Kite surfer drowned in stormy conditions

A MAN drowned following a tragic kitesurfing accident on a beach in Cornwall, an inquest has heard.

Chris Prior, aged 39 from Hove in West Sussex, died at Watergate Bay near Newquay on the afternoon of September 24 last year.

The inquest heard how Chris was an “experienced and excellent” kitesurfer who was competent in big wave conditions.

He was a judge for the British Kitesurfing Assocation (BKSA) and had taken part in a number of competitions.

He said goodbye to his wife Sharon on September 23 before travelling to Cornwall for a kitesurfing trip, his first at Watergate Bay.

The coroner, Stephen Covell, said RNLI lifeguards “for very sensible reasons” had red flagged the beach. But for experienced kitesurfers, they were conditions they sought to have fun in.

The wind speed was said to be around 25 knots with waves as high as 10 feet.

After entering the water shortly after 3pm, Chris’ friend and fellow kitesurfer Darren Hall noticed a kite was in the shallows and moving towards the shore.

He quickly realised it belonged to Chris, but he wasn’t attached to it.

Mr Covell said: “He then looked around to see if he could see Chris and he located him and made a number of attempts to try to assist him to come back to the shore to his immense credit.”

When he attempted to rescue him a third time, he noticed his face down in the water. Darren managed to control his kite with one hand and put his right arm underneath Chris.

This meant he was able to drag him further into shore where they were met by a lifeguard. He transferred Chris onto the lifeguard’s board and he was taken into shore. Mr Covell said at that point Chris was “unresponsive”.

The lifeguard carried out CPR and was assisted by a number of medics from the beach, including one of Chris’ friends, Dr Simon Plant.

A further paramedic, who happened to be on the beach, arrived, and the Cornwall Air Ambulance was called to Watergate Bay.

A defibrillator was used but despite two shocks, there were no heart sounds.

The coroner concluded: “It seems to me that the most likely event is that whilst Chris was stunned by the water, that shocking event of the wave hitting his kite in the water left him disorientated and unable to persist with the attempts to rescue him.”

He said Chris died from an accidental death. The British Kite Surfing Assocation said: “Our thoughts and love go out to Sharon and his family and friends at this very sad time.”