Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 138 total)
  • Ever felt truly scared for your life?
  • the-muffin-man
    Full Member

    I’m not really talking about illness, but have you found yourself in a situation where you thought ‘this could be it’?

    For me this happened last Monday – my daughter (13) and myself were bodyboarding off Manorbier beach in Pembrokeshire which we’ve done on this beach several times before and on many other beaches in the UK. We’re pretty cautious bodyboarders and don’t go out too far as I like to touch the floor to bob up and down.

    We’d been out for an hour or so and the waves had dropped where we were so we moved along to another bit. All fine for 10 mins or so then suddenly we just couldn’t swim back in and the waves were breaking past us so we couldn’t catch any of those either to bring us back in.

    We drifted further and further out and when my daughter looked at me in fear and asked me if I could touch the floor I’ll admit I felt panic come over me.

    Getting myself in I could probably have just about managed, but I knew I wasn’t strong enough to drag my daughter along so the only option was to drift out further. As a stroke of pure luck I spotted a surfer about 20yds away and managed to get us over to him. He saw we were struggling and thankfully helped us back to shallow water.

    The whole incident wasn’t that long in reality but at the time it was very scary. In hindsight we would probably have been alright as we had 2 bodyboards to hang on to and were in wetsuits, but the theory of swimming sideways out of a current is fine when written down, but in that moment it felt a lot lot harder to implement!

    I’ve had many ‘oh shit this is going to hurt’ moments, but this was the first time I thought this could be it.

    scotroutes
    Full Member

    A few moments when scrambling on mountains, usually getting into a situation where progress seems impossible, reversing isn’t an option and fatigue is setting in.

    RobHilton
    Free Member

    Similar to you, OP, getting pulled further out to sea by undercurrents and having difficulty holding my breath long enough – it was **** knackering getting out of it :/

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    A few times when climbing, the main one was when I spotted I wasn’t tied in at the crux of a very nasty route.

    ChunkyMTB
    Free Member

    A few times riding, usually some very exposed Alpine stuff.

    Fall left ok, fall right = freefall

    teamhurtmore
    Free Member

    Glad you are both ok

    Three times come to mind – canoeing, WW rafting and climbing – each occasion the lasting memory was how everything went into slow motion and an almost euphoric sense of calm. Intense concentration.

    The fear hit me afterwards! Hard.

    Stoner
    Free Member

    as scotroutes.

    a couple of scrambles in the alps on loose base with a 100m+ payoff if things started moving quickly.

    user-removed
    Free Member

    Yup. About 20 years ago when I lived in Aberdeen, myself and a few friends were out on Christmas Eve for a few drinks and some food. The last chap to turn up was walking down the street waving at us as a bunch of casuals rounded the corner.

    Back then, the ASC (Aberdeen Soccer Casuals) were pretty much out of control. Vicious bastards who didn’t limit their violence to after-match shenannigans. So it was no surprise to see them.

    Anyway, this group of half a dozen headbutted my mate and pushed him down a long flight of stone steps. I legged it down the road and started punching. Needless to say, I hadn’t thought it through and the punches were very soon coming my way.

    Incredibly, I stayed upright throughout but there was certainly a moment of, “Oh shit, this is it” as my jaw and cheekbone snapped and everything went a bit fuzzy.

    Christmas dinner was liquid that year…

    5thElefant
    Free Member

    Yeah, telling wife and young son to run while squaring up to 4 turks in the middle of knowhere armed with a brick and stiff upper lip isn’t an experience I want to repeat.

    Clover
    Full Member

    In 1992 I walked over the Algerian border into Morocco. I’d had a pretty cool trip visiting a family friend and had become quite relaxed about being a woman travelling alone.

