Debilitating injury while single handing.

[mawm]

Some good (?) stories there. Thanks for all the concern expressed.

This is a rude reminder to me, and should be to all who sail alone, to be cautious when moving around the boat.

 

[nimbusgb]

Mobile phone always within reach when working on the boat 'single handed'.

A good, reliable and where possible 'programmable' autopilot is a must for single handing.

Pain killers, antibiotics and strong anti gypo-gut medication and a good first aid kit.

Epirb

A good bottle of scotch!


I fractured a toe once, bloody agony moving about the boat but I still don't wear shoes.

 

[ripvan1]

I lost my bottom set of teeth during knockdown at entrance to Gib straights - does that count?

Luckily I had harness and lifeline on but thrown against mizzen rigging and sustained some nasty deep grazes. Plenty of salve and lotions omboard so alright except for few days of pain

 

[PhillM]

I spent two Easters on my back because of injuries I sustained during boat work ashore. One was lifting gear back onboard. The other was caused by falling down where the engine box should have been.

Never hurt myself while sailing.

But do worry about what would happen in the lonely seas of my local cruising hounds. Let's face it you can go for minuites without being in hailing distance of another boat around here

 

[stuartwineberg]

Mobile phone always within reach when working on the boat 'single handed'.

A good, reliable and where possible 'programmable' autopilot is a must for single handing.

Pain killers, antibiotics and strong anti gypo-gut medication and a good first aid kit.

Epirb

A good bottle of scotch!


I fractured a toe once, bloody agony moving about the boat but I still don't wear shoes.

An engineer about to work in the bowels of the engine room of my boat carefully placed his phone down there before any of his tools and pointed out that if you go head down into a space and then slip in past your shoulders you will never get out without help - the phone was more important than the spanners

 

[dunedin]

Some good (?) stories there. Thanks for all the concern expressed.

This is a rude reminder to me, and should be to all who sail alone, to be cautious when moving around the boat.

Yes, I can add to the "silly slips" category. Just hoisted sail and tidied away the anchor, tried to go back to the cockpit too quickly, slipped on a rope and twisted ankle badly.

Hence another vote for good autopilot and strong painkillers (carried as another occasional back issue). Lay down and swore for a bit, letting boat fend for itself on autopilot - then managed to get to the elephant strength co-codamol and start to take stock. Pain killers kicked in as headed back to marina and hence managed to drop sails and put out fenders (just swung inboard when single-handed), using deck broom as temporary crutch!
Was going to phone marina to get somebody to catch ropes but realised wind was onto pontoon, and with pre-set ropes on pole easy enough to do slowly.

Could have been a lot worse - if had slipped further and gone OB. Light winds so not using harness to go on foredeck

 

[oldvarnish]

I had a slight slip on the cabin steps and dislocated a shoulder. It hurts.

I was a marina in Brazil and had to pay to have it put back. That hurts too.

Shuddered at the thought it might happen again mid Atlantic where I planned to be single-handed for quite a long period.

Was coming back to UK for Christmas anyway, so found a surgeon who could fix it so it wouldn't happen again. I paid him. And that hurt a lot too.

 

[Plum]

I feel very lucky. Been sailing mostly single handed for 45 years and never has a major injury. I've been seasick while sailing alone which was scary and could very easily have led to a big error of judgement. If anyone is interested in my single-handed tips please visit www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk . Thanks

 

[robmcg]

This account by Ron Preedy describes a debilitating injury which he barely managed to cope with on his Atlantic crossing in Super Seal 'MIss Fidget' in 1985.As a yacht delivery skipper his book 'Sail and Deliver' which covers some of that voyage is fairly entertaining.
http://www.parkerseal.org.uk/articles/magazine/missfidget.aspx

I have a copy of Sail and Deliver - good read!:encouragement:

 

[William_H]

All very interesting stuff and reminder that we all need to be careful especially when growing older. We recently added in our club keel boat sailing instructions that single handed racing on KB was not peritted. A few people had begun to race single handed. (there is a pressure for boat owners in the club marina to keep active in club events).
Some people protested but we feel that single handed when there is an accident or the SH not keeping a good look out (a very busy sailing area) could reflect badly on the club.
(we seem to get at least one accident per season needing ambulance and rescue). No problems for SH cruising not club related.
Perhaps this is just a reflection of the nanny state but as a club we think we need to be part of the covering our own posterior.
Meanwhile the rise in availability of mobile phone has made us all a lot safer when working alone. So definitely keep it within reach.
I guess also that we all see our lives as more valuable both in this new age and becuase we are getting older. Be carefull olewill

 

[Halo]

My nightmare is getting locked in the cockpit locker.

