[robertovillate]

I got stung about 2 years ago at Lassing Park while teaching...TWICE on the same foot, about 30 minutes apart..how's that for probabilities?...and yes - it hurts like hell.

My student was a surgeon whose advice was to immediately soak in hot water (as hot as you can take without burning yourself) to denature the toxin...then allow wound to remain open to drain toxins and contaminants for a few days...DO NOT ALLOW TO SCAB OVER RIGHT AWAY.

Also, if the barb is broken off inside you must have this removed immediately otherwise serious infection will follow. Under any circumstances it's not a bad idea to see a doctor to make sure you do not have complications.

In my case, I followed the initial advice - I was able to get very hot water from my van cooktop...and this killed the pain almost instantly - and I kept soaking in refreshed hot water for the next hour.

What I did wrong: I kept going into the water for the next few weeks. 4 weeks later I was in the OBX and my foot was severely infected - the physician that I finally saw there was very concerned and wanted to put me in the hospital. It took a month of antibiotics to get it under control...not a good situation.

A few weeks ago, while in the OBX, another kiter got hit WHILE RIDING HIS BOARD (which I did not know could happen) when we were doing a downwinder. Apparently the stingray schools will swim near the surface and they will lash out if scared or threatened. Another friend in the OBX who is a commercial fisherman say that when a stingray is accidentally netted or hooked everything stops on the boat and the stingray is "handled" very cautiously...look what happened to Steve Irwin!

Certain rays are worse than others...the cow nose rays are a "pelagic" species (usually swimming around in small schools- and beautiful to watch as your ride over them) and the barbs are closer to their bodies and not as dangerous, but the devil rays are bad though and they lurk in the sandy bottom often difficult to see. The rays start showing up in numbers during April when the water warms up.

watch out...not a fun experience getting stung.