    Until I realised that I was being followed by a guy. I tried crowded streets, doubling back and stuff but I couldn’t shake him off. In the end I just went to the (crowded) station and got on the first long distance train I could get a ticket for. Got to Fez and there was no sign of him. Phew.

    bedmaker
    Full Member

    Out for a sunday stroll as a yoof, I went off piste and decided to fullow the gully up between two of the crags across the bay from Plockton. I got very stuck and couldn’t reverse, water pouring over me. After a while clinging on shaking I eventually had to make a move and managed to traverse sideways across onto the face of the crag and make my way down from ledge to ledge clinging to the vegetation.
    Gives me the heebiejeebies thinking about it 😯

    I think I was probably in the gully directly above the castle in the pic

    Pigface
    Free Member

    When I was 17 I was in a bad car crash and ended up in Hospital for 3 1/2 months. The day after I was discharged a friend picked me up in his car, i was still on crutches. He was driving his mums Opel Kadet, we took off up the road and I was feeling a bit nervous. He thought he could defy the laws of physics by throwing it into a corner, losing it and us rotating a couple of times and going backwards into someones garden. I really thought I was going to lose control of my bladder my arse everything, couldn’t speak was shaking like a leaf. I remember making some weird mewing noise. Dont remember getting out of the car but remember the homeowner going mental at us, I thought this was a bit unfsir as I wasnt the moron behind the wheel.

    Strangely never really been scared like that since in a car or on a bike.

    leffeboy
    Full Member

    Had one of those drowning whilst in the middle of a group of people things. Somehow couldn’t breath or shout and just started sinking. Managed to calm myself and get it back together. Wasn’t good though

    And machine gun to head by masked gunman. That wasn’t good

    All ok now and never really think about them.@muffin-man, if you haven’t already done so make sure you give your daughter a chance to talk about what happened. Better to get it out now. Doesn’t need to be rationalised, just expressed

    ton
    Full Member

    playing in the front row of a scrum when i was 17, the match was a open age game. the scrum collapsed inwards, whilst still on my feet my head touched the ground and our pack went forwards, with what felt like the whole of the pack on my back, neck and head.
    i was screaming but was unable to move at all. the scrum moved to the side slightly and the pressure was released from my neck.
    i blacked out and woke up in the changing rooms.

    i thought i was gonna die or be crippled.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    Similar to the OP, dinghy sailing on the sea. You’re supposed to be sensible and come in when you hit n-1 capsizes (n being the most you think you have the strength to recover from), but some days you’ve got a long downwind stint, through confused chop, and you just keep getting thrown in the water from top speed. There have been a few days when I’ve just felt like giving up, although I suppose the level headed option would be to turn around and just run it up the beach, that isn’t the way your brain works when that tired, you just keep sticking to the plan.

    the-muffin-man
    Full Member

    if you haven’t already done so make sure you give your daughter a chance to talk about what happened. Better to get it out now. Doesn’t need to be rationalised, just expressed

    Yep – we had a talk. It did shake her up and she went off on her own rock pooling for a while. She went back in the water later that day though with the wife and both of us went body boarding again at Whitesands Bay the next day in some fairly big waves. So hopefully scared at the time but it doesn’t seem to have lingered with her.

    Me – not so sure! That look on her face will stick me me for a while yet.

    How do surfers manage to get back in against currents? Is a surfboard a lot easier to paddle? Can it be taught or is it just experience?

    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    Abseiled off the end of a rope in the alps once, luckily didnt fall far and landed on snow. Bit of a worry though!
    18th july this year. Missed pedal clipping in back of leg dragged over chainring cutting it to the bone. Took about 20s to realise I had managed to miss any arteries and wasnt going to bleed to death.
    Fell off a car once too…

    yunki
    Free Member

    A few times but this is a favourite..

    An old school friend was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in his early 20s and I used to meet up with him once a month for a pint and a chat.. I don’t think he had any other friends by then and it was nice to give him a bit of company

    We had met in town one afternoon and somehow we got caught in a nostalgic moment and carried on drinking past his 3 pint safety cut off, hatching a plan to go to a punk night at one of the clubs in town..

    At some point late in the evening I spotted a deranged skinny hippie fella outside the toilets screaming about the mujahideen at a couple of terrified looking kids that had been selling hash..

