About a year ago at a certain moment, I couldn't walk anymore without suffering a terrible nerve pain in my bottom and leg. I couldn't sit anymore, nor walk, nor lying.
So big alarm in my mind; bought as soon as possible a MRI scan which gave a horrendous result: lumbal stenosis.

.

See how the black nerve-string is strangculated in the spinal-canal

Endured a lot of pain. Walked 3 months inside and outside the house with a rollator, stooped like an old man (which I am). Neurosurgon suggested that I looked too fit for sugery and maybe my body would cure itself. Which is by the way very rare for lumbal stenosis.


At this moment I try and do some catsailing (stopped immediatly with windsurfing) but have to find ways not to trigger my spine again. So here's a trial formation for eliminating sitting flat on the tramp. My wire-time is also liminated, that's why. Sitting on a certain height releaves the pain. Its too bad that wings are impossible for me to implement and to handle as a solo sailor. In my bumpy NorthSeaspot it seems impossible ( though I have sailed in a far past a Hobie with Wings.)

Hate to hear it Ronald, always love to hear about your sailing. Back pain is awful, I've had severe flare ups of sciatica that leave me near imobile. Mines not continuous though and exercise seems to help even though it hurts at the time.

Seems that wings would help, I worry about you ending up in the water with that kind of pain it would be very difficult to get back on the boat.

Be safe!

Thanks Damon for your sympathizing
.
Though I still remain a junkie with regard to NorthSea sailing, I have lost in time my recklessnes with becoming older.

😏😏

Damon with your remark about Wings,I start searching in your beachcat files and found several pics. This one I liked most:



Because its a small cat with a solo sailor ; it doesn't look so big also. But the problem making something like that which can also be folded during the roadtrip remains.
Besides I'm afraid that it catches to much waves on my spot.

See my vids on YouTube (search for ronald reeder). Especially the last vid taken in 2017, with wind and waves on the beam, shows my problem.
Ofcourse any helping remark is more then welcome. I have to swallow a bit my pride comparing this vid with the above pic of my improvised stool on the left hull.

I sailed/raced a Hobie 18 with wings for 20+ years in all conditions and found the concerns about wings hitting waves to be overstated.

There aren't that many designs with factory wings to choose from that are also light enough for the solo sailor, obviously there is the Hobie 17, which is designed to be solo but it has pretty heavy mast and I've never liked the way the wings socket into the hulls.

The Hobie FX-One is light and more modern but probably hard to find.

People have modified the Hobie SX18 wings to fit on many other boats, those wings connect to the beams and hinge up for trailering. They are pretty big and heavy though since they are quite long and designed for two-up.

The wings/benches for the Hobie Getaway can also be used on other designs, I know someone who installed a pair on a Prindle 18 and it worked very well.

Hi Ronald, Have you heard of Platelet Rich Plasma Lysate injections? I just turned 65 and have been "cured" of bulging disc back pain in my lumbar spine (specifically the L4/L5 andL5/S1 discs - the bottom two). I had sciatica to my knee before treatment and at times severe pain before treatment. Now I continue to sail, do any work around home including hacking out old stumps (which was the worst for pain), and downhill ski in the winter. I have had a total of three treatments which I had to pay for out of pocket as they still consider that to be experimental here in the U.S. but I was told that Europe had been doing it before they were here. It was the best money I have spent as I am free to do what I want again. I had tried many different kinds of physical therapy which helped some but faded quickly and could not fix the discs (as this treatment does). Here is a link to get you started but there should be plenty of info if you look around. I highly recommend finding a doctor who practices this kind of medicine! Good luck and best wishes for recovery: https://youtu.be/FBIIu-bwz2

Thanks Mike for your interest and advice.

I had never heard of these Lysate injections but I will certainly look into it. In my case there are several bulging discs ( which is hernia) but the main problem stays the stenosis which is in fact calcination of the nerve channel in the spine. But I can ask my neuro surgon about this treatment.

By the way my experiment with the improvised stool has failed. I have tried it on a very bumpy sea. It appeared that the force-equilibrum which I 'm used to make with my stance hanging on the wire is impossible to do sitting 30 cm above the hull. In fact I have forced my back trying to do so with a very painfull period after that. So wrong idea.

Hi Ronald, Look for a doctor specializing in sports physiology - especially doctors who work with athletes. I suspect that surgeons would not be familiar with it nor in favor of it as it is an alternative (better usually) to the cutting they are trained to do. I have learned that platelets do more than just clot blood; they have different proteins inside that initiate, promote, and accelerate healing (makes sense when you think about it). They even "flag down" passing stem cells in the blood and get them involved - hope that is not too technical ;-). My doctor told me to think of it as rebooting the healing process and that they still have a lot to learn about it. I try to keep this basic but the proof is in the before and after imagery of my spine as you showed yours. I am a natural skeptic but the images clearly show the discs have regenerated and the bulges are gone, along with the pain. I tried this for my spine after I had already had two longtime-torn tendons in my rotator cuff repaired using PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) - the main difference between the two procedures is that they freeze the platelets and remove the cell walls before injecting what is left into the back right next to the damaged area - they would be too viscous (thick) otherwise whereas in the shoulder the viscosity is not an issue. So they are taking the platelets from your own blood and then injecting them precisely where needed to heal yourself. It is truly a modern medical science wonder and thankfully we have lived long enough to benefit from it as they continue to develop the science.

What if you build a wing similar to a Hobie 18, but build an angled back to it. I think it would give more security in the bumpy conditions.

