THE HOT TODDY RUN THE ANNUAL CHRISTMAS SANDYACHT OUTING ON THE COUNTY MEATH COAST   Report from Alan Watson   With Sunday, December 29th set as the date for our Christmas outing the weather gods seemed to be unable to decide on the seasons let alone the weather for any particular day. Christmas week in Ireland was dry, wet, sunny, grey, cloudy and very mild, and that's only before lunchtime each day! SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28: It was a fantastic day. Sunny with around a 14 degree C max with little wind, not at all what you expect at this time but most welcome in any case. I managed to get some sailing on Laytown beach on Saturday and it looked like the beach was in good shape for our Annual Christmas outing the following day. All we needed was the weather. SUNDAY, DECEMBER 29: Saturday night and early Sunday morning brought more that the usual dose of heavy rain but more importantly for the sandyacht folk here it brought a nice on-shore breeze. It was wet and visibility was only about a mile or so but there was a nice breeze so sailing was definitely on today. By 11.00am I had received a number of phone calls from folk enquiring as to the likelihood of any sailing today as apparently there was no wind anywhere else. I confirmed 16 knots of on shore wind and before I could say goodbye the callers were in their cars and on the way to Laytown. This year the kitefliers asked if they could join us for the day and we quite happily agreed so there was the prospect of some interesting sights on the beach today. By 12 noon the rain was of the "soft" description but also of the "very wet" one too and visibility was not great either, but the wind was still on shore and about 12 knots. There were a number of cars belonging to the kite guys on the beach and the sandyacht fraternity were starting to arrive and with the weather like that we were probably going to have the beach to ourselves. Colman Billings did the first recce of the beach in his Class 5 and took off into the wall of mist with gusto. When he reappeared there was a grin on his face which told us that the beach was in great shape and he was off for more. I sailed after Colman in my Class 5 and went the few miles to the northern end of the beach at the Boyne estuary where there were some kite buggies having fun,. Yes the beach was in good shape after the recent high tides and storms and perfect for sandyachting. Next to arrive were David Meeke in his Class 5 and Richard Meeke in his Bootlegger. It wasn't long before Richard and Stephen Watson in his Potty were seen flying off down the beach from Laytown towards the dozen or so kite buggies who seemed to be having a great time at Bettystown beach on the only dry part of the beach. David Lappin and Ian were by now sailing the two Seagull Dauphin yachts up to the northern end of the beach at Mornington where there was a vast area of lovely hard and reasonably dry sand. The wind dropped a bit by about 2 o'clock and the rain became heavier but the spirits were not dampened at all, probably helped by the appearance of Colman's hip flask and the Irish coffees provided to the pilots by Wendy O'Connor, whose husband, Tim, was a few miles down the beach in another Class 5. Lar Burke was finding the wind a little light for his Bootlegger as was Dermot Lyster in another Bootlegger but Ray O'Doherty in a Potty was in hot persuit of Richard and Stephen in the other two miniyachts: Conclusion - Lar and Dermot had too much turkey over Christmas!! Adam Peavoy got to grips with a Potty pretty quickly but seemed insistent on locating and going into any small pool that he could find, probably taking directions from David Lappin who explored most of the water hazards on parts of the beach that no one else even visited. Must be something about the canoe shape of the Dauphin yachts that attracts them to water! Vincent Clarke arrived last with his Class 5 and brought some heavier rain just in case we needed it. Many hours of fun were spent in the rain just travelling in convoy up and down the whole length of the beach and we spent some time zooming around with a similar number of kite buggies who were having their Christmas outing also. One of the most humorous sights was that of Stephen and Richard hitched together in tandem, five wheels on the ground snaking around the kite buggies. As the beach was wet the majority of pilots were beginning to look like sand sculptures with all the sand thrown up on them and keeping goggles clean was the primary activity of the afternoon. Much swapping of yachts was carried out during the day and although an absolute deluge of rain was falling by about 3.30 no one was deterred from having fun. Regretfully it was so wet that nobody dared take out a camera while we were sailing but word has it that a third party did get photographs which we will share with you when we get them. By 3.45 the rain had reduced visibility considerably and daylight started to fade early, unfortunately for David Meeke and I so did the wind when we were at the Boyne wall which is as far from base as we can go. No choice but to run and push every few hundred metres the couple of miles back in the torrential rain. The kites were already packed up by the time we got back to Laytown and when Patricia and Laura Watson produced the soup and sandwiches for everyone it was like mana from heaven. Everyone took shelter in the "club house" (my parents garage) and the apr*s sail chat was about what a good day we had even though we were now looking out into the darkness at flooding caused by the days rain! While we had a slightly smaller turn out than last Christmas the general concensus was that of let's do it again next Christmas. There were even plans being hatched for trips up to Dermot in Donegal and a foray to France in July, it seems that these guys can never get enough. Everyone is looking forward to getting back into our fortnightly sailing schedule and we hope to recruit some newcomers to the sport during the year and look forward to a windy but preferably much drier 2003. We wish all our landsailing friends around the world a very happy New Year 2003 and the best of sailing from the Emerald Isle. Slainte, Alan Watson wattie@aircom.net   HOT TODDY IMAGES from LAYTOWN Click on photo for larger image. Wrapping up time in the floods of rain at Laytown. Laytown Beach a little earlier in the day when it was "dry"! The only "seagulls" on the beach... Two Dauohins and a Promo all lined up. Dry suit testing completed... left to right, Vincent Clarke, Alan Watson and Colman Billings. Dermot Lyster (left) being attacked by an enormous rain drop! Vincent Clarke (middle) is modelling his new dry suit after a good initial test along with a very happy Colman Billings. Soup and sambos in the "clubhouse"... (left to right) Alan Watson, Laura watson, Stephen Watson, Dermot Lyster and David Meeke. Everyone taking shelter from the rain in the neighbour's garage which has become the unofficial clubhouse. [  t o p  ]  MAP of LAYTOWN BEACH, IRELAND Laytown Beach, north of Dublin, is the location of choice for Irish landsailors with miles of good hard sand and the odd stream to keep things interesting... If anyone would like to find out about landsailing in Ireland please contact Alan Watson on alanwatson@eircom.net [  b a c k   t o   th e   t o p   o f   t h e   p a g e  ] BACK TO THE LINCOLNSHIRE LYC OPENING PAGE and CONTENTS