    It took me a moment to realise that it was my buddy, and I grabbed him and got him outside before any trouble could kick off… We were giggling when he showed me that he’d nicked some of the drugs, and I thought it was probably best to call it a night..
    He had other ideas though and wanted to go back for the rest of their stuff..

    I was having none of it and we got into a heated discussion, he had a really crazy look in his eyes and I knew things were about to go pear shaped..
    It quickly descended into a bit of a scuffle between the two of us and the next thing I knew we were in the road, with him straddling me with his hands around my throat, all snarls and mad triumph in his eyes..
    There was zero semblance to the fella that I knew and loved..
    He was gonna kill me and after what seemed like hours of struggling, as I felt all the strength draining out of me and started to black out, I just thought what a totally shit way to die

    When I came round a couple of blokes that had been held up in their car by our shenanigans had seen it all, got out and dragged him off and he’d legged it..
    They were all for hunting him down, but I explained that he was ill and got off home
    I got a call from him the next morning from the police station.. Later that night he’d nicked a bus, driven it to the seaside and tried to drive into the sea thinking he was saving the world as he believed there was a nuclear bomb on board

    I didn’t hear from him for a few years after as he believed that I was a werewolf, but he’s doing very well now with better meds and we chat regularly on facebook, always with plenty of laughs 🙂

    n0b0dy0ftheg0at
    Free Member

    Heading towards a stationary dustbin lorry that was collecting on the Bitterne side of Northam Bridge (just past sweeping bend), doing ~20mph or so and my brakes are not stopping me. Never known ~10 metres of road feel so slow, surreal slow-motion moment.

    ~20mins or so later, I come to with paramedic over me, with my maxilla in bits; two broken metacarpels; two missing teeth; virtually every tooth chipped or cracked; split upper lip.

    What a way to start my 40s, three days past my 40th birthday, just before Xmas 2013 and days before Michael Schumacher’s terrible skiing accident.

    user-removed
    Free Member

    Christ n0b0dy! And Yunki, ever stopped to wonder if perhaps you are, in fact, a werewolf?

    Just to be greedy, I’ll post another one. Except it wasn’t my life in danger but a friend. Three of us were cycling around The Pyrenees between France and Spain. After a few months of sharing a two man tent, one of our company had had enough and took off for a few days by himself.

    The two of us noticed some castellations built into a cliff on the valley hillside on a cliff and decided to climb up and have a gander. The going went from rough to vertical and I gave voice to my misgivings. My mate was adamant that we could do it right up ’til the point he fell about six feet onto a ledge.

    After that, he needed coaxed down every, single, bloody centimetre of the way; “Ok, right foot left a bit, yes it’ll hold you” kind of a thing.

    At one point, he froze. His whole body was shaking so much that I didn’t believe he could hold on and rocks were raining down on my head. There was a good 200 foot drop if he let go – I was sure he would.

    We did, however, get down with just cuts and bruises. Never been so scared for someone else in all my life.

    tallie
    Free Member

    the-muffin-man – Member
    How do surfers manage to get back in against currents? Is a surfboard a lot easier to paddle? Can it be taught or is it just experience?

    Yes it’s much easier to paddle a surfboard as they’re designed to be paddled. Body / Boogieboards are designed to be used with fins like these: fins.
    It’s virtually impossible to manoeuvre a bodyboard or catch an unbroken decent size wave without fins – once you get some you can paddle around like everyone else. It sounds like you got caught in a rip – easiest thing to do if it happens again is try to move at 90 degrees to it – if you don’t have fins you can do a sort of side stroke using the board as a float which will hopefully get you out of the rip. It might be better to either take some lessons or stay out of surf deeper than waist height if you’re unsure of what to do?

    Nipper99
    Free Member

    Oh yes, twice.

