@sailing_songbird: I have so much to say about what happened…. The main thing I want to express is my gratitude to all of the sailors that assisted in my mayday. My largest fear around calling mayday was that other sailors might consider my call for help as unnecessary, but everyone assured me that I did the right thing in calling for assistance given the severity of my head trauma. As long distance sailors, self reliance is paramount and leaning on the support of my fellow cruisers was difficult for my ego, but the support I received was boundless. I am proud to be apart of this community of ocean sailors and know that I would have assisted any call for help the same way that they did. Accidents happen. And one happened to me. I’m incredibly lucky. Incredibly lucky that the boom hit me on the cheekbone, not my skull or jaw as I certainly wouldn’t have survived the trauma to my skull and a broken jaw would have ended my cruising season while being wired shut. I’m also lucky that I wasn’t knocked just a little farther as I would have fallen overboard and drowned as I was unconscious. It has certainly changed my protocol around safety onboard. Like I said in the video, I learned a lot. At the end of the day, I’m just lucky to be alive and incredibly grateful to still be here. The only permanent damage has been nerve damage in my teeth. Can’t feel my upper left teeth anymore but that’s ok. I don’t really need to feel those. Thank you to everyone that was involved in my rescue, hopefully it will be the last mayday I ever call. Dinghy footage at end from: @calicoskiessailing #sailing #mayday #rescue #grateful

Sailing Songbird

Open In TikTok:

Region: NZ

Friday 20 December 2024 00:31:36 GMT