 Sailing
Injuries
Andrew Nathanson, MD, emergency physician at Rhode Island
Hospital and The Miriam Hospital, and Glenn Hebel, MD, director
of emergency medicine at Newport Hospital, comment on the hazards
of sailing.
If you’re sailing this summer, you may want to look up, down
and all around to avoid some common injuries—falling down open
hatches or being hit in the head by the boom, emergency physicians
say. Other common injuries include: tripping over ropes, winches
and cleats; and being swept overboard.
“There is very little information available on sailing injuries,”
says Andrew Nathanson, MD, an emergency physician who is conducting
a worldwide study on sailing injuries through the Rhode Island Hospital
Injury Prevention Center. “But we do know that most injuries
on sailboats can be prevented with a little caution. You just have
to be aware of your surroundings.”
Being Swept Overboard
One of the top reasons for fatal injuries is being swept overboard—which
happened recently to 32-year-old Dutch crewman Hans Horrevoets,
who died during the Volvo Ocean Race. He was not wearing a life
vest or a safety harness in open seas.
While most recreational sailors do not go into open waters, they
should still wear a personal flotation device. “If you wear
a life jacket, your chances of survival are nearly doubled,”
says Nathanson, who is also an emergency physician at The Miriam
Hospital, and an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Brown
Medical School, both in Providence, RI.
Avoid the Boom
The second leading cause of death on sailboats is the boom, he
says. “When the boom swings across the deck and whacks someone
in the head, that person can die from a severe head injury,”
Nathanson says.
This type of injury often occurs because people don’t have
expertise in sailing, he says. “It has a lot to do with understanding
the wind and knowing how to sail. If you’re in the wrong place
at the wrong time, you are likely to get hit by the boom.”
Keep Fingers Out of Harm's Way
Glenn Hebel, MD, director of emergency medicine at Newport Hospital,
says his department sees 20 to 30 sailing-related injuries each
year in Newport, RI, one of the prime sailing destinations on the
East Coast.
“The most common sailing incidents that send people to our
emergency department are finger and hand injuries,” Hebel says,
“resulting from accidents with winches and cleats. Some of
them can be severe.”
Among the most serious sailing-related situations Newport Hospital
sees are patients with head injuries caused by a sailboat’s
boom, cold water exposures, hypothermia and near-drowning from falling
overboard.
According to preliminary results from Nathanson’s study, the
most common injury is to the hand, followed by the head. Those injuries
are most often cuts and contusions. The top reasons: being hit by
an object; and trips and falls.
Setting Sail? Tips on how to prepare
for your voyage 
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