Serious Head Injury

[ricki]

The rider suffered serious scalp lacerations requiring 20 stitches and about 40 staples as shown in the photos below.







He also broke his shoulder, collar bone and fractured a vertabra. He is having trouble seeing out of his right eye at present. The kiteboarder was in hospital for 7 days and was released about a week ago.

It seems unlikely given the speed of travel thatthe kiter hit an actual rock head first but more likely suffered severe abrasions and lacerations while scraping across the hard uneven rock bottom nearshore.

He is planning on making custom kiteboards (with one arm until his shoulder heals) and shooting kiteboarding photography as he recovers.

The rider plans to condition through swimming and rehab then climb back on the horse that threw him (kiteboarding) as he really loves the sport and beat the fear demons out of himself.

He tells me he is going to hand out copies of one of those scalp injury photos to others in the future along with a warning to wear a helmet when kiteboarding. He told me this story because he wants to try to help other people to avoid going through something like this.