Just thought I'd give an update, after talking to someone who was there when it happened.
The victim had a broken neck at C3 ? and minor abrasions.
Cause of death was brain injury, not drowning.
No one witnessed what occured, just the aftermath. Conditions were described as strong wind, and moderate swell.
Attempts to revive at tombies were successful and a pulse and breathing were established.
On arrival at the blowholes, he was pronounced dead by Ambulance officers.
If he had survived he would of had significant permanent brain damage.
The effort of those involved to assist/revive the sailor were legendary to say the least.
Mein Beileid
R.I.P.
was the broken neck part in the coroners report?
as I mentioned in a previous message, I actually had some video footage from when he came off the board and went under the first time around. There is a gap of about 45 seconds between when he is last seen in the footage and the next shot which is of Ben N. who rescued the poor chap.
It's a very very sad outcome. This should be a lesson to everyone sailing up that way...
1) always make sure you keen an eye out for other people
2) no wave is worth fighting over!
The broken neck etc. were the findings of the coroner.
The injury incurred was similar to the one that happened to Christpoher Reeves.
A typical cause of this type injury is being dumped head first and striking a shallow bottom, or falling from a height > 1 meter head first, with forward momentum.
I've seen some people who always seem to make a kind of graceful headfirst dive when they fall off, instead of splashing down any old way...I guess this is a bad habit, although it looks good...not suggesting it was what the poor guy in WA did, I'm just saying...
Stehsleger, obviously we don't want to see the video, but could you describe to us what happened; was there anything noteworthy about how he wiped out, anything people could learn from?
in the video the sailor came into frame while I was filming someone else on a wave behind.
He was riding an already broken wave about 1 meter in height. It didn't look like much. It looked like he lost balance and dropped onto the sail while still holding on to the boom. He continued to ride it out like that for another 3 seconds or so. Eventually the sail rolled together with him. At this stage both he and the gear disappear under water. Approx. 10 seconds later his sail and board get launched out of the water. He appears about 13 seconds later. At this stage it looks like he is swimming towards his boom but then disappears again under water.
That's the last on the tape. Approx. 45 to 60 seconds later I started the tape again with the camera aimed at Ben as he jumps off the board trying to help the guy.
I only noticed that he was in the footage when I went though the tape that night. As I mentioned, a copy of the tape together with a statement was handed over to the police in Carnarvon.
I wouldn't be able to tell weather the injury occurred at that stage or later. But from the length of time he was under water I would say he would have been a bit out of breath either way. There were about 2 or 3 waves that broke shortly after. Nothing major but I guess enough to give you some grieve if you are already trying to catch your breath.
Can't even begin to imagine how traumatic this whole experience must have been for his partner who was watching the entire rescue effort.
All up a very sad day and it certainly made me think very long and hard about life and what's important to me.
On a side note, it was great to see how everyone in the end worked together in order to try and save the guys life. A number of issues were identified by the doctors that happened to be on site and provided first aid.