+1. Last season I accidentally pulled the handle off the head door with a life jacket strap. I then
managed to push out the spindle and was locked in. Fortunately I had crew and was able to summon help. If (as often is the case ) I had been solo I would have been hard pressed to get out. Moral of the story is jam open the head if single handing. it all explains why sinlge handlers need to be extra cautious.

 

[John the kiwi]

Some people protested but we feel that single handed when there is an accident or the SH not keeping a good look out (a very busy sailing area) could reflect badly on the club.
(we seem to get at least one accident per season needing ambulance and rescue). No problems for SH cruising not club related.
Perhaps this is just a reflection of the nanny state but as a club we think we need to be part of the covering our own posterior.
Meanwhile the rise in availability of mobile phone has made us all a lot safer when working alone. So definitely keep it within reach.
I guess also that we all see our lives as more valuable both in this new age and becuase we are getting older. Be carefull olewill

Declaration: I am a New Zealander who lives in New Zealand but i spend most of my working life in Australia on industrial sites all over the country. I hold an australian white card which is minimum requirement to work on a construction site in Australia and am intimately familiar with their OS and H culture.

Australia in my opinion, is moving far in advance of the UK or NZ beyond the Nanny state to the wrapped- in-cotton- wool state. (Mind you New Zealand does like to follow on and watch out UK; your bureaucrats would just love to have you all tidied into an administrative cupboard too.)
There seems to be a belief that if they put enough rules and red tape in place no one will get hurt and we will all live forever in a risk free environment.
Newsflash: in the long term no one gets out alive!
One site i worked on exemplified the problem. Huge emphasis on paperwork and having documented inductions and worker insurances and procedures and so on, all of which do have their place, but while i was in the Site safety managers office discussing insurances, there was a young guy on a mini-digger on a pile of dirt showing off for his mates right outside the window. There was a real possibility that he would overturn the digger and he wasn't wearing the safety belt that the digger was equipped with, but the safety manager couldn't really see the problem even when i pointed it out. Mind you i don't think the safety manager had ever been outside a classroom...

For goodness sake William stop worrying about your arse covering and "reflecting badly on the club" and let them race SH!
Make them sign a disclaimer taking responsibility for their own actions if you must. (Responsibility for ones own actions? -now there is a novel concept in this day and age!)
I single hand my 26 ft yacht for the occasional cruise and enjoy the challenge and sense of accomplishment it brings. I have toyed with the idea of attempting some short course racing single handed and would be furious if my yacht club prevented this.
What are you going to do next, require 2 crew on a laser for safeties sake?

You only live once but if you do it right that should be enough.

Cheers

 

[andyo]

Just to make one think ... I went to a sailing talk recently where the single hander described getting into bad weather and the headsail sheet complete with "stopper" knot pulled through the fairleads/clutch etc. and was flapping about the foredeck. He went up to haul it all in and furl the sail and was hit in the eye with the knot. This resulted in him losing complete sight in that eye (whether immediate or later, I don't know.)

I just wonder what would have happened if it had been both eyes ... He was also out in the mid Atlantic, so miles from any immediate help.

As I said, makes you think ...

 

[DownWest]

Just to make one think ... I went to a sailing talk recently where the single hander described getting into bad weather and the headsail sheet complete with "stopper" knot pulled through the fairleads/clutch etc. and was flapping about the foredeck. He went up to haul it all in and furl the sail and was hit in the eye with the knot. This resulted in him losing complete sight in that eye (whether immediate or later, I don't know.)

