Any advice after a surfing accident?

BanterPanther

I was out surfing today and had a bit of an accident. I was about to be caught inside so instead of turtle rolling I left the board go and dived under the wave. It's a 9' so it gets a bit tiring paddling out when its heavy and it was heavy-ish. The leash snapped and the board took off on me and I couldn't see it for a few seconds behind the wave.

Anyway, when I swam in there was a woman pointing at it wondering was it mine, I nodded and as I got closer to her I realised her mouth was covered in blood. It hit her in the face, chipped her tooth and cut below her lip. I tried to help, got a first aid kit from the surf school but there was nothing anyone could do really. I apologised profusely asked her was she alright and wrote my name and number down on a piece of paper for her. I offered to pay dentist bills even though that's the last thing I need.

I was just wondering what people usually do in situations like this? I'm sure something like this has happened before, I just wan't to get an idea of what to expect when or if she calls me.

promethius

these things happen in surfing. you shouldn't have ditched the board but i get the impression you already know that and i wasn't there i don't know the exact circumstances.

i think helping the girl in some way with the financial aspect of it would be the decent thing to do but you wouldn't be obliged to do it. i'm aware of a few other bustings where the other party just left.

surfing is an adverture sport and when you don the wetsuit and hit the water you're assuming a risk.

you did all you could at the time so fair play to you for doing that.
chipped teeth are relatively easy fixed, there was a bad eye injury in sligo recently enough which is a lot more serious. there was a girl i spoke to once whose friend ditched her board, it flipped up in the air and landed on the back of her neck. she was paralysed for six months in a wheelchair but got back out surfing again thankfully. she didn't blame her friend, who was surfing without a leash!!!

seachto7

Well, at least you offered to pay bills and gave your number. There's not much more you can do for now............

FirstinLastout

I was just wondering what people usually do in situations like this?

Just learn from it and don't repeat it.
The fact that you realise this is a good thing as most, it would appear, never care to even give it a second thought either in regards to the safety of others or damage to other's property.

It is a selfish self-serving thoughless & dangerous act to let a board go in such (any) conditions which endangers others and doesnt in fact really aid the person releasing the board in any real benificial way.
It's just a dumb act that is all too common.

surfing is an adverture sport and when you don the wetsuit and hit the water you're assuming a risk.

There is probably a risk accepted by those engaging in surfing that having made the choice to take part it will involve a certain degree of risk.
But it's impossible to accurately factor in the increased level of risk due to dumbass's in the water.
I'd consider it acceptable to inflict damage & pain upon oneself as a result of foolish actions (having done so many times) but it should not be considered acceptable to cause damage & pain to other parties due to a similarly dumb act.
Bad Practise is Bad Practise and should'nt be excused.

Again, fair play for learning from this.

surfing is an adverture sport

Surfing's not a sport!!

promethius

FirstinLastout wrote: »

Just learn from it and don't repeat it.
The fact that you realise this is a good thing as most, it would appear, never care to even give it a second thought either in regards to the safety of others or damage to other's property.

It is a selfish self-serving thoughless & dangerous act to let a board go in such (any) conditions which endangers others and doesnt in fact really aid the person releasing the board in any real benificial way.
It's just a dumb act that is all too common.



There is probably a risk accepted by those engaging in surfing that having made the choice to take part it will involve a certain degree of risk.
But it's impossible to accurately factor in the increased level of risk due to dumbass's in the water.
I'd consider it acceptable to inflict damage & pain upon oneself as a result of foolish actions (having done so many times) but it should not be considered acceptable to cause damage & pain to other parties due to a similarly dumb act.
Bad Practise is Bad Practise and should'nt be excused.

Again, fair play for learning from this.



Surfing's not a sport!!

i forgot, it's like a way of life, dude, or something

BanterPanther

Thanks for the contributions.

