Sport Today

Hello,
triggered by the recent mail from Dmitry Avramenko asking about
prevention methods for accidents where the mast hits the head, and because I have
been wondering if the purcase of a helmet and the wearing of it would be worth
the trouble, I thought I'd start this inquiry.

Sure, many might say: better safe than sorry, so get a helmet in any case. But
then nothing in life is completely undangerous and in my opinion you should
always weigh the importance of the danger against the effort it takes to avoid
it. And on this basis I think, everyone has to decide if he preferes to tolerate
the danger or if he rather wants to use a means to avoid it.

I do have quite a good idea of how much trouble a helmet would be for me. I
wouldn't like wearing a helmet at all, but this is of course only my opinion.
But on the other hand, I don't have the slightes idea, how big the risk of being
hit on the head by the mast, fainting from that and drowning really is. So thats
why I'd like to put the following question to everyone on this newsgroup:

#################################################################################

Has anyone seen or heard of (from a _reliable_ source - not only a camp-fire
tale) an incident were someone has actually been hit by his mast and drowned as a
result of this or were someone has almost drowned and maybe only been saved by
others. Also, have there been any other fatal accidents, were a helmet would
have been helpful.
If so, please drop me a message with maybe a short description of the
circumstances and at the same time please let me know, for how long you have
been engaged in windsurfing. (e. g. I have been windsurfing for 200 years and in
all that time I have only heard of one such case. I heard it from ... /read it in
.../ have seen it in ... on the 20th of August 1845 when the following happend:
.... )
Please mail me directly to not flood the newsgroup with articles of this sort and
to ensure that I am not missing one.
I will later post a summary, so everyone gets to know the outcome.

#################################################################################

Of course, we won't get any representative results, but maybe this might result
in an upper limit for the probability of such an accident.

Volker Wedemeier

Oh, coming to think of it: is there probably already some statistical data on
deaths in windsurfing in general availabe somewere?

Somebody mentioned helmets. I find this quite easy ie. if sailing without a
helmet inhibits your sailing ... you can't afford not to have one.

Personally I hate them, but wear one when it gets lumpy.

--
Disclaimer - I am in no way liable for the opinions of my employer.

Jim Shaw,Oracle Europe Engineering, Edinburgh, Scotland.

: Somebody mentioned helmets. I find this quite easy ie. if sailing without a
: helmet inhibits your sailing ... you can't afford not to have one.

: Personally I hate them, but wear one when it gets lumpy.

Personally, I wouldn't sail without a helmet just as I wouldn't ride a
bike without one. I use the Kayak helmet stype, cheap, simple and it in
no way inhibits my vision or motion. My feeling is that there are far
more times when a helmet would save you than a life jacket. If I were
to get smacked without one, even with a lifevest, chances are I would
aspirate water and possibly drown. At the very least I would get separated
from my rig.

I cannot think of an instance where a lifevest would protect me while
windsurfing tho, so I never use one. Plus, a life vest would definitely
inhibit my motion.

Oh, Having the helmet possibly saved me from my own stupidity once, albeit
not on the water. I had stopped to adjust my booms on the beach. I sailed
in, dragged the board and rig onto the beach and went to the boom-head to
loosen it and move it down abit. The clew was directely upwind (that's
the stupidity part, but, I was thinking more about getting back on the
water). When the wind (4.0 to 4.5 day) got under the clew, it flipped
the sail and the boom end landed square on my forehead. Even with the
helmet on, I saw stars. I still think about what might have happened
without it.

--

.
.
.
|> no way inhibits my vision or motion. My feeling is that there are far
|> more times when a helmet would save you than a life jacket. If I were
|> to get smacked without one, even with a lifevest, chances are I would
|> aspirate water and possibly drown. At the very least I would get separated
|> from my rig.

Most people seem to think that a PFD is designed to save their life,
this is not entirely true.  A PFD is designed to keep you on the
surface of the water and enhance your chances of survival.  If you are
unconscious on relatively calm water you may survive until help
arrives.  If there is any appreciable amount of surface action (as
little as one foot chop) the chances of inhaling water (and therefore
drowning) is greater while unconscious than in a conscious state.

The only time that I used a PFD or other flotation device was when I was learning to sail.  It was required at the Diego Garcia Marina (Diego
Garcia is a small island in the Indian Ocean, owned by the British, which
has a U.S. military base).  Even if PFDs were not required I would have worn
one while learing.  However, now that I am proficient and the fact that
PFDs restrict the range of motion of my upper body and arms I prefer not
to wear a PFD.    

--

David J. Ward