Open day a family affair

ON Sunday, July 31, an open day was held by The Lantau Windsurfing Club in conjunction with the Sports Development Council. I was cycling past and noticed all the signs and paraphernalia and asked one of the attendants what it was all about. As I hoped, he said I was welcome to come down and I would get a chance to try windsurfing: first on the one that was set up on the sand and then on one of those that were lined up by the water.

I returned about an hour later and the club chairman himself took me down to the beach and gave me instruction on how to stand, hold the sail, turn around, etc. He made it look so simple and now I was raring to have a go on the real thing: but the man explained that he was unable to take me into the water due to the lack of life jackets and rescue boat (we were right next to the red marker buoys of the main beach). I gestured towards the group who were receiving instruction a few yards out. The man explained: ''Oh, her uncle is a member of the club'', and ''Yes, his brother's friend is the secretary of the club . . .'' He went on to explain how he was related to this one, that one and the other one and how the club was 'a family'. So, the 'open day' turned out to consist of five minutes on a board which was fixed to the beach and a much longer lecture on the genealogical history of the Lantau Windsurfing Club - I suspected his concept of 'family' was much wider than the conventional one. I hope nobody made a special trip from Hong Kong or Kowloon for this event. Do the Sports Development Council understand what kind of sham they associated themselves with? JONATHAN GEOFFREY WRIGHT Silvermine Bay Lantau island