I know its a very dickish thing to do but at the time I was only thinking of avoiding a beating. I was waaay further out than her, she was only a beginner in knee high water. It took me a few minutes to swim in against the tide like. Its not that I was in a crowd there was acres of space around me, no way in hell would I have let the board go with people around no matter how bad. Being terribly honest I dunno how she didn't see it coming but that's beside the point.

zoobizoo

Are you or she members of the ISA? You get insurance with membership.

BanterPanther

I'm not and I would seriously doubt she is. I'll definitely join now though in case something ever happens again. Thanks for the heads up on it!

atomohawk

good that you owned up and she agreed that you only pay the dentist........ditching a board which causes injury at best is negligent and you could be on the hook for a big payout if she sued you for personal injury as a belt of a 9' could leave a scar!

promethius

i would disagree with this

i've discussed surfing related injuries with a partner in a firm specialising in personal injuries, he's a friend of mine and it was just out of interest, i didn't do anything wrong

his opinion was that unless you very explicitly set out to injure someone and this can be proven (ie punch them with loads of reliable witnesses!!) that there's not much to worry about. boards moving around in the water form part of the sport and are an assumed risk of people taking part in the sport.

some people might argue this, but know this guy i'm happy to take his word for it.

seachto7

what would happen if a golfer gets hit by a ball by another golfer. I assume the course have insurance to cover this?

seachto7

atomohawk wrote: »

....a big payout if she sued you for personal injury as a belt of a 9' could leave a scar!

Well, if she was a c*** that's what she would do........

rodento

promethius wrote: »

his opinion was that unless you very explicitly set out to injure someone and this can be proven (ie punch them with loads of reliable witnesses!!) that there's not much to worry about. boards moving around in the water form part of the sport and are an assumed risk of people taking part in the sport.

some people might argue this, but know this guy i'm happy to take his word for it.

Prom this is kinda different, the op has already admitted liability for this to the girl in question and also on an open forum on the internet. Me thinks she could take him to the cleaners if she wanted

promethius

yeah that's a fair point alright rodento about admitting liability at the time, i was probably thinking more about a situation like this in general.

i remember someone once telling me, if you're in a car crash do not utter the words "i'm sorry" or in anyway imply it was your fault no matter how obvious it is or what the circumstances are.

i rear ended a car at low speed some years after that, nothing serious just cracked the bumper, i remembered those wise words and was happy to pay for the bumper for the other car and the rental while it was in the shop. it was really hard not to say sorry it was literally on the tip of my tongue!!!

atomohawk

seachto7 wrote: »

what would happen if a golfer gets hit by a ball by another golfer. I assume the course have insurance to cover this?

are you on the right thread seacht?
try this one......golfer in mid swing decides the club is too heavy and his poor arms are hurtin......lets go of the thing and embeds it in the face of whoever happens to be in the way.......who's the c***t?

rodento

atomohawk wrote: »

seachto7 wrote: »

what would happen if a golfer gets hit by a ball by another golfer. I assume the course have insurance to cover this?

are you on the right thread seacht?
try this one......golfer in mid swing decides the club is too heavy and his poor arms are hurtin......lets go of the thing and embeds it in the face of whoever happens to be in the way.......who's the c***t?

And here was me thinking it was because the leash snapped

atomohawk

sorry............ c***t = 'clprt'

atomohawk

rodento wrote: »

And here was me thinking it was because the leash snapped

'I know its a very dickish thing to do but at the time I was only thinking of avoiding a beating.'

Board ditched ie he let it go.

Ronnie Beck

^ funny

His leash broke, could have happened regardless.

Maybe she should sue the leash company.

Ronnie Beck

Sarcasm^

Why do we always have to sue someone or assume that someone will sue. Really annoys me. It's more the woman fault for not paying attention. There's only so much of a long board you can hide in a small wave.

FirstinLastout

It's more the woman fault for not paying attention.

Utter Crap.

