Mother's shock at sky surfer's death

The mother of a champion sky surfer who died after being injured during a competition said today she accepted the dangers of the sport her daughter thrived on.

Pauline Richards, originally from the UK, suffered head, internal and multiple leg injuries in a heavy landing during a sky surfing competition at Corowa airport near Melbourne, Australia, last Thursday.

Her mother Susan Richards, said she understood the risks that went with the extreme sport of sky surfing.

She said her 44-year-old daughter took up the sport about three years ago and was Australia’s number one female sky surfer.

The sport involves riding the airwaves and performing aerial gymnastics on a snowboard-like board after freefalling out of a plane at about 13,000ft.

Mrs Richards said: “When you are doing sports like this you have to expect this kind of thing. We are terribly shocked but we are trying to be positive and to celebrate Pauline’s life.”

Ms Richards emigrated to South Africa when she was 19 and eventually moved to Australia about 14 years ago.

She sold her PR business, PRPR, to concentrate on the sport and was runner-up in the World Cup of the sky in Vienna two years ago. She was aiming to become world champion.

Mrs Richards, 67, said: “She was a very determined person who worked very hard at whatever she did to get to the top.

“She was also into parachuting and sky diving and was a very fit person. She loved the feeling of surfing on a wave of air.

“She died doing what she loved doing and we will always remember her as a beautiful young person. She will never grow old in our eyes.”

Mrs Richards said she understood the heavy landing was caused by air turbulence above some trees close to the landing site.

“As far as we have been told, there was nothing wrong with the parachute or any of the equipment. It was an accident caused by turbulence in the air, which you can’t see,” Mrs Richards said.

She acknowledged that “extreme dangers” accompanied “extreme sports”, but insisted that young people needed challenges.

“These sports are very important to some people. Doing a jump can light up their lives,” she said.

Ms Richards had been working at the Skydive Space Centre, near Cape Canaveral, Florida, for the past six months.