| MESSAGE ONE | MESSAGE TWO | MESSAGE THREE |
| MESSAGE FOUR | MESSAGE FIVE | MESSAGE SIX |
| LATEST MESSAGE SEVEN | ||
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MESSAGE ONE: Thursday April 5 time 22:50:47 From: "Gareth Rowland" holivans@enterprise.net Subject: PENDINE PLANS Date: Thursday, 5 Apr 2001 22:50:47 Hello again Plan on taking Kelly and Donna school at Louth at 8am with the trailer in tow. Then plan to drive the long way to Pendine. Taking the kids saves me an hour and a-half plus the time spent back at work. Packed my Autoroute CD so I cannot tell you how many miles to drive to Pendine. For me it is about the worst case as it is the longest trek across England and Wales you can get. Reckon it will be 8 hours in the driving seat. Oil in the Disco (LandRover Discovery) seems OK at present, hopefully it will not leak any more. Weather forecast for wales is unsettled wind Saturday up to 25mph and Sunday 35mph. Might not be that bad but the beach, Pendine Sands, is exposed and the low pressure system is supposed to be bringing more rain tomorrow. Hope to file some reports over the weekend. Might fire up the PC in the car on the beach and do some live reports. Will send some mobile phone text messages as well. Regards to all Gareth K800 |
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MESSAGE TWO: Friday April 6 time 19:13:00 From: "Gareth Rowland" holivans@enterprise.net Subject: FRIDAY NIGHT Date: Friday, 6 Apr 2001 19:13:00 Hello Left Mabo (Mablethorpe) at 7.15am as usual to drop Kelly and Donna (my tow girls) off at the bus in Louth then carried on to Lincoln. From Lincoln to the M1 at Nottingham I did not exceed 40mph... traffic, traffic, roundabouts and traffic lights. Going the A46 to Leicester is I think better, but now you run the risk of catching TB as there is an outbreak in the schools there. More on that on my return. Hit the motorways, M42 on to the M5 then M50 then A40 the M4 etc. Found on "Starship Discovery" (that's my Landrover Discovery aptly nickname by British icesailor Harold Trotter on our way to Sweden a month back) that the cruise control would not work, that lead to the leaden right foot syndrome!! Had to stop have a stretch and release pressure on the foo foo valve as well???? Just past Swansea the heavens opened. Finally arrived at Pendine some 300 miles from home and seven hours drive later (UGHH!!) at 3.45pm to find the tide still out. Andy Parr turned up and we took the Disco up the beach logging points on the GPS to plot the next day's course. (See photo below of beach taken from the slipway - looks wet, and itis). Plan is that from the slipway at Pendine, the town end, we will avoid the parakarters and travel 1.5 mile east on the beach. Then we have a 1.5 mile circuit on the beach. STOP PRESS: Now 6.56pm and just seen the local forecast. Sh*t!! Pardon the Welsh?? 35mph north bloody west tomorrow Saturday. That means that the wind will be offshore. Beach was flat Friday, but with an offshore wind??? Ripples!! Just introduced Robert "Don't Call Me Bob" Coburn to Swedish Screwdrivers (vodka and orange). Talk later Gareth K800 |
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| FRIDAY'S IMAGES Friday, April 6 Click on photo for larger image. | ||
 State of the beach. |
 What's this? |
 There's more...? |
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MESSAGE THREE: Saturday April 7 time 12:25:00 Subject: MOBILE PHONE REPORT from PENDINE BEACH Date: Saturday, April 7 12:25:00 Gareth reported in by cellphone from the top of one of the Pendine dunes during a break in the sailing. There had been an accident in Class 3 which forced a halt to racing while an injured Class 3 pilot was taken away by ambulance. "Doug Nicholls tipped his Class 3 over in the turn going into the second lap and is badly bruised and badly shaken," Gareth said. "I was lying about third , Steve Borrill was leading, and we came into the mark starting the second lap and there he was, upside down." Gareth said Doug's yacht went over quite slowly but his roll bar broke away and his mast broke and the whole yacht was down on him. "He's got bruised ribs and because he's on medication for his heart, they've taken him away." "We're waiting for the ambulance to come back from the slipway where they transferring him before we start off again," Gareth said. Class 5 had already had a race which was won by Chris Wright. According to Gareth there was no wind until 10.30am but there was now a moderate breeze of about 15mph which was lifting and starting to gust. He said it had been sunny and reasonably warm - 10 to 11 degrees - but it had recently clouded over. It was expected to rain later in the afternoon and, in Gareth's words, "You never know what will bloody happen in Wales." There was a good turnout of British landsailors at the event. "All the regulars any