On Saturday a guy was hit in the head with his fins out at zappers. He wiped out on a biggish wave but his board shot in the air and the strong wind blew it back and a fin hit his head! He said he was lying face down in the water and could not move wondering if he would drown! He managed to roll over and call out, but could still barely move. A few of us were close by and paddled over to help him. Feeling and movement slowly returned to his limbs, but being in the impact zone we had to get him on his board and off to the shore. Dean (DeanRobi) and I got him to shore and he was "just OK", with a nasty 3 cm+ cut and a lot of blood, so Dean (a friend of the surfer) walked him back to his car for collection by his wife. He is in the Alfred hospital with disk/spinal concerns (according to Dean's message in this forum).
It doesn't take much for things to go pear-shaped. I think I will wear my helmet more often, especially when surfing alone. If we weren't there he could have been in serious strife...
(All the best for a speedy recovery, Andrew!)
Yep, thats enough to convince me! I've had 3 small knocks in the head in the last couple of months. 2 when the wind flipped the board back and one in a fairly simple wipe out.
Think I'll heed the message especially in offshore winds and bigger swell
CSE
Thanks for the reminder. Our boards have so much mass compared to most surfboards. Good save. Could easily have gone badly. I mostly surf alone early in the morning. I have been hit in the head (with helmet on) hard enough on the temple that I suspect I would have been concussed. Impact vest provides some floatation. One advantage of the impact vest is I can wear a thinner westsuit and still have good insulation. Sanding down leading and trailing edges of new fins or use protec fins to reduce lacerations. Anything at my age to limit number of injuries. I don't give much of a crap anymore what I look like.
Cheers
Bob
I hope you're back on the water soon Andrew & thanks for the reminder cSe & others. I've attached a pic of my QB EVA handle from a session a couple of weeks ago where my fins sliced clean through it...rather that than a body part. I agree whole heartedly about wearing an impact vest when it's big & I need to dust the cobwebs off my helmet. Maybe installing a camera on my helmet isn't such a bad idea cause it will hopefully mean I wear it more frequently.
I have been wearing my gath helmet every surf for over 20 years, seems like it will last forever, bounced off the reef in Fiji and there were bits of coral stuck in the helmet, that would have been nasty. Mostly though I wear it for sun protection as well as warmth in winter, very comfortable on my bald head,
Seems like helmets aren,t too fashionable but neither are melanomas.
I always wear a helmet for safety reason and the gath helmet is soo much coooool look now than back then 
Select to expand quotecantSUPenough said..
On Saturday a guy was hit in the head with his fins out at zappers. He wiped out on a biggish wave but his board shot in the air and the strong wind blew it back and a fin hit his head! He said he was lying face down in the water and could not move wondering if he would drown! He managed to roll over and call out, but could still barely move. A few of us were close by and paddled over to help him. Feeling and movement slowly returned to his limbs, but being in the impact zone we had to get him on his board and off to the shore. Dean (DeanRobi) and I got him to shore and he was "just OK", with a nasty 3 cm+ cut and a lot of blood, so Dean (a friend of the surfer) walked him back to his car for collection by his wife. He is in the Alfred hospital with disk/spinal concerns (according to Dean's message in this forum).
It doesn't take much for things to go pear-shaped. I think I will wear my helmet more often, especially when surfing alone. If we weren't there he could have been in serious strife...
(All the best for a speedy recovery, Andrew!)
Had a couple of close calls down there (while out on my own). I now wear Gath, especially on the reefy point breaks down that way (I can live with looking like a telly tubby eating a giant yellow M&M).
Select to expand quotetomooh said..
I have been wearing my gath helmet every surf for over 20 years, seems like it will last forever, bounced off the reef in Fiji and there were bits of coral stuck in the helmet, that would have been nasty. Mostly though I wear it for sun protection as well as warmth in winter, very comfortable on my bald head,
Seems like helmets aren,t too fashionable but neither are melanomas.
What model Gath do you have? I have the original and find it uncomfortable.
Cheers Mark
Select to expand quoteMarkW81 said..tomooh said..
I have been wearing my gath helmet every surf for over 20 years, seems like it will last forever, bounced off the reef in Fiji and there were bits of coral stuck in the helmet, that would have been nasty. Mostly though I wear it for sun protection as well as warmth in winter, very comfortable on my bald head,
Seems like helmets aren,t too fashionable but neither are melanomas.
What model Gath do you have? I have the original and find it uncomfortable.
Cheers Mark
Mine is the original with the visor , seems to have a softer blue liner than the other old one I have with a black liner and without the visor, I think they were a standard and deluxe model or something. The standard one is not as comfy and I remember I had to trim a bit of the liner away on the deluxe where it was tight on my cheekbone on 1 side. They are uncomfortable if too small but mine is good . No way that you can surf with the visor down as the curved plastic distorts your vision but it does give some extra sun protection.
I actually think the wind is the most dangerous factor, also remember that wearing a helmet will reduce your chance of getting swimmers ear too, BONUS!!!
Hey Jason cantSUPenough, glad I found you to thank you for your help on Saturday at zappers. The cut was nothing compared to the neck. The board compressed C4&5 and the disk intruded onto the spinal chord and caused spinal shock (causing the short term paralysis) trying to get onto my back to breathe and call for help was a priority. Thankfully as I got onto my back the lads were there getting me onto a board and into the beach. It's a weird feeling not being able to move your arms and legs and then as I got a bit of movement no strength at all. It came back pretty quick so by the time I was back on the beach I was able to walk out of the water and even got the board onto the beach. I got the wife to take me straight to hospital (rosebud then transferred to the Alfred), they put me in full spinal trauma (until Sunday night - so much fun). Anyway home now with a neck brace for 6 weeks more MRIs to come and possible operation ahead to make sure it doesn't happen again.....oh, and that 5 week trip to Spain n Sept...thank goodness for travel insurance! Thanks to everyone who helped and the good wishes on this site..... looks like I'll be in a helmet when I can get back in the water!!! Shout out to Dean, Scotty, Tom, Jason, Justin. 
Great to hear that you are OK, (if you call that OK...), but that was much more serious than I thought at the time. We were probably too quick to put you on your sup to get you out of there if you had spinal damage... Hope you have a full and speedy recovery!
