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Helmets and sailing

19K views 120 replies 36 participants last post by  GreymatterPG 
#1 ·
What are everyone's thoughts about helmets and sailing? I've taken a few hard hits from the boom over the years and I'm starting to look at wearing a helmet. What do you think?
 
#52 ·
PBzeer said:
I'm afraid you have all missed the most OBVIOUS solution to the problem. Simply cut out the cockpit floor, thereby, lowering you way underneath the boom. See? Simple.
Not exactly what I had planned when I said "lower your head", but a nice work around.
 
#54 ·
At risk of exposing myself to more Portugese charm, I would mention that hats with long bills make for accidents waiting to happen. You cannot see what the top three inches of your head is about to hit, or is about to hit your head. You will often see shipyard workers with their hard-hats reversed, with the short bill pointing over their back, as they are ducking through frames and floors all day long.

Of course, certain southern European's do not have the requisite three inches to stick in to a ball cap and must make do with some other type of prophylactic device for head covering.
 
#57 ·
First time I had to wear a hard hat on the job I knocked myself silly and ended up flat on my arse twice getting used to the extra height. Not to mention the times I hung myself on scaffoldbecause of a safety harness! I would much prefer to be careful than to give myself a false sense of security.
 
#67 ·
I was referring to the crossover of intended safety devices. Recently, those with too much time on their hands have been testing air-bags on bikes. Here, it's talk of helmets on boats. I figured, what next? How about a life jacket on a bike?
 
#68 ·
Well, now that you've all had your laugh...

Having been at my club when they brought in a guy who had been "boomed" twice in a 35 knot crash gybe (poor bastard didn't actually fall over the first time and the second time turned him into a vegetable...they pulled the plug after six days), I can certainly see a reason for some kind of head gear, just as I can see the reason for wearing the same sort of large ski goggles that are becoming quite common on racing boats. Maxi-cat crews are now donning helmets and googles as a matter of course.

I've also known of crew that have fallen off masts...AT DOCK...and have sustained devastating head injuries that a helmet might have avoided. Picture the side of a skull versus a SS dorade "cage" from four metres up, and you'll picture the problem.

I was a bike courier in the '80s before helmets were mandatory or particularly common on bicycles. I saw the results of a seemingly trivial head injury in the rehab ward, and I started to wear a "skid lid". Now, it's second nature, and the better helmets are very light and well-ventilated. My new boat has steel "lifepipes" instead of lifelines, and I can easily see that a slip in a seaway could occasion a "pipe versus head" scenario. So perhaps helmets aren't so crazy.

Recall that sailors would have deemed as unbelievably effete the use of jacklines and harnesses 100 years ago (there was a "manrope" rigged in the waist of old sailing ships in heavy weather, but that was about it). Also recall that a mere 25 years ago, even gloves would have been sneered at as somehow unmanly, as most "real" sailors had thickly callused fingers and palms from handling natural fibre three-strand. Even 20 years after my father stopped being a sailor, I can recall from childhood how beefy and roughened his palms were.

Today, of course, few sailors have palms like elephant's feet, and few consider that a bad thing. I predict that helmets for rough-weather sailing will go through the same evolution of mockery, second thought, use among the young, and finally acceptance. Even since 1999, when I bought my first boat, I've noticed the percentage of people being hauled to the masthead for maintenance who also wear helmets (usually climbing helmet-style, it seems) go from zero to about 40%.

I still rig preventers, of course, but I can see harsh conditions where having a helmet might keep me conscious were I to be thrown down the companionway or into a deck support.
 
#69 ·
Life is full of risks. We all must judge the amount of risk we are comfortable with. Some will over estimate and some will under estimate. Those who over estimate, well we have all seen the cases of Darwainian theory at work. Those who under estimate live to fight another day, but are probably less likely to procreate and thus Darwainian theory once again raises its head. In the end, not all the little turtles make it to the sea.
 
#70 ·
"As someone who grew up during the Evil Knievel era jumping my Schwin Stingray over as many trash cans as I could with no helmet,"

When bicycle helmets were a radical new thing that no one wore and no laws required, a friend of mine was knocked down by someone else during a 100 mile cycle event. He cleverly stopped his slide by hitting a granite curb with his head, and was in the hospital for a week afterwards.

That convinced us both to get and use helmets--no laws required. Since kids are dumb [as in, unlearned] and their parents are often worse, I'm in favor of some laws requiring helmets for kids for some things. I'd hate to see it for sailing, but I know what it feels like to have a glancing kiss from a boom. Memorable. UGH.

