A KITE-FLYING enthusiast died when he crashed to the ground after a freak gust of wind took him up to 60ft into the air, an inquest heard yesterday.
Marcus Garwood, 26, of Hillcroft, Dunstable, was flying his kite at Dunstable Downs with a friend on July 24 this year when the accident happened.
Dunstable Coroner’s Court heard Mr Garwood was an experienced kite-flyer, who had regularly used the nine metre square for jumps, letting it lift him around 6ft into the air for 10 to 15 seconds.
On the day of the accident he was at the downs with his friend Eduardo Garza, who he had met through kite-flying.
Mr Garza told the court: “It was a perfect day for kite-flying. The wind was probably about 10 mph on and off.”
The pair initially started off flying six metre square kites, until the wind started to drop and they decided to switch to the nine metre square Flexifoil Blade II kite.
“It holds you in the air longer and you can do more jumps,” Mr Garza told the court.
Mr Garwood continued to fly his original kite while Mr Garza flew the larger one, and after 10 minutes they prepared to swap.
“I carried out a couple of jumps, and when I put it down I told him it felt heavy and slow,” said Mr Garza.
“Marcus took the handles from me and handed me the six metre. He shot seven feet forward and then the kite went up and took him up 40ft in the air.
“I didn’t notice that the wind had picked up in any way. I put my kite down and ran after him. He went straight up in the air and it was taking him towards the car park. I shouted to him to hold on.
“The kite dropped in height and picked up speed, his body was 20ft in the air, then he went into a position that can only be described as a Superman position.
“He hit the floor very hard then bounced up three feet and let go, then he fell again and stopped.”
Mr Garza described running over to his friend and grabbing his head and trying to talk to him, but said Mr Garwood could only “groan in pain”.
Members of the public ran over to him and began CPR, but Mr Garwood had already turned blue and stopped breathing, and his pupils had “gone very big”, said Mr Garza.
Describing his friend’s experience in kite-flying, he said: “Marcus had been flying kites for three to four years, and I would say he was an experienced flyer.
“We had used that kite anywhere between 50 and 100 times over the last two years. He was comfortable that the wind levels were appropriate for it.”
Mr Garza agreed with the suggestion by coroner Bob Amos that Mr Garwood had been taken into the air by a “freak gust”, and said it could have been a “ridge lift”, which occurs when wind strikes an obstacle such as a cliff and is deflected upwards.
He added: “When you’re up that high that’s the way it is – you either hang on or let go and he hung on.”
Police sergeant Anthony Seamarks told the court that when he arrived at the scene Mr Garwood had obvious broken bones and bruising and that paramedics were working to save him.
Sgt Seamarks cleared the area for the arrival of the air ambulance, but Mr Garwood was pronounced dead at the scene. Among the potential witnesses to the scene, he said, was Mr Garwood’s stepfather, who identified his stepson’s body before being taken back to the family home to break the news to Mr Garwood’s mother.
Recording a verdict of misadventure, Mr Amos said: “Marcus lost his life doing something that he obviously enjoyed and was skilled at.
“The freak interference of the weather put him in a situation that, however skilled he was, he was not able to control.”