What to do with our wonderful watersports hub? Close it

LAST summer, on a glorious family mini-break on the beautiful Isle of Cumbrae, I learned a lot about windsurfing. I didn’t actually windsurf – don’t be ridiculous – I left that to the boys and their two friends, whose mother and I spent a fine few days drinking tea and eating cake at various vantage points along the coastline.

But, afterwards, over fish and chips, the boys were buzzing, telling me all about booms and boards, upwind and downwind, blasting and luffing. There were diagrams and everything.

During the boys’ short course at the National Watersports Centre, where they also had the chance to kayak and sail and explore the coastline, I learned a great deal about why this place was built on Cumbrae: the ever-changing tides and winds make it the perfect spot for teaching and training in a range of conditions, ideal for beginners and elite athletes alike.

I found out that thousands of young people go there to gain life-changing outdoor qualifications, many more to get active, achieve goals, push boundaries. I discovered Olympians had honed their skills there and that many national squads train there – in other words, it has been pivotal to the success of Scottish sailing over the last 40 years.

And it is not just about teaching kids and tourists how to kayak, it is also about building water confidence, developing an understanding of weather, exploring our coastline (an endeavour at the heart of a £1million-plus initiative launched for 2020 by Visitscotland) and boosting health and wellbeing. However, I learned that the centre is, mystifyingly, to close in September.

Over (another) tea-and-cake session, local people told me how much the centre means to the economy and tourism. The facility is one of the top employers in Cumbrae, with 15 permanent staff and many casual workers, and its closure would be yet another threat to a fragile island community. It took me two days to appreciate all of this. The 1,500 people who signed an online petition in just a couple of days also get it. Why don’t the people who are planning to close it down understand this too?

The decision to close a one-of-the-kind place like this is sad for those of us who have seen how much our children get out of a week spent adventuring there.

But, for the people on the island, for our national sporting reputation, for the health and wellbeing of our young people, it is an absolute disaster.