A POWERBOAT racer was killed in front of his girlfriend when a collision saw him hit by another vessel flying through the air.

Kevin Edmondson, 53, was being lapped when a wave caught his 20ft craft and made it “violently hook” into the path of the fellow competitor doing up to 60mph.

An inquest heard it shot over Mr Edmondson’s boat — just missing his navigator and girlfriend of 20 years, Annika Hawthorne — and struck his head.

The tragedy came in the last lap of an Offshore Circuit Racing Drivers Association event at Bridport, Dorset.

Jamie Stickler, navigating on the second boat, told the Bournemouth inquest she saw Mr Edmondson hook to the left “and the next thing I know we were flying through the air”.

Mark Humber-Kelly, on behalf of the Edmondson family, said they wanted “lessons to be learnt” to prevent more deaths.

But assistant Dorset coroner Deborah Rookes said all safety precautions had been in place.

She added: “Nothing could have been done to prevent it.

Verdict: Accidental.