rate," Gareth said. The course has been set about one and a-half miles down from the town end of the beach with the parakarters racing up near the slipway at Pendine. The course is set round two marks a bit over a mile apart. Gareth said that it was basically reaching races with an offshore wind, as was expected "You have to put in one long tack to get around both marks, upwind and downwind," he said. He also reported that the beach wasn't as "lumpy" as originally feared, but was very wet. He said there were a good number of well spaced longitudinal ripples which meant the beach was a bit rough and not as perfect as it usually was. He was going to change his wheels over to what he calls his "potato wheels" before the race started again - he feels they give him an edge on damp beaches. One thing which Gareth was wary of were some unusal hazards on the race course. "You have to watch for quite a number of poles further out on the beach which were hard to see. Hit one of those and you'll know about it." Racing was expected to finish about 4.00pm which would give everyone about an hour to pack up and get off the ebach before the incoming tide covered everything. At Pendine the tide comes in very fast and at the slipway end first. With tonight's tide being one of the biggest this year the sea will be right up to the dunes. Gareth K800 |
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MESSAGE FOUR: Thursday April 5 time 18:54:12 From: "Gareth Rowland" holivans@enterprise.net Subject: SATURDAY'S SUMMARYPENDINE PLANS Date: Saturday, 7 Apr 2001 18:54:12 Hello We are staying at the Pinewood Bed & Breakfast in Amroth some 5 miles west of Pendine. It's a very nice place half way up a hill, with nice views of the valley as it drops down to the bay, so at least we can judge the tide. Last night (Friday) after having a couple of Screwdrivers we were going to walk the mile to the local pub, but the coastal path is closed - Foot & Mouth! We booked a taxi for the 5 mile road trip instead. Had a few beers in the local pub the "Amroth Arms". Filled up with food and had a taxi back to "Wisemans Bridge Inn" for a nightcap, as Robert was still thirsty and it wasn't closing time yet! This is being typed on the beach with the laptop wired into the inverter in the Starship Discovery to keep it going. First thing there was no wind. It picked up by 10.30 and is coming from the north west, that is off the land. The parakarters are down by the main entrance to the beach and we are a mile or so up the beach using a 1.2 mile circuit. Len Warren had a briefing at 10.45 as the wind had steadied to 12mph and probably stronger away from the dunes. Class 5 were on the grid first and the winner was Chris Wright. The 5's started down the beach and up to the mark having to tack up the beach, round the mark then down the beach turning before you can across some poles sticking up at axle height. They then took a long run downwind climbing up the beach slowly to the far mark, some had to put a tack in while others made it in one. Class 3 start was next. The wind had strengthened and it was gusty through the gaps in the sand dunes. K800 drew 17 on the grid, not a bad position and from the start I rounded the mark 3rd. Then down the beach and tack and blast along the beach with the yacht crabbing, shacking and aquaplanning on the longitudinal ripples that had half an inch of water in them. Coming back upwind to the near mark the red flag was out as Doug Nichols has turned over on the mark. Doug was none too well. As, in most cases, the yacht turned over at a slow forward speed, it broke the mast but the rollbar broke as well, pinning Doug to the beach. In the ambulance he was treated and so far at present he is badly shaken up with bruising to his ribbs. Racing was suspended till another ambulance picked Doug up at the slipway to go to hospital for a check up. The Class 5's went on again as the wind had really picked up and some of the Class 3's that did a one circuit decided visibilty was not good in the water and did not want to race. Personally I found it no problem. With the waiting around I had changed my dune buggy tyres for the old "French potato picker tyres". Being a narrow section tyre they cut through the water fine, so the yacht just sailed in a straight line without being shacken around from the larger tyres. With Rainex on the visor I was quite happy, but others disagreed. Robert (Don't Call Me Bob) Coburn would like to add that as Doug Nicolls was lying in the ambulance Gareth asked him: "If you die, can I have your new wheels?". I have had a fair time of it, except for that my new sail has so much power I feel lucky if I have one wheel on the sand and the new alloys are so light they aren't much interested in ground contact either! But it all adds to the excitement, and adrenalin is such an interesting shade