Sailing with Jewelry on?

Nostrodamus

Nostrodamus

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 Mar 2011
Messages
3,659
www.cygnus3.com
After reading another thread it reminded me.

Many years ago I got a wedding ring caught when sailing. It really dug in cutting my finger badly. Luckily that was the extent of the injury but it could easily have been far worse. After that I refused to wear a ring again.

Wonder if there is any one out there wearing a gold chain (they are usually called Vic and also like singing in pubs) who has problems.

Do you wear a ring and has it ever caused you problems?(OK before someone says something I mean sailing wise)
 
Same happened to me, luckily no damage to me, ring was a mess, so I stopped wearing it.

When I worked offshore I knew of at least one "degloving" as I believe is the technical term for the removal of a ring and all the flesh as it came off. Also we were stopped wearing all forms of jewelery except a watch when working. To many accidents.
 
A while ago I had a Dart 18 dinghy cat; those who know the boat will remember there's a line which hangs acouple of inches below the boom...

One day my then fiancee came for a spin and forgot to take her ear-ring out.

When we gybed this line caught her and carried her across the trampoline by her ear; I got the full high pitch sound in rising & falling doppler effect as she went past...
 
I lost my last boat partly because an anchor rope tore a ring off my forefinger, breaking the bone in the process. Six of my fingers were broken, but my forefinger was torn apart beneath the skin and had to be surgically reattached.
 
dhobyb said:
we were stopped wearing all forms of jewelery except a watch when working. To many accidents.
Click to expand...
Watches are not so safe either. Not boaty, but working on a car with my hand up behind the dashboard my watch strap short-circuited some terminals. I still (40 years later) have a very slight scar on my wrist.
Could easily happen on a boat.
 
A bit less dramatic; but a crew member, on getting back home, realised that she had lost a gold ear-ring.
A day or two later, knowing nothing of the loss, I happened to find said ear-ring poised half an inch from a cockpit drain. She was pleased to get it back.
 
Ring eversion?

I think that's the term. There was a long thread on this a couple of years back started by one of our number who was a medic. As a result of those postings, I now put micropore tape over my wedding ring before going out sailing, at least when I remember :o

I did vow to never take my ring off, but had to on my honeymoon as it was bent out of shape and almost cut my finger off when out windsurfing off a Zakynthos beach! Wife said the same and on the same honeymoon, lost her ring in the sea due to too much sun lotion-as lubricant, but I saw where it fell and let the waves sift the sand until I saw it glinting in the sun, before grabbing it.

Despite the event,over 25 years ago now, I have never removed my ring since. Not sure about SWMBO!
 
Last edited:
blackbeard said:
A bit less dramatic; but a crew member, on getting back home, realised that she had lost a gold ear-ring.
A day or two later, knowing nothing of the loss, I happened to find said ear-ring poised half an inch from a cockpit drain. She was pleased to get it back.
Click to expand...

Ah, if only. My wife alas went swimming a few times each day for most of our trips on the boat, with diamond earrings which she had only just had made after buying the stones in South Africa a year or two before.

She is now lucky enough to have the basic ingredient for a large diamond ring but seems less than happy when I point this out.
 
I never wear a ring or a watch and always wear sailing boots - not those silly deck shoes which always seem to fall off when wrestling with an an angry genoa.
 
Not generally on the big boat - normal attire ...
But when racing the dinghy it comes off ... too much rope work involved to make it sensible.

I've only temporarily lost my wedding ring at home - having come in from cutting the grass, washing my hands and then noticing .... fortunately we found it in the towel!

A couple came onboard our last boat for a jolly around the cans (not racing - but timed sailing) ... sat onboard afterwards he stretched backwards and was playing with his ring - plop ... off it went .. 6 meters of murky water ...
I think they're still together ...
 
I stopped wearing my wedding ring while sailing about 2 years ago, after a very similar thread to this.

I broke my finger on a winch aout 3 months later. No ring meant little problem..If the ring had been on, it would have had to be cut off.

Not that it fits over the (heeled) break even now...
 
Lakesailor said:
Watches are not so safe either. Not boaty, but working on a car with my hand up behind the dashboard my watch strap short-circuited some terminals. I still (40 years later) have a very slight scar on my wrist.
Could easily happen on a boat.
Click to expand...

Yup- A mechanic at one of the garages I worked at had a perfect scar in the shape of an expanding watch bracelet on his wrist after it shorted the starter solenoid on a BMC 1100. Ouch.
 
Don't have any rings. Not married, but not at all sure I'd wear a ring if I was. My dad never did; for a long time I assumed it was a women-only thing.

Rings are certainly verboten (to be taped up if they can't be removed) on TSYT ships, as all the lines there are laid faux-hemp which just loves to grab a ring as the load comes on and the lay tightens up.

My watch has a cloth strap, so not much danger of short-circuiting stuff, but I take it off before working in confined spaces like engines or dashboards anyway.

Pete
 
I heard of a person chinning himself on a horizontal bar on a ship, then discovering that a welding nib had hooked under the ring and he couldn't get free, leaving him hanging by his hands unable to get down. I believe someone came along and held him up while he disengaged the trapped hand otherwise he'd probably have lost the flesh from the finger.

When I worked for IBM it was strictly forbidden to wear rings while working on the innards of mainframe computers. In the past a short through the ring had caused more than one lost finger.

I never wear a ring while sailing or doing DIY.
 
snowleopard said:
I heard of a person chinning himself on a horizontal bar on a ship, then discovering that a welding nib had hooked under the ring and he couldn't get free, leaving him hanging by his hands unable to get down. I believe someone came along and held him up while he disengaged the trapped hand otherwise he'd probably have lost the flesh from the finger.

When I worked for IBM it was strictly forbidden to wear rings while working on the innards of mainframe computers. In the past a short through the ring had caused more than one lost finger.

I never wear a ring while sailing or doing DIY.
Click to expand...

I saw This happen in a ship in 1969: the guy was working at high level in a frigate's hangar, slipped off the ladder and hung by his ring finger for a few seconds until it pulled out of his hand. the sight and the screams I will never forget.
 
I used to think that it was ok to wear a ring if you were wearing gloves, until I tried something stupid on a Nic 55 and pulled my hand into a winch - only some minor cuts and bruising, but I was fortunate enough to get the ring off before the swelling started, otherwise I would have been in trouble. So, I don't think taping up rings, wearing gloves etc is any substitute for taking the ring off, which I always try to remember to do.

Neil
 
neil1967 said:
I was fortunate enough to get the ring off before the swelling started, otherwise I would have been in trouble. So, I don't think taping up rings, wearing gloves etc is any substitute for taking the ring off, which I always try to remember to do.
Click to expand...

Problem is that some people can't take their rings off. Seems weird to me but not uncommon; usually at least a couple on any given Stavros adult voyage. What can we do beyond asking them to tape them up?

If they do injure a finger and it starts swelling, well, there are some big bolt-croppers in the the Engineer's Workshop under the focsle :D

(For the ring, not the finger!)

Pete
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top