AngryHippie

Its no-ones fault really,
Leash snapped, so even if you had taken the pounding and lost the board, the same thing could have happened, it may even have been worse....We'll never know.
Some brutal injuries have happened in the surf, Mate of mine was on surf lifesaver patrol in NSW a few years back and guy on a short fish lost it, leash snapped and the wave launched the board, it hit another guy further in bodysurfing on the temple, smashed his skull open and killed the guy.
Its a risk that everyone playing in the surf takes. Common sense does say that paddling shoreside of surfers is not wise, unfortunately with a few people using the same rip to get out it can get messy if everyone isn't watching whats happening in front of them.

atomohawk

Ronnie Beck wrote: »

Sarcasm^

There's only so much of a long board you can hide in a small wave.

If it was a small wave why the need to ditch the board?
The guy did the decent thing in admitting his mistake and offering to pay dental bill. The sport is dangerous enough without people breaking basic rules and ditching boards. This is what gives councils ammunition in moving surfing to designated areas as happened here in lahinch.

rodento

BanterPanther wrote: »

It's a 9' so it gets a bit tiring paddling out when its heavy and it was heavy-ish. The leash snapped and the board took off on me and I couldn't see it for a few seconds behind the wave

atomohawk wrote: »

If it was a small wave why the need to ditch the board?
The guy did the decent thing in admitting his mistake and offering to pay dental bill. The sport is dangerous enough without people breaking basic rules and ditching boards. This is what gives councils ammunition in moving surfing to designated areas as happened here in lahinch.

atomohock try reading the ops post before jumping to conclusions, sounds like conditions were not small and the guy was caught on the inside. Somethings I found the only way out back in those conditions is to ditch the board and swim through the breaking wave.

I wouldn't blame the bloke if his leash snapped

I dont know

Not sure whether to start a new thread or hijack this one, but what are the worst injuries you, or people you know have picked up while surfing?
I’ve had nothing too bad myself so far, just a few knocks on the head from the board and some scary wipeouts. The worst probably being when I was a beginner, stood up after coming off the board and didn’t realise it was still in the air. It came down with the fins facing my face. I was lucky it didn’t cut the face off me, but it caught my arm and cut through my wetsuit. Was sore for a few days.

My brother had a freakier accident just around this time last year. He surfed a wave right into the beach at Rossnowlagh, hopped off in waist height and went to grab his board to turn and head out again. Just as he grabbed the tail of the board with one hand, another wave came and pulled the board away from him. He didn’t realise, but his finger was in the loop where the leash ties to the board and the power of the wave pulled the top of his finger off!

It was off from the top knuckle up but still hanging by the side of the rest of his finger by a little bit of skin. Took him to Enniskillen, they stitched it on saying he’d probably lose it. Went to the Ulster Hospital for surgery the next morning and they made a great job of it, nearly 100% as good as it was.

Low Pockets

rodento wrote: »

. Somethings I found the only way out back in those conditions is to ditch the board and swim through the breaking wane

no no no. Bold. If I had a rolled up news paper you'd have it on the nose. You might feel have to bail to avoid a beating but it's never going to get you out quicker and chances are you'll get a worse beating for bailing regardless.

atomohawk

rodento wrote: »

sounds like conditions were not small and the guy was caught on the inside. Somethings I found the only way out back in those conditions is to ditch the board and swim through the breaking wave.

