I wrote to The Argus last year about the problem of jet skiers at Shoreham. The following article appeared in The British Medical Journal and I thought it might be of interest.

"The speed and use of small boats and watercraft have increased dramatically in recent years. These watercraft include jet skis, or wave runners, of which there are more than a million in the United States.

"Rates of injury in these are up to eight times higher than in other motorised craft and children involved in accidents with jet skis tend to be more severely injured than those injured in other boating accidents.

"Because of the growing popularity of what the Americans call personal watercraft and their use, even in shallow water, injury rates are likely to increase."

Nothing has been done in Shoreham to regulate or control the use of jet skis.

They take off from the edge of the sea and plough through swimmers.

The most frightening are the beginners who have difficulty in controlling the jet ski. Surely, the answer would be to designate an area for launching.

Do we have to wait for a tragedy to happen before something is done?

-Linda Jarrett, Collingwood Court, Shoreham-by-Sea