I just wonder what would have happened if it had been both eyes ... He was also out in the mid Atlantic, so miles from any immediate help.

As I said, makes you think ...

There was a report in PBO some time ago about a guy who was using those bungee sail ties, when one wacked him in the eye, through his glasses. The resulting shock made him temp blind in both eyes. He eventually managed to get a message out on the VHF and was rescued. Full recovery later, but how would you cope with sudden blindness? Think it was in the Solent.
I do not use any bungee ties. On the car roof rack, I distrust them and on the boat, that story comes to mind. For the mainsail, I use webbing ties with velcro.
While I have probs with my shoulders, which can be really painful, I know how to avoid the causes. Limits some activaties, but luckily not sailing.

 

[robmcg]

Talking of eyes, I remember reading about someone singlehanding who (if I recall) was hit in the back of the head with the boom. Apart from the obvious head pain, it affected his vision and on getting down the companionway steps realized his eye ball had come out and was hanging on by the optic nerve. He managed to get the eye back in place and made a full recovery. Won't tell you the one about the alternator belt and the testicles (not me BTW!)

 

[charles_reed]

Three incidents whilst single-handed:-
1. A stroke - fortunately lots of help from CA members and from this board
2. A cut scalp, coming into Le Castella. The bleeding was so profuse that I couldn't see where I was going as it flooded my glasses.
3. A dislocated thumb, coming out of the R Belon on my way back to N Wales. That was a genuinely single-handed sail all the way back to Pwllheli. Morphine can be very useful under those conditions.

 

[Daydream believer]

I was on my SH round Uk trip in 2012, en route from Peterhead to eyemouth.
I was ill before I left but somehow took far too many pills but thought problems had passed
I left with a forecast of northerly 4-5
i was Ok until dark when I felt that the weather was worsening so I put in 2 reefs for the night.
the wind got up & I suddenly started going for a pee- 7 times in 1.25 hours i then started to feel ill & vomited a lot of times- stomach pains plus migraine which impaired my vision. The autopiilot started to malfunction & seas started to get up.
My boat will not heave too so i let the main halliard go & furled the jib to see if the boat would lay ahull whilst I recovered. i had intended to home in on Eyemouth by aiming for St abbs light at night then enter in daylight.
i was going so fast i was going to arrive long before light & I was concerned that due to the N winds they might shut the harbour due to bad weather.
I now became so ill I could not move & the boat was rolling so violently that I was in danger of being flung overboard, I did not have the strength to get below. Seas were breaking over the boat.
I used my hand held VHF to raise the coastguard because i noticed my course was now taking me into the firth of forth & although I had no charts I felt if I could see the bridges I could find the marina on the S side which might be a safer entry. i asked the CG for a course to Edinburgh & alternatively to ask if eyemouth had a pilot boat that might guide me in - would they contact the harbour master to see if that could be arranged & was it safe to go in . At this point i almost lost consciousness mid call & was unable to talk. .Eventually they told me they had called Eyemouth lifeboat .
i heard them tell the lifeboat that my speed ( under bare poles) was 5.5 knts
the life boat arrived but it was too rough to put a man aboard . I told them that if they could lead the way i could start the engine & follow but they had to keep near as my eyesight was so bad & i could not see due to migraine ( I have been a life long sufferer & it affects my sight badly)
they lead me all the way & we had a problem entering the harbour in the rough weather. They had 3 shore spotters round the bay & they advised of a slight lull in sea state & the lifeboat led me in
In the harbour they caught my boat, lifted me out of the boat into an ambulance where they gave me some tests. I refused to go to hospital so they got some boats ( at 04-00 hours) to move & tied my boat along side a pontoon where i was helped aboard & put to bed.
I had to stay in Eyemouth for a week before I recovered enough to move about Ok & finally left after 2 weeks. If i had been offshore I have no idea how I would have managed. It was all diagnosed as food poisoning

The Eyemouth life boat crew were absolutely fantastic, visiting me every day. they even washed the vomit off my wet gear , dried it &gave it back all properly folded.
In all there were 15 people involved in the call out & the RNLI crew had all just gone to bed shortly before as it was the night of their annual dinner so they were a bit knackered themselves
The coxswain was apologetic for taking so long to get to me as his lifeboat - which should be able to clock 28 kts- could only go 11 knts due to the big seas. He had been really worried about how we were going to get in past the entrance but a short lull had made it possible

A fantastic bunch of guys without whom I might have been in serious trouble

 

[Dave-Shafa]

Debilitating injury while single handing?