    Once went climbing with a guy met up with from UKC. Seemed ok on sp and we went to do a mp pitch route, Amphitheatre Buttress (nice easy mountaineering route). Get to the start and he doesn’t want to lead through which is a bit of a pain. I asked him to call out when we get to half rope length as id be leading and would probably run pitches together. There’s a nice slab pitch just before the ledge leading to the crux. There’s a bit of a pull over onto this slab from a ledge. im halfway up the slab when the rope comes tight I shout down and am told out of rope (in hindsight should have stopped below the slab but it was a beautiful day and I was in the moment). Rigged a very crap belay on two no.1 wires on a toe ledge which is all that was available. Just above me (a few feet) the slab tuned to big steps and ledges. Bring the guy up to below the slab and ask whether he can rig a belay, says he can’t but happy to lead though a few feet to get to the ledge above me. Up he comes, no worries cleaning the runners on the slab as he comes. I point out bomber runner placements just above me (but out of reach). He moves off. He doesn’t place a runner even when i’m shouting/pleading with him to do so (were both now on two crap no.1 wires). He then start traversing out left for some unknown reason despite my helpful comments that straight up was best(its a staircase above), still no runners. About 20 or so feet away he makes some weird move up the slab, slithers backwards then goes backwards/headfirst down the slab and over the drop at the bottom. Whilst i’m waiting for the tug i’m looking at these wires for what seems an age (which would be ok with a little slither but not a full scale plummet). The tug comes, I’ve twisted my body round to brace and have a bight of rope round my hand. One wire pops, my hand wedges up against the belay plate and i’m wobbling for balance on the toe ledge, literally tottering, thinking that’s it. A gust of wind (or something)and i’m back in balance. I then get this guy back up to the ledge below the slab and another party belay him so I can then scramble up the staircase above me to a good ledge above and say my prayers. Getting the guy off the route was a bit of an epic as he was in tears and slightly hysterical.

    Second occasion was down at Pembroke to do a route called Blue Sky that starts of a wave washed slab at low tide. All is fine low tide etc and we wait for a CambsUMC group (who are doing the route as two pitches to move off). They start to move up so we ab down. They then grind to a halt for some reason. Were waiting to start and the tide has turned. More waiting and there are a few rollers coming in now so as the party in front is still not moving we decide to retreat – i’ve got the rope and rack on me. Water is probably 12 inches over the slab but there’s a safe scramble out. On this slab there are various pockets about 12 inches deep i’ve seen. One bigger wave comes in just as i’m taking a step and makes me stumble into what I assumed was one of these pockets save that this pocket was a proper blowhole. Down I went with the outward going wave sucking me down with the added weight of rack and rope as ballast. I remember feeling quite surprised when I opened my eyes see a world of foam and bubbles. Luckily the next wave pushed me back up and the rack and rope didn’t snag on anything. My mate was now fishing for me and grabbed me to stop me going down again. I thought it was quite funny at the time but the following day brought out the cold sweats.

    somafunk
    Full Member

    Back in 94 i spent 6 months in Africa as a young n’ carefree 20 something and quite a few times i was genuinely scared for my life.

    Went rafting down the Zambezi with Shearwater but the water level was really low which left more rocks exposed, especially at “open season rapid”, needless to say i got kicked out of the raft and got caught in the undertow near a section of rocks that just whipped me round n’ round till i passed out, got recovered by the safety kayaks and dragged to safety where i recovered but my helmet was smashed to bits and i was covered in lacerations from the rocks.

    Hiking through Mozambique i accepted a lift and was taken at gunpoint to a shack where i had an AK47 placed to my head and stripped of my possessions

    Whilst staying with friends at Matobo Hills lodge nr to Bulawayo i woke early one morning and decided to go exploring so off i wandered down the hill and over the amazing rock formations, i jumped down from one rock and came within touching distance of a Black Mamba getting some early morning sun – I have never ran so fast in my life and i guess the only thing that saved me was the fact it was still quite cool so the mamba was not up to speed to strike me.

    At the same place ^ i found a large hole in the hillside and naturally being inquisitive i crouched down at the edge and peered in, 200lbs of warthog launched itself out and sent me spinning and cartwheeling back down the hill.

