Chris vd Westhuyzen
November 2006
I was there! It was Ivan, Jeandre and Matthias!!
Spy Dude
November 2006
eeish bummer, same thing happened to me at Krans a few years back, i drove myself to hospital, where they cut my brand new suit off me... what followed was an entire summer on the beach watching other people surf.. worst summer of my life.
Praise the lord it wasnt his neck that snapped, hope he recovers soon.
Chris vd Westhuyzen
November 2006
Yeah man. He's alright now. Just cant surf for 6 weeks. What a way to spend a summer holiday bru!!!!
Spy Dude
November 2006
6 weeks, he is lucky, i was out for 13 weeks and then still had to do physio to get my arm working again.
Still what a shitty thing to happen at the beginning of summer.
I am interested, what is the worst surfing injuries (other than death and drowning) to happen to you guys.
Me is a smashed collor bone and stitches to me head from faceplanting a reef.
JmoNovember 2006I got my hand stuck in the reef at Kalk Bay while getting worked and snapped the bones clean. After driving home with the busted hand, i ended up having to go into surgery to have some psycho drill 2 pins through my hand and I couldn't ride for months.
Another time I bust my foot kiteboarding, had 2 surgeries, 2 full-on screws holding it all together, 3 months on crutches and 7 months off the water over my summer holidays... it sucks balls.
Jmo
Chris vd Westhuyzen
November 2006
Holy crap, u ous are hardcore! Worst injury ive ever had was all the skin on my cheek was scraped off while surfing a shorey and gotten smashed into the bottom.
Peter Lambert
November 2006
Ha-ha.. loving all the injury stories... well I haven't been hurt for a while but these are some old stories....
When I was in standard nine, I was surfing small Kalk bay and hit the reef pretty hard. Anyway I snapped the bone in my upper arm (my humorous) clean in half so my arm was just bent the wrong way and was just floating around only held on by wetsuit, muscle and skin. I swam in on my back with James Moolenschott helping me, and he called my parents and sorted everything out... I refused an injection for the pain (because I am mortally afraid of needles) and made them give painkillers instead. It took 10 months to get back in the water and just over a year to get back full use of my left arm.
When surfing the outside slab at onrus about 6 years ago I hit the reef head first and cut my head open. Thankfully my friend Pierre Harwood helped in me because apparently I was incoherently paddling in circles, muttering garbage and kept falling off my board.
About 3 years ago I hit the reef face first at 3ft paranoia, cut my whole face, forehead, nose, and lip open and had to be taken to constantiaberg for stitches - looked pretty gnarley but wasn't so bad. I will try and find a photo and post it.
Getting a last wave at washing machines about 2 years ago, after my friends had gone in, I tried to smack an oncoming lip and ended up bursting my eardrum and getting water into it. I got mad vertigo, got totally disorientated and almost didn't make the swim in. I eventually got to the beach, stood up, collapsed, and thankfully a Surfer mate, Lindin Reed saw me and was able to help me out the to the car and off to constantiaberg.
Allegedly Sam Fuller has been knocked out cold at the hoek on at least separate 3 occasions, and almost drowned. One time he was surfing alone and luckily a passer by on the beach pulled him out.
Also I remember reading that Kelly Footit broke a rib at massive desert point in indo, as well as burst some internal organ landing in the flats, after trying to pull some big move in beek's face many years ago. I think the full story is somewhere on probe.co.za site
Chris vd Westhuyzen
November 2006
Sick stories man!! Yeah, im only 15 so ill problaly still have my serious injuries...
November 2006
Haha I burst my eardrum a few weeks back at caves, my board somehow smashed into the side of my face and when I came up I was super disorientated and almost passed out so I just jumped on my board and floated out with the current, talked alot to myself....Then I lay on the beach for a few minutes, my one friend came out and I thaught he wanted to check if I was ok but he only had 2 take a shitter, haha so I walked to my bag put on some dry clothes and I didnt really know if I had burst my eardrum, so I sat there trying to figure out why there was blood comeing out of my ear, then my buddy got a sick tube and I was just like no wayz, suited back up ran to the water, paddled out and I was like hectic this doesn't feel to bad, then 3 waves later got nailed, and the whole thing happened over....Haha what a day, 2weeks out...2 looooong weeks.
byron777
November 2006
sheez peter,those are some crazy injuries,my worst injury was pulling a muscle in my neck about 7 years ago while out at tubes.had to go to the physio for 2wks everyday,each 30min session cost my old man R200.eeeiiisssshh.
sooz
November 2006
surfing good llands; coming down from a roll, into the flats and popped my shoulder clean out. funny part was it was so cold that i didn't really feel the pain!
some dudes on the beach (i assumed at the time they were lifeguards) helped me push it back in. i swear i still feel it when i surf cold water - like my body has kept some memory of the pain locked away in there!