of brown, isn,t it? Anyway the Class 5's went out again and Mike Hampton won the race. The beach had dried a little and the wind seemed to have dropped a little. It turned out to be one hell of a race. The wind picked up during the race and had really nasty gusts coming from different directions. Upwind it was brutal, it was a close haul along the beach but the gusts made things very lively. One minute you would be sailing well, the next a gust would hit you making you hike and let the sail out, next second the wind would shift so you were dead into wind, next second another gust would have you hiking again. In the end I gave up and let all the traveller out and let the yacht battle its way to the mark, even then it was still a rollercoaster of a ride the the rig going wop wop in the strong gusty wind. Downwind was fun as well, again the traveller was out and it was a real high speed run with the yacht being thrown around from the wind and the water on the beach. I had the GPS strapped to the back of the yacht during the day. I reached a maximum speed of 62.2mph, travelled 15 miles while racing, making an average speed of 32.8 mph. Just finishing this with a Stella Artois (good Belgium lager) in hand and getting ready to go to the pub. will try to mail a report on the beach tomorrow, but not looking forward to the long trip home with Pendine sand in the eyes! Gareth K800 |
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| SATURDAY'S IMAGES Saturday, April 7 Click on photo for larger image. May take time to load. | ||
 What remains of Doug Nicholl's Class 3. |
 It was wet out there. C5s start. |
 K715 out on his lonesome in the slush. |
 K800 and the Class 3 fleet ready to go. |
 Allan Scantelbury having a park up... where's Ronnie? |
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MESSAGE FIVE: Monday, April 9 time 23:07:32 From: "Gareth Rowland" holivans@enterprise.net Subject: SATURDAY'S SUMMARY LAST DAY AT PENDINE Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2001 23:07:32 Hello Was too tired to complete the report on Sunday night so her egoes now. Sunday was a bright sunny morning with a light north westerly, the yachts were retrieved from the dunes where we put them overnight as the early tide came right up to them. The same course was set as on the previous day and we all waited for the wind to fill in a bit more, the beach was still wet and stayed that way. Doug Nicholls was down on the beach after his crash yesterday, he was looking a bit better, but a cracked sternum meant as he couldn't drive, a steady ride home with Richard Austin. By then the wind had filled in and the Class 3s were too have two races back to back to catch up with the Class 5s as they had a result and the Class 3s only one race. From the start and round the near mark it was a long downwind run down to where you see a cluster of steel poles. With all the spray and not the best of visibilty you gave the poles a wide berth, just in case you hit a stray one. You then had to tack up the beach and drop down onto the far mark. From there you came back upwind having to put one tack in to make the finish line and the mark. On the last lap the wind started to change, Derek Nixon (K727) spotted it and kept running all the way up on the dry beach to the mark, the rest of us stayed in the wet and took the tack. After a short rest we were out again. This time the wind had moved round more south westerly. That made a fast upwind start straight for the mark. I made a good start and was first to the mark. From the mark it was a high speed downwind run to the far mark. The yacht was stable as I had the old narrow section French "potato picker" tyres on. They cut through the water well, the other normal wider tyres had you twitching around as the tyres were grabbed by the standing water in the longitudinal ripples. For me I just set the traveller out and concentrated trying to see the mark in the poor visibility. By now it was raining and that added to the water on the beach. At least the Landrover was up by the far mark, so that gave you something to head for. From the far mark it was a long turn round as the front wheel tried to find grip and swing the yacht round up the beach before you ran out of width. I took it wide anyway and aimed for the top dry part of the beach near the dunes. You then had to dodge the six foot steel poles and the fishing nets. Seems most others kept down the beach in the wet stuff. Len Warren, the Sailing Master, flagged me in and then called the racing off for us Class 3s as the rain was getting heavier. The beach was getting wetter etc. So we packed up in the horrible rain and the prizes we handed out as we sheltered behind Andy Parr's large van. At least we had finished and on the road by 2.15pm. It was a foul trip home with six hours of rain on the motorways. The M5 was horrible with heavy traffic and loads of spray. Arrived home at 9.30pm. Final positions were: CLASS 5 K800 Gareth Rowland 1st equal K222Alan Scantlebury 1st equal K144 Richard Austin 3rd CLASS 5 K508 Chris Wright 1st K121 Mark Sidey 2nd K715 Mike Hampton 3rd Gareth K800 |
