Nicholas Cryder

Jul 1 2021 #29531
WARNING: *Graphic* Surfski Paddling Injury and Rescue

Hey everyone,

Going through a lot lately and haven't been around much, but I am posting something very different, and very personal to drive awareness and discussion around injury and paddling safety. This conversation is geared for the more advanced surfski and outrigger paddlers in our community, but should be fruitful for those just entering the wonderful sport of surfski and everyone in between. Three weeks ago I was injured coming in through the surf in southern California near Morro Bay. A wave I thought I had dialed doubled up in size and broke over the top of me (will try to post a video of the impact zone, not for the faint of heart). The force was unbelievable, and I instinctively tried to save a bad fall and did a high brace into the top of the face of the breaking wave. Dumb. Move. I heard an explosive crack as I was suddenly buried in white water. When I came up, my shoulder was numb and I watched my ski blast off through the surf and be spit by the ocean onto the beach. I was able to swim in with one hand, and feeling returned to my numb arm. I collected my ski, was amused at the power of the car accident-like impact and shook off the attendant soreness like a football player after a brutal hit. Hours turned into days, and days into weeks. I kept paddling, including some incredible wilderness downwinds and wonderful offshore open ocean romps. Life was good. Only it wasn't, I just didn't know it. Flash forward to a 104º day of record heat on Diablo Lake in the North Cascades National Park last Sunday, and you have a sublime recipe for a reality check. A routine brace on a modest wake in my V14 that I have set up for flatwater racing (micro weedless rudder and 1“ seat pad) revealed that I had actually completely fractured my shoulder socket, I just didn't know it… yet. Please watch this video. Please reflect on your injury, prep and safety practices. No one is above an emergency. Learn from this. I did. Had this injury been revealed in any of the water I usually paddle in, I might not be here to post this video for you.

https://youtu.be/kIhUnbVsojE

As an aside, met with the surgeons today, and happily the labrum and rotator cuff are remarkably intact - but they are attached to a shoulder socket that is completely fractured all the way through, and the ball has a nice shark bite. They found it very weird that I have some degree of mobility and am not in nuclear pain. As you all know quite well, I am very weird, so I just had to try to explain. Surgery soon. Recovery soon after. Prost.

With love,

Nicholas Cryder

Larry Bussinger
Jul 2 #29532

Ouch! Good luck on healing.

Larry Bussinger

Nicholas Cryder
Jul 2 #29535

Thanks Larry - just want to stress that the reason we made this video is to get people thinking about injury diagnosis as a crucial, but often overlooked aspect of paddling risk assessment. So please feel free to share this video out.

Nicholas Cryder

Tom Halsted
Jul 2 #29536

Thanks for sharing this, Nicholas.
I am seeing a surgeon on Monday, to assess my “missing” subscapularis and some other cuff damage over the last year or so.
Your post is making me take a serious look at doing ANY paddling while I figure out my shoulder stuff.
On the bright side, my ongoing PT is helping immensely. However, given your experiences, I am ratcheting up my caution, instead of my paddling game.

-Tom

Ian Bolden
Jul 2 #29538

Thank you for sharing this Nicholas!

The video was hard to watch from an emotional standpoint (I wasn't sure what I was going to see) but very much worthy of viewing. What a crazy experience to go through and definitely very challenging to keep a cool head (for both of you) when the natural response would be panic. Very well handled!
Sending healing vibes your way and hopes for a successful and speedy recovery.

Ian Bolden

Reivers Dustin
Jul 2 #29540

Excellent discussion seed. Injuries can be insidious. Pain is a very poor measure of severity, especially regards chronic or repetitive stress problems. I was 'lucky' in my own lessons. This was emphasized by raising a son who has an unusual pain threshold. I had a couple of bad scenes with my mis-handling of his injuries and with school staff. For whatever reason, our bodies can mask a long cascade of damage.

You shure as hell 'go big' Nicholas. Work this event like you do, buddy. You'll be back.

rd

Jeff Hegedus
Jul 2 #29544

Thanks for sharing Nicholas, and I am sorry that you are injured. Regarding safety practices, this emphasized for me the need to always wear a PFD, regardless of ability or conditions, from a hot flat day on Lake Padden to OC1 in Hawaii, because unforeseen personal medical emergencies can arise at any time. Good luck with surgery and rehab.

Nicholas Cryder
Jul 2 #29545

Respectfully disagree Jeff.

The “life jacket” is often helpful, sometimes crucial but not always. In this instance it would not have helped one bit in any helpful dimension, and would have been a very unhelpful impediment for me to swim to shore with one handed. It would have also made getting a sling in place harder, and the aid afterwards. At the end of the day, our safety decisions are personal and and not one size fits all.

As an example, LA County Lifeguards will not let people go thru the surf zone with them on because of the entanglement risk. Food for thought.

Reivers Dustin
Jul 2 #29546

Well spoken Jeff and Nicholas. I've really fumbled trying to get my point of view out on this. The boat is primary floatation. OTOH, PFD has saved the most lives. PFD rules for almost every water based activity out there. PFD is clearly vital for general public near water hazard. But for racing (rowing, OC boats, surfski … human powered stuff), PFD needs to fit the system.

So governing bodies I guess don't have much choice. It's the law and it needs to be enforced. Not practical to write rules for everything people do. An old saying is, “no such thing as perfect policy”.

Years ago Morris was a good case in point. This guy is part sea lion. He would be seen with his legs wrapped around the outside of the 'ski when he dumped. The air/water interface was just a fun feature for him. Not some sphincter-puckering, place of trepidation. He admonished us to get skills, not gear.

rd

Paul Reavley
Jul 2 #29547

Most of us sort out our probabilities not with statistics but according to what we have actually experienced. Psychologists call this the application of “heuristics”. Heuristics are the generalizations we accept about the working of the world, drawn from the grab bag of what we've seen personally or what we've heard from trusted sources like friends and relatives.
James R. Chiles, Inviting Disaster: Lessons from the edge of technology

I can't draw much of a conclusion from Nicholas's experience. Was it painful enough to have potentially caused a blackout and if so would the absence of a PFD still have been beneficial? At what point in the distance that one has to swim, does having a PFD and the ability to rest start to outweigh its hindrance in swimming with only one arm? What is the probability of my having a dislocated shoulder given the type of paddling I do, versus the probability of other possible health problems, injury or equipment problems where I clearly would want to be wearing a life jacket? I could be far from having a real statistical grasp of all of the relative risks involved when I go on various paddling outings (not the least of which are now age related for me), but until someone provides me good solid evidence/data to do otherwise I am going to generally stick with wearing a PFD, particularly when I paddle alone, on the bay, where there is boat traffic, on cold water, on large bodies of water, etc., etc.