Medic
Last weekend, a friend approached me in his boat. Everything was normal, except for the fact that he was holding a white paper napkin over his eye. Apparently, he had just released a mooring in a nearby mooring field where the water was especially choppy and as he progressed from the fore-deck to the cockpit, a particularly frenzied series of waves hit the side of the boat and he went flying into the cockpit of the boat. He hit the floor hard with his head causing his sunglasses to jam again his eye socket prior to flying off, while his arms and legs hit various seat components on his path to the floor.
Luckily, the sunglass pressure caused only a couple of small cuts, and the rest of his body, while bruised, was not badly hurt. The whole incident happened to an experienced boater in less than 6 seconds and could have resulted in really serious injury. Lessons learned – in high risk situations, slow down and use extra care; know how to call for help, if necessary; and keep a complete medical kit on board, complete with a mirror for self-viewing to enable self-care if boating without a crew.
