Thats great news Simon,

Now you have a good excuse not to go sailing in the cold weather

and with the Gnarlyooo waiting at the end of it as an added bonus.

yeah, thanks for the offer grumps, gadget already tendered the position of 'beer bitch' for Gnaraloo but I had to turn him down as I'm planning to be drunk most of the time myself

That's the sort of logic people justifying not wearing seatbeats use. ie they say they may be thrown clear. Why they never think there is more probability of being thrown into something like a tree or wall or having the vehicle land on them is beyond me. The main draw back is appearance and practicality.. protection is always a plus. Consider the average head weighs 5kg while a Gath helmet weighs between 260gms (basic small) and 400g (Gedi large with visor). So in the worst case you will end up with only 8% more leverage (5.4kg/5kg).
I've only had a few catapults in the last half decade (obviously not trying hard enough) but I remember once hitting my head so hard (on the mast, I think) I saw stars, and that was with a helmet. As usual, I was on my own in the middle of the river. I was glad for the helmet.

Now, I know there are exceptional guys out there who have such great awareness of what's going on that the slightly sense restricting feeling may on balance be a negative and I'm thinking of the guys who compete. However, even here I have seen pile ups at gybe marks where sailors have been run over by others with no where else to go.

For recreation in windy conditions, a helmet should be considered and forget the whiplash.

This is an interesting point, I think both arguments are valid.

I tend to agree with Decrepit with regards to whiplash and hyper extension.
I can imagine the visor could snap your head back quite violently if it caught in the water in a high speed stack (although I never heard of this actually happening).
Equally, although 400grams doesn't seem much, the load is multiplied by the G force, I don't know how many g's you are subjected to in a big stack, lets say 5 for arguments sake. Your head now weighs 25kilos and the helmet adds another 2 kilos, well maybe it wouldn't make much difference but I'm glad i didn't have an extra 2 kilos on my head recently...

Having said that if I'd hit my head on the mast with the same force I would undoubtedly be glad of a helmet!!

I don't think there's any doubt that the overall benefits of using safety gear outweigh any possible negative risks.

Maybe we need some advice from Gath on this question?

I wear a full face gath helmet mainly to keep keep the sand out of my eyes as the Pit is harsh when it blows.Had a few crashes at 40+ with and without the helmet and it didn,t seem to make much difference ,they all hurt.I found that the visor tends to get knocked up when you hit the water.But it does help to keep your head warm and stops the bumps to ya head.Wouldn,t sail without one

Hi Decrepit,

no i wasn't wearing one...but from memory Elmo and Hardie were that day

Also, thanks for the tip M1, I just checked out the interweb for references to alcohol and fracture repair and it turns out that alcohol consumption impairs bone growth and repair......super....i've been happily chugging away since my injury.

You'd think my Doctor would have mentioned that...maybe i already looked depressed enough...

quote:

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Originally posted by sinker

Hi Decrepit,

no i wasn't wearing one...but from memory Elmo and Hardie were that day

Also, thanks for the tip M1, I just checked out the interweb for references to alcohol and fracture repair and it turns out that alcohol consumption impairs bone growth and repair......super....i've been happily chugging away since my injury.

You'd think my Doctor would have mentioned that...maybe i already looked depressed enough...

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Just out of curiosity, if you have your neck stabilised in one of those neck brace thingo's, how do you get your head back far enough to tip a beer in without spilling it everywhereone of those beer bong funnels perhaps

g'day sinker I thought I would fill you in on my adventure with the neuro surgeons. January 6th I was blasting on Lake illawarra south of sydney when I was overpowered by a gust and was flung over the handlebars. result broken neck c5 and c6 with c5 unstable and perched out of position. I was quadraplegic in the water just bobbing around so to speak with the water just over my chin. 15 minutes untill I was found another 40 minutes to get to shore. was carted off by the ambo's and won a free flight to sydney lay by helicopter lay on a slab for 4 days just a talking head my wife was told to prepare the house for wheelchairs. Then on its own c5 slid back into position all on its own.much excitement all around very next day onto the operating table 10 hours surgery plate on the front bolts in the sides and 5 screws at the back plus 2 bone cores from my hip lots of fun.
walked out of hospital under my own steam the very next Monday. Seems to be healing ok the doc says I can go sailing again this summer must admit to some nervouness. So mate let it heal before you do anything radical if the c5 is rotated it could be a drama mine was unstable that is the danger. I will never forget bobbing around on my own for a quarter of an hour or so wondering how to survive when one of my good mates came flying up the lake dived in and grabbed me to stop me from tipping over and drowning. I have never been happier to see anyone in my life.
I am 59 and have been a sports nut all my life but this is by far the scariest thing I have ever encountered.So I add my warning to yours getting flung can be a really bad experience.To finish I would not recommend a helmet in this situation as the water catched in the helmet like a parachute with the stretch to the neck being that much worse. I think we were just unlucky and landed awkwardly how can you ever predict that?
good luck with your recovery it seems to be slow but you do get there

Hi Stiffneck,

Bloody hell, that's really scary! At least I could still move when I broke mine although my arm was paralysed for a few minutes and it hurt like a ba*tard


My c5 is also perched, although it's still unilaterally dislocated by about 3.5mm it's pretty stable.(fingers crossed)

I didn't realize I had broken it for over a week and even went back to work...thought something was up when my right arm stayed numb and lost strength

They have stuck me in a SOMI brace in the hope that it will fuse without surgery. I find out Tuesday if it's working or not.

So are you back up to full power or do you still have some neurological damage?

Hi sinker I know with my neuro (a woman with little hands and a deft touch) that she believed if the c5 was perched then it is inherently unstable and must be bolted back into place she told me the paralisis (spelt wrong whats correct?) came from c5 jamming the spinal cord according to her for me just a brace and rest was not an option I would have been a parra. I got my legs back pretty much when the c5 slipped back into place but my arms were totally shot nothing moved.
when I woke up from the op they said to me ok move your arms and I thought what sort of smarty then I tried and everything worked pretty good I can tell you.From listening to my physio I think c5 controls nerves around your face and the tops of your arms c6 controls your forearms and hands so watch out for numbness and any burning sensations

hi sinker I start sailing again mid september really looking forward to it you are in for a few months discomfort but mostly boredom so find yourself something to do if you can. It will be great to get to the warmer weather it makes everything easier. take it easy