I wouldn't blame the bloke if his leash snapped

USE YOUR HEAD - 11 common sense ways to make surfing a better experience
No.4 When paddling out, never ditch your board and dive under the wave, also known as a "Chuck and Duck". Aside from cracking the skull of the person directly behind you, it will put undue pressure on the leash and increase the chance of breaking it. Then, you will not only be treading water, but your board will be heading toward shore like and unguided missile, taking out every surfer in it's path. You need to learn to duck dive, or at the very least, turn turtle, (flipping the board along with yourself, upside down, and hang on to the rails with everything you have.
(Swell Magnet)

Rule #4: Don’t Ditch Your Board
This is important, especially when it gets crowded. Always try to maintain control and contact with your board. Surfboards are large, heavy, and hard. If you let your board go flying around, it is going to eventually clock someone in the head. This means if you’re paddling out and a wall of whitewater is coming, you don’t have permission to just throw your board away and dive under. If you throw your board and there is someone paddling out behind you, there is going to be carnage. This is a hard rule for beginners, but if you manage to avoid picking up the habit of throwing your board you will be a MUCH better surfer. (Surfinghandbook.com)

FlashD

Its a lesson hard learnt for the OP.

Don't let go of your board regardless, you never can tell what will happen, in this case the leash broke which was unlucky for both the surfer and swimmer.

Could have been worse though, with a large 9" board like that tumbling its way through the surf towards an unsuspecting swimmer, any number of worse scenarios spring to mind...makes me cringe a bit!

FlashD

rodento wrote: »

I wouldn't blame the bloke if his leash snapped

I wouldn't blame him either for the leash breaking but he should have held on to the board for all its worth really. There could have been another surfer paddling out behind him just a few yards away.

VNP

Longboards are a hell of a lot heavier to get hit by than shrortboards, I ve gotten the tail of a fish in the arm a few times in fast waves and it seems like nothing compared to getting longboard long fins to the head the couple of times. Its usually windy days that ve caused the problem with me, the board getting caught by a gust before I get my hands on it after coming off a wave. Never hit anyone else thankfully.
One thing that struck me iff you ll pardon the pun is that neoprene provides zero protection to the kind of very low surface contact area bang you ll get from fins, fins slice through guys suits like a knife through butter and ive needed stiches but theres no sign of impact on the hood?. I kinda have a false sense of security in my 5 mm coat of nitrogen filled bubbles. Its a wonder gath helmets are so unpopular considering the dings your cranium can get, but i suppose they dont protect all the important stuff like eye balls, teeth and nose or arterys in yoour neck... scared yet the car journeys statistically more dangerous for me though.

rodento

I dont know wrote: »

Not sure whether to start a new thread or hijack this one, but what are the worst injuries you, or people you know have picked up while surfing?.

Fin cut through my heel, couldn't walk properly for 6mths

Northclare

I never knew surfing could be so dangerous.
Had a few close encounters with those guy's with the paddle boards but no contact made :S

Are those fins really that sharp ?

FlashD

Northclare wrote: »

Are those fins really that sharp ?

They sure are.

I had the same happen a few years back while duck diving through a wave face, some lad unintentionally caught the back of my heel with his fin as he passed over me.

Can so easily happen when a board is moving at speed, like a hot knife through butter.

After messing up, had my longboard land down on my head as I came to the surface in my earlier days, there was a loud crack, thought I had done my skull in or something but just a crack in the fibreglass, left a gash on my head though. I can just imagine the damage a plastic Bic could do as there is no give in the board material.

I automatically put my hands to my head whenever I surface after that.

Mickeroo

Had my old Bic slam down on top of my head after a wipe out a few years ago, pretty sure I was mildly concussed after. i think my log would be worse though, it's heavy as hell. always cover up my head when wipe out now too. Thankfully managed to avod fin related injuries so far.

Low Pockets

Alright then.

Landed ass first onto a nice pointy reef, cut from the top of my ass crack about 18" up my back, screwed my back up nicely on that one.

Done the splits with one leg on the board as the wave picked me up and dropped me back on the board. Tore all the ligaments in my left leg (hip/knee/ankle) bruised a few bones in the leg as I bounced off rock as I went past, had to crawl outta the water as some prick stood there watching. That one took about 8 weeks before I walked again.

Face planted onto a flat shallow reef the night before a mates wedding in France, nice concussion and looked like Quasimodo for the photos. Never paddled as quick when I saw the blood, the lads had been winding me up for weeks about sharks in france.

