How often do you get hit hard by your board

[kookRachelle]

Few weeks ago a young girl dropped in on me so I dove in to keep from colliding and the wave pushed my board into my foot super hard. I paddled back out and noticed it stinging quite a bit. I looked and there was a nasty gash from a fin I guess... it kept bleeding so I finally got stitches the next morning. I was just saying how proud I was not to have gotten cut up by my fins. It's totally fine now.

[RinkyDink]

are you trying to hold onto your board during your fall?

No, I just took off too late and didn't make the drop so my wave passed over me. I surfaced, pulled my board to me, saw the second wave break right in front of me and tried to reach around the nose of my board to hold onto it through the white water explosion of the second wave, but the second wave slammed my forearm into my rail as I was reaching around my board. I should have just let my board go and ducked under the wave. I wouldn't have been able to hold onto my board and control it anyway.

[RinkyDink]

Ooof! How is it feeling now?

It hurt yesterday so I didn't go out. It's still tender today when I make a fist, but I'll live.

[RinkyDink]

Few weeks ago a young girl dropped in on me so I dove in to keep from colliding and the wave pushed my board into my foot super hard. I paddled back out and noticed it stinging quite a bit. I looked and there was a nasty gash from a fin I guess... it kept bleeding so I finally got stitches the next morning. I was just saying how proud I was not to have gotten cut up by my fins. It's totally fine now.

Yeech, that looks painful. I've had some close calls with my fins, but haven't gotten any gashes yet. At least now you have a surfing war story to brag about. Just point to your scar and say, "Pipeline, 2nd reef, 2017."

[IanCaio]

I was just saying how proud I was not to have gotten cut up by my fins.

I've had many fin cuts, but none as deep as yours, probably because my cheap fins are not that sharp

You can sand down the edges of your fins a bit if you want them to be safer to hit once in a while!

[saltydog]

Few weeks ago a young girl dropped in on me so I dove in to keep from colliding and the wave pushed my board into my foot super hard. I paddled back out and noticed it stinging quite a bit. I looked and there was a nasty gash from a fin I guess... it kept bleeding so I finally got stitches the next morning. I was just saying how proud I was not to have gotten cut up by my fins. It's totally fine now.

While Big H might win the most severely injured person of the year, you are becoming a good contender for this year's most injuries acquired in quick succession award (in addition to the best DIYer in medical treatment.) Hope this is the very last one in a long while.

[dtc]

You can sand down the edges of your fins a bit if you want them to be safer to hit once in a while!

Absolutely sand down those edges. Sure you can still get cuts from the impact but they are more impact splits than actual cuts.

If you have a good stomach look up the story behind the pro-teck fins.

[IanCaio]

If you have a good stomach look up the story behind the pro-teck fins.

Didn't know those fins, wonder if they ride good too! Their website says the flexibility actually helps with the turns.

By the way, seeing some of those surfing fin cuts pictures makes me wonder if people are not using one of these on their fins before surfing:

[Big H]

While Big H might win the most severely injured person of the year, you are becoming a good contender for this year's most injuries acquired in quick succession award (in addition to the best DIYer in medical treatment.) Hope this is the very last one in a long while.

Nah.....she wins by virtue of sheer accumulation.

[dtc]

If you have a good stomach look up the story behind the pro-teck fins.

Didn't know those fins, wonder if they ride good too! Their website says the flexibility actually helps with the turns.

I actually have a set - their longboard set - which I bought probably 10 years or more ago. I cant see the exact fin on their site anymore (its like the clear fin - medium flex - but its a solid white. Although the clear fins look cool), but assuming the design and quality are the same, would highly recommend if fin cuts are a concern to you. The only reasons I dont use them across all my boards is cost (I have to import them from the US) and that usually I only buy a new set of fins on the day I busted my existing set of fins, and so buying online and waiting isnt an option ..... also if you are a fin-aholic they do only offer 2 options (same template, just different stiffness), but the template is a standard one that most fins use anyway.

That said, I have found that sanding down the edges of my fins is almost as effective - the pro teck ones will help if you get smacked on the forehead by a fin (a normal fin, even sanded down, will probably split the skin from the impact, but the pro teck ones wont - although a split is likely to be much less deep than an actual cut); but for feet and so forth, using a sanded down fin vs pro teck is more likely to mean the difference between a bigger bruise and a smaller bruise than between a cut or no cut.

