This is the second time i am having micro bleeding under my callouses due to too long harness lines and 5 hours of bump&jump yesterday, and this time its much more painful, i can only hold the boom with my fingers meaning i cant jump and jibes are painful. Now callouses are going out when i close my palm so they are being squeezed between the boom and my fingers. Even closing my fist hurts now.

I shaved some dead skin to make it softer but it seems its hard inside too when trying to squeeze from sides (it hurts a lot doing that).
I think it will be ok if i can somehow keep them not folding out when i close my palm, tried to use a tight band but didn't work.
Gloves didn't help much, its too late i guess.
Do you have any suggestions?

Don't sail 5 hours.

Take up windfoiling

Relax your grip! Even with very long lines you don't need to be hanging on with death grip 100% of the time. Most Pro's are running 30-34" lines & sail more than most of us.

Mine look identical to yours. Although most will disagree, cut them off with a surgical knife. Personally, I just bit mine off every couple off months. Callouses are great because they stop you getting blisters, but they do need a bit of maintenance ever now then.

p.s. If they hurt on the day, shorten your lines by just 1cm or 2cm to help reduce hand pressure. (I hope I'm teaching my granny to suck eggs)

Awesome that you get to sail so much!
File them. Shove your weight in the harness.
If possible, a narrower grip boom.

Hook your fingers and grab the boom more with your fingers that with your palm.
Finally, try to push as much as you pull.

Finally too (:D!) use more downhaul or more outhaul or both, or a board with more glide, or a bigger fin, or more volume.

Just keep sailing your hands will toughen up.. Back in the day our hands would bleed from sailing. It goes away.

tsk tsk

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LeeD said..
Don't sail 5 hours.

How can you say that!! Sea Lotus is my god.

Nivea after each session. Learned that 1980. Still works today.

" A man got's to know his limitations"

I normally don't grip hard, but when there are waves i grip hard for practicing jumps and blasting over waves, and trying wave riding sometimes. This is not only from 5hrs sailing in one day, its is a result over 2 months of sailing most days. Looking for a way to reduce the pain for short term for now.

Found out that even 28" lines are a little long for me, i try to set them apart for now.
Wondering if rdm boom is making it even worse (inside palm folding more) and if i should add a layer of rubber to make it thicker for now. I can take out when my hands get better because narrow is easier to grip normally.

I will try some moisturizer cream, thanks for advice, which Nivea type would you suggest?

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LeeD said..
" A man got's to know his limitations"

Last 4 days of wind for the holiday, no wind for one week prior to that, so my limit is about amount of pain i can deal with :)

Mrs Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula works a treat to soften hard dry skin. Could apply it when you have 'a date with her five daughters'!!!

get nail clippers and trim down the callouses every week or two.

no pain to trim .. no pain when sailing.

easy.

you need to keep them trimmed before they get too large and then the skin/callous gets pulled away and bleeds underneath.

at this point however (damage already done with bleeding underneath), I would do a trim and just wait until it heals underneath .. then get back on track with regular trimming with the nail clippers.

done this for 20 years. all good.

^ Gymnasts use a callous shaver aka corn plane. Available from good chemists everywhere.

I used gilette mach 3 razors :) couldn't reach tight areas and took long but works for now.
I was afraid to go deep last time but this time i went deeper and its much better now.

Had the same problem when I did a month in Maui. The trick is to keep calluses soft and the skin will come of from sailing and or you can pick it off.

One of the girls recommended nipple cream, and it did the job nicely to keep calluses soft. You can buy it in any chemist.

Are we actually talking about this?

Seriously

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shoodbegood said..
Are we actually talking about this?
Seriously

umm yeah ... it is actually very painful when your hands are bleeding, and the result is lost time on water.

can you keep sailing with bleeding hands?

If you want to soften them, heel balm should work well.

Act like a man and keep on windsurfing ...