Mid Atlantic Heroism

[3reefs]

From the ARC on 2nd December:

Once again, the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers has proven the benefit of co-ordinated support between yachts at sea, following a medical emergency onboard the Oyster 53 Tallulah of Falmouth.

Fifty-five year old crewmember Ron Parker, from Balcombe in the UK, suffered a severe injury to his finger late on Tuesday 30 November. In the rolling Atlantic swell, his finger was crushed as the heavy insulated freezer top fell back, breaking the bone and causing a nasty wound.

Ron was treated onboard, and remote medical advice was obtained from the International Marine Emergency Centre in Rome. However, with the yacht still at least six days out from St.Lucia, there was a significant risk that Ron might lose his finger.

Skipper Fred Neale, also contacted ARC organisers World Cruising Club, to pass on a request for additional medical supplies from other yachts close to their position. Via the ARC Fleet Net, several yachts responded, and yesterday (Weds 01 Dec) afternoon the Italian Sweden 45 Marival met with Tallulah to transfer supplies of sterile dressings and extra painkillers. Later that afternoon, they were
joined by the German Hallberg Rassy 53 Jasika IV who had a surgeon and a nurse on board.

Owing to the sea state, Dr Gerhard Trömer and his assistant Edger Willie, then swam across to Tallulah, complete with mobile sterile operating unit. They were then able to set the broken bone and stitch up the wound to Ron's finger. As a result of their efforts the chance of infection is greatly diminished and the prospects of saving the finger much improved.

Ron describes the encounter yesterday: "We met Marival around 14:00 to take on extra drugs and painkillers and then liaised with a German boat Jaksia with a surgeon and nurse onboard - both swam across to our yacht and then performed something that could have come straight from the TV show M.A.S.H! What a wonderful gift these guys have. Although my finger is in a bad way, only one tendon is damaged and we will meet Gerhard and Eddie in St.Lucia in 11 days time to take out the stitches."

All the yachts have now resumed course for St.Lucia.

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[alex_rogers]

No to appear too ungenerous but it sounds like they'd have done better to have ditched the freezer and taken a decent medical kit with them! Although if he had severed the finger, the freezer might have been useful after all.

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[Sgeir]

I think that is pretty outstanding by any measure. Dr Gerhard Trömer and Edger Willie are true heroes. Hope Ron's finger recovers.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/rams/archivehour.ram>http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/rams/archivehour.ram</A>

 

[Lightnup]

"What's with the crooked finger?"

"Sailing accident. The sea is a dangerous place."

"Wow. What happened?"

"I was reaching for an Ice cream treat...."

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[PaulJ]

The crass shallowness of some responses never ceases to amaze me. If it is the Ron Parker I think it is, he is a very intelligent, cautious and experienced sailor and a leading light in quite a big sailing group which collectively sails 4 or 5 boats.
SHIT HAPPENS and if it can happen to Ron it can happen to any of us. I am just thankful that there was someone around with the skill and courage to help in what must have been a very harrowing situation.

WHEN it happens to you or Alex, I just hope that there will someone around who can help you..... but not immediately, you may need a little time to think about your situation first.

Paul.

<hr width=100% size=1>I used to have an open mind but my brains kept falling out.....

 

[wooslehunter]

Well said. We've all cocked up, or just plain fallen foul of sods law. Most of us get away with it most of the time. When we don't there's no room for non-constructive critisism.

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[snowleopard]

come on, lightnup guys, it was a great thing to do and worthy of praise, but like the man says, it does have its funny side.

and at the risk of opening a whole new can of worms, it was a good example of the benefits of rallies and nothing to do with people putting to sea without adequate experience.

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[AndrewB]

Re: Mid Atlantic Mollycoddling

But this report is a blatant piece of self-promotion by the ARC organisation. Did no-one ever have to cope with a crushed finger (one of the commonest yachting injuries) without outside help before?

Still, if this sort of stuff does convince the majority that there is nothing they can do for themselves without nanny around to push the pram, it will at least keep them off the backs of those 'heros' who are still prepared to go their own way.