Peter dude - those stories of yours are crazy man... you should take up a safer sport man before you really finish yourself off!!
spongekingNovember 2006My worst wipe 8-10 J-Bay, pulled into spitting pit that pushed me so far down so quickly that it burst my eardrum just from the pressure.
Ended up swimming down the wrong way coz I was so disorientated and hitting my head on the reef too. Couldnt even ride the foamies in. Ended up with them having to stitch my eardrum back together and 3weeks out the water!
Ha ha Byron thats funny you always get off scott-free! Hows the Baby Doing?
adam1
November 2006
I broke my right ankle doing a DK floater on this sweet ass little section at Long Beach back in the day. Went for exta style points by tweaking it a little too much and ended up land with all my weight and the waves weight on my front foot, thereby snapping my skinny ankle. being the idiot I am, I walked home on it (I have a house down the road from Josh Kleave so those that know him know the walk from Long Beach). Ended up making the break worse by walking all that way on it, well that's what the doctor told me anyway.
Soon after recovering from that (8 weeks in a cast, in summer, being the filming b*%ch for all my buddies) I dislocated my right shoulder trying (again) to tweak a DK floater out too far, and slammed into the sand with solid 4 feet Krans finishing me off... aaah good times.
The rehab for my shoulder was some serious robert de neiro and since then I am happy to report at least 6 to 8 more dislocations for various offences (some surfing related, most drinking related)
Spy Dude
November 2006
Ok here is my essay..... hahhaha
Hey Kids
Well Saturday saw perfect waves and no crowds.
Andrew Pegge and I made our way down to a little secret spot we know of in Cape Point Nature Reserve. We arrived to see our mates Billy, Simon and John already in the water and getting perfect tube after perfect tube.
It was one of those dream sessions, gentle offshore winds, no crowds, just buddies out and warmish water. The swell direction was perfect and everybody was just getting whatever they wanted and then paddling back with big smiles all round, only to swing into another perfect 6 footer that was marching in from the horizon. Lots of waves, lots of fun.
Unfortunately the locals didn't seem to take kindly to us invading their beach and proceeded to destroy our stuff the only way baboons can, they ripped my bag to shreds and they tossed Billy's bag into the water. Poor guy had to hike back in wet clothes and has to invest in a new cell due to the fact that his one drowned, Andrews cloths were strewn up and down the beach but alas the raiding party found now food or sweets and was then content to look at the mess they made whist dining on muscles and crags in the rock pools. This was a pity because it caused Billy, Simon and John to go in, pack up and leave, thus Andrew and I had the waves to ourselves and well as surfers go.. you cant ask for more. Solid six foot waves and only one other guy in the water, I was in heaven.
Well that was until I dropped into a this monster of a set wave, flying down the face I looked into a perfect bowl, do I hit the lip? or ride the tube? The wave was pretty large so opted for the tube ride (THEY always say that the safest place on a wave is inside the barrel.) Anyways I was gliding through the crystal cylinder like a hot knife through butter and then everything went pear shaped. The barrel seemed to warp on the inside, it tripled up and I got pitched. Oh well normal wipe out, as my body left my board I relaxed and took a deep breath, then bang, without warning I got hit in the face by something hard, the beast had driven me head first into the reef below. What happened next was nothing less than a miracle, after playing back this in my mind over and over again' I should have drowned. I seem to think I was knocked out due to the fact that my body is covered in bruises, evidence from a solid dragging over the rocky reef below, but I have no recollection of that experience, I just remember something pulling me to the surface (again this could have been my board) which seemed a long long way away, I was pretty deep down. I think this is when I regained consciousness and when I broke surface I had half a second to get a breath before taking the next wave on the head. Eventually I was washed in. Blood streaming from my head like Schalk Burger after his collision with Andre Pretourious. I used pressure to try stem the flow of blood and killed a t-shirt in the process and then tried to call Andrew in, when I realised my jaw was completely fucked and I could open my mouth properly. How bad was I, there was no pain and I know how superficial wounds on the head can bleed, so I wasn't worried, figured I had a scratch or two.
