Just a friendly reminder to NOT take silly risks or be more aware of where you are sailing. I had a major off today and dislocated my right knee bearing off in very shallow water and shouldve known better. My weedy hit bottom, I went round the front at around 26 knots and landed in 8 inches of water on my right knee. Knew straight away something was wrong, one look at my knee and bottom half of leg was a few degrees off centre. I grabbed hold very tightly and my thumb popped it back into place. Flagged down Milsy who sat with me while the pain subsided and we figured out what to do.
Not scared to admit I was ****ting myself, thought Id broken my leg and we were out in the middle of nowhere. managed to limp very slowly back to shore, the boys de-rigged for me and driving was OK if I used my lefy leg for braking. Off to doc's and scans in the morning.
Big thanks to all who helped and Lyd's for driving off and getting ice and plaso bags. It couldve ended up a whole lot worse.
Ive given myself a few uppercuts!!!

What a nong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bugga Hope ya recovery is short and painless

Not good Larko, hope it heals quickly.

larko i'm feeling the pain in fact i'm feeling ill imagining the whole situation, lets hope the icepac worked and theres no damage

Larko,

Hope the knee is not too badly damaged and heals quickly.

Cheers
David

After recent catapults caused by weed and shallow bottom i now slow down big-time crossing the sandbank on the river.Learn't my lesson the painful and expensive way.

Hopefully the knee heals up quickly and properly Larko! I feel your pain though having been there also this year with a busted nose and nearly bleeding to death - now I wear a full face ice hockey helmet.

That sounds appalling - popping it back in yourself is something you see in the films but I can't imagine having to do... Hope you have a speedy recovery

How the heck did you know what to do? (popping it back in I mean)

Sorry Grant, I hope you are alright and yes you should have known better, remember The Sailboard Doctor at Narrabeen Lake? He ended up in a wheelchair and he wasnt even going fast. Please guys dont follow stupid people that think the only way to go fast is in ankle deep water and weed.
Many thanks to Milsy and Lydia, always on the spot at the right time. Take care

Thanks all for the thoughts. It was bloody stupid I know, thought I was OK but the water was just too shallow. Got scans etc at lunchtime, jjust pissed off as Ive just started my hols, weather is looking sweet and, well everyone knows the rest
Sam and Rick rang this morning to offer condolences and help so the support from the ever caring windsurfing community is sweet as always.
Will keep you posted, thanks.

Regarding the popping back in, just pure luck I think as i went over it in my head all night. I happened to grab my knee instinctively and felt and saw it move and click and go straight. Horrible feeling.

Sorry to hear about this, wishing u a speedy recovery.

I did the same many years ago and now shy away from anything that looks like a shallow patch.

After my off, the knee used to pop out when bent with any weight on it and then pop back in. Didn't hurt but looked and felt horrible. They found a pice of ligament floating around in
The joint, that made it pop out under pressure.

Go and see a specialist, knee ops are fairly quick and painless these days, I was up and about the next day after my last one!

Know the feeling Grant. Used to have a shoulder that dislocated (motorbikes!).

Always a worry if sailing by yourself - lucky the boys (& Girls) were there.

Get a good book & ignore the wind graphs for a while. Cheers

Ouch! Sorry to hear Grant. Lake Dangerous lives up to its name!

And Pete was nowhere to be found with the anesthetist ales!

My sympathies Grant, quick recovery I hope.
As to Milsy some people are all talk and no action, you are all talk and heaps of action, you rescued me last time at Kurnel, If im in the Sh#t I would want you near me.
Grant let us know how long you are out of action?
Speedy recovery

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AUS4 said...

......the only way to go fast is in ankle deep water and weed.

There was a long drawn out thread on this forum a few yrs back on the possibility of a regulation for minimum water depth for speed sailing. 500 mm was suggested to minimise any advantage to be gained due to ground effect. Ground effect appears to be hard to quantify, although a freestyler has told me the effect is noticable doing sliding manoeuvres in a fair bit less than 500mm water depth.

I think the idea was dropped due to the difficulty of enforcing it. Sailors would baulk at having to retrace the pb run on foot, plunging a measuring stick every couple of metres.

We've all had to at least reprimand ourselves for going a bit shallower than we thought wise. If it wasn't going to count would we still do it? All the best for your knee coming good.

Terrible to hear this Grant. Did it happen at Canton Beach? Last time I sailed there it was a bit hairy. Even with a weed fin there were big slow downs when hitting bit clumps of the crap.

Best wishes for your recovery and hopefully you'll get out on the water again soon.

Thanks all for the wishes etc.
Just back from GP and x-rays and scans.
Seems I did dislocate my knee but my accidental putting it back in saved a heap of trouble. It was just instinct. The swelling is comprehensive but R.I.C.E is helping. Its pretty bad looking.
I now have to have an MRI to see if there is cruciate ligament damage.
Unfortunately there is the possibility of a "Segond fracture" so will go on orthopaedic surgeon's advice. Best possible outcome is 2 weeks off the water, no windsurf, Sup etc, gutted
I now have some crutches and can drive OK after working my leg into the wagon so at least Im mobile as my wife doesnt drive
It happened at the far north western corner of Lake Munmorah after a whole bunch of us had been having a light but fun cruisey sail. Just went to shallow, own stupid fault
Thanks for all the support text's too!!
As the classic line goes "Not happy Jan" but in retrospect it couldve been a lot worse!!

2 weeks off?..

I twisted my knee on november 5th landing a forward, leg seized up from swelling and it was 5 days before I could walk again, then the rehab started.. Didn't tear any ligaments, but tweaked them all. The swelling and immobilisation caused all the muscles to go to sleep and the result was a weak as piss wobbly knee..

I decided to go for a cheeky windsurf at the mambo, (end of november), and the knee just collapsed. It went fat again and I tore my meniscus.. Back to square one and I copped a blasting from my physio..

I wouldn't be tempted to get on the water a month after a knee injury ever again.. Unless I want another fun summer of Xbox and annoying speedsailors on the interwebs..

The best thing I've done was work out a good method of icing the knee. Turn the freezer down to -100 and fill it with 1kg frozen peas, then grab a roll of wrapping plastic from bunnings and strap 'em to your leg.. Replace them before they melt otherwise the peas stick together for the next time.. And don't let any peas break free and roll under your mattress, you'll sleep terribly..

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barn said...
And don't let any peas break free and roll under your mattress, you'll sleep terribly..

LOL

Must be good to be so well balanced, youve got a chip on both shoulders!!![}:)]

Im just going on what my GP said, still have to talk with ortho.
Nothing wrong with being positive!!

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ka43 said...

Must be good to be so well balanced, youve got a chip on both shoulders!!![}:)]


Im just going on what my GP said, still have to talk with ortho.
Nothing wrong with being positive!!

Hey, I wasn't having a go, I was just surprised by the 'two week' scenario. I understand the diagnosis wasn't made by any charlatan. And I understand that a dislocation from a knock is a lot different than having the knee fail under load, obviously the former being far less serious..

I only told my story because it was a tale of being too positive and thus writing off my summer.. Nothing wrong with having a level head..


But, whatever, my deepest sympathies and speedy recoveries yadda yadda..

Get well quick Larko. Not a nice way to get it, but thanks for the timely reminder.
Been there and done that more times than I logically should have given the pain and trauma that resulted. Making a new note to self: Don't push my luck in shallow water!