Took 11'6 of fibreglass across the forehead in DOH surf, bet on myself to make a section, I didn't and the board clipped my head as it went past. Again, nice concussion. That one was at the bottom of some cliffs and a few hours from home. Great fun trying to get back to my car and then getting myself home afterwards.

In all my years I'd never hit the fin of a board. I managed it twice in two days. First time I landed ass first onto it, 60lbs board with a twelve inch tall inch thick fin, maybe a inch and a half from my nuts. Next morning, same board, fell awkwardly, fin caught me across the chest, thought I'd cracked ribs.

Took the same board onto the flat of the head once. Lay in the water for ten fifteen minutes not sure who/where/what I was. Reading all these, I'm lucky iv a thick skull.

Iv broken my big toe on my right foot three times at last count. There fragments in my toe from it and the joint is trying to grow over itself to protect it from the abuse. (nice pain killing injections for that one)

Wiver fish stings count? Three at last count, highly allergic, each one worse then the last, started to go into shock last time.

And last but far far from least, this was kept me outta the water intermittently for over two years. Took the tail of a board under my armpit while the nose hit the reef. Broke two ribs, that bone on the front of your chest, compressed two vertebra and damaged my right lung and damaged quite a lard portion of mussel/cartilage. Have had two years of not being able to breath properly. Even ended up with pleurisy on the back of it, fun times.

Iv had more slices, cuts, knocks and bruises then I care to remember but these are definitely the highlights.

(edit, grammer)

Northclare

Low Pockets wrote: »

Alright then.

Landed ass first onto a nice pointy reef, cut from the top of my ass crack about 18" up my back, screwed my back up nicely on that one.

Done the splits with one leg on the board as the wave picked me up and dropped me back on the board. Tore all the ligaments in my left leg (hip/knee/ankle) bruised a few bones in the leg as I bounced off rock as I went past, had to crawl outta the water as some prick stood there watching. That one took about 8 weeks before I walked again.

Face planted onto a flat shallow reef the night before a mates wedding in France, nice concussion and looked like Quasimodo for the photos. Never paddled as quick when I saw the blood, the lads had been winding me up for weeks about sharks in france.

Took 11'6 of fibreglass across the forehead in DOH surf, bet on myself to make a section, I didn't and the board clipped my head as it went past. Again, nice concussion. That one was at the bottom of some cliffs and a few hours from home. Great fun trying to get back to my car and then getting myself home afterwards.

In all my years I'd never hit the fin of a board. I managed it twice in two days. First time I landed ass first onto it, 60lbs board with a twelve inch tall inch thick fin, maybe a inch and a half from my nuts. Next morning, same board, fell awkwardly, fin caught me across the chest, thought I'd cracked ribs.

Took the same board onto the flat of the head once. Lay in the water for ten fifteen minutes not sure who/where/what I was. Reading all these, I'm lucky iv a thick skull.

Iv broken my big toe on my right foot three times at last count. There fragments in my toe from it and the joint is trying to grow over itself to protect it from the abuse. (nice pain killing injections for that one)

Wiver fish stings count? Three at last count, highly allergic, each one worse then the last, started to go into shock last time.

And last but far far from least, this was kept me outta the water intermittently for over two years. Took the tail of a board under my armpit while the nose hit the reef. Broke two ribs, that bone on the front of your chest, compressed two vertebra and damaged my right lung and damaged quite a lard portion of mussel/cartilage. Have had two years of not being able to breath properly. Even ended up with pleurisy on the back of it, fun times.

Iv had more slices, cuts, knocks and bruises then I care to remember but these are definitely the highlights.

(edit, grammer)

Your a legend,wishing you luck this winter,mind yourself...
Don't get reefed

seachto7

@Low Pockets :eek::eek::eek::eek:

promethius

jesus christ low pockets i've never heard of anyone get such a sustained hammering surfing! i must avoid you in the water

fair play for keeping the stoke going! respect...

