Sand yachting record

Sand yachting enthusiasts have smashed a global endurance record at Hoylake's Wirral Sand Yacht Club (WSYC) by sailing kite buggies for 24 hours.

Twelve international teams beat the current record of 197 miles (317km) which was set in Ireland last weekend. Despite bad weather hampering the race for four hours, the new record now stands at 639km (397 miles).

The International Land and Sandyachting Federation is to be informed of the feat to make it official.

Organiser David Edwards said: "The teams were made up of three people each, who took it in turns to sail up and down Hoylake beach, recording their distance on GPS systems fitted to the buggies. We had near perfect weather conditions for most of the time but then we lost about four hours due to heavy rain and no wind. Some of the teams had been on target to post 600 miles (966km) before the bad weather hit. However, it was an amazing event and an awesome achievement. We are already considering staging a similar event next year."