While I was able to keep on sailing I kept bumping the same bit of leg on the Main Traveller.

Now healed.

 

[William_H]

Declaration: I am a New Zealander who lives in New Zealand but i spend most of my working life in Australia on industrial sites all over the country. I hold an australian white card which is minimum requirement to work on a construction site in Australia and am intimately familiar with their OS and H culture.

Australia in my opinion, is moving far in advance of the UK or NZ beyond the Nanny state to the wrapped- in-cotton- wool state. (Mind you New Zealand does like to follow on and watch out UK; your bureaucrats would just love to have you all tidied into an administrative cupboard too.)
There seems to be a belief that if they put enough rules and red tape in place no one will get hurt and we will all live forever in a risk free environment.
Newsflash: in the long term no one gets out alive!
One site i worked on exemplified the problem. Huge emphasis on paperwork and having documented inductions and worker insurances and procedures and so on, all of which do have their place, but while i was in the Site safety managers office discussing insurances, there was a young guy on a mini-digger on a pile of dirt showing off for his mates right outside the window. There was a real possibility that he would overturn the digger and he wasn't wearing the safety belt that the digger was equipped with, but the safety manager couldn't really see the problem even when i pointed it out. Mind you i don't think the safety manager had ever been outside a classroom...

For goodness sake William stop worrying about your arse covering and "reflecting badly on the club" and let them race SH!
Make them sign a disclaimer taking responsibility for their own actions if you must. (Responsibility for ones own actions? -now there is a novel concept in this day and age!)
I single hand my 26 ft yacht for the occasional cruise and enjoy the challenge and sense of accomplishment it brings. I have toyed with the idea of attempting some short course racing single handed and would be furious if my yacht club prevented this.
What are you going to do next, require 2 crew on a laser for safeties sake?

You only live once but if you do it right that should be enough.

Cheers

Hi John welcome to the promised land. (WA).
My background has been in aviation engineering and certification standards. It is a clever man who learns from his mistakes but an even smarter man who learns from the mistakes of others. I fully understand the OH&S requirements working on dangerous sites. Whilst the chances of you having an accident are small take 1000 men in the same environment and you are bound to get accidents. The workers compensation insurance companies demand it as do the company and the unions. It is all there to protect you.
Regarding racing, of course every skipper is solely responsible for the safety of the boat and crew. They sign a declaration in many cases to that effect. Or compete on the understanding as written in SI. However we saw in the disastrous Sydney to Hobert race of some years back with boats and lives lost the Crusing Yacht Club (race management) could not duck out of questions asked in coroners court. Clubs can not divest them selves of responsibility. Not morally or in litigation.
So while it is fine for some dinghy classes to be sailed SH the supervision by support boats (we are not allowed to call them Rescue boats or safety boats any more) means that our club and others are able to maintain a safety standard equal to the accepted norm. YA rules used to forbid SH unless it was a specific SH event or class but this seems to have been dropped. So I am not embarrassed that our club have banned SH on keelboats for club events. I was one who voted for the ban.

Interesting in the same area. Our club run night races on the Swan River and an annual race to Rottnest Island. YA and YAWA have pointed out that these races must be in boats meeting the requirements of the approriate category safety standard. Many see this as OTT for a race around a river or a jog across 15nm or so of ocean.
One of the requirments is the horizontal stability factor. For larger boats a fuction of keel weight and overall weight in a formular. For boats under 1500kg it requires that the boat (or type) must be hauled down to mast horizontal to measure force required to hold it down. (or righting force) All fitting in to a formular. Several of our fin keel boats can not meet this requirement. Fortunately my little lift keel TS does after pull down test.
So you are not alone in bitterly opposing the "Nanny State". Certainly here in West Oz we are far more restrictive than UK but that also comes from experience of the nutters in their ali speed boats that lost their lives or been rescued in the ocean. (mandatory skipper's ticket, mandatory safety gear including radio and EPIRB and mandatory vessel registration.) (beyond 3nm of shore). I for one support it however. olewill

