What's the most painful experience you have had on a boat?

[Nostrodamus]

We were sailing between Sicily and Greece the other day when a tooth became so painful it needed to be removed. I got out the pliers, mole grips and a mirror and then lost my bottle. (I had also just used the same tools in unblocking the heads)
It did get me to thinking though how much pain can a sailor put up with.
Have you had an accident on board and have had to put up with it or been in pain?
(watching the fuel needle on a motor boat going down does not count)

 

[hartcjhart]

What's the most painful experience you have had on a boat?
I was on the old 'billyboat' coming back from spain to uk,and found out my wife had been cheating on me and that my marriage was over

 

[sailaboutvic]

What's the most painful experience you have had on a boat?
I was on the old 'billyboat' coming back from spain to uk,and found out my wife had been cheating on me and that my marriage was over

That's not always a bad thing , think of all the time you can go off sailing again without having to worry about her cheating on you

 

[Nostrodamus]

What's the most painful experience you have had on a boat?
I was on the old 'billyboat' coming back from spain to uk,and found out my wife had been cheating on me and that my marriage was over

 

[stevebrassett]

A duller reply.

Slipping on the companion-way steps and scraping my shins down them.

Unfortunately, a not-infrequent event.

 

[Baggy]

Pain me lad, I'll give you Pain

I have lived my life, so far with no health probs at all
( barring my farmers giles gip )

As soon as I get hundreds of mile from anywhere
I get Renal Bloody Colic caused by Kidney stones
migrating down to my bladder

My god the pain was horrendous,
( apparantly its more painfully than having a baby, cant confirm this tho )

I think all sailors should stash some Heroin on board just in case

 

[Sandy]

Stubbing my toe.

 

[Jabamusic]

Not especially boatie but very possible on-board as well as off, stepping on a three-pinned plug. Still have the painful bruise and sore foot 10 days later.

 

[KellysEye]

Cracked my ribs when I slipped and hit the the corner of the hatch. The pain is awesome even if you take anti inflammatory drugs and pain killers. You can only sleep on one side at it lasts for five weeks before it is manageable. Coughing or sneezing is unbearably painful and makes your eyes water. It's the second time I've done it, the first time was go karting so I knew what was coming.

 

[DannyB]

Pain me lad, I'll give you Pain

I have lived my life, so far with no health probs at all
( barring my farmers giles gip )

As soon as I get hundreds of mile from anywhere
I get Renal Bloody Colic caused by Kidney stones
migrating down to my bladder

My god the pain was horrendous,
( apparantly its more painfully than having a baby, cant confirm this tho )

I think all sailors should stash some Heroin on board just in case

You should try getting taken to hospital in an ambulance over cobbled streets when you have kidney stones!
My doctor confirmed the pain is like childbirth, I got an injection of a pain killer, can't remember what it was called, but it is what they give to women giving birth, I remember him saying "you're a big lad, I'll give you plenty " talk about being high, that stuff was magic, almost worth getting pregnant for.

Pethedrine, maybe?

 

[jerrytug]

I've had the kidney stones as well, not at sea luckily, even the young girl nurse inserting a suppository painkiller did not distract from the unbearable pain. How are we meant to deal with things like that offshore?

To return to the OP, the most painful was hearing Amy Winehouse had died, while swabbing out diesel bug in Westerdock, Amsterdam.

 

[nathanlee]

We were sailing between Sicily and Greece the other day when a tooth became so painful it needed to be removed. I got out the pliers, mole grips and a mirror and then lost my bottle. (I had also just used the same tools in unblocking the heads)
It did get me to thinking though how much pain can a sailor put up with.
Have you had an accident on board and have had to put up with it or been in pain?
(watching the fuel needle on a motor boat going down does not count)

A few weeks ago I nutted an anchor whilst shifting it out of the cockpit. One of those bangs on the head that takes some effort to stay conscious. After the initial few moments I realised how much blood there was, so promptly pressed a j-cloth against my head, and staggered up to the marina building to give it a wash.

Should have gone to a&e to be honest, but I was concussed and couldn't be arsed with the NHS so went to bed.

The scar is a good inch long. Still can't get the blood off the bunks. When I get asked what happened... "oh, some anchor called Bruce hit me in Preston"

 

[Birdseye]

Coughing up the money to buy it.

 

[capnsensible]

Stubbing my toe.

Stubbing the same toe 2 days later on the same deck fitting and having to put up with it until arriving in Bermuda 4 days later........ :ambivalence:

 

[BruceDanforth]

Cracking a couple of ribs a couple of weeks from anywhere wasn't much fun.

 

[jac]

Coughing up the money to buy it.

+1

add in solent marina prices!!

 

[flyingscampi]

Servicing a Barlow 27 winch, I turned the drum upside down and the rather heavy mainshaft glided silently out and scored a direct hit on my little toe. This went black and swelled up so much I couldn't wear a shoe.

At least there was nobody within range to observe my colourful description of the newly liberated chunk of metal.

 

[AndrewfromFal]

Delivering an inshore raceboat across the Irish Sea in a F6-7. It was one of the most unpleasant experiences of my life. There were two places on the whole boat to brace oneself (both on deck, and thus showered in spray for much of the journey), otherwise you had to get used to being flung about everytime the boat came off the back of a wave.

I remember hearing over the radio that a Sigma 33 in the same stretch of water as us was being abandoned, and actually envied their Heli-vac to safety/comfort.

 

[Ripster]

Just got into a berth, got down to put the bow line on the cleat and skimmed the pontoon decking with my hand sending a 3/4" splinter straight up the nail on my forefinger - f....k that hurt. Pulling it out again was nearly as painful as it broke off and the tweezers needed to be up the nail as well to get the last bit.

 

[richardsn9]

This happened to my crew, fortunately not to me....

Proceeding through a narrow channel at about four knots in the Swedish islands, we were happily watching the world go by. My crew was sitting astride the cockpit coaming, facing forwards, just behind the genoa winch. At that point, we hit a rock, and the boat stopped dead in the water. Once back on my feet, I was straight below to check for damage; we had cracked a floor. Then I realised there was a wheezy, high-pitched whimpering noise in the cockpit, as he took winch grinding to a whole new level.....