We have a Man (Girl) down!!

It’s been a while since i last wrote i’d got to Pozo to do some training but since then i haven’t really done a lot of sailing/training.

So let me fill you in on why…

It was all going really well. My girlfriend had turned up, we had the house sorted and forecast was looking good..  i mean really good. It was time to start proper training…  and to start proper training you need to have a video camera. Well i do anyway. I learn soo much more when i can go through the video everyday and see exactly what i’m doing wrong or right!

So off we went and invested in a camcorder nothing flash but good enough to do the job and a tripod. Booooom we were set…

The next day we were ready i sailed down to pozo (we launch about 500m upwind of pozo bay) I was properly stacked on 4m. After doing a few moves i was set to come in and walk back to the house to get the camera gear.

Then halfway through my next forward my inhaul snapped (connects the boom to the mast)..  haha..  and i had quite and funny and painful crash and had to spend 10 – 15mins trying to lash the boom to the mast and try to sail in. Some how i made it work by holding the mast..  and manged to get to the beach without going on the bunker.

Well it was obviously a sign to go and get the video camera. Well that what i thought at the time anyway so i set off back to the house to get it.

On the way back i saw Justyna busting out the forwards and they were looking really good.. controlled and clean. But it was starting to get really windy…  and she came in as she wanted to walk up with me and grab her 3.3.

I told her to just sail up and change down as it wasn’t going to drop. Anyway by the time i’d nipped home and got the video camera she was still out and looking pretty stacked.

I gave her a whistle to say i was going to film and straight away i could see she wanted to impress and get some nice moves on camera (First time we’d really had one) so she went for a few forwards. But she was getting a bit tired and was really over powered so the forwards started to go a bit end over..  still they looked pretty good. After couple of forwards she went for a pushie off a small wave and came up short..  Ooouch!!  It looked painful and i could see she’d hurt her ankle/foot…  but unlike me  (as i’m a big jessy) she put a brave face on and carried on sailing as she really wanted to do a nice forward on camera.

The next run out a steep wave popped up and i knew she wasn’t going to back down even though she was soo overpowered. I was right..  Booom…  she hit it and rotated into a forward. It was pretty high but she couldn’t control the powered and really got pulled round and landed flat on the back foot. Ooouch i thought..  but nothing too bad!!!

Hmmm… well that turned out to be the understatement of the year..  as she started waving as soon as she surfaced. Then started body dragging in..  i could hear her screaming with pain from the beach. I’ll never forget it. It was horrible…  as i thought i can’t really help i should just let her body drag in as it would be quicker. Luckily she a good body dragger!! and got in quick and with the help of a few guys on the beach we wadded out and carried her in. Now my chick can take a lot of pain so i knew it was bad…  plus her foot was blowing up like a balloon!  It was really bad…

All she was screaming was ‘when can i windsurf again?’ …tell me..  when can i windsurf again!’   haha..  you have to give it to her…  she bloody loves windsurfing! (thats my girl!)

It was horrible as she had been looking forward to this trip for soo long and hadn’t had much sailing in the winter. But this is the problem when your pushing..  it’s usually a matter of time before you get injured. I’m just gutted for her it was soo bad.

The rest of the story is pretty long. But she has broke 5 bones in  her foot with displacement and one of them is shattered. As we speak she is back in Poland and trying to get the best advise and surgeon to fix it up. (not an easy task..  when you have soo many conflicting stories)

My fingers toes and everything else is crossed that she has a full recovery. I know she will as she has the right attitude!! …I mean she was even smiling going into the ambulance!!!  (see pic)

So expect to see her back on the water at the end of the year…  and back doing stalled forward this time next year. (I’ll just be filming in secret

I’d like to say big thank you to all the guys that helped on the beach, Sarah and Stef for sorting our kit out and Jonas and the guys from Pozowinds who helped out big time. Dont think we could have managed on our own.

…and a small bit of advice to anyone going on a trip. get insurance!!!  But also have it all ready..  number to ring etc  passport number. Because when the shit hits the fan. It can slow everything down and you just dont get treated!!

I think i’m going to get Justyna to get her insurance number tattooed on her arm!!! haha