A new event will breeze into the calendar next week with the first Exmouth Windsurf Festival an action-packed weekend making the most of the town's resources. Long regarded as a prime spot for windsurfing, with superb wind conditions and the River Exe o

A new event will breeze into the calendar next week with the first Exmouth Windsurf Festival - an action-packed weekend making the most of the town's resources.Long regarded as a prime spot for windsurfing, with superb wind conditions and the River Exe offering ideal waters, the town now has an event to match any.The programme next weekend, July 26 and 27, features top national and international competitors showing their skills, plus the festival showpiece - the UK's longest windsurf marathon, to Torquay and back.More than a hundred of the sport's finest are expected to compete in the open marathon, with £25 entry available to any ready for the challenge. A free fun race will keep windsurfers of all abilities happy.For the less active, the Pavilion will host more laid back festival fare, before a beach party on Saturday night.The festival has been organised by Pete Manfield, owner of Waterfront Sports. The event marks a bid to raise Exmouth's profile as a watersports mecca, the business also seeking to establish a new windsurf HQ in a specially-designed seafront store. Fundraising at the festival will help support the National Coastwatch Institute and Exmouth Beach Rescue.For more information contact Waterfront Sports on (01395) 443464 or 07798780323.