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| SUNDAY'S IMAGES Sunday, April 8 Click on photo for larger image. May take time to load. | ||
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 The western end of Pendine Sands on a good day. |
 A view to the east, the beach curving away in the distance. |
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MESSAGE SIX: Monday, April 9 time 22:10:19 From: "Andrew Parr" arp@evansroach.fsnet.co.uk Subject: SATURDAY'S SUMMARYPENDINE Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2001 22:10:19 Hello Thanks for all the updates etc. I'll do a proper write up of the event in due course. Briefly, there were 8 or so caravans, maybe 10, full of sandyachters all next to each other and 37 of us sat down for a meal on the Sat night. The camaraderie was excellent - it was just a shame about the weather. Andy Parr K445 |
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MESSAGE SEVEN: Wednesday, April 11 time 00:14:34 From: "Andrew Parr" arp@evansroach.fsnet.co.uk Subject: SATURDAY'S SUMMARYPENDINE Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 00:14:34 Hello Pendine 7th and 8th April 2001. The Foot and Mouth problems have resulted in the cancellation of several regattas. Mablethorpe was the first casualty, with Brean, York and Cefn Sidan all looking unlikely to proceed. The Cefn regatta was scheduled for 12th and 13th May, when the tides were far from perfect and, when Brean announced the cancellation of their event, the decision was quickly taken to grab their date and hold the Welsh Sandyachting Championships at Pendine on 7th and 8th April. Brean announced their decision on 15th March, which left three weeks to get Pendine organised. Access to the beach at Pendine is controlled by the Community Council who own the slipway, and the vast majority of the beach, say 98% of it, is controlled by the military who use it for munitions testing during office hours. The first job was to find out if the beach was available, and the news was not good - Range Control at the Base said the beach had been booked for every weekend in April and May by "Bluebird", which did not bode well. Bluebird is based at the Base, having rented shed space there, and clearly has first call on the beach. I have to confess that I have no idea what Bluebird is, primarily because I have not bothered to check out their web site at www.bluebird.wales.com but the man in charge thereof quickly confirmed that he would not be using the beach on our proposed weekend.  The Bluebird, in Donald and Malcolm Campbell tradition, shown at full stretch on Pendine Sands. The car is the focus of the Bluebird Project which is working to break the Land Speed Record for Electric.  The Bluebird again readying for a run on Pendine Sands. The small village of Pendine can be seen in the background. A quick word with the Clerk to the Community Council revealed that there were no Fishing Contests or other jollity taking place on the beach, so we were up and running. The Council wanted £500 to use the slipway, and the Military wanted paying too. As there aren't many of us sandyachters left these days, the costs did not look encouraging. The Council eventually accepted £200 and the military £83.75, based on a Licence Fee of £50 + VAT, plus another £25 for the hell of it, and it seemed a good idea at the time to invite the parakarters along to share the beach. It turned out that the parakarters were due to hold their event at Cefn on that same weekend and were wondering what they should do about it as Cefn was still shut, so the invite reached them at precisely the right time. Emails flew back and fore, and the numbers of parakarters likely to participate began to rise alarmingly. Pendine may be a fine beach, but frankly the village itself leaves a lot to be desired. I have sailed there for 15 years and knew nothing about the facilities in the village except that the two pubs were both worth avoiding and certainly not worth risking eating in. So an exploratory foray was called for, resulting in the joyous news that the pretty little Spring Well pub had changed hands and was now more user friendly, with food and seating available for up to 30. The Beach Hotel, steeped in history as it is and located smack on the seafront, is unfortunately "in decline" and the landlord wasn't encouraging, being himself in decline also. The one thing the visitor to the village cannot help noticing is the caravans - 500 of them, squeezed in to every available space in the village so that the caravans greatly outnumber the houses. Unfortunately