Cleat inserted into arch of foot

[Will Angus]

For the sake of amusement, I?ll share a dumb move. In a momentary lapse of seamanship, balance, and luck, I was able to insert, quite far, one end of one of the cleats on the combing into, way into, the arch of my foot. Of course I had to get mad at myself for bleeding all over the boat. Any one else have safety issues due to the position of the cleats?
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[rtbates]

That had to hurt!

[Guest]

I find that you learn very quickly where to step after breaking a couple of toes!

[Reed]

Wow, that was a nasty boat bite...and yes, my wife in particular and I also have never liked the position of those coaming cleats. They are definitely hazardous. One simple way to eliminate the need for them, is to change the sheet winches to self-tailing.

Reed

formerly CD31 #51 Mary Alice, and currently J42 #65 Cayenne

[M. R. Bober]

Usually I take the top (cutting edge) of the self-tailing winch to the mid-shin. Always a great bruise;periodically a bit of blood, but hey what's sailing without cuts & bruises?

Mitchell Bober
Sunny Annapolis (where the bluebloods bleed red), MD

[bill2]

Well if I have to -

While boarding my boat with friends at her dock some years back, I chose the only damp spot on the boat to balance as I stepped aboard. You know I slipped between the dock and deck with cooler and all . Fortune was somewhat with me as I caught my balance with my other leg and came up smiling ( at least that's what my friends thought ) . They never did guess why I didn't move around very much that day - probably attributing it to old age
So the bone(s) weren't broken but to this day the doctor says I'm a quarter inch shorter on the left side and I just shrug anything more would be admitting my sea legs aren't the same.

I just remember time heals all ( at least most ).

[mike feeney]

While fending off a small powerboat which was approaching to visit I put the pointy end of it's smallish cleat into the fleshy part of my hand (between thumb and index finger. It hurt for a long time and left a gristly looking residue on the cleat.
I am much more careful now.

[guest]

From the time I was a boy my dad would never allow bare feet on the boat. 45 years later, when I'm on the foredeck with no shoes, I can still hear him saying "no bare feet". I guess he was right after all.

[Neil Gordon]

Usually I take the top (cutting edge) of the self-tailing winch to the mid-shin.

That's my favorite, too. Doesn't need to be self-tailing, either.

[SeaBelle]

I have a 'no bare feet' rule although one sailing buddy continously tests the rule; I suspect he thinks its 'salty'.

The reason for my rule is not to be against saltiness but rather my belief that a stubbed toe involuntarily cancels the 'one hand for the boat and one for yourself' rule. I don't want anyone overboard.

When images of barefooted crew climbing to the yards come to mind, we must remember life was cheaper in those days. Loss of life and limb was accepted then but not now.

[Carter Brey]

The protruding rain deflector flange over one of the Spartan portlights was what convinced me to stop going barefoot on board. I had just finished laboriously scrubbing the deck-- including the nonskid-- when I ripped open a toe on that flange.

Despite my pain and foul language as I put on a bandage and cleaned up the mess, there was a part of me that found it amusing that my little sloop, just like a ship of the line at Trafalgar, had blood running from the scuppers.

Arr!

[Neil Gordon]

... we must remember life was cheaper in those days.

Sure. And shoes weren't.

[Didereaux]

Aha! Now we know why you are moving up in size...no, not the implied more comfort. You want a boat big enough to carry cannons!

I can see it now..."Mary Ellen II" Capt. Horatio Brey

heheh

[Cathy Monaghan]

The cleats that provide me with the most bruises are the ones on the foredeck. I manage to bang my knees or shins on one of them nearly everytiime I flake the staysail.

I've never hurt myself on any of the winches or cleats in the cockpit though I have had a line run through my hands (have worn sailing gloves ever since) and I've managed to trip on the yankee sheet a couple of times while getting off the boat -- this usually results in losing a shoe and/or falling in the dinghy, the launch or onto a dock. I suppose some day I'll fall into the water but that hasn't happened yet.

I guess I'm just a clutz.


Cathy
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

[Paul D.]

I have plenty of dings and scrapes and quite a few scars from boat time, but my favourite, and most public mishap came upon my first bareboat charter trip. Four of us had a wonderful sail and were just coming into an island park dock where several other boats lay tied up.

I made a good approach, the right speed, angle and all. Then I jumped to the concrete dock with the line. After feeling my legs fling forward and not letting go of the line, I knew something was amiss. The line was too short and in the drink I went, much to the amuzement of my crew and the others 'round the dock.

Since it was Lake Superior, and May, I simply bounced off the water and found myself on the dock very, very quickly with only a few gashes on my foot. To this day I always check dock lines to make sure they are longer than half the boat length! My pride was somewhat saved that trip by the fact that my crewmate messed in his own pants after a rather bad burger ashore. We were even. Needless to say, our partners had a lot of laughs that trip. The is no greater humbler than sailing, and no greater joy than walking away and learning from those humbling experiences.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Paul