Stories

When a strong wind caused Crispin Freeman’s kite-board to be broken by the force of the sea he didn’t realise the danger in which he had put himself.

Crispin continues to kite-surf

He was annoyed that he’d lost his small surfboard in the fall but was still holding on to the damaged kite half-a-mile out from the bay when he saw what looked like a tide of brown seaweed surging towards him.

It was only when he started to be stung that he realised he was in trouble.

'Going to die'

"There seemed to be millions of them with stinging tentacles and I was surrounded," he shudders as he recalls his lucky escape whilst ‘boarding’ in Bahia Salinas in the north of Costa Rica.

"At one point I really did think that I was going to die because I react really badly to stings and I was worried I’d fall unconscious and drown."

Crispin and his family

Crispin had visited a remote part of the north of the country to take advantage of the renowned thermal winds that are generated off Lake Nicaragua.

He got into difficulties when the wind overpowered him and tore the kite from his grip, causing its fabric panels to explode on impact with the water half a mile offshore.

Thrashing and screaming

This meant he couldn’t relaunch, and he was slowly dragged along the slick of jellyfish. 

"There were literally billions of them to the point where there were in places more jellyfish than water," he explains. "It was like lying in a giant bowl of kids' jelly, only I was being stung continually. 

Jellyfish stings can kill

"I began to panic as I have found in Costa Rica that I am fairly allergic to wasp stings - my whole arm will swell up from one sting - so I was terrified that the stings around my neck might swell and block my wind-pipe.

“At one point I found I was thrashing and screaming in desperation because there was nothing I could do."

Collapsed and passed out

He added: “Somehow I became calm and realised that I just had to try to keep my neck as far out of the water as possible. 

“I was lucky I didn’t pass out or drown because I lost count of the amount of times I was stung.

"When I finally got to shore I was eventually taken to a clinic miles away and I just collapsed and passed out."

Strolling the beach

Electric shock

Crispin’s friends dragged him out of the water and took him to a corner shop several miles away – the only place open in the remote area they knew of to ask for help.

The shocked shopkeeper immediately took him to a clinic where he was administered antihistamines, creams and painkillers for his stings.

He had encountered a large colony of what he says were ‘golden thread’ jellyfish, also known locally as 'hilo del oro'.

He says they were two to three inches in diameter with tentacles about 18 inches long that gave an electric shock-like sting.

Thousands of stings

"I looked like I had been thrown in a fire," he adds. "I was swollen and red all over.

Just popping to the, er, shop...

"I had no water and was thoroughly dehydrated from a long morning under the sun -  I felt my throat was constricting and I began to worry about being able to breath properly.  

"When I got to the clinic the horrified nurse pulled out a huge syringe and told me take my trousers down.  There was no argument from me!

Property developers

"That night we went up to La Cruz, the nearest town, to look for more medication and the pharmacist's eyes were on stalks when she saw the state of my arms, legs and neck."

Within a week the former lawyer had recovered, to the relief of his family.

Crispin, a father-of-three, moved with his wife Jo to Costa Rica in September 2004 to work as property developers, on Finca Estrella, near Pavones.

Piggyback in the jungle

He says they will now be dividing their time between Costa Roca and their home in Wythall, south Birmingham, to help with their children’s education and to keep in touch with their families.

Wildlife and lifestyle

“It’s not changed my outlook to kite-surfing or to living in Costa Roca,” he insists.

“Wythall is very nice but not quite as beautiful as Costa Rica – the place is amazing and so beautiful. I absolutely adore the wildlife and the lifestyle.”

His wife Jo, 37, and children Estrella, five, Arturo, four, and Ruby, two, were with Crispin for his interview at BBC WM’s Mailbox studios in Birmingham.

In the studio with Jo Malin

Whilst presenter Jo Malin talks to Crispin live on air about the incident, which happened on 23 May, 2009, the ‘ops room’ resembles a makeshift nursery with the youngsters colouring in anything they can lay their hands on.

Digging their heels in

With Ruby fidgeting on her lap, writer Jo explains she was in the UK promoting her book A Friend Laughs, which is about their adventures in Central America, when she heard about Crispin’s injuries.

"He just brushed it off and I only found out later how bad it was," she admits.

Costa Rican sunset

"When he later went into detail I got quite upset about it but even if I told him to stop kite-surfing he wouldn’t listen to me.

"I think if you nag someone about something they just dig their heels in even more."