What sort of injuries occur to people after a sailing boat capsizes?

Question

What sort of injuries occur to people after a sailing boat capsizes?

Answer 1

Take a Safe Boater's class with your local Coast Guard Auxilliary.  They will teach you the proper method to safeguard yourself and your crew.  There are many possibilities when the boat goes over.  You should avoid that at all cost.  You can do that by becoming a safe boater.  You need to hone your boating skills to avoid such dangers.  Good Luck.

Answer 2

Read the books Adrift and 66 days adrift

Answer 3

some die

Answer 4

With only very rare exceptions - NONE.

Answer 5

broken bones, lacerations, dehydration, hypothermia, shark bites. Depends on where you are and how the capsize occured.

Answer 6

When a sail boat goes over if is a wet boat you just tip it back up.  If it is a 30 foot or larger sloop you can get cut on just about anything.  You can break bones, drownd, get knocked out or die.  If it is a tall ship you can get tangeled in all the rigging and never get free.  That is why alot of sailors of old always had a knife with them so they could cut them selves free.  When you hit the sails they can impead your ability to swim.

Answer 7

motion sickness ;)

Answer 8

Anything can happen--getting struck by stuff can even cause an unconscious person to drown. Not being able to swim can cause a person to drown. "Hypothermia" is cold water exposure--you get weak and drown. Even prolonged exposure to 60 degree water can be fatal. Anything can happen in a capsize situation. Broken bones are always a possibility.

Answer 9

Realistically you will not get injured once you use your head.

If you can't right the boat in the first few minutes, climb onto the hull and try and keep warm - wait for help (highly unlikely unless extremely strong winds)

If you are worried about the boom hitting you on the way over wear a life jacket that supports the neck. This way if you were (incredibly unlikely) knocked unconscious it would keep you face up and safe in the water.

If you are worried about being trapped under the sail carry a small pocket knife to cut yourself through. In very very very unlikely circumstances you will need to remove your life vest first. (this whole incident happened to me once in 15 years of dinghy racing and involved swimming a little to escape)

If you're worried about pitch-poling (where the nose goes under, catapulting the boat stern over bow) which has admittedly landed me on a sand bank with considerable pain.. Then 1) get out of the breaking waves. 2) your sailing in conditions beyond your ability - Sail in.

If your worried about drowning in general, wear a life jacket, h**l wear a life jacket anyway, your fool hardy not to in a dinghy.

If your worried about sharks, go scuba diving with them, only way to confront it..

If your worried about turtles biting your nether regions wear a cup..

I'm out of if's but I think I've got most of them. I race lasers in Ireland during the winter - We have a whole lot of capsizes (30-40 each sunday morning ish) and I've never seen an injury.

Hope that eliminates most of your worries!

Answer 10

Anything between getting wet to death.