Eventually I managed to get Andy's attention and only when he saw my face did I get worried as it isn't often Andy says.. "ooooo that looks serious, your defiantly gonna need stitches". It was only then that I looked at my hoody (rubber hood for your head to keep your ears warm in the cold Atlantic) and saw that the left side was shredded, heavy wipe-out man. So all groggy and sore I am thankful that I was able to walk myself back to the car, battered, bloody and bruised but at least in one piece. (it's a 40 min walk back to car btw… not fun)
So ya, being a typical male and a well trained ops medic I didn't go to the doctor but observed myself instead, slight concussion, no headaches and two stick on stitches for the hole in my head was about all I needed. Dropped some painkillers and voltaren for the swelling, once the dried blood was cleared away was the true extent revealed, one x hole above left eye, a minor scratch below left eye ( and now a solid shiner – black eye)and massive cuts running down my head next to my left ear.(nice, cant shave) All in all, its Pretty light for a situation where I could have broken my neck, and or drowned. I am humbled and grateful for the second chance I have been given. Its situations like this that make what we do (bodyboarding) an extreme sport. LIFE IS SHORT, but that's no reason to wuss out of life. End of the day, wipe-out included, it was one of the best surf sessions I have had in many years, I am stoked to have experienced it, wipe out and all.
So yeah that's my story, now if you would excuse me I have lots of work to do.
Kind regards
Pierre
PS: I have invested in a helmet (Gath) which I will be wearing at these stupidly shallow reef breaks us bodyboarders love to charge around the cape.
PPS: Nokia 6680 has a great camera on it, but that's the last time I take it to the reserve, fudging baboons will kill it like an American kills an Arab for his oil.
And now the photo evidence of that wipe
KellyNovember 2006
Peter Lambert wrote:
Also I remember reading that Kelly Footit broke a rib at massive desert point in indo, as well as burst some internal organ landing in the flats, after trying to pull some big move in beek's face many years ago. I think the full story is somewhere on probe.co.za site
Ja --- he's got a new site up so the story is no longer available ... although Google still has a cache of it so here is the relevant Q&A. I think Colin set this little interview up just so he could hit me with the injuries question --- Wobbles is evil!
Some pretty nasty stories just told - not sure I'd care to swap.
But shot for sharing ... and all those that posted before me who I cringed and laughed at can enjoy a bit of my pain - although having skimmed over it, it lacks the real drama of any good war story. Anyway, enjoy ...
Quote:
4. Any mishaps along the way?
You couldn't resist could you???!!! There was a point in my life where a mate was calling me the luckiest ou' alive, but now my brother, Alan, who quite rightly picked up the label "The Spiral of Doom" has been trying to pin that on me.
Travel mishaps ....
Maldives - first trip abroad, been dreaming of it for years and no luggage or boards turn up. There were boards and fins which the guys lent me but it was a MOREY 7-X the one board I loathe.
Australia - thought I'd give the GOB DK tour a go .... mid-way through a 67 hour bus journey from Perth to Sydney I managed to throw my back out and spent the rest in sleepless agony. Then after finally getting to the physio to sort it out, that night I managed to blow myself up in my tent (gas cooker) - such serious burns on my legs that I couldn't walk up straight and when it came to the comp I'd hobble down to the water for my heats. In the water I was a bit more agile and managed to do alright in the comp, winning my first heat against Ben Holland that seeded me through to round 3 which is where I decided I could no longer read the ocean and spent a frustrating 20 minutes paddling between peaks.
Canada - while snowboarding I managed to just crack my coccyx while doing an arb little 360 hop and sprained a facet joint in my back. Boarding on the backside of the mountain, I still had to get back up to the top and after a disastrous wrong turn ended up on a black mogul run. Straight down to the chiropractor and then off to complete the next 11 hours of the trip to Whistler.
Indo - Desert Point, if you've surfed it you've probably got your tale. Our last morning there, I started to get cocky and was making everything or not getting dealt when I didn't ... then the biggest sets of the day came through and some Aussie surfer from our boat was on the inside and I hooted him onto it as I paddle back out ... only to realise that he wasn't going to go and rather than tune 'hey, mate this ones too size', he made as if he couldn't catch it. Anyway, a second or two too late for me but I swung round, ended up pretty deep but reckoned I was always coming out and then don't know what happened, it seemed to warp and I lost it and the next thing I knew I was going over backwards and headfirst - which was bad!!! I managed to tuck my head in and took the blow with my shoulders but it bent me right in half - mid-way through my rib-cage. Managed to get half a breath and took the next set on a waist deep reef and then adrenaline is the only thing which got me to jump back on my board and punch through the next wave and out to the ducky. A day and a half later, picked up a set of x-rays which confirmed what I knew - a nice set of cracked ribs.
