ottog1979 |
05-23-2007 1:44 PM |
I'll share another one. About 5 years ago I was on a short vacation in the Carribbean staying at a bay front resort hotel. A triathlete, I wanted to swim for a bit but the roped off "swimming area" was about the size of a basketball court. Too small, boring. So, used to open water swimming here in the La Jolla Cove, I decide to swim from the beach to an area about 200 yards off shore where there are approximately 30 boats moored. There weren't many boats around that afternoon and my thinking was that my only exposure was the open water until I got to the mooring area where no boats would be speeding through. The first half of the plan went just fine - I even waived to a few sail boaters on their moored yachts. <BR> <BR>Well... on the way back to the beach, I'm cranking along enjoying the clear water when I get a hard bump on the shoulder and then get spun like wiping out in 10 foot surf. As soon as I surface, I realize what's happen and see the speedboat pulling away. I do a body check and while thankfully everything's attached, I see that I have a two inch gash on my hand and am bleeding significantly. I decide to yell help to a kid on the pier about 50 yards away just in case I pass out before anyone sees me. At this point the boater realizes, stops, asks if I'm OK (reply was no!) and then ties up to the pier which I'm attempting to swim to. I make it there kicking while grasping my bleeding hand with the good one. The boater pulls me out and takes me down the beach to the hotel, blood all down the front of me from my hand. We hook up with my date and friends and they start to take over. <BR> <BR>Long story short, after making a scene in the hotel lobby, I get an exciting ride in the ambulance to the hospital, find out my arm is also broken, get patched up and on a plane the next day back to CA. The surgeon there puts a metal plate in my arm to heal the broken bone and I have 20 stitches in my palm. Today looking at me, you wouln't know something like this ever happened. <BR> <BR>But I was extremely lucky. I'm pretty sure that the lower unit hit my forearm in the area of my wrist and broke it. Then as my arm was swinging out of the way, the prop must have hit the palm of my hand causing the gash. Now if I was only one foot further ahead when the boat passed over... I shiver when I think about how close that really was. <BR> <BR>Been around boats growing up and all my life. Never in a million years did I think such an incident was a possibility for me. <BR> <BR>Barefoot Skier's right - Be careful out there.
|