Do you wear a ring when sailing or do you take it off?

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tudorsailor

tudorsailor

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Location
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zebahdy.blogspot.co.uk
This is a serious post about the injuries one can suffer when wearing a ring on the finger. One of the worst injuries is called a ring avulsion injury. This happens when one slips and as you fall the ring catches on something, and strips the soft tissues off the finger. This is a devastating injury that usually leads to amputation. Personally I do not wear a wedding ring, but my wife does. I think I ought to insist she takes it off when we are sailing. Many hand surgeons would say that one should not wear a ring for many activities where ring avulsion injury is a risk, and would include sailing in this.
Has anyone on the forum ever injured their fingers with their rings? Do people routinely take their rings off? If this risk was publicised more, would people take their ring off in future?
Thanks
TudorSailor
 
[ QUOTE ]
I find a Prince Albert plays havoc with the compass

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Your meant to swing a compass............not shag it.
 
If you cannot now get your ring off , just imagine what would happen if you simply squashed your finger with or without a fracture. No big deal if you can get to A&E to have the ring cut off. Big deal if many hours from an A&E. It would swell and the ring might cut off the blood supply to the finger.

I would suggest you either try the rubber band technique for removing the ring and get it made bigger, or go to a jeweller and get it cut off and then made bigger.

Tudorsailor aka TudorHandSurgeon
 
I always used to wear a large silver cygnet ring on the index finger of my right hand, which almost led to my demise. I'd thrown an anchor over the stern in a last ditch attempt to not run aground (boat was totally out of control). The water was a lot deeper than I thought, or for some reason the anchor didn't bite, so I fed more rope out and all of a sudden the anchor bedded in (boat moving about 5-6 knots at this point), and the rope crushed my fingers together and tore the top off clean off my ring. I somehow managed to extract my fingers from the rope; three on each hand were broken. Needless to say things went from bad to worse at this stage, as I was single handed and without the use of either of my hands. My index finger was very nearly torn off and had to be operated on to re-join the bone and repair other internal tissue damage.
I learned a lot of lessons that day, one of which is never to wear a ring when sailing!
 
This is damned if you do, and damned if you dont territory.

I wear mine when I remember to put it on... and I take it off when I remember to take it off... If it's been off for a while, SWMBO thinks I dont love her anymore, if I leave it on at the wrong time, my finger will be amputated - as blokes, we're knackered really.
 
[ QUOTE ]
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try the rubber band technique for removing the ring

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- which is?

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Get a stout rubber band such as the red ones discarded by your post man. Put some liquid soap on the finger. Pass one end of the rubber band under the ring. Then put your finger into the two loops of the rubber band and wind the rubber band around the ring while pulling the ring towards the end of the finger. The rubber band helps to squash the tissues that otherwise bunch up over the joint and prevent ring removal. Sometimes the ring gets very tight over the first joint and you have to decide if you can carry on. If you actually get the ring over the middle of the joint and it is very tight - keep going and suddenly the ring pops off held in the loop of the rubber band

Tudorsailor
 
Twisterowner...

Up to you ....but... if you take your ring of... then you won't worry about it!

Offshore seismic industry - no rings anywhere outside the accommodation.

Even inside the techs all take em off due to danger of electric shocks.

SmileyG
 
I never wear a ring and when I remember to include the matter, my safety briefings exhort ring-wearers to take them off and hang them around their necks with a length of cord provided for the purpose.
 
Having suffered from an avulsion injury myself at work I no longer wear a wedding ring. I still have the ring but nowhere to where it (finger that is). It's a valid point and something I'll suggest that my wife considers after she has finished painting her nails!
 
I do remove mine when I remember. I've caught it on too many things along the way to be able to ignore what would happen were it to get caught. Well, that and a family filled with nurses, GPs, physioterrorists and the like who take great delight in exchanging gore stories designed to terrify you at every turn.......
 
OK, Here might be a way of keeping your ring on but weakening it so that if it is caught it will not rip your finger off. The aim is to weaken the ring without a visible mark. This is not my idea, it is a french colleagues. It is not commercial. I am just interested in thoughts

ring.jpg


The idea is to drill out a cylinder and then replace it with a press fit piece. With polishing you would not see this. Experiments have shown that the ring comes apart and the tissues are not ripped off the finger. Maybe those in the PBO forum might do this themselves?

TudorSailor
 
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