So there I was, happy as a pig in mud, planing along in the straps, trying to get further along with my gybes in that lovely 15 knots today, when I catapulted. I'm pretty good at catapulting, I've had lots of practice, but this was my first catapult in the straps and my front foot didn't come out, which meant that I went one way and my knee went the other. I felt something snap or click as it happened, I was scared it was a bone but I can still walk... just.
That was so frustrating, having to drive away from a 15 knot northerly, when they're so rare round here!

Along with my cracked rib two weeks ago I'm starting to think that windsurfing is a pretty dangerous sport!!

What's the worst that's happened to you? (Please make me feel better while I'm off the water, right when those big northerlies are here!!)

Ben

Bad luck Nebbian know how you feel, you can certainly get injured in this sport, especialy when learning.

Mine happened when I was just a little bit further along the learning curve than you. I'd made good progress with my jumps over summer and was quite confident in my ability to achieve a reasonable landing. So first winter blast I had now hesitation of "going for it" when a head high ramp came my way. Got stacks of air! the went for the nice soft back first landing, trouble was it was opposite tack to summer! Nobody had told me all the controls are back to front. Went into a power dive instead, my knees came up around my ears, and my whole body was vibrating, just rested in the water for 5mins, managed to sail to shore, drive home and have a shower, but after that I couldn't move, was on crutches for 2 weeks, just about better, when I one leg gave way half way down some stairs, that kept me on crutches for another couple of weeks.
I'm still not confident jumping on opposite tack, take it very carefully.

- broken ribs (2 times)= falling on boom/mast
- cut/hole in head = falling on mast
- twisted ankle and knee ligaments = one foot got stuck in the footstrap when getting eaten by a 3m+ wave in Morroco.(and I spend the following 3 weeks watching my mates windsurfing which hurts even more, but I was also meditating a lot which helps)

ah yeah and also sea-urchins spines in my foot (time 50 this one)
does this count? maybe not but it bloody hurts when you have to walk on it.

how painful is a broken rib om a scale of 1 - 10??? i've never had one, does it hurt when you fart etc ??

Broken ribs only hurt when you have to breathe, it's excrutiating 15,000 times a day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHhhhh my injuries are worse than all of yours
dislocated brain, sprained heart due to lack of wind on days off
and most chronic of all severe anxiety attacks when ya have to work on a windy day

broke board 26th Jan '05 --- broke left knee ( torn medial ligament & bruised bone ) 27th jan '05 while test riding prospective new boards without adjusting straps on a big jump ( for Dutchies ) and hard landing.... it hurt badddd.

3 dislocated shoulders (3rd one happened right at the start of last season, so I know just how happy you are).

I've also suffered from shrunken testicles when not trying things I should. I will rectify that this season.

I snapped in half once - Bruce Reid style and my friends taped me back together. Haven't had a problem since.

Am on crutches now, torn medial ligament, hopefully will get better by the time I do a 7 day hike in Tassie in January... (planned it all beforehand and booked everything) but will be off the water for at least a month!

How do you dislocate a shoulder when windsurfing?
Bad catapult? I'm morbidly curious!

Yer well ive given a few out, only to zig zagging kiting tea bagging wind puppets.
Oh Merry xMAS I promise to be good to other water users.

Hi Ducati!

I'm pretty confident in the harness, this particular catapult was caused by me trying to head too much upwind while in the straps. I was planing along for a good 10 seconds in the harness and footstraps, realised I was heading too much downwind so leant forwards, leant the sail forwards a bit more and railed up... the problem is that the footstraps are a lot further back than where I usually stand so didn't have the 'brace force' I usually have. Probably could have controlled it if I was quicker to realise what was going on and sheeted out more, but hindsight is always 20/20. Guy Cribb says to put your front hand close to the harness lines to get the sail forward more so I was trying that, it probably contributed to me not being able to sheet out quick enough.

I put in as much downhaul as I physically can, this means tying a bowline in the downhaul rope, threading my harness bar through this loop, putting my foot on the mast foot and hauling like an olympic rower. The third batten is well clear of the mast, had a fair bit of outhaul as well, the sail was twisting nicely, the top of the leech was as floppy as a piece of wet spaghetti (the way it should be). The floppiness extends down to the batten that's one above the boom.

I use a waist harness, the boom is set up correctly (I'm on the edge of getting lifted off the board when the sail is forwards, boom is about the middle of the cutout) and the harness lines are trimmed so that the sail is pretty neutral, slightly sheets out in gusts. I find it a lot easier to get into the harness early (before planing) then get into the straps, otherwise I'm concentrating hard on not letting the sail get away from me.

I guess it's just one of those things that happen, especially to an uncoordinated git like me... I'm getting better at anticipating the gusts but this was a case of exploring the envelope (heading upwind in the straps, never been there before) so I'll just chalk it up to experience, and be very careful next time I try it!! Next catapult in the straps I'll pull that front foot out QUICK SMART!!!!

Thanks for the advice!

yeh, once i was kiting and my face exploded, it was pretty traumatic, but after i put on a bit of mabeline i was alright.

Caught in a bad storm getting blown god knows where and not able to haul up a 6 meter sail and when i tried i felt a hearnia rip open but stuff it i had to get back to shore and just managed to raise sail enough to get ashore.
hearnia eventually ripped 6 inches long and a small one on other side cause i was afraid of the operation.
took 3 years to get the operation and it still dont feel fantastic.
but looks better,careful sailing only now.
made worse by short time with a vigorous girlfriend.owwwwwhhhhh who had to be avoided.

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Originally posted by nebbian

Well, it looks like I'm in for some more downtime in the future if the stories you guys tell are to be believed!!

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Well not necessarily, I've sailed close to 20years now and only had the one bad incident, I'm sure lots of sailors haven't had much more than bad blisters on their hands! Sure there are horific injuries, but that can hapen in any active sport, and compared to anything else that's as much fun, I think we would come off lightly.

quote:

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Let this be a lesson to anyone new to the straps -- get that front foot out quick if you start to catapult!

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Sounds like you're doing the right thing with the injury, glad it's improving.
Most times I've been catapaulted badly I haven't had enought reaction time to pull my feet out, they just get ripped out of the straps! Maybe your straps were too tight?? I have mine so that I can get good grip by arching my foot, pressing heel and toes against board and top of foot against strap, when I relax my foot the strap is loose and foot slides out easily. Too loose is also dangerous, if you land a jump and your foot goes all the way thru the strap, that can break a leg!!

Yeah, you don't need 2 legs to windsurf. There are loads of one legged sailors out there. You can recognise them by the parrots on their sholders. I remember a post on rec.ws from years ago about a one legged sailor blasting along at Baja when a needle fish jumped out of the water and embedded itself in his wooden leg. He was ok but eventually toredo worm got into his leg and he fell over.

Injuries? I've only had trivial ones but I have yet to attempt a forward. Oh, I broke a tooth on a batten once. Crushed a foot under the mast a couple of weeks ago when attempting a helitack in 20 knots. It's ok now though. Twisted my knee like Ben (first time on a wide board - fell in gybing - expected board to tip up like my skinny one did but it didn't) That resulted in a minor but permanent injury to my knee. Lots of fin scrapes, bruised ribs, sore hands etc.