SA - back for a three week trip - Cricket World Cup and get a bit of sponging in and managed to catch Saints grinding away. Common Factor on these last three: my nemesis, Beekman, was there! Probably one of the best launch ramps I've ever encountered - but I managed to stuff it up - got some serious height but went both out and sideways and heading into some serious flat water territory. After trying to tweak I had ended up facing forward while still traveling sideways and reckoned I would've rail pegged the landing. So the logical thing (yeah, right!) seemed to be to roll out of it which would put me facing the right way - go figure? Anyway, explains why I landed on my back - actually bounced is more like it and bounced off concrete is more like what it felt like. Every muscle in my upper body spasmed, winding the hell out of me, as you'd expect, but after composing myself I paddled back out, managed to muster a few words to Beek - "That was worse than Indo" - and continued surfing till dark.
There's something very worryingly satisfying in having been dealt a serious beating by old mother nature and that's all I thought it was, but something wasn't right. 8 days later I flew back to the UK and the next morning I checked myself into the local hospital. After a day of tests they finally diagnosed a ruptured spleen and that night I went under the knife to have it removed.
If there is one thing I probably learnt from that whole episode, is just sometimes it's alright to bail - "live to ride another day"!!!
Peter Lambert
November 2006
Kelly, that is the most classic story ever. Even reading it for the 4th time I still can't help laughing.
I just remembered another injury ha-ha!
Jbay just after the bong contest I decided to try and ride the bottom section of low tides supers (more like impossibles) on a stand-up board. The first wave was ok, and despite not making it I got away unscathed, but on my second wave I kooked it so badly (because lets be honest... I can't stand-up surf at all) that I ended up bailing, arms outstretched into that minefield of sharp rocks. Anyway I managed to slice my wrist and as soon as I saw bone I knew I better get in before the bleeding started. I got in and was holding my wrist above my head with the wrist to the side to keep the slice closed, but even so my arm was just covered in blood. Walked home in my wettie and cruised into the bathroom of our digs. We where staying with a whole bunch of guys and chicks but everyone was out except for 2 chicks who I hardly knew... anyway one of em cruises in to the bathroom and checks me filling the sink with blood. I had to convince her I was perfectly happy with my life and it was just a reef cut before I got any help. Anyway, off to the doctor who hit me 800 bucks for 3 stitches... bloody rip off and that was the end of my time in the water for the whole trip. Fortunately this happened on the second last day.
KellyNovember 2006 Sure buddy ... you keep telling that story ... it's a good cover-up. There's always a spare couch if you need ...
But ja ... string Peter's posts together and it's like a bad season of Murder she Wrote ... except if Peter pitches up in town rather than running, you'd hang around to see the show.
I may not be a good one to talk but sounds like you're safer behind the camera buddy ... although I'm sure there's a war story in there somewhere.
scroffmeister
November 2006
cost me 8 stitches in my foot, caught got on the inside ( slow paddling as per usual ) and ended up being smashed onto the reef, lost my fins and then I got drilled on the next one , ended up landing on the reef standing up ( hence the stitches to the foot ).
Managed 4 stitches in my backside from going over the falls at Dangers sitting on my board, quite possibly the worst injury ever. Its more the humiliation from still sitting on my board while being pitched over, was fun at the time, not so fun having to explain to my parents why they were forking out the cash at the MediClinic.
Broken arm at Restaurants in Fiji, pleasant as it was the reef rash was an added extra for my efforts. Now my girlfriend knows why I dont roll or do anything airbourne, safe in the flats and in the barrel.
Spy Dude
November 2006
amazing how "war stories" is what is needed to get these boogers typing.
This must be the most alive string on 6040 to date... well done kids you are starting to treat it like a forum, the way it was intended.
scroffmeister
November 2006
almost as slow as wavescape!!! Hows the banning cage diving coming along?
Sidebar
November 2006
my wipes have been kinda pussy compared to you okes,
barreling at gassies this mother warped into a three lip monster sucked me up and threw me into the sand head first, managed to get a bit of my shoulder in the way but landed pretty much on the side of my fat noggin. I heard and felt this horrible cracking, crunching sound from my neck and my whole back cramped up, I came up and couldnt hear a thing and was seeing stars (no specks and the boys werent there). Next wave comes in and lip lands square on my noggin. Crawled to the beach had a smoke and went back in. Best thing to do to keep the muscles from freezing up.
