Habebty
Well-known member
Ripped middle finger nail off, that stung a bit.
What's the most painful experience you have had on a boat?
- Thread starter Nostrodamus
- Start date
30boat
N/A
Years ago we were racing a Contention 33 and after tacking I was cranking the big genoa in as fast as I could on the powerful Lewmar 42 . It was coming in nicely when we heard a strange gasping noise coming from the mast area .When I looked up I saw that the skipper's chubby 12 year old son had the sheet tight around his waist and was beginning to take the shape of an hour glass.
I'm ashamed to say that the laughing went on for hours.
I'm ashamed to say that the laughing went on for hours.
Telstar26
Active member
Ron Preedy slipped a disc while sailing a SuperSeal solo across the Atlantic - and wrote about it.
There's an extract from his book here: http://www.parkerseal.org.uk/articles/magazine/missfidget.aspx
There's an extract from his book here: http://www.parkerseal.org.uk/articles/magazine/missfidget.aspx
Kermit
Member
Not really paying attention to what I was doing, I stepped of the side of the pontoon. Threw my are over the life line and broke the socket of the top of my arm. That stung a bit. It was a bit of struggle to get back on my feet too.
I can't even blame the booze.
I can't even blame the booze.
maby
Well-known member
I cracked several ribs too and have to agree that it is not a lot of fun, but in terms of long-term pain, paying for it probably rates higher!
dslittle
Well-known member
Colic??? Try getting gout halfway across the Atlantic. Fortunately there was a good supply of extremely strong medical pain killers on board and plenty of good advice on the Sat phone but I still couldn't put any weight on my right foot. Even in St Lucia the locals took pity on me and kept me drunk - unfortunately not the best cure for gout but did I care?
Bathdave
Well-known member
Before this thread started, I had been giving some consideration last week to what should be in a medical pack for a long distance trip, and given the number of extremely nasty things that can happen, I had been considering whether it was possible to get morphine or some other A&E or prescription strength drugs to keep on board in case of emergencies...somehow paracetamol doesn't really do this business for badly broken bones a couple of hundred miles out
Has anyone been able to source such supplies for contingency?
Has anyone been able to source such supplies for contingency?
Wandering Star
Well-known member
Broken ribs. Rounded up (if that's the correct term under power) alongside the reception pontoon at Horta completely forgetting the mainsail was still hoisted, the boom gybed and I was flattened against the cockpit coaming. My crew had no idea and continued tying up to the pontoon before noticing my predicament. Painful? Very!
BrianH
Active member
Catching a weever fish approaching the island of Pag in Croatia. Not the catching actually, but in removing the hook by grasping the body with one hand and wondering at all the blood coming from it - mine, as it happened. Not knowing the species and that it can project its poisonous spines out ... and into my hand.
Then began the pain and the swelling. I made for a small bay with a pier, made fast and collapsed below. My wife ran to a fishing boat also on the pier and when they saw the fish bundled me into a rickety van for an agonising hour on an unmade track to the hospital in Pag town on the other side of the island. There they had an antidote for exactly that venom and in minutes the pain and swelling subsided. I won't forget that bumpy ride and how every jolt added to the pain in my hand and arm.
Perhaps this should have been in the thread asking how to catch an alternative to mackerel ... the fisherman said it was good to eat when the poison is removed - I was happy to give it to him.
Then began the pain and the swelling. I made for a small bay with a pier, made fast and collapsed below. My wife ran to a fishing boat also on the pier and when they saw the fish bundled me into a rickety van for an agonising hour on an unmade track to the hospital in Pag town on the other side of the island. There they had an antidote for exactly that venom and in minutes the pain and swelling subsided. I won't forget that bumpy ride and how every jolt added to the pain in my hand and arm.