    Yep….Africa is a wonderful place 😀

    MrOvershoot
    Full Member

    Only last week was the latest, up 10 meters at full extension in our scissor lift trying to remove a steel cable from the side of a silo when the units brakes slipped and the unit rolled back slightly putting the rear left wheel over a dip the whole unit started tipping back!!!

    Somehow I managed to death grip the rolled seams on the silo & pull it back upright at the same time lowering it and holding on to the silo 😮

    I felt decidedly relived to get the unit back to ground level.

    Had it inspected this week & the holding sensor was faulty 🙁

    Unit like this

    joolsburger
    Free Member

    Yup twice, once river swimming with my then 9 year old who despite being told not to followed me out into deep water, got out of puff and then grabbed me and pushed me under a couple of times in his panic. I swallowed a mouthful of Thames and for a split second had that sinking feeling – quite literally. I got myself together and towed him back to shore but that was a very scary moment. Second was biking in France, slipping off a root, not clipping out in time and falling off a long drop, happily there was a ledge about 15 feet down so I just got a shattered ankle and not a 100 foot drop to flat but that was a well this is it moment for sure.

    takisawa2
    Full Member

    Done some daft stuff climbing & swimming as a youth.
    Swimming across a local reservoir whilst drunk once, got cramp & remember sinking deeper & deeper. Somehow managed to get out of it but I can remember how cold & dark the water got the further I sank.

    Of late, the only time I’ve honestly thought it was all over was when a tyre blew & put the car on its roof.
    Seeing my 2 & 3 yr olds hanging upside down, mercifully unharmed, is something I will live with forever.
    All that advice about what to do in a skid etc, was useless. All we could was hold on till it all stopped. The noise of the windows popping & the roof scraping on the road was horrendous.
    The other thing that left a lasting mark on me was the unquestioning kindness of total strangers.
    Since then I vowed to give something back, which I do through Scouting, volunteering etc.

    [url=https://flic.kr/p/LGGpvh]Untitled[/url] by pten2106, on Flickr

    P-Jay
    Free Member

    No, there have been a few times when I hindsight I’ve been in situations when I could have died had things gone slightly the other way, but I didn’t – the first time (car crash) I was in shock for a long time, but blind luck ment I was almost mark free – the car span and hit a tree, destroyed the door next to me and folded the seat I was in, somehow despite wearing a belt I ended up sat on bit between the seats.

    Second time I went down hard at Afan, when I first came to a halt I thought I was okayish, then I spotted the broken wrist, then the pain in my other arm, but it was only when I got to A&E I really knew I had broken the other arm, even then I thought I’d be home in an hour or two – it was only then when they were scurrying around me I was told my arm was losing too much blood because it was a compound break and they needed me to go in surgery straight away.

    But neither time I was all that worried, it bloody hurt, but I never suspected it was ‘serious’. Blissful ignorance is pretty good!

    Cougar
    Full Member

    When I was a kid, our local sports centre used to have ‘activity days’ in the swimming pool, where they’d float out big inflatable things. One was like a giant wheel, with spokes and an inner hub. I wanted to sit on the hub with all the cool kids, but lacked the strength / ability to climb up the outer rim to get to it. So I came up with the genius idea of swimming underneath it instead.

    I dived down for a bit, swam for a bit, and came up underneath the thing. Had a bit of a panic, swam a bit more, came up stuck underneath it again. Either it was drifting or, more likely in hindsight, I’d vastly overestimated my swimming ability. Now upgraded to a lot of panic, I tried for a third time and came up underneath it again. At my tender young age I genuinely thought I’d had it. I scrabbled desperately at the slippery vinyl on top of me and, almost certainly by blind luck, squirted out from under it like a bar of wet soap.

    No damage done beyond giving me a drowning phobia for life, for years I couldn’t even cross deep water if I could see it between boards. I remember years later being encouraged by a then-girlfriend to walk out on a pier affair a couple of feet wide. I got to the end and froze, ended up crawling back on hands and knees. I’m a lot better these days, but still don’t like deep water. If I can’t stand on the floor I’m having none of it.

    gobuchul
    Free Member

    A couple of “near misses” underwater. Had a CO2 “hit” once, the worst feeling in the World! The build up of CO2 increases the urge to breath, which causes you to over breath, which in turn causes more CO2 to build up, which causes you to over breath…… Feels like your suffocating and about to die but your not!

