Sept 5 2008

Another light wind day in CC at Packery Channel on the 12m and skim board. Still working on the shuvit transitions and trying some small ollies and I mean small. I'm getting better at the shuvits, but the ollie thing has me a little baffled. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it someday. Anyway, I was having a great time on the skim board and decided I would try a flat 360 spin and keep riding in the same direction. Well I made it about 270 degrees around and caught my edge,looped my kite and drug myself through about 4" of water. In the process of dragging along I put my right hand down in the water or really on the bay bottom and slid across a couple of oysters. I waswarned that there are some oysters in the Packery area and I was wearing booties but I didn't think about crashing in the shallows and what would happen if some other body part came in contact with the oysters. There I was sliding along with my hand on the bottom when I felt this sharp sting like you would get if you poured saltwater on a wound. When I came to a stop I looked at my and my index finger and ring finger had many super deep cuts and there was blood everywhere. I've cut myself many times before, but I've never seen my own flesh look like raw hamburger. I was worried that I'd need stitches and that I'd be out of commission for awhile. I walked upwind to my skim board and rode back to the beach and self landed my kite and went to the van to get the first aid kit. I'm washing the wounds with fresh water when this lady comes walking around the van and asks if I'm alright. I said that I was fine and that I might just need a few stitches. Turns out that shes an ER nurse in San Antonio and she takes a look and said there's no need for stitches because there's no where to stitch. Remember the hamburger reference? Well I washed my fingers up with soap and water and then poured hydrogen peroxide on them followed by some large bandages. My fingers did'nt hurt all that bad and the wind was still steady so I put some duct tape over the bandages and went back out for another session where I made sure to stay in the deeper water.

wind 15mph
water temp 86f
air temp 96f