Still, if you are going to pay $100 for a set of fins anyway, there seems no downside to getting the pro-teck ones for most surfers. The slight loss of stiffness around the edges etc isnt going to affect you in any noticeable way

[kookRachelle]

While Big H might win the most severely injured person of the year, you are becoming a good contender for this year's most injuries acquired in quick succession award (in addition to the best DIYer in medical treatment.) Hope this is the very last one in a long while.

Nah.....she wins by virtue of sheer accumulation.

I'm a total calamity. You should have seen the faces of friends and family when I told them how in love with surfing I had become. Let's see... all in the last 4 months:

1. board to the head/mastoid
2. minor sprained knee from jumping off in 6" water
3. leash injuries x2 - leg strangulation and displaced fractured finger resulting in surgery
4. fin to the foot - 4 stitches

That, of course, does not put into account the many bumps and bruises I've gotten just from being a spaz or dragging my knees getting up.

Am I missing anything? I can't remember.

Oh, hey, on Saturday I ran into a friend of mine, we both rode a wave all the way in and were at the end going really slow, but somehow I managed to get his leash wrapped around THE BACK of my neck. Thank god the back. I sometimes feel like I'm in Final Destination, always cheating death.

[BaNZ]

I seriously don't know how you manage to get yourself into so many injuries! I guess you're just fearless. The first thing I always do when I'm about to fail at surfing is that I try to protect myself from getting hurt. Or wearing wetsuit/boots when I do not need them.

But one thing that always gets me is getting my toe wrapped by the leash. It's so annoying and scary. Definitely don't want the leash to end up ripping my toe or dislocating it.

[kookRachelle]

I seriously don't know how you manage to get yourself into so many injuries! I guess you're just fearless. The first thing I always do when I'm about to fail at surfing is that I try to protect myself from getting hurt. Or wearing wetsuit/boots when I do not need them.

But one thing that always gets me is getting my toe wrapped by the leash. It's so annoying and scary. Definitely don't want the leash to end up ripping my toe or dislocating it.

you're such a fraidy cat, BaNZ! Then again, that is why you are intact. touche.

[oldmansurfer]

Racheal I found this article which you might find interesting http://www.theinertia.com/surf/5-of-the-goriest-wipeouts-in-surfings-history/ and if you notice number 4, that is one that apparently happens regularly. I am reading a book by Izzy Paskowitz where he describes his brother Moe having a similar but even worse injury (he needed a colostomy bag for a year)

[tomthetreeman]

I broke my toe by jamming it into the sand in shallow water on my second or third day surfing, and it happened a couple more times over the past few months, so it literally just healed about a month ago. The original injury was in August LOL.

I tried to Eskimo roll through a good sized break a couple weeks ago and I took the board right to the noggin pretty hard. Is there such a thing as a headie instead of a heelie LOL? There's a good sized one on my board now.

Tom

[RinkyDink]

I broke my toe by jamming it into the sand in shallow water on my second or third day surfing, and it happened a couple more times over the past few months, so it literally just healed about a month ago. The original injury was in August LOL.

I tried to Eskimo roll through a good sized break a couple weeks ago and I took the board right to the noggin pretty hard. Is there such a thing as a headie instead of a heelie LOL? There's a good sized one on my board now.

I always time my turtle rolls so that there is little chance of the lip coming down on my board while I'm under my board. My first rule of paddling out is to avoid the plunging lip by either getting inside of it or letting it come down in front of me. If I'm right under a plunging lip on a large sized wave, I bail my board and swim underneath the wave (sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do). I don't begrudge other surfers bailing their boards when conditions call for it and safety is a concern. There is no excuse for reckless and kookish board bailing, however.

[oldmansurfer]

I sometimes use the board to protect me from the lip by doing a turtle roll only when I make the mistake of being in the wrong place. For instance I am paddling to get to a wave before it pitches over but I misjudge and can't make it. I did a functional turtle roll today that not only kept me from taking the brunt of the wave but also kept me from loosing ground in the lineup. When I do a turtle roll my arms are between the board and me which keeps the board from bashing me in the head

[tomthetreeman]

Clearly you have a clue... I'm still working on that lol.

[benjl]

My current situation in hand.. in addition to a sliced ankle and sliced back of the hand.
Oh and a concussion from the same incident. Coming up a week now and still a solid black eye

[benjl]

Great story though and the respect I had from 20+ surfers who saw how it happened all waving me back to the lineup was pretty priceless.
I've never been asked if I was a big wave surfer, had 'fearless' thrown in the same sentence and all
While being on a lone sup on a double overhead day.