not one caravan was available to hire as the whole lot had been block booked by the Sun and Mirror newspapers for a promotional offer, which meant that there was effectively nowhere to stay in the village. All was not lost, as the Pendine Sandyacht Club, briefly active a few years ago, had been based at the Morfa Bay Outdoor Activity Centre on top of the hill above the village. Vince Owen, proprietor thereof, is keen to get the Club going again and offers sandyachting as an activity at the Centre using some Dragonflies that he keeps stored at the beach. Vince was keen to house the lot of us, but unfortunately had to cancel when two coachloads of youth were denied access to Ireland and had to be put up at his place. The only other option for accommodation in the village was the Lady Stepney Outdoor Activity Centre, a youth centre run by Carmarthen County Council, with four dormitories capable of housing 80 or so. As dormitories are not quite the thing for the current crop of sandyachters, it seemed fair to let the parakarters have that as they're a very jolly bunch, much younger than us lot, happy to kip in cars if necessary, easy to please etc. so that was them sorted and we sandyachters would have to look elsewhere for suitable accom. The answer was found in the next village west, where the landlord of the Amroth Arms was only too eager to grab the extra trade, open his kitchens and let us use his restaurant if we'd settle for his bar snack menu. The menu looked good, the man's attitude was positive and it looked as though we'd found a venue for our Saturday Night Social. 400 yards away was the Amroth Castle Caravan Site, a pretty little site if a caravan site can ever be called pretty, so I booked myself a caravan there and advised the manager to clean up a couple of others as he might be able to let 'em to fellow sailors. A drive round the parish revealed a few other suitable alternative places to stay, so a list was compiled and circulated to the potential pilots to enable them to make their own arrangements. The regatta was on, it was going to happen, and all one could do was pray for fine weather and a decent breeze. The major worry was the tides, which was most illogical as there is nothing whatsoever one can do about them. There are arguments in favour of holding regattas at the height of Spring tides, and there are arguments in favour of Neap tides. We had spring tides for our weekend, and it's a fact that the tide comes in at the village end of the beach first, which means that the slipway is lost to the tide before one realises - and we have often had to drive into the sea to get off the beach before. The prospect of 30 sandyachters and 50 parakarters getting stuck on the beach, with nowhere to hide from the incoming spring tide, was the main worry. The military were able to offer some consolation in that, if we did lose the slipway, they'd open up an emergency slipway to get us off the beach - but only in an emergency. The tide tables showed that the height of the tides was rising over the weekend, peaking at dawn on Sunday, and I figured that the thing to do would be to be on the slipway on Friday afternoon and admire the incoming tide and see precisely when the slipway would be lost. The following day the tide would be 0.37m higher and 45 minutes later, and I freely confess I could not work out what the effect would be on the precise time the slipway would be lost, and even found myself fretting about it at 3am, trying mentally to calculate twelfths and work it all out mathematically without a calculator. Eventually gave up and went for the "meeting on the slip to discuss" option. As it seemed that everyone else was taking the Friday off to travel to Pendine, I took the day off as well - and went for a little sail on Amroth Beach. Unfortunately it was very showery and the beach was wet, but the wind was a good Force 4 or 5 southwesterly - the minimum wind needed to have fun in a Ludic miniyacht. The coastline at Amroth is frankly stunning, with lots of rocky headlands, villages nestling in valleys, trees, and all this sand - it looked on the maps as though one could sail east back to the headland at the end of Pendine and west past Saundersfoot to Tenby - at low water of course. The temptation proved too great, it had to be done, so off I went. A miniyacht is perfect for such a foray, being so much more manoeuvrable than a Class 5, but the heavy showers prevented the trip being enjoyed to its full extent - I only got as far west as Wisemans Bridge, but will have another go at it in the near future. Gareth Rowland was one of the first to arrive, so we went for an inspection of the beach at Pendine in his Landrover. Gareth's a great one for gadgets and gizmos, and his new satellite thingy proved very useful indeed as we worked out precisely where the best place