I'm Suffering My Most Common Boating Injury Again

[Jimmy4Jesus]

I think you guys just killed my dreams of owning a boat. Sounds too dangerous, and painful :-)

[LauraJane]

I have learned the hard way that the companionway sliding hatch can be all the way open or all the way closed. Otherwise it is a high speed head-magnet, and I get a really painful crack to remind me that the hatch should be fully open or fully closed.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by Panope

When walking forward along the side decks, I occasionally forget about this step. This has not resulted in any real injuries so far. Just bruises and scrapes.

It is hopeless that I will develop a permanent awareness of this step as I have been walking around on this deck for 39 years.

Steve

If that was my boat, I'd paint black and yellow diagonal stripes on the face of that step !!!

[RNW]

Healing hint provided to me by a nurse for the smaller grazes and cuts up to stitch able cuts. Lavender oil. Amazing results.

A car mechanic swears by toothpaste for first aid for burns. I have tried it on a minor burn with the standard cold water treatment. The mint in the toothpaste was fantastic.

[RNW]

Ps. A friend of mine had to call the coastguard when his girlfriend snapped her shin bone on the foredeck. Bone showing. Those knee high steel safety lines can work against you.

[PuttingDoctor]

Some great injury stories here so far. I have a tendency to use my head as a hammer and bump into things below regularly.

Add to this that I have "Toolbox Stigmata" as all it seems I need do is open my toolbox and my hands spontaneously bleed. I'm a bit thin skinned so have learned that when I'm going to tackle something with tools I glove up.

My latest injuries have been dock cleat related. I attempted to replicate the "corndog toe" but as I'm also a tenderfoot I was fortunate to be wearing deck shoes the first attempt but only sandals the second and more bloody attempt. I limped, I swore, I recovered.

[DeepFrz]

Panope said: It is hopeless that I will develop a permanent awareness of this step as I have been walking around on this deck for 39 years.

Black and yellow safety tape.

[montenido]

Hi folks,
Great stuff so far. Okay, my two common injuries are as follows. Any time I enter my boat wearing a hat, I somehow bang the top of my head on something. On my previous boat, I hit it so hard that I had a huge knot on the top. Five minutes later, still wearing the baseball hat, I hit it again in the same spot. This time blood came seeping out from under the hat!

My second one is kicking cleats with my bare feet. I keep a special pair of shoes onboard for any work on deck, and still manage to venture above and kick something. On my last voyage from Mexico to Los Angeles, I repeatedly insisted that my crew wear shoes on deck. I kicked the same toes on two different objects on the first day of a 1100 mile trip with out wearing shoes!

Damn, three months later and the toes still hurt!

Cheers, Bill

[Azul]

Wear shoes on the beach too. A nurse friend was walking in the surf and drove the tail spine of a dead helmut crab between her great and second toe. Surgery required to get it out.

[mowerandy]

Yeah - I used to leave hatches open with folk on-deck until a friend went down one while looking up at the rig and opened his shin to the bone on the sharp edge. The other recurrent theme is treading on sharp oysters or broken glass with inadequate or no footware - got quite adept at stitching up my own feet with the sewing kit, but the oyster ones would always fester...I don't mind the sewing, but I never go far enough with the iodine toothbrush for some reason.....

[hlev00]

Every boating or learn to sail book says to wear close-toe shoes but I usually go barefoot unless it is blowing stink or really cold. One of these days I am going break a toe on the genny fair lead. Until then ...



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[Panope]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

If that was my boat, I'd paint black and yellow diagonal stripes on the face of that step !!!

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

Black and yellow safety tape.

Both very good ideas that I have been meaning to do. I'll probably go with safety-orange so it will match the nearby life-rings.

However, more often than not, my stumbling has occurred when the whole area of the step was concealed from view by something like a sail that I was carrying or darkness.

A new brain would completely solve the problem.

Steve

[DeepFrz]

Any time I enter my boat wearing a hat, I somehow bang the top of my head on something.

Man I bang my head getting into the car when I have a baseball cap on.

[Orion Jim]

I always wear shoes on deck after having stubbed (or worse) my toes countless times. I used to whack my shins on the primary sheet winches pretty often but now that I have self tailers the jaws are much more blunt so I usually bruise rather than bark my shins which is a great improvement.

[gradyho]

Toes and ribs here. Over the last 60 years I've broken every toe at least once, some many more times, mostly on deck and dock hardware. Same goes for the ribs, got one cracked now, fell on stanchion, slip down companion way, car wreck; broke ribs on both sides, fell from tree, off house, LOL. Can't complain, 64 years old and still sailing solo.
Grady
s/v Anejo