clubhouse shook, rattled and vibrated as the high winds blew. Most of the time the wind stayed well over 40mph till 4pm. By then the racing had been called off for the day. The wind moderated to a steady 21mph not long after 4pm at which time Andy Parr ventured out again in his "Potty". Some squally showers kept sweeping in and the forecast for tomorrow is just as bad. High winds! It's down to the Beachcomber tonight. I am lucky staying at a very nice B&B called "Manor View" that is opposite the Beachcomber on Warren Road. They have a double room that I am in and a huge dormer upstairs with twin beds and a put-you-up settee. The owners are currently decorating, but is a place to make a note off as they are on top of a sand dune and have stunning views of the Brean Beach one side and Weston-Super-Mare on the other. I am having a beer in the conservatory that overlooks the heated swimming pool. So if you want a B&B in Brean, talk to Michael and Maureen at the "Manor View", tel 01278 751501. SUNDAY, MARCH 10: Sunday started of with a nice breeze from the south west. I rigged my yacht and sailed up the beach to check the yacht out. Upwind I had to tack across the beach. Turning downwind it was a fast run tacking a couple of times back to the clubhouse, with a few sweeps on the beach to scrub some speed off so I could turn. By the time I got back in the pits the wind had increased another 10mph and proceeded to get stronger. The sand was blowing so that was it for the day with only Mark Lloyd and Andy Parr in their Class 5s venturing out for a quick run. Left a windswept Brean at 1pm and got home at 6.30pm. Makes a change from the 21/2200 hours you can get home after getting half the beach in your eyes. Regards Gareth K800   IMAGES by GARETH ROWLAND Click on photo for larger image - may take a moment to load. Brean Beach from up high. Looks pretty from a distance, up close littered with logs, wood and other dross. A long beach and lots of sand - googles or eyewear a prequisite against airborne sand. No show without Robert "Don't Call Me Bob" Coburn and a can of beer. This time it's a hi-strength Estonian ale Gareth brought along especially for DCMB to wash down the sand. "Look Ronnie, no hands!" Alan Scantlebury playing silly buggers in the breeze. Alan Scantlebury making like a sail on a windswept Brean beach! One of the braver ones, Mark "SoC" Lloyd with his new French-built c5. Andy Parr opted for a bigger yacht after cartwheeling one of his "Potty" mini-yachts earlier on Saturday afternoon. Andy Parr relishing the squally conditions on a debris-covered beach. It took a bit to figure out who was moving faster - the airborne sand or Andy Parr.   [  b a c k   t o   t h e   t o p   o f   t h e   p a g e  ] BREAN LAND YACHT CLUB WEB SITE BACK TO THE LINCOLNSHIRE LYC OPENING PAGE and CONTENTS