A TEAM of three intrepid windsurfers including Olympian Nick Dempsey undertook a gruelling ‘master blast’ in support of a charity close to their hearts.

Weymouth Windsurfing Association co-founder Andrew Chandler and Tris Best of the Official Test Centre joined the Olympic star on the marathon sail from Kimmeridge Bay to Portland.

The challenge was in aid of Windsurfing 4 Cancer Research (W4CR) and coincided with the W4CR Sunrise to Sunset event, which aimed to get 1,000 people on the water at midday around the UK, and also the UK Windsurfing Association national championships.

The trio left Kimmeridge at daybreak, arriving at the Official Test Centre (OTC) at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy roughly an hour and a half later.

Technical designer Chandler, 35, of Rodwell, said: “For me it was very challenging because I’d been off the water for a while over winter.

“We launched in sunny, relatively tranquil conditions, Nick egged us on so we ended up putting our biggest sails up.

“As soon as we got outside the bay we realised we had gotit wrong and while Nick was going back and forwards, doing jumps with his huge Olympic sail, I had a sweat on from the first five minutes.

“Nick was pretty much having a picnic lunch waiting for us to catch up, it really showed the difference of his fitness and ability and us mere mortals.”

He added: “It was breathtaking scenery along the coast but by Lulworth I was ready to come in and get the bus, I was exhausted but the others egged me on.”

At Ringstead Bay, they had a quick break and met Kev Greenslade, Simon Pettifer and Simon Cofield who had undertaken their own challenge, leaving the OTC at 6.30am and sailed upwind.

Chandler added: “We all sailed back together, Tris, Nick and myself came in at the same time and got a round of applause from everyone at the OTC. It was good fun and next year we hope to get more people out there.”

OTC managing director Tris Best described the ‘fantastic sight’ of the mass of windsurfers as they reached their destination.

He said: “There were at least 150 people in the harbour at noon, contributing massively to W4CR’s target of 1,000 windsurfers on the water around the UK at the same time.

“It was an amazing challenge and it’s definitely not the last time we’re going to do it. It’s about 36 miles as a straight line but we probably covered twice that.

“I reckon the OTC, with help from the UK Windsurfing Association, raised around £700 for W4RC over the weekend.

“Many thanks to everyone that came down and got involved.”