OUCH!

On February 6, two weeks ago, I took the afternoon to take the CIY out again. The weather was very nice though the wind forecast was for very light winds. I figured I could get some practice in on my rowing and work on the rigging some as well. I've got to figure out how to make hoisting that lug sail easier.

When I arriced at the Chickamauga ramp, I discovered that they were working on the pier. I had used the pier for the first launch, but figured I wanted to see if I could launch from the ramp like I used to do with the SD11. 

After rigging the boat, I backed her down. The ramp is wide but with the construction vehicle and another tow vehicle/trailer at the ramp, there wasn't much room for me to back down and slide Dicsiple Ship off to the side. And there was a little east wind blowing so the boat went to the wrong side of the trailer. Had it been summertime, I would have gotten in the water and taken care of it. I sat there with the boat for probably 10 minutes trying to figure out what to do without getting wet or scrapping the boat all up. Finally, a construction worker asked if he could help. I gladly accepted his offer. He held the boat while I parked the trailer. I jumped in the boat and rowed out into the lake a little ways.

I dropped my rudder and went to sit down on the center thwart. I was standing in the cockpit on top of the removable floor and thinking I was closer to the seat than I actually was and without looking back I sat. I missed the seat!!!!! I crashed into the sharp, square edge of the thwart. It caught me about midway up my back. Hurt like crazy! Oh, I thought, this could be bad: I mean broken vertebra bad or something. The pain subsided so I continued with the outing.

I decided to row a bit. My oars are not exactly identical. When I cut the handles, they are a little different. It even seems like my leathers are not the same distance from the ends. How can that be??? I need to check that. Rowing was ok but it is definitely going to be something I've got to work on. 

There was a  little breeze, so I hoisted the lug sail. My mizzen was already though not sheeted in. Again, it was hard to get all the way up. Those last 8-12" are hard. I wasn't able to get it all the way up until after trying 4 or 5 times. 

In any case, the boat will move with little more than a whisper of wind. 

After a total of a couple hours I went back in. Retrieval and packup went smoothly. It appears I'm launching and retrieving in about 30 minutes each. With practice this should get quicker. I'd like to get it down to 15 minutes, 20 tops.

I could feel my back tightening up as I packed up. Everyone knows when you sustain an injury, if you keep the muscles warm you can still function for a while. Once they start cooling off, then you feel it.

I drove home and began backing the boat into her spot. I used the mirrors well into the driveway. As I got closer to her parking space, I turned in my seat to look directly behind me. That's when it happened: my back snapped!!!! Something popped and my back froze up instantly. I could hardly move. 

I managed to get inside and told Robin we had a problem. We wound up at the ER for six hours that evening: nothing broke. I saw my PCP on Thursday and she prescribed a different muscle relaxer and prednisone and ordered a MRI which I had this past Friday. Though we're still waiting on the read-out from the MRI, her diagnosis was a herniated disc. 

It's been two weeks and I'm much improved though far, far from 100%. From what I've read, it will take 4-6 weeks to heal. I'm guessing maybe longer than that. I'm also thinking I'll have to take it easy for quite some time. I'm figuring some exercises to strengthen my core will also benefit. Funny, I just bought a Bow-flex gym in December. Hopefully, I'll be able to put it to good use. Sailing again is going to have to wait a while.

 I got a good shot of Disciple Ship at the ramp before leaving.