There was quite a lot of that going on at Rest Bay yesterday, where the surf was up and hordes of athletic types dressed as sealions were making the most of it. As I stood there, wondering if it was as much fun as it looked, were they wondering what the crowd of people in macs was doing, gathered round the lifeboat station, glints of sunlight bouncing off the occasional mayorial chain?
The irony is, probably not. Yet a surfer's more likely to need search and rescue helicopter than most. Yesterday, thanks to the determination of Porthcawl town councillor Sean Aspey, over a hundred people rallied to pledge their support for campaigners across the Bristol Channel, who have been fighting to retain search and rescue cover from RAF Chivenor.
Since the closure of Brawdy, South Wales - and a fair chunk of Mid Wales too - has looked to North Devon for this service. There are an average of 1000 search and rescue calls a year, with helicopters flying from sites all over the UK. RAF Chivenor is by far the busiest, covering a quarter of all calls last year: This year it's already covered over 300. Half those calls are from Wales. A third of them are for evenings and night-time assistance. Over two million Welsh people can be very grateful to RAF Chivenor.
Two years ago, Labour's monumental cock-up over helicopter cover for Afghanistan meant that search and rescue crews were diverted from our UK bases to the warzone. Quentin Davies, Labour MOD minister, tried to cover the shortfall at home with a PFI contract for new, but fewer, helicopters with the consortium Soteria. While the standard of cover was guaranteed, the extent of it wasn't, and Chivenor is having to consider halving its cover to just 12 hours. Yet, at a cost of £6bn, there is no gurantee that part-time, part-privatised cover will cost any less than the existing arrangement.
A general election has, mercifully, stopped this process in its tracks, and the whole idea is being reviewed by the Coalition government. I don't know if we're committed - aircraft carrier style - to this contract or not. Or whether the chronic state of our finances threaten the service. Just don't go surfing after 6pm until we know.
Especially as surf dudes are coping with the loss of one of their other most gnarlacious champions, James MacArthur, who died this week.
For most of the '70s, Detective Williams prowled the streets of Hawaii's surf heaven in a gas guzzler, chasing baddies and popping into 4711s to buy hairspray for the great Kahuna, Steve McGarrett.
What he didn't do while he was there was throw a packet of Recital into his basket to cover his shame. For, as you can see, MacArthur was a proud member of Gingers for Justice. A fine organisation, which requires six-weekly donations via the hairdressers in order some of us to to maintain our membership. Like his modern equivalent (that would be H from CSI:Miami), Detective Williams wasn't going to let a few freckles and lack of air conditioning put him off his mission to protect the national interest.
Similarly, I would be surprised if the Chief Secretary to the Treasury is bothered by those discriminatory remarks by Labour's Spokeperson for Equality. But, Mr Alexander, for those of us who've had enough of Harriet Harman, please do us a favour.
Book her, Danno.