Duckdived into a rock at Derdesteen. That horrible cracking sound in my neck and blood everywhere. Sent the pictures of my (slightly) ripped forehead and got some aftershave and male beauty products from them. The rest were just near drowning experiences from being fatish + unfit + like when one of my "best" buddies dropped in on me on the first wave of a huge set and I landed up getting sucked over and worked and pinned down for the whole set.
Spy Dude
November 2006
hahhaha, it aint never gonna happen.... as long as our parks board people dont think there is anything wrong with it, ya well no fine, we keep dodging sharks that the tourists feed.
wavescapes forum is overrun with expats, guess thats what makes it a lag... ironically one of the strings there is also dealing with accident prone people....
Jared HoustonNovember 2006wowsa there is some pretty hectic stuff making light here..peter your a bad ass and james,you too..
I reckon my heaviest thing,pretty gay compared to all this, was out at washing machines on a pretty big day,with sets just rolling through from sunset just absolutely oblitersating everything in its path including us..
so there i am enjoying myself,well pretty nervous too when an excellently formed one comes through and starts to suck,it was only once i was committed that it began to stand up at an alarming rate and i realised this wasnt the 4-6ft wave i thought it was..unlucky for me the scoop didnt quite work out and i took to the bottom like a freaking bat outta hell..
i dont really remeber much of the impact or whatever but i do remember surfacing to find an extremely amused remi gefffroy in the channel..once he could speak he reckoned that it was fully gnarly and was i ok?i felt ok very winded but my finger was killing me...i surfed for another half hour and for about a month after that thinking why the hell is this damn bone so sore..a trip to the doctor later revealed a fractured joint..what a bummer man..its still sore and kinda swollen and they reckon im stuck with this gimp finger for life now..
oh well..wish i could say the view out the barrel was worth it but i cant remember the damn thing
sooz
November 2006
giggle giggle
loving the stories...
makes me miss the ocean even more!
dcmike
November 2006
It's lank funny how we can all have a good chuckle after the fact... I was chatting to Peter L about this the other day after finally lifting the SandyBay curse (more than a year I didn't paddle out there). My boet and I used to surf Llans an Sandy's several times a week (he's moved to Jozi). 6 weeks before his wedding he takes of on what appears to be a pretty tame wave out at the southern side of the Sandy's racing the closeout across the kelp section. He somehow manages to stall, gets sucked over the falls arse first. At the time it looked spectacularly hilarious and playing it back in my mind it still does! I check him wobbling his way up the beach dragging his board by the leash but he signals to me he's okay.
He looks a bit winded and decideds to lie down. 5 minutes later I see just an arm sticking above the sand waving limply - he can't get up... We're the only okes there so we get all the straps off the board bags and I basically brace him up as best I can for the trek back to the car park. The docs verdict... compresed vertebrae, major muscle tearing and months and months out of the water. Of course getting wedding nookie was a bit of a mission too!
Back to 'Migraine Boy' - yep my nickname when I started out bodyboarding. Mix a few nutcase surf mates and a newbie like myself and I was getting planted into the sandbar at Llans on an almost weekly basis. I'm just thankful no serious damage came from that, a bit of a face peel, the occasional headache and a few shiners but inevitably you push and push and someday you discover the limit...
Sandy Bay, 3 months after my boet's escapade and I was riding the same peak out on the south side of the bay. Taking off from way out the back and racing like crazy to make the insane double-up shorey over the minced kelp. I should have figured... it wasn't really kelp, it was liquidised from being pounded in the shorey. First wave was insane. At full tilt ramping over the back of the double-up into the sickest, dredging shorebreak and then racing headfirst into a 4 foot barrel approching from the middle peak! I got mashed but came up laughing like a nutter!
Round 2, same as the first except ramping into the pitt I stalled... Faster than you can say Bosch Turbo Washing machine, I'm getting sucked up the face as the beach gets exposed and like a double load of wet laundry I hit the the deck shoulder first. Aggg... just a bruise.. NOT! Of course I had heard the stories of carved up wetties courtesy of the nursing staff and manage to get the thing off. Enver helps carry my stuff back to the car and I drive home left handed, still in shock. (Don't want to tell the old lady - they always get freaked out) Doc's verdict: mashed collarbone in the worst place (snapped off by the shoulder joint) It took 6 weeks just to bind, another 3 months before I could get in the water and over a year before I finally ventured out at Sandy Bay again.
Of course we always look at the up side and I rediscoverd my passion for photography and I can shave, brush my teeth and wipe my arse with my left hand now! haha
Great stories guys!
