Land yachting

Not all sailing needs water!

On a chilly late February day we were invited to try our hand at Land Yachting, courtesy of the Varne Boat Club in Kent. It turned out to be perfect conditions, an onshore breeze in excess of 20 knots meant brisk progress up and down the beach, with a simple tack at each end, and huge grins all morning.

An introduction and safety briefing was given by Mark Sarejko, who is involved with the British Land Yachting Association, with the help of 13-year-old Joseph who recently took up the sport. Rigging up is straightforward: attach the mast, sail, axles and wheels, buckle yourself in and you are off. Surprisingly perhaps, the sport it most reminded me of most is skiing. You know that feeling when, at first, the acceleration is better than you expected, and you are suddenly conscious that there are no brakes? That’s the feeling you get from Land Yachting…

Buggies come in several flavours, but beginners will usually use a BloKart fitted with anything from a 2.0 to 5.5 sq m sail, similar to a windsurfer's fully-battened affair. This machine has tiller hand steering, and a single mainsheet. That’s it.

Having had a play for a while, (and being overtaken everywhere by Joseph), you begin to see that as a sport, it’s incredibly easy to get started and howl off down the beach or runway, but probably a difficult sport to master – think one design Lasers. Once you get bitten by the buggy bug, there are several classes of racing machines, Mini Yacht, Class 5, Class Standart (French) and Class 3 machines. For more information, see www.britishlandsailing.org.uk

The Varne Boat Club organises regular trial sessions throughout the year.