My biggest fear in windsurfing

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

Inflatable PFD?
Three inflatable PFDs?
Less aggressive hook?
If you're not comfortable under water, take up skin or SCUBA diving. When you're comfortable swimming through coral arches 30-40 feet down when snorkeling, one or two feet is much less threatening.
I like your wife's idea, as long as that blade is well guarded when not in use. Mount it well away from your kite line knife so you won't confuse the two.

Crap; now you guys have me worried. Sad

windrockwater · Joined: 03 Aug 2010 Posts: 66

I was wearing a helmet but not my float vest. I immediately thought NOT wearing the vest was good. Because i needed to plunge under to unhook. And the vest might have kept my pressing against the underside of the sail.

Hey we are lucky. Windsurfing STILL give me a thrill and adrenaline. It has a very high adrenaline to low risk ratio in my opinion. Any other thing i do for adrenaline is much more dangerous!

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

I wouldn't wear a vest that impeded swimming straight down.

I quit dirt biking and snowmobiling in favor of windsurfing because I thought the later was safer. Yet my worst injury ever was to a knee, windsurfing. A Baja 1000 dirt bike racer bud died of heatstroke in a hot tub, and a wild canyon racer bud paralyzed himself slipping in his tub. Crap happens, but it's not the norm ... but stay away from bathtubs.

amarie · Joined: 25 Aug 2003 Posts: 233 Location: Corpus Christi, TX

I'm going to try practicing, as suggested. I actually do freediving on the oil rigs and for that I carry a knife due to the invisible underwater fishing lines, but I think it would be more likely to hurt me than help me in wave sailing. Interesting to think about, though. Good to know I'm not the only one thinking this way.

adywind · Joined: 08 Jan 2012 Posts: 665

Don't worry! You'll be fine because you'll know what's happening. The first time it happened to me I had no idea and it scared the ...out of me. I'll spare you the details, but the important lesson I took was that I have a lot more air in my lungs left, then I thought and it gives me enough time to untangle, unhook and swimm out. Trying to get rid of harness; life west etc. is just a waste of time and may make things worse. When it happened a second time /again going fast downwind board nosedives in the back of a chop and I end up rotated with all the gear on top of me/ the sickening panic came in again but this time I focused, pulled myself towards the boom and I was unhooked instantly.
I don't know what changed since then -experience; instinct?!-but this kind of crashing hasn't happened ever since -more then 2 years now. So just remember this: whatever happens, you can make it out, so just focus and keep the panic away.

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

Perhaps the most useful and encouraging statistic is this question: out of many hundreds of thousands of WSers, has anyone ever drowned because he was trapped beneath his sail? I haven't yet heard of any drownings not attributed to injury, hypothermia, medical problem, etc. It must be much more difficult than it sounds.

With that in mind, the most interesting statement I've seen in this thread is this: "I actually do freediving on the oil rigs", followed closely by "and for that I carry a knife due to the invisible underwater fishing lines". The former sounds fascinating and eerie (I always got spooked when snorkeling over a black abyss populated with teeth), the latter even scarier. Is this for work or for fun?

U2U2U2 · Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2014 8:15 pm Post subject:

amarie

most of the threads/post on this site are are superfluous , your is I feel a certifiable plea for help, physical and spiritual//mentally.

Like others, many others I have been stuck, under the sail with the harness line twisted and stuck, up shit creek, so to speak. One and I see it all most vividly stuck in the lines and in one footstrap, I thought that this was it.. and Iam going down on my favorite surf break. In the strap and harness was a Steven King adventure.

the very most important thing is DO not panic, use your options to get released, sorting out the events/sequence to get released require a clear mind( difficult but remain calm) you will use less oxygen and heaving been prepared will aide this. I thought my neighbor 10yo Sarah to windsurf, one of first things was exposure to this . This crys out for panic,and thats exactly what you dont want.

How to rescue yourself depend on the situation. You are not alone ,and think that crossing the road is more dangerous unless Kansas or Iowa .

think about what you will do....... and it becomes 2nd nature.
Scared me silly..........

amarie · Joined: 25 Aug 2003 Posts: 233 Location: Corpus Christi, TX