Your letters - June 25

Leave us windsurfing

IN response to last week's letter from Marcus Whitney regarding windsurfing restrictions along Bexhill beach, I feel I must also write:

Up until now I have kept quiet about the proposed windsurfing restrictions imposed by RDC. After many letters of complaint RDC agreed to cover up the 'no windsurfing/kitesurfing' notices on the sign boards along the promenade and reassured us that they would not pursue their idea of a bylaw amendment which would ban windsurfing in certain areas.

However it made my blood boil when I found out that RDC are trying a back hander by trying to pass these new restrictions regardless of their promise. Windsurfing is a harmless, wonderful sport which is fuelled by nature's power- the wind. It is neither noisy nor polluting and gives so many people so much pleasure. After a very hard day at work, I seek pleasure in taking to the water. As I get onto the water I feel free and all of the day's stresses melt away. I am a female windsurfer in the town and am so proud of our beaches and the fantastic windsurfing conditions that we are lucky to have in 'windy hill'.

As windsurfers we are a very considerate bunch of people- we take care to set up our equipment away from busy areas and launch where it is safe. Can I ask RDC what evidence they have that windsurfing or kitesurfing has caused any harm to members of the public within recent years?

Furthermore, I am shocked to see that the new Next Wave fabric posters which have been erected on the seafront depict a windsurfer carrying his equipment across the promenade, in an area of the beach where RDC says it will be banning windsurfing! Have I seen this correctly?! Talk about a contradiction in terms. Why is RDC trying to make itself look 'cool' on these posters when they will ban windsurfing anyway along that area?

If RDC is so confident that its proposed banning of windsurfing in certain areas and production of a new bylaw is justified then please be decent enough to call a public meeting so that the public can have their say.

Laura Norman

Glenleigh Avenue

Bexhill

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