Low Pockets

Its nothing to be overly proud of. Im at this a while and I never had enough sense to stop (or not to go to the amusement of my so called friends...) I also use't surf logs no matter what size it was, Iv learnt that takes a toll. Iv started to expand my horizons and the difference is huge, not half as much pressure on the body but the late drops just aint the same.

My hand has been forced now and I am going very slowly insane. I got in for my first swim in months last week, felt fantastic to be back in the water but I paid for it for the week. Not sure when Im going to be in a condition to surf again but Im hoping that I can get away with a few more swims a month now days that its worth it.
Heres a few pics from that day if anyones interested.
http://www.johnbeasley.ie/blog/2012/9/sense-versus-sanity

I was thinking about other things Id done to myself since and another great one was going back a few years when I surfed this one beach for the first time. Your up really high looking down at it and the friend I was with was trying his best to dissuade me telling me it was considerably bigger then I though it was. Another lad started to suit up so I thought sod it, it cant be that big. It was. Anyway, at some point, dinged my head, and as it was cold when I came outta the water I was pumping. The lads proceeded to convince me I needed stitches. Off we went to south doc, when we got there, there was a local farmer and his brother. His tractor had flipped and basically opened his head. He seemed fine about it (im sure this was the drugs) but I have never felt so ****ing stupid in my life. All I needed was a €45 stery strip.....
Found a pic from the day in question
http://www.flickr.com/photos/corksurf/1686362949/in/photostream/lightbox/

keryl

Great pics and stories. My few brushes are very pale in comparison...

Worst I got was a smashing off the sand bank, sounds soft but concussion ahoy, huge swelling on my forehead and carried on surfing which was absolutely idiotic...

Top side of a shortboard landed on the side my head, lucky it didn't do any damage.

Regards fins, nothing major thank God, just a girl wiped out and her fin hit into my back that's about it....

keep em coming

rodento

Low Pockets wrote: »

Its nothing to be overly proud of. Im at this a while and I never had enough sense to stop (or not to go to the amusement of my so called friends...) I also use't surf logs no matter what size it was, Iv learnt that takes a toll. Iv started to expand my horizons and the difference is huge, not half as much pressure on the body but the late drops just aint the same/

Love surfing big stuff on the log but only on fat'ish reefs, need a channel to aim for if i get in trouble:D

seachto7

My one is tame in comparison to the others, and luckily I only had this happen once. Got dumped in the shallow water in Spanish Point a few years back on a bodyboard. It was as the tide was almost in, so it was over the rocks. It felt like someone had punched me in the back of the head. That was just from the wave. When I surfaced I felt "punch drunk", and was trying to keep my balance and walk over the rocks. Embarrassing..........

VNP

Fair play Low Pockets for getting back in the water keep at it, man you must have a high pain tollerance hurting your spine is nasty. I ve started carrying a jumbo first aid kit in my car after having to borrow a some wipes and a plaster recently from a better prepared surfer. thinking of reading up on my insurance policy small print didnt go out on a sketchy reef today with a friend because he was concerned about getting back in on the rising tide, in hind sight it was probably wise not to even though i was kitted out. I felt like a dope, but i started thinking i might be compromising his saftey too if something happened, ended up going somewhere a bit more forgiving for a bigger day kind of glad now reading all that.

rodento

First time in a long time I got well spanked last week, bruised to the bone on the pelvis and lucky not to break/crack the bone, didn't realise it at the time and paddled out for more, but the drive back to the swift care clinic in Dublin was well and truly horrible

Geomy

rodento wrote: »

First time in a long time I got well spanked last week, bruised to the bone on the pelvis and lucky not to break/crack the bone, didn't realise it at the time and paddled out for more, but the drive back to the swift care clinic in Dublin was well and truly horrible

Sorry to hear that, where did that happen ?