Chinnychinchin
November 2006
HA HA HA HA HA I'm laughing at you ou's, but those stories are some serious Freekin' MAYHEM! Thank the Lord, I've never broken anything in 20+yrs in the water....maybe it's cause I suck and ride like a tourist....ha ha ha What has been a recurring accident over the years and I'm sure you all know the feeling....is bieng folded in half....backwards....you ou's must know the wipeout where your face is on the bottem and your fins hit you on the back of the head......ha ha ha lost count how may times thats happened! My worst wipeout was in 1988, cyclone surf in Durbs, riding the bowl at Bay, riding towards the pier and turning off the top into the channel only to be hit by a 6ft foamie and driven into the pylons of the pier all the way to the beach. The BIG GUY in the Sky was watching out for me cause all I had was minor laserations to the head, arm, shoulder, knee, thigh and back from the barnicals. Oh and I had a huge, square bruise down my thigh from the initial impact and I had a dead leg for a month....a bit nancy I know, but thats about it.
sy83November 2006jeez mike bru, we had just got out of the water the day you busted your collerbone at sandy's, think it was one of your first waves... you got pretty owned. Pretty hectic rehab..
dcmike
November 2006
sy83 wrote:
jeez mike bru, we had just got out of the water the day you busted your collerbone at sandy's, think it was one of your first waves... you got pretty owned. Pretty hectic rehab..
haha - ja, you guys got out the water and I thought it was 'cos you were cold..! I mucked about on the middle peak for about ten minutes before getting mucked-up on the south side, wave 2! The injection you get at the hospital (that Peter L refused) was the bomb - it felt like down hill bob-sled with Alice in Wonderland on that gurney/trolley thing. Needless to say, at that point I had to call the old lady as I couldn't even find my car in the parking lot!
ElementreeNovember 2006Sweet...my first post.
Hectic stories guys...sounds like alot of pain has been issued.
Sidebar...i saw those photo's...well i think i did, still don't know how you managed to duck face first into the rocks...
I've had a couple bumps and bruises along the way...
So way back in the day, around about 97 or early 98 my friends and i went camping at Gassies(ahhh the good old days, when you could still drive there!!!), so we rocked up and the swell was chunky 6-8 foot, new swell, all over the show, but there were a few makeable sets rolling through so we paddled out.
With some well planned and cautious timing, we made it out fairly easily.
There was a lull so i decided to paddle for a smaller wave, got up DK, turned and pulled off the back of the fader...as i turned i saw my friends paddling there asses off.
Luming out on the horizon were some monsters, my buddys barely made it. As they paddled over the crest of the first set, they looked back and started canning themselves, because poor little old me was stuck infront of a 8 foot Gassies beast!
Needless to say i got pounded...
As i pushed under the lip broke pretty much on my back, i got sucked up and slammed into the floor about 3 or 4 times...i just kept on going up and down, up and down...slamming all the way to the shore.
My fin got pulled off, my leash was pulled straight(stayed straight for months)...the underside of my board had a huge crease right down the middle and to add insult to injury my wettie had a massive hole ripped at the base of the zip...i was pissed off, i threw my toys!!!
New board screwed, new wettie screwed...ego deflated, i sulked on the beach while my friends got pounded...
Turns out that the next morning i woke up at about 6, strolled down to the beach and saw the best wave i've ever seen break right infront of me.
Perfect left and right...and it spat out both ends...game on!!!
I jumped into my ripped wettie, strapped on my gear and had one of the best surfs of my life...perfect 6 foot Gassies, 4 friends, No wind, plate glass perfection!!!
The only other soul to attempt surfing that day was a loner, i think he had 2 waves before he snapped his board and went crawling back to his car.
Other than that, i cracked 3 ribs while surfing out at Vic Bay, coming down from a slow boat lip spin i saw a rock and threw my board...i wrapped right around the rock and felt the ribs pop...that was pretty kak, cos i had to sleep on the floor in my tent for 3 days before we went back home...8 weeks no surfing...
Ah well summers here and more missions to Gassies are inevitable...
Anyone amped?
JmoNovember 2006 Some classic stories!
Truth be told, i have been thoroughly minced so many times over the years that i can hardly remember them all individually... like the time I took a late drop at Llands and smashed my nose on my board... now i can fold it in half as a party trick!!
But actually, Kelly's story reminded me of when i was up in north west Aussie camping out in the desert at Gnaraloo...
My second day there produced a solid 7ft swell and I was amped. Being so far north i figured i would revel in the unfamiliar luxury of riding in boardshorts, so i grab my 'lucky' trunks and hit the boil section. The session went ok until i took off way way waaaaay too deep on the first boil and got thrashed. On impact my boardies got whipped down to my ankles leaving my crucial bits very exposed!! I mange to keep the trunks and stabilise myself under water by spreading myself into a star shape while skimming madly feet first a few inches off the reef. I remember just praying that i didn't hit the mad coral reef, but that day wasn't mine to be heard...
