Just finished a wave this morning, about to paddle back out, but saw a guy near me and wondered if I had snaked him. Never saw anyone on wave, but crowd was pretty thick and intense. As I was waiting for him to paddle by, so I could inquire / apologize, a wave broke on me. I grabbed my leash near where it attaches to board, and ducked thru the wave.
bad idea. Wave flipped my board, wrapping the leash around my hand, then jerked it hard. When I came up, two fingers were bent in a definitely wrong direction. Ouch.
good news is, I didnt snake anyone, haha. Turns out he was just a guy paddling out.
i’m in the emergency room lobby now, waiting for my number to come up.
Sounds like your number already came up. Hope it isn’t a long healing injury. looks Like there isa pretty nice swell running up and down the Calif Coast.
Yeah, it was good, but everyone got the memo, hah.
theyre saying maybe tore tendon off, sitting in lobby catching up on some reading, “the effects of viscosity” by true ames. About time, I’ve carried this thing around since sacred craft ventura!
It’s a fun little promotional brochure, with more emphasis on entertainment value than educational. Best quotable expression describing fin design, IMO, “folk science” - kinda sums it up, no?
BTW, just read 1st post & you and Bert might be brothers from a different mother, amazing! 410 more posts to go…
One finger the tendon ripped off a little piece of bone they have to re-attach (surgery). The other they’re gonna have to numb it and put it back right then put a pin in it. Orthopedic surgery center on Monday, prbly no surfing for a month
…and, how are you able to type all of these posts with one hand? :)
I broke a finger several years ago, and had to have surgery with two metal pins. The doctor gave me a “minimal” cast because he said he didn’t want the joints in my fingers to freeze up. That totally sucked. It was the most painful period of my life. When I got the cast off my joints were frozen anyway and I had to do three months of physical therapy. Looking back I think it would have been better if they had just totally immobilized my whole finger. Note: I did get really good at typing with one hand. So, keep posting!
Can you get a waterproof cast? In the later stages of healing some bodysurfing or maybe even boogie-boarding might be possible (would help with the surf-withdrawal symptoms).
Sorry to hear about the fingers. I know first hand that grabbing your leash can be a real bad thing to do. Have had my fingers bruised but never broken. Had an old days leash (just rope) wrap around my leg and when the board pulled on it I ended up with bad bruises all around my leg just above the ankle.
Thanx all for encouragement and kind words. I can probably survive ok month without surfing we have flat spells almost that long, but day job might be tricky. They gave me prescription for norco IIRC.
Similar thing happened to me awhile back, had a leash wrap around my forearm going over the falls. Board tombstoned and pulled tight, my arm was squeezed to the bone diameter in 3 places. Stayed that way for a few hours and looked crazy, but other than black and blue for weeks I was OK. Also had my fingers bent back and the tendons ripped but those never healed right. Sometimes they’ll lock up in the back position and somebody will have to pull them out again. Worse now with the old-man arthritis along with everything else I broke, bent, tore, etc when younger.
you are getting off good! I di something similar snow skiing. Didn’t realize it until too late. The surgery to fix would have put my arm in a cast for six months. (tendon grafting would be required). Hope you can still work while healing.
Did some reading online, lotsa horror stories involving hand surgery. I’m at ucla orthopedic surgery center Santa Monica this morning, just found out my insurance not accepted here
Sorry to hear about the injury Huck! Hope you don’t need surgery. On the bright side, skipping summer in the water around here is not a bad idea…Get well soon!
