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New In-Tow Handle


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Frankly, having had my arm caught in the handle before, that picture scares the hell out of me.

Now, before anyone jumps on me claiming that I am trying to discreditthe idea simply because it might compete with our ARM-GUARD, I'd liketo point out that in the past I've published photos and contactinformation for competing products that I felt could improve handle safety.

In this case, however - while Brenda's design obviously reduces the likelihood of getting one's head through the opening - if you get your arm inthere you may be in very serious trouble.  When a skier falls and hisarm inadvertently goes into the bridle opening, it will generally comeback out pretty easily.  Some level of injury usually occurs as it'syanked free, but rarely is the skier caught up enough thathe'll be dragged behind the boat.  With this design I think there is amuch greater chance that a skier's arm could be pretty seriouslywrapped up in the whole thing.

Aiden Willers, the skier from New Zealand who was injured at lastyear's Princes Cup (UK), reportedly fell in a twisting fashion suchthat the handle slid all the way up to his armpit as he landed on hisback.  If I understand the descriptions I've been given, this meansthat his arm was in a position to be yanked with extreme force prior toreleasing.  Of all the arm-through-handleinjuries I've chronicled so far his seems to be the worst, with severemuscle and ligament tears and a ruptured artery that nearly resulted inamputation.  Even after several surgeries immediately following theaccident it was still unclear [at the time] if he would keep the arm ornot.

I suffered an upper arm fracture that was clinically described as"just about as bad as it gets".  I don't ever want to get my armthrough the handle again,and I especially don't want to be dragged down the lake if I do.  This design does not, in my opnion, appear to prevent either.

TW

(PS: I like Brenda and I think she offers excellent ropes, handleassemblies and other products, and I would recommend her work toanyone; I especially like her mainline/shortline ropes, and considerthem the best we've ever had.)

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  • Baller

Yeah, get your arm through a smaller hole, and less likely to come out.  NO THANKS! 

 Anyone know what the percentages are for:

 Out of all skiers;

  • How many have put their head though the handle in a fall?
  • How many have put their arm through the handle in a fall?
  • How many have never done anything like that?

Horton, I smell a survey!

 Are we really supposed to engineer safety devices to prevent ALL accidents?  Theres is an inherant risk with everything.  Ski smart, and you will minimize your risk of injury. 

 

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We've compiled data from every water safety study I could find. Surprisingly few states keep detailed spreadsheets on water skiing injuries -preferring simply "water skiing" as the cause of injury. A number of states will list the sub-category "rope/handleinjuries", and a few actually separate out "body part throughhandle" as an independent cause.  It might be noted that suchannual state records can only be of the accidents severe enough to seekemergency medical attention, so that the accident report manages to get intothe state database to begin with.

 Extrapolating the data from the few states that do keep suchdetailed records, and adding in the many, many stories we've heard or read fromour customers we estimate the number of arm-through-handle accidents,world-wide, to be several dozen per year.  These injuries range fromsevere bruising all the way to loss of functional use of the limb.

Head-through-handle injuries, such as those that killed Scott Worthingtonand Brent Yager, are much rarer - though they almost always make the news inone way or another.  When a water-skiing accident is fatal, annualstate reports generally lump these into the "Recreational BoatingDeaths" category, or into a "Water skiing Deaths"sub-category without additional details.  Historically, survival is the leastlikely outcome of  a head-through-handle fall.

Around 30 years ago I was scheduled to go in for some sort of surgery and afriend of mine asked me if I would be under general anesthetic (completely “out"). When I said that I would be he said, "Don't do it.  Some people gounder like that and never wake up."  I told him I had researched abit and the chance of that happening was on the order of one in ten thousand. He replied, "Yeah... but if it's YOU it's a hundred percent!"

That same math applies to handle injuries.

TW

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