I slam super hard down onto the reef with my bare crack grinding along the coral like some sort of sick Jackass prank! Screaming blue murder under water i also then realise my board was long gone and that i had a long and painful 400 metre swim over 2ft deep reef to get back to the cliff.
Finally i retrieve my board and i tenderly climb/waddle back up to the car park where my bud was hanging out. I told him about the wipe and asked him to check how serious the wound was... as i drop my rods and throw a brownie at him he falls apart laughing, calls everyone to check it out and starts taking photo's. Turns out i had the hugest red bleeding grated reef mark inside my cheek and right past my ring.
The next few days i had to put aside some quality time in my tent wiping down my ass with antispetic cream while listening to the laughing and jeering from the guys outside....
Needless to say i rode a shorty from then on.
scroffmeister
November 2006
ha ha ha sorry but from all the "war stories" that is the funniest one , thanks for sharing your pain with us, luckily I can sympathise, having stitches in your rear end isnt pleasant but fortunatley for me mine where no where near my ring piece.
Perforated Starfish comes to mind about your injury.
scroffmeister
December 2006
this guys war story after this wipeout, listen to the sound as he hits the water.
This is from Spot M in Cornwall. Nicked this link of the Kernow Bodyboarding site.
Great site lads,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN4ZFoaGhGAhugh grant
December 2006
I ran out into the waves and didnt check this huge log so i smashed into it!!
got a coupla stitches and concussed... 3weeks of cooking surf missed!!!
Sidebar
December 2006
Hello
Elementree, heres how i hit the rock. I paddle out at low tide derdesteen in line with the lookout, maybe a bit to the right. Happy happy joy joy. I duck dive, I hit a rock. Quite simple really. I just wanna know where the frick did that frikken rock come from. The pics were sent to FHM in a vain attempt to get free beer (like I cant afford the sh8T) and they send me male beauty products.
Ps. Now im almost as pretty as Hugh.
kimon
December 2006
i reckon you ous are all nuts. 2 weeks ago i popped my shoulder pretty radically, but thats the worst i have done. what a wave though! made it all worth it. shoulder is still fucked in one direction - fortunately, other than when being spun underwater, i never NEED to twist my arm behind my back!
ElementreeDecember 2006 Lol sidebar...
Those rocks have been there for millions of years, they come and go, depending on how much sand has been put on the beach or how much is in the water...
U still surfing 3rd?
It hasn't had banks in ages, i doubt it will over the festive season.
KellyDecember 2006 Indo war stories usually last long into the night ... one which still makes me laugh is hearing Shaggy had arrived only to get to see the guy sliced up by his first session at Ulu's.
I was a spectator on this one ...
2 years ago we did the overland to Scar Reef & Super Suck in Sumbawa and were lucky enough to catch Scar Reef on a big swell. Our crew was pretty much owning all the set waves but there was quite a good surfer from Cape Town who we met there who was sitting a little inside and taking off on the slightly smaller ones which may have been a little better - anyway, he was pretty much tearing it up until he took off on one (still not the biggest) and while bottom turning got nailed by the lip ... NASTY! That was the last I saw of him. A few minutes later, rumours travelled through the line-up that he'd popped his shoulder ... OUCH! And if you've ever been caught inside at Scars on a big day you'd hate to try and imagine what a mission it must have been to get in with a popped shoulder.
About an hour later I headed in to find the guy with his arm out at a 90 degree angle, unable to move it ... listening to the account of his one armed paddle back into the beach was quite amusing. Since the guys didn't have wheels we escourted him to the 'local' doctor in "Goldmember" as it got named ... a Samsung 16-seater mini-bus, super gold with tinted windows which earned us heaps of respect ... although maybe they'd never seen a microwave on wheels before???
Anyway ... hit the doctors and wasn't quite sure if I was ready to watch or be involved in any shoulder popping ... but it turned out that his shoulder was not out ..... he didn't hit the bottom (which we knew) but the lip had hit him so hard that it had torn the ligaments in his shoulder. Bizarre! For sure ... didn't think that that could ever have happened ...
We left him at Scar Reef with a flat spell approaching which would no doubt have made it easier to deal with recovery but whether he got to surf in his last 2 weeks in Indo I don't know ...