to set up camp would be. We duly met on the slipway to witness the loss of the slipway and concluded that the slip would definitely be lost by 4pm on Saturday, so we'd best be off by 3.30pm at the latest, just to be on the safe side. The café in the red brick building at the top of the slipway had been hastily reopened by Team Morfa Bay and, after arranging breakfast there for Saturday morning, it was time to check out the caravan site. It turned out that nearly everyone had decided to book into the same site, and the 400 yard walk to the Amroth Arms was along the seafront at high tide with waves crashing into the sea wall throwing spray dramatically into the air. The pub opened their kitchens specially and fed 12 or 15 of us at one table in the bar. 20 of us spent a jolly evening trying the three real ales and the Friday night in the pub was definitely most enjoyable. Saturday morning saw an early start for me as we had arranged that the parakarters would have the use of the first two miles of beach and we needed to make sure that we went far enough down the beach to give them enough space. There was also the slipway to attend to - it's a fine wide slipway, but the sand level had dropped and some light shovelling of sand was needed to create a relatively smooth car-wide access route. The beach itself was wonderfully flat and firm with no holes or other horrors, but Lordy was it ever wet. We set a 1.1 mile long course and, with a Force 4 westerly blowing, it was "Class 5s on the grid" and the event was underway. Tacking was the order of the day, under a deluge of spray. I did one lap, found I couldn't see a thing, and gave up. There was only one stout metal pole four feet high out there worth worrying about and I never saw it at all. Unfortunately I was either not paying attention or completely forgot who won that race - probably Chris Wright or Dave Green. The wind shifted to NW for the first Class 3 race, but disaster struck at the first turning mark for Doug Nicholls when he capsized heavily and his rollbar failed, leaving him trapped and unconscious under his upside down yacht. Mercifully it happened right in front of us and the St John's Ambulance only had to move 50 yards. Doug had driven 361 miles to sail 400 yards before visiting Carmarthen Hospital, where he was properly looked after and diagnosed a fractured sternum although the stiff neck was more of a practical problem. The Class 5s then had another go - this time with the wind coming more off the land so it was a bit of a drag race, with Mike Hampton cruising home to a surprise victory, and Dave Green discovering a previously undiscovered adverse handling trait in his new yacht that made it impossible for him to tack in the gusty wind, and caused his early exit, followed by a hasty reassembly of his old yacht that he happened to have brought with him just in case. The 3s decided that they didn't fancy the poor visibility, particularly as the tide was now well out and several crescents of timber stakes had been revealed by the retreating tide out by the low water line, which were very hard to see when your goggles are awash with wet sand, so the Class 5s were sent out for another go. I sailed the Club Bootlegger down to the eastern mark to assist Gordon with his marshalling duties and have forgotten who came where. I'm not sure whether the 3s had a race or not, and I'm not entirely sure the foregoing are in the correct sequence, as I was rather distracted by the arrival on the beach of a Blokart - a "wind powered gokart" from New Zealand. I'd heard a lot about these Blokarts - and not much of it had been favourable - and I'd even received an unsolicited promo pack a couple of weeks ago - the marketing is certainly slick - and being a Ludic owner, I was ready to check out this new Blokart... and here one was. Barry Woodhouse (01460 74757) produced this smart 4'x2' flat holdall and laid it on the beach, unzipped it and proceeded to slot together a shiny steel tubular yacht - all ever so nicely made with all manner of nifty fittings. There it was, and would I like a go? Why yes, but it was short-lived as I couldn't get it to go uphill.  Little yacht - big man! Andy Parr in one of New Zealand Blokarts which were quickly dubbed "Blowprams" on account of their inability to really get up and sail. I hastily rigged my Ludic and got Barry sailing in that, then the Cefn club's Bootlegger was wheeled in as well, and at some point we had 10 minutes or so of Robert Green belting about in the Bootlegger waving wheels in the air, hotly pursued by Si Holder in the Ludic, with me floundering around in the Blokart. The Blokart, at £1495, costs two Ludics or three Bootleggers, and will doubtless sell nicely to the jet-ski brigade, will be an excellent addition to anyone's toy cupboard, and will soon be seen on our beaches on bright sunny windless Bank Holidays.  