 

[Triassic]

I was on my SH round Uk trip in 2012, en route from Peterhead to eyemouth.
I was ill before I left but somehow took far too many pills but thought problems had passed
I left with a forecast of northerly 4-5
i was Ok until dark when I felt that the weather was worsening so I put in 2 reefs for the night.
the wind got up & I suddenly started going for a pee- 7 times in 1.25 hours i then started to feel ill & vomited a lot of times- stomach pains plus migraine which impaired my vision. The autopiilot started to malfunction & seas started to get up.
My boat will not heave too so i let the main halliard go & furled the jib to see if the boat would lay ahull whilst I recovered. i had intended to home in on Eyemouth by aiming for St abbs light at night then enter in daylight.
i was going so fast i was going to arrive long before light & I was concerned that due to the N winds they might shut the harbour due to bad weather.
I now became so ill I could not move & the boat was rolling so violently that I was in danger of being flung overboard, I did not have the strength to get below. Seas were breaking over the boat.
I used my hand held VHF to raise the coastguard because i noticed my course was now taking me into the firth of forth & although I had no charts I felt if I could see the bridges I could find the marina on the S side which might be a safer entry. i asked the CG for a course to Edinburgh & alternatively to ask if eyemouth had a pilot boat that might guide me in - would they contact the harbour master to see if that could be arranged & was it safe to go in . At this point i almost lost consciousness mid call & was unable to talk. .Eventually they told me they had called Eyemouth lifeboat .
i heard them tell the lifeboat that my speed ( under bare poles) was 5.5 knts
the life boat arrived but it was too rough to put a man aboard . I told them that if they could lead the way i could start the engine & follow but they had to keep near as my eyesight was so bad & i could not see due to migraine ( I have been a life long sufferer & it affects my sight badly)
they lead me all the way & we had a problem entering the harbour in the rough weather. They had 3 shore spotters round the bay & they advised of a slight lull in sea state & the lifeboat led me in
In the harbour they caught my boat, lifted me out of the boat into an ambulance where they gave me some tests. I refused to go to hospital so they got some boats ( at 04-00 hours) to move & tied my boat along side a pontoon where i was helped aboard & put to bed.
I had to stay in Eyemouth for a week before I recovered enough to move about Ok & finally left after 2 weeks. If i had been offshore I have no idea how I would have managed. It was all diagnosed as food poisoning

The Eyemouth life boat crew were absolutely fantastic, visiting me every day. they even washed the vomit off my wet gear , dried it &gave it back all properly folded.
In all there were 15 people involved in the call out & the RNLI crew had all just gone to bed shortly before as it was the night of their annual dinner so they were a bit knackered themselves
The coxswain was apologetic for taking so long to get to me as his lifeboat - which should be able to clock 28 kts- could only go 11 knts due to the big seas. He had been really worried about how we were going to get in past the entrance but a short lull had made it possible

A fantastic bunch of guys without whom I might have been in serious trouble

One of the reasons I come on here is to try and learn valuable lessons from far more experienced sailors. This post alone has taught me....

Don't take lots of medication unless you know what is wrong with you and that what you are taking is the correct treatment.
Don't go to sea if you are not feeling well.
Have a back up to critical systems such as self steering.
Don't wait until an emergency before trying to learn how to handle your boat in adverse weather.
Have charts of the intended sailing area.
Have a back up pilotage plan for the event of a weather change.
If once you have lost the plot and have to rely on the professionalism of the emergency services to bail you out at least have enough respect for them to follow their advice and go to hospital rather than involve further people in your "emergency".
The RNLI and Coastguard obviously have the patience of saints and I am even more in awe of them than I was before.....

No disrespect to Daydream Believer intended, I'm sure I might have made one of two of those mistakes myself at some point.