Tore my MCL when falling on a dugout race sup. I was surfing a wave/wake from a ship that passed by when paddling near a harbour. Got some really nice rides until on the fourth wave I lost my balance. Kinda did not want to fall but had to, and as I abandoned my ship my front foot toe got stuck to the high rail of the dugout board. My knee twisted outwards in a nasty manner and I felt it popping and hurting as I went down. Had to climb back to the board and paddle 2km back to the shore with the broken knee but it was quite ok. Suddenly I realized how falling to the toeside edge can be risky with the dugout, but I guess I was mostly unlucky and partly stupid as I did not want to give up and go to the cold water. Next time I'll try not to jump and land feet first for sure. Anyone else had issues falling with a dugout? Asking of curiosity, there's no way I'm going to give up dugouts, they really are my thing, especially when downwinding.

4 weeks passed by now, I've been back paddling for while and even done some very mild up and downwinding even though I should take it easy for 2 to 4 more weeks to avoid re-injury.

Good heads-up for those concidering dugout boards.. But I've seen many friends using them without any issues except their difficulty getting back into them after a fall on a downwinder..

You can hurt yourself falling off any board.. I hope you recover soon and maybe concider trading your dugout for a conventional flat deck board.. Like a Naish Maliko

Actually I just ordered one more dugout to my quiver... I guess my injury resulted mostly because of hesitating to fall to the cold water and trying too hard to go feet first? The high rail jammed my foot for a second and of course I have wondered if a normal surf style rail could have done the same. I have surfed longboards for 25 years and its never been close though. This has sure made me think how to abandon ship to the toeside the next time...

Yes in a few years downwinding, i have found that it us better to simply bail out a bit earlier and have your friends laught then try to save too much. In my experience it is often when you damage the board or hurt yourself. Like trying yo grab the board when falling. We all have done it and had sore ribs....