Thanks Texas for your idea. I agree that it will give me some extra security in a bumpy sea. But I'm afraid not enough.

See my struggle for stability:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzavNq_KdOs

Wow... that looks cold... :-) What about having some sort of forward/aft preventer on you? basically, have a line forward with a small block and tackle and one aft with a block and tackle. have them to a central snap shackle with a quick release - just incase. The thought is you can get settled on the wing, and then clip into the preventers, then tension the forward and the aft to keep you from lurching forward or backwards.

On another note, I'm surprised on the clip you use for your mainsheet. I would think it does not have sufficient strength. I have had those blow up on different applications.

Finally watched this video, really great, put it up on the 70 inch and was glad to note that you left the authentic sound of the boat and water instead of blasting music over it all.

Do you mean my clipping the trapezeharness to a leash line for safety reasons? This leash line (in fact a kite leash) goes to a supportbeam behind the tiller-cross tube. And there it can run freely from hull-stern to hull-stern.

In that way I will not hangup myself when capsizing and falling down backwards. In fact I can move around the whole tramp while being hooked to this leash.

By te way, I have ofcourse this standard kite unleash mechanisme which can be used in the situation where this will be necessary.


Everything has to do with the fact that I'm always sailing solo

Okay Tuma now I finally see on the vid what you ment by the clip to the mainsheet.

It's a Wichard click-clip with 10mm hole; according to the manufacturer it can stand a load of 7000 newton ! For me it's sufficient

my chiro said it not a complete stenosis
forward flextion exercise will help..you need some manual traction,, a good physical therapist
completely fixable, lotta sailing ahead for you
my L4 was completely pinched, I had severe pain shooting down my right leg, could'nt walk, sail, work.
started with oral steroids for a week or so, 12 weeks Physical therapy, lowar lumbar traction, my doc started me on a back strengthening regiment, now I deadlift 180 lbs,
This took a couple years to get here but no surgery.
Im 60

Thanks Carl for sharing your experience with us with regard to back problems.

I must say that I had done some spine manipulation and traction therapy in the past; but it didn't cure me.
On the contrary it made everyting worse. So bad luck and I will never ever try that again .

Forward flextion exercise which you mentioned, seems logical, combined with back strengthening. But you are 60 and I 'm 72.

Those twelve years make all the difference!

Last year I started this thread mentioning my stenosis in my back and its complications on catsailing.
Well, the stenosis is cured (knock wood) almost completely by itself. In my eyes a little miracle because expectations on that were low.
So I could fully sail on my cat last year until…….

On first Christmasday the next fysical problem showed up after my leg got trapped under my frontbeam and the beachsand (I know that sound strange). I yelled it out from the pain and couldn't stand on this leg again. So I payed for a MRI
investigation. Result: kneedisc severly damaged plus gonartrosis (worn out knee). After some months of rest I started searching for aids that could help me sailing again.

I discovered that with two small support shelfs mounted on the side of the hulls I could hang on the wire again. And keeping my knee aligned just above my foot. Which was painfree for my knee as long as I kept the right position.:




Ofcourse I know that the arthosis will go on and I will end with a knee replacement but now I can pay some time...…..

Great news

Thanks Jeff,

I must temper your optimism a bit though.
The knee surgeon was very worried about the chondropathie of the knee disc. Because that is not solved by a knee replacement joint.

So I have to try to grind the backside of the kneecap as much as I can by myself. Byclicling is f.i. a recommended training; but it has to be done with care. It can worsening the kneedisc also.
Twenty years ago I've made and designed my own recumbent bike from aluminium. It's a socalled low rider with a backseat that is ofcourse 100% modelled for me. Moreover It has also frontwheel suspension and backwheel suspension
so its chockfree.
Last week I mounted a chinese E-motor in my bracket with which I can control precisly the pedal force which I have to add.



See the motor upfront and the battery behind my head.

A new fysical problem showed up last year: My knees are wornout and my kneedisc is rotten also.

So I could not bend my knee more than 100 degrees. I had to invent a new way of gybing



I make a few gibes in the vid which I have to shorten also

Wow, Impressive, how are you controlling your direction during the jibe?

I'm a little worried about whether you'd be able to right the boat and get back on if you capsize.

Be careful out there!

Thanks for your comment Damon

Righting the boat seems impossible these days. Besides I sail on a rough sea which makes a solo rigthing from me impossible.
Happilly I live in a small village with a professional rescueboat practically on the beach. The crew of the boat knows me very well and I know these guys from when they were 12 year!

In the 20 year that I live in this village they had to rescue me 2 times. But I try to keep it on that number, so I sail very carefull.


The direction of the jibe with my technique is ofcourse not as precise as with your face turned backwards sitting on your knees. I don't care.
Still I can jibe in high waves

In addition to my previous reaction to Damon, I like to add some comment about two questions:

The principle behind this gybe-technique is the manner you jibe on a sailing yacht. So you start moving to the leeside of the boat (on a cat you can even hang your legs overboard) and start turning off the wind.
On my cat I can do that steering directly with my arm or even with my feet. Then leading the sheet over my head when the sail comes. Turning on my bottom brings me to the other site of the cat (with no danger of getting tangled in my net tramp!)



The other topic is ofcourse my opinion regarding to not be able to right the cat after a flipover. I was always loudly condemming this behaviour.
Now being forced in that position, I have to humble admit that I changed that opinion. With the only excuse that I still am a sailing northsea junkie.

I will not give it up !!!!

Please don't give it up and good luck!

Not quitting is kind of the definition of a junkie! ;-)

I know you know what you are doing, at least you are allowed to get in the water!