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