fell hard, broke rib??

[Father of 5]

I was in the couse the other day, long line, 30 mph. I was going from #2 to #3 when I fell pulling hard in the wake. I have never fallen that hard in 20 years. It has been a week and I still hurt bad. I either broke a rib or tore something in my chest. Has anyone had a fall like that? Are there any vests out there that protect better from these types of injuries? We will see if my summer is over...
Thanks, Charles

[canuckskier]

Charles,

I feel your pain. Two weeks ago, I bruised my left ribs just below my chest, and ribs in my back just above my kidney. I topped it off with a pretty nice black eye that almost swelled completely closed on me by the time the boat came to pick me up.... And it didn't take them long to turn around after that spill!!

I was just on my first attempt at 22 off and 36mph, hit a very small roller coming out of 3 ball, and the rest is a blur.

Usually I have video running, but I told my wife not to waste the battery, as I didn't expect a very impressive run since it was my first time at that line length going 36. Needless to say, I regret that, it sounds like it was quite the spill.

As for safety, I wear an oneill outlaw vest, and the padding near the important ribs(around the heart) is quite good, I'm sure if I was wearing a thinner vest it could have been alot worse!

I also have dual boots, and am pretty sure they also saved me from any leg or knee injuries. ( I have had 3 acl reconstructions, so the knees are a weak spot for me) The key is to make the binding equally tight, so either they both fall off, or neither fall off ( I choose the latter)

Anyways, I thing cracked ribs are okay as far as healing time, hope you make it back on the water before summer's up!

Cheers

[tarkus70]

3 confirmed broken ribs here. July 4th weekend I can say I feel your pain



Scott

[Ian Brantford]

Jet Pilot makes siped vests (for wakeboarding). The sipes really do help to cut into the water on impact, rather than slamming against it. It's similar to the difference between good tires and bald tires in wet conditions. I expect that there are other brands with sipes too.

My two Jet Pilot vests aren't legal floatation gear. They have about half the floatation of a full vest. If I shop for more, I'll look at the marketplace again to see if there are any that are thicker (and maybe even legal). Even without the extra floatation and padding, I still prefer them to any non-siped vest.

[Smrtz]

I have jet pilot vests also however they are the ones that are certified by the coast guard as floatation devices. They offer more padding and obviously more float than the tournament vests. I was concerned at first that the thicker padding would interfere with movement but they really are still very good.
Ill take a little more constriction to broken ribs any day!!

[Father of 5]

Thanks for the feed back,
It's been two weeks and I still have some pain. Pulling an engine in and out of my wifes suburban may have something to do with that. I talked to a friend of mine who is a chiropractor and he thought I probably broke the cartilage from the rib to the sturnum in my chest. He said it would take a while to heal. I also appreciate the feed back on the vests. I was skiing in a soft neoprene style vest USCG approved ( I believe it was a Stearns) not a very thick vest. I thought about trying the older style vest that are stiff and covered with rubber but didn't know if I would have enough movement. They are much tougher vest though. I will also look at the Pilot vest. It is hard to figure out what is what from the catalogs and lack of descriptions. I also haven't been able to see what some of the pros ski in. You have to figure they have a great deal of experience with injury and how to avoid it.
Thanks, Charles

[BensonWdby]

Beware of the old style vests. I think the ones you mention are coated ensolite. I have not seen them on the market in a long time. The last one I had split in half and separated on me during a hard fall. Not to mention the rub-rash on the insides of my arms.

I fall as hard as anyone I know, just check out the crash video at the link below.

I use the standard nylon jacket with ensolite inserts. Only had problems a couple of times. Once was knocked out cold. One time I did get an inner chestwall injury, but ribs were OK. That one had a delayed reaction of about 3 days, but ended up with an ambulance ride thinking I was having a heart attack (at 33).

Wearing a close fitting wet suit top under a standard vest may be helpful. I used to wear a wet suit all the time, mostly for protection. Seemed to work.

Strangely enough I found the best way to avoid the kind of falls I was having was to go faster and shorter. Now when I fall it is usually because I know have too much slack to recover from so I just let go, and it is usually in the slowest part of the turn.

Get well soon.
Dave

[gotmyboat]

Great video. When were you filming me??

We had a family friend take a pretty hard wreck on Sat. She is 15 and a good slalom skier. She was coming through the wake and buried the tip. She came out the front an hit hard. She has a concussion and has lost her short term memory. She can't remember anything from the last 2 weeks. She kept asking the same questions over and over. The CT scan showed normal, but the doc says it can take months for the memory to return. We are still very freaked out. I could still work with broken ribs or a torn ACL, but without a memory I would be SOL. Just a freak accident, but strange things can happen.

Be Safe!!

Dave

[BensonWdby]

The first weekend we had our boat out my son, had just turned 16, clocked hijmself on the wakeboard. Did what we call a Scorpion, face first with board coming back toward head. Did not hit board, but definitely had concusion. He was never unconscious. He lost about 6 months of memory, was not even sure who mom was at first. but after about 4 hours everything came back.

He is migrating toward skiing now.

Dave

[Smrtz]

yep... wearing a helmet while wakeboarding is sooooo important... Ive posted before, and still cant say just what huge difference it makes!