A zapcat pilot from Burnham-On-Sea has been recovering in a Cornwall hospital after breaking his back during a serious race accident… but he told Burnham-On-Sea.com this week how his agony had turned into elation.
Tony Cooper, who is co-pilot of the zapcat boat ‘Potential’ with fellow Burnham man David Paget, was seriously injured during an accident in Newquay last weekend.
He told Burnham-On-Sea.com how their craft flipped over when it hit a large wave at the wrong angle.
“The conditions were typical for Newquay for this time of year with 5-6ft waves, but we must have misread one as we were going through a set of the waves.”
“It sent our boat 30ft or so into the air and for one reason or another, as the boat flipped over, I fell from the front of the boat against either the engine or metal base.”
“I’d injured myself before but never felt such an intense pain – even though I was wearing clothes, dry suit, padding, a helmet and a Kevlar life jacket.”
“I ended up in the sea in the middle of where the surf was breaking. The rescue team got to me quickly on jet skis and took me out beyond the surf zone and on to a back board with my head in blocks so I couldn’t move.”
“They then very carefully took me through the surf and back to the beach where within a short time both an air ambulance and normal ambulance awaited.”
Most concerning for Tony was that after returning to the shore, he started to have numbness across his body. “I quickly lost all feeling in my lower body and was getting very worried.”
“Several hours later it was established that I had broken my back. I was very fortunate that the feeling came back into my legs. This, I am sure, I owe to the rescue team.”
As Tony recovered in his hospital bed in Truro, he was woken with some news that turned his agony into elation.
“A 4.30am I was awoken by a nurse who informed me that my wife, Lizzie, who had come down to watch us, was also in the hospital. The accident had meant she’d gone into labour one week early!”
“A couple of hours later I managed to get some hospital staff to wheel me in my bed to the other side of the hospital where I saw my wife in labour and another Zapcat competitor from Weston, Nathan Williams, acting as my wife’s birthing partner. Poppy, our daughter, was born soon after weighing 7lbs 4oz!”
“Lizzie and Poppy left Truro hospital a couple of days later to go back home in Burnham-On-Sea, where I have now joined them with my elder daughter Freya (pictured above).”
After an extraordinary few days, Tony is now quietly recovering with his family in Burnham and has been told it will take up to three months for his back to properly return to normal. He also hopes to continue zapcatting from next season.
“Zapcat racing is a fantastic sport and it’s only very rare that someone is injured. I was just unlucky – it could have been a lot worse,” he said.
“Lizzie and Poppy are doing great and we would like to say a big thank you to the staff at Truro Hospital, the Zapcat rescue team and all our friends, who have been fantastic.”
Our photos show a relieved Tony with his older daughter Freya and, above, the zapcat in action in Newquay minutes before the accident
