just thought id post this, im sure most people know/are familiar with this but there will be a few newbies without a surfing background (like me !) who it might be useful for.

Surfing on saturday and grabbed hold of my of the leg-rope close to where it connects to the board, I know thats not a great idea (read somewhere) but in trying to get on my board quick before next wave came (I was about 5-10 m in from where the waves were beginning to break) it was kind of instinctive...

Anyway felt a bit of a pull and on bringing my hand up found the bone and nail-bed sticking out just above the top-joint of my ring-finger (much to my shock i must admit).

6 hours later all fixed up by plastic surgeon (I was very lucky to get it done so quickly) and apart from some fairly intense pain on saturday night when the anaesthetic wore off seems so far to be a pretty good outcome all things considered.

It wouldnt have taken much (bigger wave/ different angle) im sure for my finger tip to have become severed.

Thought it worth posting as a timely reminder/refresher of something you never want to do with a SUP board.

kt

kennybt said...

just thought id post this, im sure most people know/are familiar with this but there will be a few newbies without a surfing background (like me !) who it might be useful for.

Surfing on saturday and grabbed hold of my of the leg-rope close to where it connects to the board, I know thats not a great idea (read somewhere) but in trying to get on my board quick before next wave came (I was about 5-10 m in from where the waves were beginning to break) it was kind of instinctive...

Anyway felt a bit of a pull and on bringing my hand up found the bone and nail-bed sticking out just above the top-joint of my ring-finger (much to my shock i must admit).

6 hours later all fixed up by plastic surgeon (I was very lucky to get it done so quickly) and apart from some fairly intense pain on saturday night when the anaesthetic wore off seems so far to be a pretty good outcome all things considered.

It wouldnt have taken much (bigger wave/ different angle) im sure for my finger tip to have become severed.

Thought it worth posting as a timely reminder/refresher of something you never want to do with a SUP board.

kt

I'm not sure what actually happens but almost the exact same thing happened to a
mate of mine when holding his Mal. Almost scalped/skined his whole little finger!

Hope you heel fast!

ouch !


also try and avoid the leggy noosing itself around your ankles before big wave hits....

big underwater screams

Thanks for the story. I am a newbie and don't come from a surfing background so this I'm sure will stick in the forefront of my mind when I hit the waves.

Thanks for sharing and hope that you get better soon.

Take care

Pics or it didnt happen!!

havent got any pics of the injury as it looked on saturday - its all strapped up at the moment with only a bit of wire sticking out the top - i see the surgeon on thursday to so will try and get a picture of it then.

It feels pretty good and by all accounts recovery is quite quick (pull wire out in 3-4 weeks as bone is pretty much set). Nail and Finger isnt going to look too great for a while but as long as its complete I dont really care !

thanks for the good wishes, spoke to a surfer at work and he tells me of a surfer mate of his on a mal doing something similar and he remembers they were all looking around (in vain as it turns out) for his finger tip.

Guys - what are we saying happens here?

Is it the leggie wrapping around the finger and pulling - or is it the fingers being too close to the board as the board twists / thrashes in the white water?

I have sometimes thought of putting a separate loop at the tail so it's easier to hold but have wondered about the wisdom. Any thoughts?

Hope your injury heals quickly M8 - thanks for warning!

blobby said...

Guys - what are we saying happens here?

Is it the leggie wrapping around the finger and pulling - or is it the fingers being too close to the board as the board twists / thrashes in the white water?

I have sometimes thought of putting a separate loop at the tail so it's easier to hold but have wondered about the wisdom. Any thoughts?

Hope your injury heals quickly M8 - thanks for warning!

You can grab the leggie without much problem of injury but it will most probably pull out of your hands anyway.
The problem starts when you grab the rail saver (velco/webbing that fixes the leggie to board). As board thrashes
around I think the webbing turns into a knife like thing and as it pulls through your hand takes half the skin with it.

I think DJ once tried to attach a handle off the leash plug, not sure how it went though. He also tried a
quick release leggie thing that didn't work that well (sorry DJ, couldn't resist! )

genius BH

Oh kenny all my fingers hurt just looking at it,must drive you nuts every time you bump it,can you tell us how this happened ,which part of the leggie were you holding,i will teach myself to never grab the leggie again,the worst thing wiould be not being able to get back in the water until healed,good luck and i hope you have no infections or setbacks and are back in the water soon.Thanks for pic this will undoubtedly save many a finger in the future.

That hook must make scratching your ass and picking your nose a breeze....

kennybt said...



heres photo from todays visit to surgeon

doesnt look too bad , pin will be out in 3 weeks only thing they are slightly concerned with is the risk of infection since an open fracture.

(nail has been removed and put back to act as a splint between the nail growth area and nail-bed if i understood correctly)

pin is through the first joint so cant bend that and the photo probably isnt clear enough to see where the bone/nail-bed was sticking out - close to the bottom of where the reinstated nail is).

Aaaaargh me scurvy sea dogs it's a mini pirate hook yee sees.

Yuk Kenny. Kinda glad you didn't have the before photos! Best wishes on a speedy and 100% recovery...

beachhead - working cattle with ropes, a knot often creates your weak spot and is where it usually snaps. Not sure if that correlates to a Leggie? Someone else may know for sure. I'd talk to the manufacturer...

Cam...

Ouch.

No, it isn't the railsaver knifing through that does the injury, folks have lost fingers from the rope too. It's getting it tangled or pressed between the line and the board while thousands of pounds of pressure rips it away from you.

A tail handle helps a lot, but any way that leaves you hanging onto a board can be dangerous. I got a good pop from my handle the other day in a double overhead. Nothing like the skinning my fingers got from grabbing a strap that got wrapped a bit, but I wasn't happy.