Sailors’ Stories

Sailing and Concussions:
My Story at USODA 2015 Nationals
Sailors’ Stories
by Matias Martin, USA 19032
Photograph courtesy of the Martin family
The second race of the day was about to
start. The first one was difficult because
the wind was light and shifty and there was
current. Even the race committee was having
trouble getting the last fleet (yellow)
to start their first race due to the unstable
conditions. But now the wind was picking
up and I was getting ready, hoping to do
better in steady medium wind (I realized
later that the wind was much stronger
than I thought).
I was at the pin and decided I would
rather go to the committee boat to start.
So I maneuvered to gybe, but right in the
middle of it the boom suddenly came
and bang! hit my head with strength and
knocked me into the water. The next thing
I knew I was in the water and my boat was
turtling. I couldn’t reach the center board
to turn it back up and my head was hurting
badly. I weigh just 51 pounds so it is
usually challenging for me to turn my boat
up when I capsize, but I normally manage
to do it anyway.
However, this time I felt something was
wrong, my forehead felt like it was burning
and I was floating away from my boat.
Luckily, the safety boat noticed I was in
distress. I don’t remember much of what
happened except for Coach Amanda coming
to help me and being taken to shore by
another safety or Coast Guard boat. Once
on land, I was helped by a doctor. Fortunately
I didn’t have a cut, only a scratch
above my left eye. I was covered with a
blanket and had an ice pack on my forehead.
The doctor said I had a concussion.
What is a concussion? According to
the dictionary, it is a “temporary unconsciousness
caused by a blow to the head”
or “a violent shock as from a heavy blow.”
It is also defined as “a traumatic brain
injury.” The term is used loosely as to the
symptoms such as confusion or temporary
incapacity.
Sounds serious, doesn’t it? And it certainly
is, even if not life-threatening.
Usually people associate concussion with
contact sports such as soccer, rugby and
football. However, concussions happen
everyday in any activity and, of course, can
happen in sailing. In a study published by
University of Colorado, concussions and
head injuries constitute 10% of all sailing
injuries and 25% of all severe injuries and
they usually happen while gybing or tacking
or just by an accidental boom swing.
It is recommended that the person who
suffers a concussion rests and refrain
from physical activity for a week or more
depending on the severity of the injury. So
for me, the worst part of the incident was
that I wasn’t able to race for the remaining
days of the regatta. This was extremely
disappointing as that was half of the event
(or more, considering there were more
races per day on the last two days), and
removed my chances to qualify for Team
Trials. Even though the regatta committee
said the next day that it was up to sailors
and parents to decide whether to race or
not after the concussions (mine was not
an isolated case: one sailor was taken by
ambulance to the emergency room, which
was pretty scary…), I decided to follow
doctor’s orders. After all, I have potentially
five more Nationals to compete in, but I
have only one brain!
Helmets Anyone?
by Guiye Walas, Matias Martin’s
mother
A possible preventive measure to
avoid serious injury with a concussion
might be the use of helmets, just like
football players do or as it is advised
for riding a bike (even required by
law in some states like Washington).
America’s Cup sailors wear helmets.
Recently, MIT (Massachusetts Institute
of Technology) established rule #3
within its rules and regulations for
sailing: “Each person using MIT sailing
dinghies must always wear protective
helmet on his/her head”.
Should Optimist sailors start wearing
helmets, too? That is something
we might want to consider perhaps
if not for all events, just for high
wind venues or specific events with
unstable weather conditions. Still, the
percentage of incidents is relatively
low when sailing a small dinghy such
as the Optimist: if we think about the
second day at Nationals 2015, there
was about one case in 100 sailors;
however, in most regattas the number
of concussions reported is just zero.
So far, it is up to the individual sailors
and their families. If you are contemplating
getting a helmet for the next
regatta, there are some being designed
specifically for sailing and water sports
that you may want to check out: Nutcase,
GY, Liquid Force, PROTEC and
NRS are just a few of the many brands
available in the market. Like with any
other helmet, besides a cool design
and comfort, make sure it fits right!
Safe sailing everyone!
USODA.org Sailors’ Stories Issue 2015 15