    I got taken about a road gritter years ago, car rolled about 4 or 5 times down the central reservation. Myself and the other passenger walked away, not sure how!

    hairyscary
    Full Member

    At a house party in 1990 a bunch of local thugs punched me to the floor and then proceeded to kick my head against a doorstep until I became unconscious. I don’t know how long they were kicking me for but it felt like an eternity. I’ve been told that they only stopped when my brother realised what was happening and came to my aid………everyone else at the party was too scared to help!
    It scared the shit and piss out of me……..literally 😳

    FFJA
    Free Member

    Twice whilst ‘underwater potholing’….
    1. Tangled in a somewhat unpleasant load of old line in bad vis is a low and wide bedding plane

    2. Laying line in a reasonably snug bit of passage, passable with a hand held cylinder easily enough as it fitted quite nicely into a slot in the floor. On the return I rolled a small pebble along the front of my wetsuit up to my sternum which effectively wedged me between floor a ceiling for a little while.

    Not really had it at work, although a fire where a large roof timber landed in front of me was quite memorable….

    mattrgee
    Free Member

    We were in Thailand last year in a fairly remote hotel, it was still early when we were disturbed by a load of gunfire, the sound of screaming, children crying etc. Thought we were in the middle of a terrorist attack. We barricaded the door to the room with what we had and tried ringing the hotel reception, but their lack of answer only added to our concern. We were pretty convinced we were going to be gunned down.

    15 tense minutes later we managed to get an answer from the hotel reception, it was some sort of religious celebration/funereal outside of the hotel.

    **** us both up.

    136stu
    Free Member

    On holiday in Malta a good few years ago. Me and missus (before we were married and sensible) decided we wanted hire a little speedboat to pose about for an hour or two. The only thing the guy says is “dont go out of the bay”. Obviously we’re not on holiday to be told what to do and our hotel is in the next bay, so off we go. A while later we set off to go back but the tide has turned and the sea has got very rough, it was like one of those North Sea trawler documentaries. The wife is lying in the bottom of the boat and I’m steering it vertically up and over the face of these massive waves. Definately thought our number was up.

    Brown
    Free Member

    Leaning over a set of forks I was working on, I removed the circlip holding the air spring in place. There was a huge bang, I got an eye-full of oil and something rocketed past my head, missing my face by millimetres. Distracted by the Moto GP, I’d forgotten to let the pressure out of the forks and had fired the air spring past my head with some force. I wasn’t scared until I saw the inch-deep hole in the ceiling 6 feet above my head.

    I’ve had a couple of scary climbing moments, although the scariest was when, halfway up a cliff, I heard an ex-girlfriend scream as she abseiled off the end of a rope and fell a good ten metres to the ground. Luckily she’s made a full recovery, but it’s not something I really want to experience again. Don’t imagine she does either!

    johnx2
    Free Member

    Climbing, all the bloody time. In my mind if not in actual reality, though how do you ever know? Probably why I’ve pretty much stopped, and should get into the bolts…

    Mtb, plenty of’oh shite’ moments but no actual ‘I’m going to die’.

    Surfing, similar. I’ll go out in pretty much anything – not a brag, I’m not that good at the actual surfing. But I figure whatever the hold down, I’ll bob back up at some point.

    Nearest to being caught out was triple overhead Melvich one time. Conservative estimate I recon, but whatever. I was younger and probably a bit stronger, but even shitter in those days. After a few near misses went for a wave, had zero real chance, it hollowed out under me, over the falls and then deep deep down where it’s dark… Climbed up the leash (board was ‘tombstoning’ ie standing on end meaning gi was full stretch of the leash underneath). Surfaced in time to be unloaded on by another wave, and deep down again. Pulled my way back up the leash and the same thing happened. I remember thinking”this is how it happens…” I was anchored in the impact zone. After a three or four down to the bottoms, I wrapped my arms and legs round the board, meaning I got bashed about a bit, but washed in. Collected my thoughts on the beach for a few mins, then paddled back out to my mates to fail again.

