Postby pmaggie » Tue Dec 04, 2018 9:58 am
Good to hear you're ok. I think that a dangerous day always comes, it's not a matter of being expert or not. Sometimes all the negative variables go to the same direction and it's the perfect storm. It's quite "easy" once (and if) you're back home to find the mistakes you made, the truth is probably that what you decided to do was the best it was possible for you in that situation. In italian we call this "senno di poi", that means more or less "the cleverness of the day after". The important thing is that you eventually came back alive to the shore. In my (very long) windsurfing career, I risked to drown just one time but I remember the day perfectly. Basically, I made no mistakes, it just happened: it was blowing about 30 knots, I was on a small board and small sail, perfectly trimmed, enjoying my session like a child. I began to jibe but as soon as I tried to detach from my harness, a sudden gust pushed me strong. The sail rotated together with me and I found myself under the sail. I immediately try to detach from the harness but I immediately understood it was not possible, since the harness rope during the crash had rotated completely, making a "knot" on the harness hook. I was without air, under the sail and unable to detach. Panic. Pushed by desperation, I gave a strong shot up to the sail and I breathed a little, than I managed to detach not the hook from the sail but the harness from my body. I eventually left the harness and took air again. It was really, really frightening. From that day, I never used again an harness without a system to immediately release the hook.
Last edited by
pmaggie on Tue Dec 04, 2018 3:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.