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[Roberto]

well, I think "heroism" is a big word for a crushed finger,

my father had a finger crushed by a hatch (somebody on the deck walked on the hatch while he had his finger near the hinge), it was looking really horrible and he feared to lose it: we came to use those wooden sticks found inside the first aid box, finger hurt a lot for a few days but when the doctor saw it he did not change anything

another time another crew broke his toe (he inadvertently put it inside one of the holes made to lift floors!), the finger was so twisted he could not see it and was convinced to have lost it, again a little medication and a few days rest

as anyone else sailing, we also had several other minor but also major injuries, and coped with them in one way or the other, as the people sailing the arc were obviously more experienced than I am I would not call heroism (doubt about its necessity too) all that swimming in the middle of the ocean with bandages et al.

otoh, surely they must be happy of being called heroes in an arc article/forums/images/icons/wink.gif

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[fireball]

Re: Mid Atlantic Mollycoddling

Hey - if I crushed my finger - or any other accident come to that - I'd like to know (what the hell I'm doing mid atlantic for a start) that there was assistance to hand.

I, for one, would happily alter course and help someone who needed it ... and cruising in company is one way to reduce the risk of being in a situation that you cannot deal with.

Swimming across between boats in the middle of the atlantic must be a pretty daunting experience - especially as it can't have been smooth otherwise a boat-boat transfer would've been preferred...

Hats off to those on the ARC who are willing to put themselves out to help others in distress ....


Mind u - what did he do with the icecream?

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[snowleopard]

don't you think the heroes they were referring to were the guys who jumped in the oggin to get to the casualty?

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[AndrewB]

Come on SL, did you never swim out in Atlantic, whether in pursuit of heroism or just to cool down? What makes it that much different from any other bit of sea?

And why the h*ll didn't they use a dinghy, like normal people do to ferry between yachts?

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[KevB]

I can only assume that the sea was fairly calm otherwise I doubt the captain would risk the lives of two crew members just because someone had hurt their finger, hardly life threatening was it? Heroism seems a bit of a strong word for a swim. Best save the emotive words for those who deserve them.
Hero's do the unthinkable - not bandage fingers of those out on a jolly.


<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://static.photobox.co.uk/public/images/45/99/10714599.s.jpg?ch=97&rr=16:00:39>Nirvana</A>

 

[Sgeir]

I'll withdraw my previous comment. Having read the above, it was a obviously minor flesh wound, Ron's clearly a pathetic wimp, and the two medics who swam across are a pair of self seeking publicity merchants who should have known better and emptied their locker to fish out and pump up the dinghy.

Apart from that, why do we have to slag off who were there, available, and did what they felt they had to do?

<hr width=100% size=1>I had a very nice link until Kim told us off about it. I'm not bitter mind.

 

[Gunfleet]

Re: Mid Atlantic Mollycoddling

The moral of the story is, never open the freezer if you are out of swimming range of a German nurse.

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[Roberto]

personally, it is more the tone of the article than makes me smile

I would be the first to try to help or assist another boat or crew in case of need, even for a bent finger or any minor need, and surely everyone involved in the arc incident behaved as best they thought, and all ended well

but writing an article calling this heroism is like calling "war bulletin" a paintball story imho





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[KevB]

Don't think anyone is saying it didn't hurt or that the swimmers didn't do a good deed but to call any one of them a hero is stretching it a tad.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://static.photobox.co.uk/public/images/45/99/10714599.s.jpg?ch=97&rr=16:00:39>Nirvana</A>

 

[snowleopard]

just making the point that it wasn't the guy with the sore finger who was being called a hero. agree it's a strong word to use for anyone in this instance but that's press releases for you.

no, i wouldn't consider going swimming and trying to climb on board in a tradewind swell, very good chance of a dented head. use of a rubber duck in those circumstances wouldn't be a stroll in the park either.

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[Sgeir]

true, true, true, and something that the actual participants probably had no control over.

Why not slag off the PR/journos? CAn we do that Kim? Please?

<hr width=100% size=1>I had a very nice link until Kim told us off about it. I'm not bitter mind.

 

[AndrewB]

You are quite right of course. One can't criticise the help given, which is characteristic of that which is so often freely shared among blue-water cruisers. The ARC organisation are just playing up their own role for the publicity.

In the same spirit I'm happy to thank publicly the yacht 'Tanemare' we met about 800 miles out from the Azores a few years back, that just happened to be carrying the exact plumbing component needed to get our pressurised water system up and running again. Not a medical intervention perhaps, but one that did wonders for our quality of life in terms of showers and washing clothes!

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