A LOVING wife has paid tribute to the “love of her life” who died while windsurfing at the weekend.

Dave Baker, 67, was off Mersea Island on Saturday morning when he was discovered unconscious in the water.

A fellow swimmer, Coastguard members and the RNLI scrambled to help the Colchester man.

But he died on the way to Colchester General Hospital.

Wife Lesley yesterday paid tribute to her husband.

She said: “Dave was the love of my life.

“We had been together for 39 years and it is very hard to imagine life without him.

“He was a kind, warm man who adored his two sons and two grandchildren.

“He was a very principled man who led his life through his firmly held views, particularly about green issues and what he felt was the great unfairness in the world.

“I knew he had a very supportive family of relations and so many friends but he would have been completely humbled by the moving tributes, messages and visits from people who feel so much sorrow.

“I love you Dave. Lesley.”

Mr Baker was an experienced windsurfer, who had been doing the sport for at least 20 years.

While the sea was rough off Mersea on Saturday morning, friends have said he was more than capable of looking after himself in such weather.

David Murr, chairman of the Mersea Windsurfers and Kitesurfers Club, said: “Dave was a very experienced and popular windsurfer.

“As the chairman it is my responsibility to put people on the committee who are knowledgeable and who are able to make good decisions about windsurfing and that is why Dave was a committee member.

“He will have faced these conditions many times.

“If he felt the conditions would have been too much for him that day he would have come back to shore.

“We have been friends for 20 years and everyone is just totally shocked.”

Mr Baker was found at around 11.30am on Saturday.

A fellow windsurfer tried to resuscitate him in the water before calling for help.

Coastguard teams were called to the scene and managed to get the father to shore where he was given mouth to mouth before he was transferred to Colchester General Hospital by helicopter.

Sadly, he died while on the way to the hospital.

Onlookers watched on as the rescue took place.

One said: “Our sympathies of course go to the family.

“What an awful thing to go through.”

It is not certain if Mr Baker fell ill in the water, but it is one line of enquiry Essex Police are thought to be looking into.

Mr Baker’s death came on a weekend when five others across the UK died off Britain’s shorelines due to bad weather.