I'm Suffering My Most Common Boating Injury Again

[LauraJane]

Don't underestimate the effects of aging. One of my sailing mentors told me decades ago,
"I must be getting old. Where I used to bump and bounce, I now bang, bruise and bleed"
He also renamed hands and feet as blister mittens and snag-tackle.
Thanks for all you taught me, Eliot Feder. Fair winds and calm seas wherever you are.

[Splash of Lime]

Yep not fun. I did learn the hard way early on while working on a Kind Crab boat in the Aleutian our of Dutch harbor Alaska. After banging my head a few times hurrying or not through doorways, I was in a real hurry headed to the engine room and whammm and after seeing stars (for real) I started wearing a cap/hat. The hat hits first just enough to allow my head to react and save my head from any more hard hits. I've not hit my head in over 35 years. . .

[four winds]

Most common,....... the half open companionway cover head bump. Of course the metal latch is the bullseye. More often than not there is a mark on my mostly bald noggin. Only in he last few months have I chosen to leave the cover half open. So got to add that obstacle to my boat motion moves.

Used to be my feet on deck bump injuries, all minor, or the walking forward berth arch bump, no metal there. After five years on the boat those are now a rare event.

I tend to move about more deliberately and slowly now. But if conditions warant I rush around with gazelle like grace, or so I've been told. Seriously, I've been told that. lol.

[SpiritofGlenans]

Originally Posted by annsni

I can tell you the story of my husband. He was out on the boat while I went horseback riding. It was a breezy day and as I was JUST about to get on the horse (like literally had my foot in the stirrup) my phone rings. "Honey, I have a medical emergency. I need you to come to the boat." I asked what happened and it seems that with the wind, he had a hard time getting the mooring by himself and he hurt his toe. "There is stuff hanging out of it." I asked if he thought he'd need stitches and he said yes. So off the horse, untacked him and off I went in my dirty riding clothes to the boat. I got there and saw he only had one pennant from the mooring to the boat so I quickly got the other one and set the boat on the mooring properly, and then I went downstairs.

Hubby was laying on our bed as pale as pale could be. I looked at his foot and realized the "stuff hanging out" was his bone. He had pulled the baby toe on his left foot completely off the bone like pulling a corndog off the stick. Hubby gets woozy at the sight of blood and I had to take charge. I wrapped up his foot with gauze pads and bandages and got him up, called the launch and off to the hospital we went. Fortunately, our dear friend who is an orthopedist was there and he was able to put the toe back together again in surgery and hubby was on crutches for 6 weeks.

So the story goes that he tried to drive up to the mooring and tried to run forward to grab it but hit his toe on the chainplate/shrouds when he ran forward. He knew something bad happened but he still tried to grab the mooring but couldn't so he had to walk back to the wheel (we have a Catalina 42) and steer back around to the mooring to try again. This second pass failed as well so he had to run back to the wheel and try one more time. This time he JUST got the pickup stick and manhandled the boat in enough to get the pennant on the one cleat and left it then went downstairs to see what happened - and almost passed out when he saw it. That was when I got the call. And yes, he has learned now that he is to always wear shoes on the boat.

Does your finger feel better? Keep an eye on it. It can easily get infected and you might need antibiotics. Soaking it is a really good idea and see if you can get it open enough to get that salt in there to clean it out.

Sounds awful! Such an injury is called a "de-gloveing"!
What I want to tell the forum is that there are other ways for singlehanders to pick up a mooring:
A. You can take a long line from a bow cleat, outside of everything, back to the cockpit. With this set up you can then come alongside the buoy and pick it up from the cockpit, thread the rope through the pennant and then walk it forward, taking in the slack as you go. Depending on wind/current you can arrive at the bow in time to then just pick up the pennant and secure it as you normally would. If any of the rope needs to be pulled in, so that you can reach the pennant, you could probably pull in by hand, or use a windlass or winch.
B. In strong winds, when your bow is being blown off very quickly, you can set up your long line in the same way as above (except make it a little longer),and just reverse up to the mooring, picking it up over the transom. The great advantage of this method is that you will remain steadily stern-to-wind. The disadvantage is that you will have at least a boat-length of rope to pull in.

[Dave22q]

Maybe its just a senior thing. I am a long time member of the closed hatch. We are easy to spot, rushing just a tad too fast to remember that the hatch door being off does not mean the cover has been pushed back.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by Panope

A new brain would completely solve the problem.

Steve

Let me know if you find a good deal... Maybe they'd give e discount for a 2-fer

[ramblinrod]

Originally Posted by HappyMdRSailor

Oh man... That reminded me of a thread from years ago where many of us agreed that the worst injury was banging the old noggin on the 1/2 closed hatch syndrome...

It ain't no corndog though!

Rule # 21675 aboard our boat; the companion slider is either fully open, or fully closed, never part way (until the next time). ;-)

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by ramblinrod

Rule # 21675 aboard our boat; the companion slider is either fully open, or fully closed, never part way (until the next time). ;-)

This one's in my top 10... And on rare occasions... ignored... I really want those few inches of height back...

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by HappyMdRSailor

Let me know if you find a good deal... Maybe they'd give e discount for a 2-fer

I might know of where you can get an Abby Normal one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH97lImrr0Q

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I might know of where you can get an Abby Normal one

AWESOME!

[drpaoletta]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Cant tell you how many times I dropped to my knees in pain after smacking a shin on the emergency rudder sleeve sticking out of the back of the cockpit! A foam beer coozie softens the impact, but I have permanent notches in both shins at this point! (I WISH I was only banging my head on a hatch cover - it would hurt alot less!)

[TomLewis]

In my early days, I had 3 people on board who had never sailed and I was trying to sail with them lounging around. While handing out beers to the ladies, we hard tacked and I took a shot in the back of the head. Lost my favorite hat. Can't hurt my head, it's hard.

[ozdigennaro]

I know it's not very manly -- but gloves.

[annsni]

Originally Posted by SpiritofGlenans

Sounds awful! Such an injury is called a "de-gloveing"!

Yep - It was a degloving but he kept the very top bone (one nearest the nail) in the toe so it was also a full dislocation. Fortunately you would never know anything happened to that toe now.

[SqPeg]

Originally Posted by annsni

Actually, that's not carpal tunnel. The carpal tunnel nerve serves the thumb, index finger, middle finger and the middle finger side of the ring finger (if it's carpal tunnel, these would be numb). The pinky side of the ring finger and the pinky are served by the ulnar nerve which goes through the elbow - and that's why the elbow hurt too.

Had the same symptoms. Turned out to be spinal stenosis. I go under the knife next month.

My constant injury is hitting the shins on the companionway sill. I keep a large stock of over sized band aids. I try to catch it before the blood runs into my socks. This started when I learned to look up for a partially closed hatch.