The following is a factual report on what happened to Dave Baird on Sunday afternoon at Buddina beach.

Firstly thanks to Laurie and the moderators who respected our request not to publicise this incident till we knew the outcome and the fact that Daves family was out of contact range.

I have asked Dave and he is happy for me to report on the event in the hope that we can all learn something from his event.


On Sunday our usual crew of about 8 did a downwinder on the Kawana section of the Sunny Coast.

The run was pretty standard and the conditions ideal.
Start of Incident - o mins
I had finished first and was wrapping my lines when I looked down the beach 300m south of sbends and noticed Daves kite resting on the beach and Dave was on the waters edge on his hands and knees with his face down on the sand. I noticed he wasnt moving so I ran the 300 m towards him noting that as I got closer he wasnt moving and now his head and shoulders were being covered by water.
He was still attached to his kite which was in a stable and unpowered state.

1 mins in
I grabbed his head out of the water his mouth was full of sand, his eyes were open and rolled back and he was unresponsive.
About 15 secs after I got to him I was joined by Pete - he was too heavy for us to move him and then we were joined by(EZZY)AYRES and after we established he was not responding to us and was not breathing and had no pulse we managed to lift him 15 meters up to dry sand so we could work on him.

2 mins in
We immediately went into full CPR - at the same time Phil ran up to get a call to 000.
Ezzy and Al AND PETE took turns on chest compressions while I managed his head and airway.
We continued for what seemed forever till we heard the ambulance coming - constantly checking his airway/ breathing and pulse
Each check was negative - no pulse - no breathing - airway very messy and full of sand
We estimate we worked on him for 12-15mins approx although it felt like longer

17mins -
4 paramedic arrive and instruct us to keep going while they set up their gear
wetsuit cut off chest and defib pads put on chest
no pulse but the heart was in defibrillation mode -
(Not clear on exact order on the following)

Did some suction on airway
Put an airway tube in and put a pump bag on to breath into him
They shocked him
put an iv line in arm and gave him adrenalin

the paramedics worked for about 20mins
when they got a weak pulse the prepared him for the stretcher carry to the ambulance - about 80 meters up on the road
all our crew carried dave and the equipment to the ambulance

37 mins in Dave was taken away to Nambour hospital - he was still unconscious

At the hospital we had reports that they suspected and a heart attack and the tests began- he was kept in an induced coma over night

MONDAY
Dave regained consciousness slowly -
NO damage was detected to his heart arteries or vessels

By Monday avo Dave was talking but very confused still. NO short term memory.

Tuesday - Still undergoing monitoring they suspected a fault with the electrical element that tells your heart muscle to work ( A rough laymans interpretation)
This is still a concern and at the time of writing this is an unresolved issue for him

I saw him Tuesday avo and was in good spirits and wanting to get out of hospital -
Reports from today - he is getting brighter and memory is improving

Doctors are very pleased with his state and are stating that he is extremely lucky to be with us.

We are all indeed pleased and thankful for such an amazing outcome considering most people don't survive this.


LETS BE VERY CLEAR _ THIS IS NOT A KITESURFING ACCIDENT
It was a heart attack incident that happened while he was kiting -

On working out what had happened -
Dave had come into the beach probably feeling unwell
Put his kite down and collapsed into the PRAY TO MECCA position - then went unconscious when his heart stopped
His kite was dry and the position he was in means that he was not in the water when it happened.

What have we learned from this so far -

1. A 95kg dead weight is really hard to move- thankfully we had plenty of guys close by
2. Our group was fairly close together which enabled plenty of help quickly - A good reason why to keep close together when doing downwinders - plus we had a good size team to enable lots of help when we needed it
I think it would be a very different outcome if there was just 1 or 2 of us.
3 We were lucky the incident happened just 80 meters from a road and 20 meters from a beach access - THis made it easy and fast to get help and get him off the beach
4 We had all been trained in cpr - and (EZZY)AYRES and AL had experience having worked on other real incidents - they were confident and did and great job even though they cracked his sternum.
5 Acting fast - Doctors have told us that there is a very short window 2-3 mins to begin before damage happens to heart muscle and brain.

A massive rap for the paramedics that were so calm and so effective in bringing him back - we are so lucky to have a great service in this country. Plus the great treatment at the Nambour hospital is to be commended.

A big rap for our mates who were there to help

We are now planning a welcome back home party for Dave.

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU VISIT YOUR CPR SKILLS - IT COULD HELP SAVE A MATE

Bruce Exton
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