Out waving a wheel on Pendine... Robert "Two Puddings" Green, manufacturer and designer of the Bootlegger, the English version of The Ludic, the little French funyacht which started the "mini" craze. The Ludic is marketed by Jean Philippe Krischer's company Seagull. Meanwhile, our time was up on the beach as our careful preparations had guaranteed that the slipway would be lost by 4pm at the latest and we'd recklessly held out for a 3.30pm finish - and where was the tide? Bloody miles out! Well, sufficiently far out to have given us another hour and a half without worry. It transpired that we'd had a stiff SW breeze on Friday which brought the tide in early, and a moderately NW off the land on Saturday which kept it out, and a dollop of high pressure to keep it down as well - anyway the end result was that the racing ended with the tide nowhere to be seen - rather embarrassing personally but of no great consequence as everyone had had enough of sailing on the wet beach by then anyway. Back to the caravans or wherever to clean up and get ready to hit the Amroth Arms - the majority of pilots had booked in and I wouldn't be surprised if we'd had 8 or 10 caravans, all in a row, between us all. The walk to the pub was spectacular, with the tide crashing into the sea wall, and they did us proud at the pub, in all fairness to them. 37 of us sat down to a decent meal in pleasant surroundings and a thoroughly good time was had by all. That is actually quite a remarkable true statement - not one whinge reached my ears - an all time first! Sunday called for a more leisurely start as the slipway wouldn't be clear until 9.30 or so. Mark Lloyd cooked a full breakfast for the four of us in our caravan, then I pottered off to the beach - to find the access blocked by a car with a puncture and the St John's Ambulance folk getting stuck in to patching up some hapless passerby, so we were a tad slow in getting onto the beach. The slipway was still only passable with great care, and those with a jockey wheel on their trailer were glad it was securely mounted as in some instances it grounded and lifted the back of the car up. One problem with Pendine is that there is absolutely nowhere to leave a sandyacht securely, and the only option is to manhandle them up in to the dunes - "up" being the operative word, there being no choice given the high Spring tides. Several people noticed that Dave Shaw and I, the locals, took our yachts off the beach with us and did likewise - and I was quietly relieved to see the yachts still there undisturbed on Sunday morning. Sunday brought much the same wind conditions, much the same course, only wetter. I didn't bother, but the Class 3s had a few races to catch up and braved the poor visibility to get enough races to get a result in. Alan Scantlebury won one and Derek Nixon had a purple patch, both to enthusiastic support from those watching. Gareth also enjoyed the conditions. The 5s had a race or two but by then it was raining and the end of the day was nigh. We packed up in the rain on a sopping beach, doled out the prizes and buggered off. By all accounts everyone drove through the monsoon on the way home and there wasn't a speck of sand anywhere on or under the car - shame the same can't be said about the interior. The prizes were provided by Mark Lloyd, Club Member and Professional Photographer, who framed up some suitably tasty pics, and 1st in Class 3 was Gareth Rowland, who actually tied with Alan Scantlebury but got it on points or however these things are decided - Alan clearly did better than I implied earlier to take 2nd with Richard Austin in 3rd. In Class 5 Dave Green took first place despite changing his yacht after discovering certain shortcomings in the handling of the new version, which may or may not be in breach of the rules - says he diplomatically. A few mumblings were heard but the mumblers should remumbler that they always have the option of mumbling to the complaints dept - which they didn't so there it is - Dave got it through dogged perseverance, and rightly so! If his new yacht turns out to be an improvement on the old, then there'll be no stopping him. Mike Hampton was 2nd - much to his amazement - he's been getting stuck in to his new career in Teaching and has been neglecting his sandyachting of late - it just shows that you that a lay-off can do you good. 3rd was a three-way tie, which gives an indication of how close it all was, between Chris Wright, Mark Sidey and Roger Leah, with the former taking home a tasty Lloyd pic to pop on the mantlepiece. Martin Leach romped home with the Standart prize, as did Ian Stephens in the Classics - or alternatively they both came last in their respective classes, such being the joys of a limited entry... and that was that. One little problem remains to be resolved, and that