A dad-of-two drowned after he was thrown from his kayak in rough seas, an inquest has found.
John Robert Slack, 34, was described as a "happy go lucky" dad from Birmingham when he travelled to Gwynedd in Wales last May after lockdown restrictions were lifted.
Before he set out to paddle in the water off Tywyn beach, a beach warden warned him not to go into the water, an inquest in Caernarfon was told today.
John went out on the kayak and got into difficulty shortly afterwards.
A coastguard team recovered John, but sadly he died en route to the hospital, NorthWalesLive reports.
Beach warden George Watson told the hearing he had been patrolling the beach that morning and noted the high tide and strong winds.
He said he saw the dad paddling out to sea in a "controlled manner" but when he saw him again he was sitting on the tideline near the slipway.
George said: "I approached him and he told me he had been thrown out about 4ft in the air but said he was going to go out again.
"I told him that although I couldn't stop him I strongly advised that he did not but he said he was a strong paddler and went out again."
George said he then saw him come off the kayak and go into the water. He then noticed that John was "waving and shouting" so he decided to call 999.
John was in the water for around 15 minutes before he was recovered by the Aberdyfi coastguard team.
The hearing heard he was showing signs of life when he was initially pulled from the water, but sadly he died on the way to Bronglais, where he was officially pronounced deceased.
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His father, Robert Slack, said in a statement that was read out during the inquest that his son "loved being in Wales" and always returned to the area "making lots of friends".
He added that this was the first weekend that John had been back to Wales since lockdown restrictions had lifted.
A postmortem examination gave the cause of John's death as "probable drowning".
Assistant coroner for North West Wales Sarah Riley concluded that he drowned as a result of misadventure because he intended to go into the water.
But did not intend for death to be the consequence of this action as he was unexpectedly "thrown" from his kayak, the coroner added.
Following his death, John's family paid tribute to the "beloved brother, son, dad, and uncle".
He leaves behind his two children, Jayden and Charlie-Rose.
