Just picked up a new impact vest that I’m really digging. Lighter and lower profile than anything else I’ve seen and has decent protection that extends pretty far down my torso. It is built for wakeboarding and the impact protection isn’t the thickest, but it strikes a good balance of protection / flexibility for my needs. Fits very snug. I found it for $130.
My friend got his cheek gashed to the bone by foil a few weeks ago winging.
Could have tore his eye out if it was an inch higher.
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Riding razor sharp Gong foils 2 weeks ago. Freak weird taco.
I dulled the trailing edges since.
Met a French lady who cut her calf so deep with the F-one tail about 2 months ago, she required extensive stitching and 1 unit of blood
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So far my worst injury has probably been a sprained ankle when I scorpioned with a foot stuck in the strap. I would think straps make injury more likely in a crash, as you are less able to eject the board away from you.
I’ve made a habit of:
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when taco-ing trying to get a hand on the mast near the fuse to push it under
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crossing my forearms over my face when I don’t have control of the board
I have no qualms about taking my trailing edges to the sand paper these days.
Lose a knot at the top end but save a trip to the doctor .
Hit my Gofoils multiple times, nothing ever happened.
Hit my not yet dulled Gong once and I have a big gash. Even my recoil leash got almost completely cut when hit the Gong stab.
Cedrus masts are awesome for that with the hard rubber like trailing edge. Zero risk.
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woooow! Just hit my head proning today. Was stupid enough to go out not wearing my helmet, and had to take 4 stitches. Did you lose any hair in that area? I dont know if I should be worried
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This thread is a great reminder that things can go wrong unexpectedly and we need to minimize the chances of that by not doing things that stack the odds against us. For example:
entering and exiting in shorebreak – even when small, there’s still power and this can lead to some nasty situations, let alone when it’s big;
sanding down sharp edges – my Code 120R tail is great but has super sharp tail corners;
wear a helmet;
be really careful on low speed situations – don’t try to save it just jump off.
I’ve gotten really lucky so far but need to take precautions and not be a dumb ass. PSA to all other frothers who temporarily lose good judgement when conditions are foil firing! These pics are a great way to help me/ us think twice about potentially dangerous situations.
We can’t be too careful.
It was a very light traffic day and. Very light wind day and a skilled winger. And the worst thing ever happen.
Last month we had a fatality.
One of our local wing crew at our go to lake near Atlanta Ga “Collided” (IMO was hit by) a high power pontoon boat.
At this time it is still under investigation and no final report. So yeah, be careful guys.
I picked up a nice ding during the mullet run in Cocoa last year. I since wear the padded Dakine hat with the chin strap, every time. In fact, I was wearing it without the chin strap when I got whacked. 
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Yeah this is my concern too, my harbour has a lot of boats - I wear a bright rashie over the wettie if I am out there on the FD specifically so the boats see me. Black wetsuit / black helmet in foul weather (windy and chasing bumps) make it hard to see us.
If I am on the surf side (no boats) I dont bother with the high viz rashie. I always wear the helmet though as a relative noob.
Low speed situations - yes! I broke ribs coming back down after a stalled paddle up on the DW SUP. I stalled, the board yawed crazy fast and before I could even get my arms out, the rail caught me in the ribs with my full weight folding over the rail. So painful. Impact vest may have only helped a little, but I wear one now!
I had that same thing happen several months ago SUP surfing… wore an impact vest for a couple months after but I’m a goldfish and forget what we were talking about.
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