is precisely what the Pendine Regatta was, or is, to be called. I've carefully avoided calling the event The Welsh Sandyachting Championships in this write-up, despite that being what it was I thought I was organising, 'cos that event looks as though it's going to be at Cefn Sidan on the 12th and 13th May, as originally planned, seeing as how the beach is back open again. As we'd grabbed Brean's date, perhaps this was the Brean Regatta - but that might now happen in the autumn so it wasn't Brean. Rumour has it it might have been Mablethorpe, but who knows and who really cares... as I said at the prizegiving, we'll decide what it was later... We had a jolly time of it overall - the Amroth Arms was an undoubted success - the caravans were fun - it's just a shame the beach was so sodding wet. I've no idea how the parakarts got on - I hear tell of the warden at the Lady Stepney Centre being horrified at finding spare beds up-ended and used for kite-drying purposes, and the local pub running out of Tequila, and the whole lot coming back in the Autumn to hold some championships or other based at the Morfa Bay Centre with Vince Owen. With the benefit of hindsight... what lessons could be learned? The Great Spring versus Neap Tide debate continues: With Springs you get a massive area of beach, which is great for tacking races such as we had for half the time, but there'll be more wet beach than dry and there's the worry of the tide taking the slipway which really is a major inconvenience, but we do get a clean beach, even if the visibility's dire. If one could choose the perfect Spring tides then those were them and that was it... Whereas with Neaps you'll have less beach for longer, with more rubbish on three or four high water-lines but it'd be drier, one wouldn't have to worry about the slipway and there's no hurry to get off the beach so there'd be scope for exploring the rest of it after the racing.... The beach is also drier in the autumn. There's also a ready demand for these new miniyachts and there's a major risk that a Welsh alternative to the Bootlegger, Ludic and Blokart will be launched in the VERY near future - I hear tell the prototype is being tested this weekend - so if you're thinking of buying a miniyacht, just hang on to your cash for a moment. The word reaching me is that the Welsh offering is tidy - the local term for pretty, well thought out and well put together - a robust and nifty little performer that'll go in light winds - and rumoured to be worth every penny of the £650 price tag. Somewhere sometime over the Easter weekend this exciting new yacht is going to be tested and I've every intention of being there ... and if it happens I'll keep you informed. Meanwhile, there's the Welsh Sandyachting Championships at Cefn Sidan to look forward to on 12th and 13th May - I could have sworn we've just had them at Pendine but perhaps I was mistaken - thank God Gordon Wright, our long suffering Secretary, Training Officer and Instructor, currently out of action through a long standing back injury not incurred through sandyachting, organises that one! The tides at Cefn for that weekend are pretty grim - in at 10am'ish, but with plenty of space to get on the beach and set up ready for the start even with the tide in - there's a hint of neapiness to them - but even so there'll be a late start and late finish on the Saturday - we'll probably race until 6 pm, monsoon permitting - so there's scope for finding us all somewhere to stay, eat and drink without driving, within 20 minutes drive of the beach. There'll be some scouting around going on over the Easter weekend, so if you're thinking of attending Cefn don't book your accommodation yet. Andy Parr K445 |
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| MAP of PENDINE SANDS AREA |
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| SOME WEB SITES OF INTEREST ON THE PENDINE AREA | SOME WELSH WEB SITES ON THE PENDINE AREA You might like to take a look at some web sites which depict beautiful local area around Pendine. Lots of photos on these two sites.
First CymruThe Shape of Wales |
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| SEVERAL WEB SITES SHOWING RECORD BREAKERS ON PENDINE For those of you who weren't aware, Pendine Sands has long been famous for the land speed records set as far back as the early 1920s - cars such as Babs and Bluebird all had outings on the long strip of golden sand. Babs and her driver met their end on Pendine in a 120mph crash in the mid-20s. Babs was buried in the sand at the site of the crash until the 1960s when she was excavated and has since been restored to her former glory. If you have time, visit the sites below.
 Babs on Pendine Sands.  Racing Old Cars - Babs The Record Breakers The Electric Bluebird Record Attempt | |
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