Competitor dies in surf accident in Qld

A 19-year-old champion surfer has died after being hit by his own ski while
competing in rough conditions off the Gold Coast.
Sydney-based surf lifesaver Saxon Bird got into difficulties off Kurrawa Beach while
competing in the under-19 ironman event at the Australian Surf Life Saving
Championships.
He is the second person to die in the championship's history.
Paramedics tried to resuscitate Bird and continued CPR while he was taken to Gold
Coast Hospital by ambulance.
"But he died in hospital on Friday afternoon," officials said.
The teenager's surf ski washed onto the beach at around 11.30am (AEST).
After an air and sea search of a one-kilometre section of the beach, Bird was found
by a fellow lifesaver less than an hour later.
"It is believed that Saxon got into difficulties and subsequently fell from his
craft 150-metre from the beach," a Surf Life Saving official said.
Officials told AAP they understood Bird's surf ski hit him in the head, knocking him
out.
The championships has been suspended and a decision will be made by Saturday morning
on whether it will continue.
A strong rip is running along the water's edge, about 10 metres out from the sand,
with waves between 1.5 and two metres.
Organisers deemed conditions at Kurrawa safe enough to go ahead with the event on
Friday, despite two people being injured in rough conditions at the surf carnival
this week.
Cyclone Ului is whipping up rough conditions along the Queensland coast.
Bird, from Denistone, in Sydney's northwest, was representing the Queenscliff Surf
Life Saving Club, of which federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is a member.
He began as a nipper aged eight and on Friday was described by colleagues as one of
surf lifesaving's "rising stars".
He was a member of the NSW surf lifesaving high performance team and has taken a
number of national titles over the past four years.
Robert Gatenby, 15, a member of Kurrawa's under-18 boat crew, drowned at the 1996
nationals at the same beach, as Cyclone Beti ravaged the Queensland coast.
The boardwalk fronting the Kurrawa surf clubhouse is named in Gatenby's honour.
Surf Life Saving said officials were working closely with Queensland police to
prepare a report on the incident.
Counselling was provided to Bird's family and friends.