Father Marcus Ronchetti carried out his own parting of the waves - water-skiing across choppy seas dressed in his clerical robes.

Reaching speeds of 40mph, the power-boating priest clung on for dear life as he formally blessed the coastline of Adur from the water to mark the launch of the area's arts festival.

Crowds gathered on the shore-line as Fr Ronchetti was towed behind a twin-turbo speedboat driven by his friend, guitarist Richard Durrant.

He said: "It's a miracle I stayed up."

Fr Ronchetti, from the Church of the Good Shepherd, Shoreham, helped to found the Beach Dreams festival for residents of Shoreham Beach, which is now an established part of the Adur Festival.

He said: "The idea was to cling on and recite a blessing for the festival but I must admit the words I was planning to use went out of my head at that speed. I blessed it in my head.

"I had a go on the skis just before to make sure I could stand up but I've never done it in my alb before.

"The water was bitterly cold and it was quite frightening a lot of the time but I really enjoyed myself."

Richard, who is chairman of the festival and dreamed up the stunt for his friend, said: "I'm writing a piece of music which I hope will appear in next year's festival in which an organ will be catapulted into the sea past a water-

skiing vicar.

"I thought it would be nice to see how it worked.

"It was the most powerful boat I've ever driven and the sea was quite rough.

"There were some fairly terrifying moments, particularly for Marcus when he thought his vestments were going to get caught up in the props."

After the blessing, Shoreham Beach resident Scott Welch, a former boxer, lent Fr Ronchetti his waterbike for a buzz around the harbour.

The festival proper begins tomorrow with Glastonwick, the annual beer, music and poetry festival at The Barn theatre, Southwick.

It runs until June 17 with dozens of events across the area.