You know the noise that an aluminum hardball bat makes when someone has just hit the ball out of park? You get that same noise, but it's coming from INSIDE your head. And that's about all you can focus on for a while, that funny noise is coming from INSIDE your head.

So it's tempting, at least in rough wx, to think about taking the helmet along. If anyone asks, just put a camo cover on it and tell 'em you're on duty hunting those Al-Qaeda submarines.<G>
 
#71 ·
Amen.....T Amen......

Valiente...I feel for the loss of your friend...I am sory to hear that....Eric Tabarly (French Sailor I know...but he must have been from the South of France) also died from being hit in the head by his boom on his boat he rebuilt and sailed for 20 years, Pen Duick, and drowned never to be found...

I am not saying it is not a good idea....just don't feel it should be imposed, but above all....I strongly believe that education is better than remedy....a well educated sailor knows the boom is there.....and if he doesn't he shouldn't be there in the first place..

Fred learnt the hard way, once...never got hit again....and me too....we should be on the lookout on a sailboat....moreso with low booms...want to relax as CD does...get a boat with higher boom....

I have a 18.5' boom....I know how it moves...I know what it can do when we sail strong winds and hard....I just keep an eye...never relax on it. simple

Accidents happen, of course...but good awarness prevents them.
 
#72 ·
I'm in favor of whatever measures people wish to take for their personal safety and am against any governmental attempts to tell us what to do for our own safety.
The decision to wear a seat belt or a helmet should be mine alone to make as it affects no one else.

Now some do-gooders will justify the laws saying that my increased likelihood of hospitalization imposes a cost on society. To that I say...humbug. When you close down the fast food joints, ban alchohol and smoking altogether, outlaw sex (STD's) etc. then you can come after me and my helmet/seatbelt/lifejacket.

(Kids excepted)
 
#74 ·
T34C said:
Life is full of risks. We all must judge the amount of risk we are comfortable with.
How true! The risks are increasing of course. I used to have to worry about not having enough flares on-board. Now I have to worry about being caught with excess numbers of out-of-date flares. Ditto fire extinguishers. Ditto life-jacket self-inflating capsules. A skipper not only has to take the risk of not having enough "safety" features, he has to worry about being caught with them too. Before long, the biggest risk to happy sailing will be the local authorities.
 
#75 ·
Cam-
"The decision to wear a seat belt or a helmet should be mine alone to make as it affects no one else.
Now some do-gooders will justify the laws saying that my increased likelihood of hospitalization imposes a cost on society."

Sure enough.<G> I would rephrase you to say "The decision to wear a seat belt or a helmet should be mine alone to make if it affects no one else." The problem being, as you note, that bad decisions have become societal costs in our socialist world.

There are indeed proposals to tax fast food restaurants, just as cigarettes and alcohol are taxed. And now some outright bans on transfats in foods, which I think the food makers secretly celebrate since it allows them to compete on a level playing field--using the more expensive alternatives.

What we really need is some type of "opt-in or opt-out" system, where the choice and the responsibility can be tied together. So if someone is in a car wreck and their seat belt says "Hi, I haven't been used this week" their health care won't be paid for by the public systems, nor will my local state police have to deal with extracting them from their windshield. If you figure out how to get that opt-in/out certification working, do let me know!

Idiens-
Are you seriously concerned about having too many expired flares and such? For a while there were internet rumours in the US and a coupe of badly confused uniforms out there claiming this was a citable situation, but at least here, it has long been clarified that all you need is the currently mandated equipment, the presence of extra equipment that is out of date, is none of their concern.
I buy my three current whatevers as needed, my pyro box stays out of date but I know they'll still work, more often than not, when kept sealed and dry. If nothing else, it will keep my mind off the rising water.<G>
 
#76 ·
hellosailor said:
Idiens-Are you seriously concerned about having too many expired flares and such?
Having up-to-date flares is a legal requirement for SOLAS ships and the stupid 3 year expiry is decreed by the IMO. It's our French and Spanish uniforms this time. They figure what's good enough for SOLAS is good enough to fine yachties with. Same with Halon (illegal 2003) and out of date fire-extinguishers, same with water induced inflation devices on life-jackets, even if they have a manual trigger too. If you have a life raft, it better be in date, but there's no fine for not having one (yet). Hell, even my ancient Sailor RT144B is illegal these days. Just to top it, I now have to pay road tax on my marine diesel.:mad:
<End of rant>
 
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