Pics: Oli Lane-Peirce.
Watersports injuries – the type that are more annoyance than life threatening – are par for the course with any saltwater immersive regularity. The law of averages dictates the more you’re dipping in the drink the more likely mishaps and accidents are likely to happen.
Watersports aren’t without risk. Whatever discipline of choice you lean to there’s the potential for getting hurt. As a rider, it’s your job and responsibility to limit the variables. And even then the ceiling can come crashing down (metaphorically speaking) ending up with he/she benched for a duration. This is the real bummer of injury. Missing out on potentially quality sessions because of bodily malfunctions is frustrating, prohibitive and inconvenient.
Of course, there are riders who end in some real serious situations. In those instances, it’s a case of being thankful to be alive. For most ‘freeriders’, however, the conditions we place ourselves will mostly result in niggle injuries rather than those life and death situations.
A recent situation arose with one of NCW’s team riders. Going about his business as usual there were no unnecessary risks being taken. But for whatever reason, the depth of water was misjudged, resulting in a collision of gear. Said equipment stopped dead sending the rider hurtling onto a very sharp shingle reef bank. The end result being part of the rider’s foot filleted good and proper.
Now don’t get us wrong. This could’ve been much worse. But fortunately getting back to shore wasn’t too difficult where he was helped to get packed away and off to hospital for stitches. Apart from a lot of claret, and being sewn up, the rider in question is fine. As we said at the start of this article it’s now more frustration of being benched while good conditions fire off in the background than anything else (fortunately).
We don’t want to sound irresponsible but mild injuries happen often when participating in watersports. And whilst we certainly have to keep ourselves safe and avoid deadly scenarios there’s an inherent risk that we all accept. Whether surfing, windsurfing, kiting, SUPing or foiling every time we enter the brine we need to realise it could all go south. Mostly, it doesn’t though. And even when it does go Pete it might not be as serious as originally thought.
Keep your safety in mind and have a good idea of what to do in an emergency. Don’t take unnecessary risks and hopefully, you’ll enjoy many a watery session atop your craft of choice. If you do bash yourself chalk it up to experience and learn from those mistakes. Stay safe out there people!
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