Pitchpoled/cartwheeled the Tornado (again!) last night when going around A mark. Some bruises, cuts and a ruptured eardrum!?? Putting the boat on the market tonight to finance an F-16 project. Got to get something a bit more pitchpole resistant where the falls are a bit less dramatic when you fsck up.
Others with weird sailing injuries? I for sure never tought I would rupture an eardrum while sailing..
I've a hernia in ma belly belly button , got caught trying to get back over rear beam of a hurricane and enthuastic (lonely ) crew pulled me a shade too hard and something burst inside as my large bulk refused to move , doesn't hurt nor need attention , good party trick popping it out !
Broke a girls toe one day when we were pitchpole-ing for fun. Don't know how. It was hot. Not that windy, and we were having trouble just getting the hulls to submerge, so it was all slow motion capsizes.
I broke a finger! Left hand, last little joint at the end, right behind the finger nail.
The tiller extension hooked a swell, pulled my hand back against the tiller crossbar, then sprung back and smacked my hand against the rear crossbar. That's wear it got broken.
I told my son, I think I just broke my finger. He said, Let's go in. I said, It's OK - I lost feeling in the finger!
It was only after we capsized because I couldn't hold the main sheet with the broken finger hand that we went in for the weekend.
I nearly removed my small toe from my right foot by cutting it deeply (it took 3 metal staples at the emergency room to close it) while pulling up my starboard daggerboard just a moment too late. It was blowing, we were flying towards the beach on a deep reach, I knew we were running out of water so I dumped the main, jumped up onto my feet and ripped the board up, just as we did hit bottom with the other board, causing my bare foot to slide forwards into the aft edge (very sharp, obviously) of the board while I was pulling it up...
Bled like a stuck pig, all over the white boat. Then I hopped to the parking lot where a guy in a pickup truck happened to have a first aid kit and a cell phone, he wrapped it up, called the wife, left the boat, minus sails, for a week, to be collected later.
Another time, my son missed his trap hookup and fell in while we were on a fast reach, the rudder hit his shin hard enough to pop up, as the boat passed over him. I thought his leg was broken it hit so hard, but only bruised him. I had to promise him a trip to DQ not to tell his mom, but later that night after his bath she saw the bruise...and then the screaming started! (Look what you did to my Baby!!! he was about 7 at the time)
No wonder my wife won't sail with me... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />
2006 Hobie 16 NAs in Narragansett, RI (if you read Hobie Hotline, you know the conditions):
1st day, 1st race, 1st leg, 3/4 of the way to A, we capsized and my crew landed weirdly, and came up in shock, freaking out about her ankle. Turned on the radio, got her on a mark boat, taken to the Coast Guard dock, then to the hospital. She ended up with torn ligaments or something, 8 weeks out of work. Unfortunately, she worked at the same company as me, so I got lots of dirty looks from her boss and co-workers...
Righted the boat (solo), sailed in (solo), noticed a LOT of other boats already back on the beach, TWO with broken masts. One was Wally Meyers, the other was Hobie Jr.
Donated my boat to Hobie Jr. for the rest of the week, and worked on a mark boat. The week was basically a $400 donation to the event for me.
Worst part was, if I had been sailing with my normal crew, my wife (who was 7 months pregnant at the time and couldn't sail), we would never, EVER have left the beach in those conditions...
I rarely come back from a sail not bleeding in some way. I am a heavy weather sailor and have had many injuries to speak of but the one that I remember always is the sail being back winded when getting out of my bay in lots of cats paws and I was mucking with a rudder. The boom (Windrush 14, heavy kit) slapped me right in the ear after a full jibe. I was almost knocked out and am convinced the padding of my fleshy little ear saved me from that fate. My head hurt and so did my pride but my ear had that throbing, hot won't go away holy shxt pain that is a little like kicking your bare little toe on something hard and immoveable when half asleep. I still have the image of the flesh of my ear actually being mushy stuff inside a skin bag.
Lost the mast one day and the wind blew us onto rocks, the rocks were all really sharp, covered with barnacles. Add a nice stiff breeze, some wave action. Working to get the whole mess sorted out and not break too much stuff and drag the boat, sails and rigging to a sandy beach, I cut my feet up so bad I could bearly walk for a week. Nice deep cuts on the fleshy instep part of my feet, plus lots of little cuts all over the bottoms of both feet, plus some nice gashes on the ankles.
The crews trapeze wire snapped on my 125 dinghy with the kite up. While he was tea-bagging on the end of the spinnaker sheet about 4m behind the nearly capsized boat I swung my leg over the gunwale to step on the centreboard and prevent a complete capsize. I just missed it and the calf of my leg slid down the sharp trailing edge, losing a layer of skin about 3" wide and 12" long. It looked worse than it felt.
Oh, and the broken beer bottle I stepped on under the water while launching, that was hell! It was while on holiday when I was much younger. The next day was the calmest I've ever seen the lake so my brother and I hunted for all the broken glass under the water in the area, me on the bow of the boat spotting, brother pulling it along and diving for the glass. We filled half a bucket! Still Couldn't do much for the rest of the holiday though.
I thought his leg was broken it hit so hard, but only bruised him. I had to promise him a trip to DQ not to tell his mom...... he was about 7 at the time
FATHER OF THE YEAR!!! DQ has bailed me out of some tight jams with my kids too.
I thought his leg was broken it hit so hard, but only bruised him. I had to promise him a trip to DQ not to tell his mom...... he was about 7 at the time
FATHER OF THE YEAR!!! DQ has bailed me out of some tight jams with my kids too.
I was pulling a boat up on the beach when I hung up on some seaweed. I got mad, yanked really hard and felt something in my back go "pop". By Monday I was almost crippled when I finally got to see a Dr. The Dr examined me and did some tests. Then he came and "said "Good news, you pulled a muscle in your butt!. If it had been your back you would be laid up for months because the back is under so much load. Since you mostly sit on your butt, it will heal in a week or so"
Got finger and wrist tendon injuries from being pulled through the water holding onto the bow whiskers after a pitchpoled just as I turned back to shore in a very gusty wind.
I was being jerked through the water so hard I sprained both wrists and tore muscles in my back and arms. I think I hit a shroud because I got a bruise from the right shoulder to the left hip. I only remember hitting the water 20 foot away and swimming like crazy before the cat sailed back to the beach.
Once camping at a lake I took my 11 year old nephew for a ride on my Prindle. The wind didn't seem strong on the shore under the trees but I laced up my trap harness and put life vests on me and Scott my new crew. Once out on the lake the boat quickly powered up and Scott rolled aft on the tramp. I got him settled and quickly went out on the wire. Less than a minute later my harness came untied and I found myself being dragged upside down in the water. I managed to hold onto the hot stick rounded up and climbed back onboard. Scott started screaming "You're bleading uncle Bob." I realised I cut my svalp on a bolt for the rudder. After a quick trip to a neaeby Immedacenter for a couple of stiches I was as good as new.
