First off I would like to thank all you guys from the bottom of my heart for the well wishes. It was really warming when Sunseeker (nick) visited me in hospital with a printout of this post. It is amazing that a bunch of people, lots who have never met face to face come together in these forums, share experiences, encourage each other, give advice... and listen. To all of you, be it my mates or the guys i have never met in person, it really did mean something... so thanks.
I guess i should start by telling you what happened. I was out with tony doing a quick downwinder from mudjimba to the broadwork when just north of marcoola at a quiet stretch of beach I did a nice and clean front roll off the back of a wave. It was nothing special and my landing was going to be spot-on when just before i hit the water two waves collided and made a wall in front of me. Instead of converting all that forward and downward energy into momentum my legs absorbed it all... the tibia and fibula broke in one leg and the ligaments in my knee snapped on the other... I think cause my elbows hit my knees and my fists hit my head in a kind of ball that the energy was absorbed entirely through my legs as the rest of my body acted as a kind of brace. I remember the flash and knowing straight away that i had stuffed my legs pretty bad. I let my kite go and felt my ankle to discover that skin was all that attached it to my leg. It was at that point i was hit by a reasonable sized wave and i remember watching my toes kick my knee as my lower leg flopped around in all that turbulant water. The feeling of the bones grinding on each other was freaking disgusting. Perhaps in heinsite I shouldnt have ditched my kite as I could have used it to drag me in, however when you have a fall like that you want both hands to go to the wounded area and the kite was just in the way. Swimming in was a real challenge (lucky i was at the inner shore break and not out the back when it happened). I always wear an impact vest to absorb big falls and that flotation saved my ass. Those that ride at the Sunny Coast know that there is a very short wave period (waves keep coming one after the other) so everytime the waves hit my leg would get thrown all over the place. When I got to the beach a women and her dog came over to me... i smile when I think of the look on her face when she saw the leg, the poor women, she made this moaning gurgle sound totally repulsed and asked how she could help trying not to look at it. I got her to go up the beach and get help which she did, waiting at the waters edge constantly getting bombarded by waves really sucked. Two guys came and dragged me up the beach we made a sling and waited almost 2 hours for the ambos.
I ended up getting internal bleeding in the calf known as Comparment syndrome so they had to cut the calf down both sides, cut it in half and then pull it out either side of my leg... All I will say is lucky I am in private cover... if I had of continued to keep waiting at Nambour the chances are I would have most certainly lost my leg.
Here is a pic (the black area is whree the bone is broken)
The Xray (I dont know wtf those squiggles are?)
And a vid (dont show ur wives)
Unfortunately I must sell my kites and board to pay for my medical bills...
an 11m TD2
and a 14m TD2
plus a brand new (two week old christmas present to myself) Cabrina Custom 138.
anyone interested call my mobs 0404 755 035 or PM me.
