Regatta Saved

Just weeks after organisers of the annual Seafront Festival/Regatta revealed they were cancelling this year's maritime celebration, a scaled-down version of the event has been announced.

The Offshore Racing Drivers' Association (ORDA), which oversees powerboat racing in the UK, and Littlehampton Marina have joined forces to make sure that the scheduled heats of the national championships will still go ahead on the weekend of August 18 and 19.

Littlehampton harbourmaster Colin Hitchcock was also involved in the talks to save the event and the town council has also pledged to spend the 2,000 it had already allocated to the Seafront Festival on activities along the riverside and possibly in the harbour.

Cliff Smith, a Littlehampton-based powerboat champion, said the racing would have moved to Eastbourne if it hadn't been for ORDA, the marina and Mr Hitchcock.

"They have kept it at Littlehampton for this year, and we have to hope now it will come back again next year."

An added attraction this year will be the national championships for water-ski racers, who will compete on a course between Littlehampton and Rustington, 50m from the shore, and at speeds up to 80 miles per hour.

John Singleton, chairman of the town council's community resources committee, welcomed the news the powerboat racing had been saved. "The main thing is that it's back on. It would have been virtually impossible to get it back on the calendar if we had lost it."

The town council's grant to the festival would support activities such as a crabbing competition, face painting, stalls for community groups along Arun Parade, entertainment and possibly pulling races on the river.

Town councillor Mike Northeast, who helped to revive the regatta in 1994, was also pleased the event would be going ahead.

"The river is Littlehampton's unique asset and this is a great opportunity for the community to make the most of it," he added.

Seafront Festival chairman Terry Mills was relieved that the powerboat racing had been kept in Littlehampton.

However, he criticised the town council for giving the festival/regatta just 2,000 a year, compared with the 50,000 spent on staging ZapCat racing over the past three years, and also attacked Arun District Council, which had given the event no support at all since 2005.