BFSLYC Landyacht Series Round 7 at St Anne's Landyacht Club
by Nick Heather 25 Jun 20:02 UTC
21-22 June 2025
The St Annes Landyacht Club proudly hosted the seventh round of the 2024/25 BFSLYC Landyacht Series for Mini Yachts. With warm weather and wind speeds forecast between 12-22 mph, and no significant rain predicted, pilots arrived eager to race on the beach Friday.
Friday - Open Sailing Session
Friday's open sailing saw a somewhat disappointed group of mini yacht pilots. As temperatures rose, the wind dropped, leaving just five pilots out on the sand — mostly chatting in the sunshine rather than sailing.
Saturday - Racing Begins
Saturday started with less wind than forecast, coming in from the southwest. The beach conditions were also challenging, with large banks of soft sand and only narrow strips of hard-packed surface scattered around them.
Jake Cookson, squeezing in a bit of race directing before heading off to get married later that afternoon, managed to set a challenging windward-leeward course. However, inconsistent wind and poor launches from the windward mark meant pilots often had to sail upwind just to gather enough speed to head downwind.
Racing was chaotic — a real game of snakes and ladders, with frequent position changes throughout the fleet. Dave Green consistently led the usual chasing pack, many of whom were seen stopped or pushing their yachts to complete the course. There were even whispers wondering whether the race-abandon flag had gone missing. Typically, if more than 50% of the fleet is stationary or pushing, the race is abandoned and re-sailed when wind conditions improve.
After several unsuccessful attempts and with the wind dying, racing was eventually abandoned — allowing everyone time to get cleaned up for the evening celebrations with the new Mr and Mrs Cookson. Congratulations to Jake and Chloe!
Sunday - The Big Day on the Beach
Sunday brought cooler temperatures and stronger winds, but these held the tide up, delaying racing until suitable beach banks were exposed. Unfortunately, the high winds and rough tide had reshaped the beach, leaving an even wide, minefield of soft sand — 3 to 6 inches deep in places — that appeared darker and harder than it really was.
With Jake understandably absent, the stand-in race team took charge. After much discussion, they laid a "sausage" course — one bank up and another down, with a narrow turn at one end and a soggy one at the other. By this time, the wind had built to a fierce 25-30 mph.
After a lightning-fast sighting lap — with some pilots hitting speeds over 45 mph — it was agreed to switch to a modified 20-second dial-up procedure for cleaner starts and safer pre start manoeuvring.
In Race 1, Ed Ingles got off to a flying start ahead of Nick Heather. Dave Green, meanwhile, completely misjudged his timing and started well behind. We can put that down to the new start procedure. The first leg was dramatic: Ed and Nick blasted into a patch of soft sand on the course they set and ground to a halt. Dave, somehow skimming over the soft stuff, disappeared into the distance and wasn't seen again — a masterclass in finding the right line.
Ed and Nick picked themselves up and rejoined the race, determined to claw back positions. It became a race of attrition, where consistency was key. Many pilots ended up lifting wheels, spinning out, or capsizing in the gusty wind and unpredictable surface.
All in all a great weekend was had, special mentions go out to Emma Green for coming fourth, with a second and surviving the brutal Sunday wind, Also to Max Spears, out for the first time in his new Yorker yacht, getting round on possible the tough weekend of racing in some time, we are all hoping for some better conditions and weather for the next event in Hoylake.
If you have an interest in coming for a taster session in a training yacht and then on into a Mini, please don't hesitate to contact British Federation of Sand and Land Yacht Clubs www.britishlandsailing.org.uk or pop along to one of the regattas to see what it's all about.
- Wirral, Hoylake, 4th / 5th /6th July
- Wirral, Hoylake, EUROS 28th September / 3rd October (Class 2,3,5 & S)