It was last summer when a guy dropped in on me and took me out at the shins. I still remember the split second thought I had when I saw the surfboard slide down the wave face in front of me.

There was no way for me go but right at that board but I saw it was a foam board and immediately knew getting hit by that foam board was not going to do me damage. Isn’t the common saying about a foam board is that they are safe? You don’t have to worry about getting hurt when using a foam board?

Well a few weeks ago I learned differently…. I got run over by a foam board. Some how when the board and surfer went over me my right hand little finger got torn open. I didn’t feel anything but while paddling back to the line up I notice blood on my surfboard and in the water around me. Looked at my hand and saw the damage.

My finger wasn’t cut, it was torn open and deep. The guys around me were asking what happened and looking at my finger as I was holding the wound closed so as not to continually bleed. I had to paddle in. Got out of my wetsuit, had one of the morning crew guys help me get a bandage around my finger to contain the bleeding and headed home. When home I cleansed the wound and put a new bandage on then went straight to Urgent Care.

Because my finger was torn open it couldn’t be stitched. Instead the doc had these narrow pieces of tape the she could pull the wound shut with by wrapping the half dozen pieces of tape around my finger. As my finger began to heal over the following 3-4 days the tape started falling off.

So docs orders… stay out of the water for 10 days. Until the finger is healed.

I missed out on a little bit of surf but, not much. After 10 days a decent south swell shoed up and I got some of it.

After all the gory details what’s the lesson… you actually can get hurt from a foam board. No doubt I’m not the only one that’s taken a hit from a foamy.

Accidents happen and usually can be avoided but avoiding them in real time doesn’t happen. It usually only happens in the instant replay. You know the one that plays through your head constantly… If I had done this then that wouldn’t have happened. At least the replay can help us to remember and possibly avoid or repeat the same thing again.

D.R.