Perhaps this should have been in the thread asking how to catch an alternative to mackerel ... the fisherman said it was good to eat when the poison is removed - I was happy to give it to him.
bbg
Active member
Doesn't compare to some on here, but I dislocated my shoulder half way between San Francisco and Hawaii. After giving some thought to spending 5 days with a dislocated shoulder, I went below and popped it in. It hurt like hell when it was out.
haydude
New member
Cracking my knee cap over a winch :-( It still hurts now, years later.
sailaboutvic
Well-known member
Kicked a bottle screw with my bare foot and ripped the nail off , slip three disk lifting my anchor by hand when the windless stop working .
GHA
Well-known member
Me too. Jeez that hurt. Little finger was a funny shape for about 6 months.
Ever tried rowing ashore with one hand above your head?
It was the lesser of 2 weevers only by name
Wandering Star
Well-known member
A Weever is also known as a Millers Thumb I think. When I used to work on a trawler, we used to catch one or two on each trip, always very cautious around them!Me too. Jeez that hurt. Little finger was a funny shape for about 6 months.
Ever tried rowing ashore with one hand above your head?
It was the lesser of 2 weevers only by name
pagoda
Active member
Crossing North Channel a few years ago. A big following sea got us and tried to gybe the boat. My foot caught the mainsheet traveller which wanted to go to the other side. It won. Purple bruised foot for a week, lost the big toenail. Very nearly wiped out my wife as well. Campbeltown A+E were imprressed by the two partial cripples turning up by taxi, late at night...
Not all that funny even with hindsight, it could have been much worse. Sailing is probably comparable to warfare? long tranquil periods punctuated by rare abject terror and near panic, with some chance of being injured or wiped out entirely...
Not all that funny even with hindsight, it could have been much worse. Sailing is probably comparable to warfare? long tranquil periods punctuated by rare abject terror and near panic, with some chance of being injured or wiped out entirely...
Lakesailor
New member
I've broken ribs 4 times. Once on the boat whilst helping someone who had gone onto a rocky shore, What hurt nearly as much is that he never came up with the promised bottle of whisky.
I burnt my hand on a spinnaker sheet which I tried to grab in a gust. That involved a lot of the flesh of my hand crumbling off over the next couple of weeks.
I broke my sternum at my first sporting trial when I clambered out of the car onto sheet ice and fell backwards, putting my hands down to try and save myself. The shock transmitted through my shoulders and collar bones to my sternum which went with a "crack". That was worse than ribs. A full 10 weeks to knit together.
Otherwise been pretty lucky.
Paragon
Member
Having my new (to me) boat transported from north Wales to south Devon to find that on arrival the mast is a write off and the boat damaged! :-(
Iain C
Active member
Probably the most excruciatingly painful thing I've experienced on a boat was the aftermath of a lamb tikka jalfrezi and a chilli naan and lime pickle. It was before I'd bought my Waeco CDF18 fridge so there wasn't even the option of the chilling down the Andrex the night before in preparation. The bidet effect of pumping the RM69 loo was almost welcome relief until five pumps in I remembered that it of course works on salty water. Not good.
The second most excruciatingly painful moment was trying to hammer out (ok, beating the living carp out of) the pin at the bottom of my mast which goes through the tabernacle whilst taking the mast down. I missed with the hammer, and hit my thumb. Or should I say, "burst" my thumb.
I then had to sit in the cockpit, white as a sheet and looking like an extra from Hostel whilst other sailing club chums took my rig down for me...
The second most excruciatingly painful moment was trying to hammer out (ok, beating the living carp out of) the pin at the bottom of my mast which goes through the tabernacle whilst taking the mast down. I missed with the hammer, and hit my thumb. Or should I say, "burst" my thumb.
I then had to sit in the cockpit, white as a sheet and looking like an extra from Hostel whilst other sailing club chums took my rig down for me...
dslittle
Well-known member
Was that the video Dylan posted about 'that' boat transport Company???
dslittle
Well-known member
You can buy a very respectable box of goodies in France with detailed info on levels of pain management - including needles.