Brean land yachting enthusiast Martyn Hale has won the landsailing British Championships this week.
Martyn, 61, who is a member of the Brean Land Yacht Club, and lives near Bridgwater, has been crowned champion in the Standart Class.
The competition took place over six national regattas, two at Hoylake on the Wirral, one at Brean, one at Redcar in Yorkshire and two on an airfield in Cambridgeshire at the Anglia club.
Martyn attended five events, winning four and coming joint second on his home beach of Brean. Four events counted for the Championship, so Martyn ended up with a ‘perfect score’.
He only took up land yachting four years ago on his retirement and has quickly progressed in the sport.
Despite a knee replacement operation the previous October, he managed to sail in the World Championships in France last July, where he had three top ten finishes in races and ended as the top British and Irish pilot in a Standart.
Martyn said that he did not expect to win the British Championship but it is every sportsman’s dream to be a British Champion, so he is very pleased with the result.
“Landsailing is a truly inclusive sport, with men and women, old and young racing against each other,” he told Burnham-On-Sea.com.
