Can you say "ARM-GUARD"?

[Thomas Wayne]

I just heard from an ARM-GUARD customer in the UK that in a practice run at the Princess Pro-Am event a skier got his arm into the handle opening during a fall  and suffered a serious injury.  Happened yesterday.  No further details, except that the poor guy spent a reported 5 hours in surgery last night.

TW

[Than_Bogan]

I'll bite: What's an ARM-GUARD?  Quick google search came up empty.

[HO 410]

I'll bite back.

Arm-Guard First Impressions

You used the wrong search.  If it's waterski related, use the search at Ballofspray, it would have popped right up. You'd also find it over at thewaterskiforum.com but it's kind of difficult to wade past the arguments to find the information.

[Chuck_Dickey]

Don't leave home without it. Best $50 I've ever spent for ski gear.

 Thanks TW for a great invention!

 

[Than_Bogan]

Wow, great idea.  On a quick scan of the other thread I don't see where to order one.  Could you paste a link or something?

[HO 410]

I don't think the website is up yet. When it's ready it will be at arm-guard.com (I think that's right) 

Shoot an e-mail to Thomas Wayne with a subject line something like: Arm-Guard Information Kit

twcues@gci.net

 

It's all in there. If you use paypal, you'll essentially write your own receipt.

It's a good product, and I won't ski without one, except when I'm stupid enough to placate a bitchy boat crew (something that won't happen again) and forget to locate more some replacement ties.

Straight away, it is unlikely that you will notice it there at all. Many skiers have given me strange looks, most were pretty positive once they took a closer look, and most have said it makes sense. It was the most talked about item until a Warp 8 came to the dock. There were a few, "well what about" questions, and the answer always was, "the major things you're trying to protect (your head and your humerus) are worth the tiny risk of hanging up your wrist." Although I personally believe that, if you manage to punch a perfectly flat hand through the opening, either the wrist-strap of your glove will be fat enough to keep the wrist out and that if the wrist manages to get through, the panel is flexible enough to let your hand come out with only a scrape.

 

[Thomas Wayne]

Kent - over at the other waterski forum - apparently didn't like a photo I posted, so he deleted it from the forum.

Whatever.

Eventually it will be the opening page for the ARM-GUARD website - once we slow down enough to learn how to build a website - lol. I include it here for your perusal.

TW

(PS: Also attached is a picture of the reason I will never ski without one either.) 

[Horton]

I have skied all season with one and can not see why not use it. Safety is good

[lkb]

TW, what is the purpose of the rubber band that is anchored to the middle of the handle grip?

[Than_Bogan]

I'll be buying one (or more) shortly.

Opinion question:  Should AWSA consider mandating such a "device" in competition?  I think if they did so, then basically everyone skiing the slalom course would end up using one.  Even those just doing it for fun would want to LOOK like the competition skiers.

[35 in the bag]

Please don't encourage "Big Brother" too decide how "I" should protect "myself".......it is too much of a slippery slope.

My bet it that TW will agree with me "in spades".

With that said.... I am planning to get one......just haven't made time to do it yet.   Also, not sure which handle I want it made for.

John Miller

[Thomas Wayne]

The purpose of the center attachment member is to reduce or eliminate the chance of the safety panel bowing excessively under pressure and forming a sort of "funnel" that could guide a skier's hand/wrist/arm into the handle opening.  In reality, such a scenario is highly unlikely - as the skier's hand would have to be going kind of backwards toward the handle - but we have to think the possibility does exist.  The attachment member we use is urethane (not rubber), and has great strength and a very limited ability to stretch - becoming fairly rigid at full extension.  These qualities allow the panel to flex and move somewhat during the load/unload cycles of skiing while still maintaining an effective blockage for most of the handle opening.

We experimented with panel materials that would be rigid across the opening - allowing for no center member - but ultimately consider such a design to be too dangerous.  Forgetting for the moment the extra weight and potential impact issues, anything rigid enough to not flex when a hand tries to go into the opening is also likely to not flex when a hand is trying to get out of the opening.  That's kind of a "Catch-22" that is pretty well resolved with the center member.

As for some sort of "tournament" requirement John M. is correct; I would never be in favor of any such AWSA mandate requiring any kind of handle safety panel.  Fortunately the chances of that are zero - just consider how long it took them to require the use of a helmet while jumping (!).  Personal safety is, first and foremost, the responsibility of the individual.  I think for the most part the AWSA recognizes that and is unikely to require newly introduced safety devices of ANY kind without years of field use and general skier acceptance first.

That said, I do think it would be a good idea for the AWSA to require safety panels on the standard tournament-supplied handles that are made available to tourney entrants.  Granted, no one who is serious about their skiing these days is going to be using a generic  "group handle", but such a safety requirement would serve two purposes: first, it would create an opportunity to introduce the safety panel idea to skiers who might otherwise not know about it.  Second, it would offer greater liability protection [for the tourney sponsors, AWSA, et al] against a skier who might get his arm into the bridle opening during a fall - by greatly reducing the chance of such an accident in the first place, and also by demonstrating a conscious effort to take all possible precautions against such an accident.

 TW

[Horton]

After 3 or 4 months using the Arm Guard I have only hit the center attachment a few times and have never missed a pass because of it.

[AggieSkier]

The Arm-Guard is well thought out and not obtrusive.  My wife has had one for a month and doesn't notice it.  Initial space for the hand was 2.5 Inches because we concerned about hitting the panel.  I think we will move it up the handle to close the gap a bit.  I will order one as soon as I decide on what to replace my worn out Accurate ARS that is down to the metal bar.

 The customer service from Arm-Guard is 5 star.  Rapid communication.  Fast turn-around on custom orders.  I think they go too far sometimes like mailing stuff overnight. 

 As a bonus, a portion of the sales price was going to Brett Yeager kids' fund.

 Jay Gilbert