But one of the nastiest injuries I witnessed was to an American surfer at Lackey Peak ... 2 buddies paddled out - loud as anything - one of them pushed under and the wave spun his board around and speared his leg just above the knee. Didn't see it happen but we saw the other dude paddling in shouting however because they had been so loud everyone didn't think much of it until we saw the other guy floating around. Got the guy to the beach and some basic first aid was administered but the tennis ball size swelling of the muscle which had pushed out through his skin was quite worrying and the Brazilian crew took him on the hour trip to the local hospital in Dompu - something which in itself was a bit scary - but thankfully the Brazilian guy spoke good Indonesian which must have helped.
Short story --- they stitched the guy up but apparantly the local anesthetic must have been watered down, they administered three injections and the guy screemed through every minute. When they got back that evening the Brazilian guy still had nail marks on his arm from where this guy was squeezing because of the pain.
Dompu hospital was apparantly a bit dodgy back then and he was stuck on the next flight out to Bali where the word is that they opened him up to clean the wound out and restitch before slapping him on the next flight back to the US of A.
... Lackey's returned to a good vibe out in the water but you wouldn't wish that one on anyone.ElementreeDecember 2006 Ok so here's a war story from a friend of mine...
This buddy of mine, returned from working on a cruise liner and decided that since windsurfing seemed to be the in thing he'd get himself kitted out with some new gear and give it a go.
He'd been kiting for a few months and was getting the hang of it, surfing bigger waves in stronger winds.
On the dreaded day the wind was pumping, gale force South Easter and the swell was a moderate 4 foot.
He'd been in the water for about 30 minutes having quite a good surf, he made a turn and started heading back out.
On the way out he launched himself and a strong gust of wind took him higher than he wanted to go, mid air he paniced and forgot how to land.
He came down with a thud, with his board hitting the water dead flat!
Now we all know how hard water can be...
On impact his right ankle broke, so to did his left leg...both were smashed...
Poor guy was stuck out in the water, his kite now fully submerged, board still stuck to his now truely screwed legs...
He struggled back into shore, which took him the best part of 30 minutes, he was taken to hospital by some kind old lady...had his wettie cut off(the least of his worries), legs put in plaster...and then the shite news...turns out he pretty much screwed his back up in the crash...
I think he's had something like 3 operations to date in order to get his back set straight...poor guy is always wearing waist support.
This all happened about 5 years ago and he hasn't really been back in the water since...swak one hey?
Chinnychinchin
December 2006
Moral of that story.....Leave Kite-Boarding to the German tourists....ha ha ha
Who knows if these stories are true....the one about a kite boarder getting blown across the street and smack into a 4story building? or the other one about a kite boarder getting launched into the air and into the houses only to land on a spiked security fence or the one about a kite boarder getting blown into over-head power lines? heard those years ago, most likely urban ledgends, but who knows?
JmoDecember 2006 All those stories are true unfortunately...
Kiteboarding has a pretty unpredictable element of danger to it, and i've seen some fricking crazy accidents. Most guys gets away ok, but there are many unlucky ones. It's kinda like getting your kicks out of riding on the back of a voes bull... at some point you gonna find yourself with your face in the dirt and a horn up the ass.
I myself have been 'lofted' before, which sounds super mild but was probably the scariest experience of my life. I would sooner get pounded by triple overhead Crayfish Factory than repeat that experience again:
I was just about to get into the water with my kite flying above my head when the depower line came off, causing the kite to snap into full power mode in 30knots of wind. It took something like 0.2 seconds for me to be 10metres above the hard and wet sand and then i got slapped down to the ground like a ragdoll about 40 metres down the beach so fricking HARD that i tweaked my knee and cracked a few ribs. It was one of those times where you can see how mashed you're going to get and still have time to scream like a girl.
Some guys ran up to help me from down the beach and they said they had felt me hit the sand from 40metres back
... i think i got off lightly with just the poked ribs.
No moral of the story here either, kiteboarding still kicks ass!
haha.
byron777
December 2006
last year when i was in the uk,some kiteboarder had apparently lost control of his kite and ploughed through a concrete wall at 60 miles an hour,he died on impact,almost every bone in his body shattered.hectic!!!
hugh grant
December 2006
Pretty as hugh?????????????????
Sidebar
December 2006
ALMOST as pretty mas Hugh. We both know being AS pretty as Hugh is just not possible. Hugh know what I mean???????????????????????
Chinnychinchin
December 2006
Now thats more like it......death and carnage.....ha ha ha.....Holy Cr*p, and you ou's and all the others Kiteboard for "FUN"......Nah, forget that!! But stories are funny.....scarey but funny!
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