    I was more scared once in a situation like the OP. France, beach, in easy sight of lifeguard, 13yr old daughter, chest deep, but couldn’t move in against the current (I recon it was a basin -water held behind a sandbar- emptying as the tide went out.) Would not have given it a second thought on my own but my daughter was not a strong swimmer. I didn’t want to have to keep her afloat for 20 mins, and was too British/much of a **** to shout the lifeguard. Ended getting under her to chuck her shoreward, braced against the bottom. A few chucks and we could struggle through thigh deep water. Sticks in the mind.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    How do surfers manage to get back in against currents? Is a surfboard a lot easier to paddle? Can it be taught or is it just experience?

    Partially they are easier to paddle as tallow says, the fins keep it straight and you just pull with your arms. Body boarders usualy use flippers on their feet to achieve the same.

    Also you can sit on a surfboard comfortably, so higher up the shore looks closer (and easier to keep an eye on) and you can see currents and other rips, so the advice to swim at right angles makes more sense under pressure as you can see the route back to the beach. Telling someone to swim at right angles to a rip is all well and good, but when the beach already looks out or reach it’s not easy advice to take to expend energy to swim further out!

    bikebouy
    Free Member

    Whilst yacht racing near Burnham on Crouch in 30knts, we Chinese gybed whilst I was in the pit taking the slack out of the new kite sheet around a winch, the gybe happened, I got smacked in the mouth by the boom and shot overboard with a broken jaw and lost all my front teeth. I lay face down for about 30secs I was told before one of my mates jumped in with the life ring off the stern whilst the lads turned the yacht around to pick me up. I became conscious whilst in the cockpit, blood everywhere, came round to the sight of the owner (a MaxFax surgeon) looking at me saying “your nose could do with a bit of rhinoplasty too.. “
    I didn’t think I’d had it right there and then, but once in hospital I started to think about it and the situation, kinda scared me that did.

    But like all things, you learn about yourself and others in situations out of your control.

    OP, glad to hear you are both well, thankfully you found someone who knows/knew the area and situation you were both facing and helped you out. You find out in situation like this that we humans have an ability and sense of will to help others out.

    nickname
    Free Member

    A few times,

    Scrambling on a mountain and got caught out, probably the most exhilarating moment of my life when I made it to a safe place.

    Another time was when I had an bicycle accident in traffic – just remember coming off and going onto the other side of the road – incoming car bumper to my face! But stopped just in time 😀

    A couple of motorbike moments too, 1 on the motorway where a car almost took me out, and 1 off-road going into a tree, but I got away with that big time 🙂

    fd3chris
    Free Member

    Yes last year I stayed in very old apartment in Morpeth and had a ghost/spirit whatever experience. Never had it before and not willing to endure it again. And no I’m not the type to believe I’m them either until now of course.

    eddiebaby
    Free Member

    Many potential situations but the only one where I thought ‘this is it’ was windsurfing in Sotavento on a big wind day. gybed on the inside and something went.’click’. Realised the mast had slid forward in the track. Took the outside gybe easy when I should have committed and I pulled the rig out of the back of the track.
    Too rough to get the bits together again I waited for someone to see me. 20 mins later in an offshore F8 I decided to dump the rig no try to paddle in.
    Didnt work so I bSically just though this is it. Ten minutes later A boat from the centre found me.
    I really had the idea I was gone.
    Went back to the beach to find my mates in the bar who had assumed I gone off with the German girl i’ve been chatting to.
    I’ve fallen 30ft out of a helicopter into 5ft of water trashing my cameras. I’ve been robbed at knife and gunpoint and had a million scary moments but never had time to stop and consider my options and realise I had none, before or since then.

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