Helmets – a no brainer decision?

This is an article written for Wind & Kite Mag a couple of years ago. At the time I wrote the article I very rarely wore a helmet. After working through the arguments against wearing them, I now wear one on the water most of the time. - Photo above was taken by Willy Davenport from Wind&Kite Mag)

How many of you wear helmets? Not many, right? And it seems that the better the sailor you are the less likely you are to wear one.

So why don’t more sailors wear helmets?

The logic seems simple enough - a hard shell or thick soft shell that protects and cushions the head and brain from impact injuries that can cut, or more seriously for a windsurfer, concuss. Most helmets will also prevent eardrums bursting and, most importantly in colder climates, keeps your head warm (the head is the main source of heat loss). Some helmets also include visors that keep the sun off and prevent those icy southerlies from lashing the skin from your face.

Well, after discussing the helmet issue with some of my windsurfing colleagues, we came up with a list of 5 main excuses that sailors don’t wear helmets:

1. Head injuries are rare in windsurfing
2. They are uncomfortable
3. They increase or decrease the noise of the wind
4. They don’t protect the face
5. “People will think I am soft” & “They don’t look cool”.

So let's have a look at these 5 main excuses to see if they stack up.

1. Head injuries are rare in windsurfing

Injuries to the head are the second most common place to be injured when windsurfing.

A 2001 study of 260 injuries[1] sustained by 49 world cup windsurfers found that head injuries accounted for the second highest number of injuries (17%) after knees and ankles (59%). The cause of the head injuries were by forward loops, backward loops and table top attempts.

My observations this year appears to reinforce these findings. For example, in the last two months in Wellington I have seen four head injuries to sailors. Two front teeth knocked out on the boom from a push loop attempt, one burst eardrum from a slapping on the water during a back loop attempt; and a cut to the head requiring ten stitches from a fin in the shorebreak. In addition, I had a reasonably sharp blow to the temples from the back of my boom that left me pondering what could have been, if it was a bit harder.

2. They are uncomfortable to wear

Well fitted helmets should be a pleasure to wear. Modern helmet design if fitted properly, are comfortable and warm and chin straps will protect the neck from chaffing. If you have an unusually (mutant) large, small or strangely shaped head this may be a valid excuse.

3. Increase or decrease the noise of the wind

Helmets are well known to increase the noise of the wind, or if they cover the ear completely, reduce the noise of the wind. In the past this is just something the wearer would have to get used to. Now, in recognition of this issue some helmet makers have introduced helmets where ear protection is optional eliminating any effects on noise. Obviously this option comes with the downside of reducing the protective value of the helmet to ears and ear drums.

4. They don’t protect the face.

Helmets offer good protection to the rest of the head including sensitive temples. However, the face from the brow down is often left exposed by most available helmet solutions.

6. They don’t look cool & people will think I am soft!

A lot of windsurfers just don’t think they look cool, or that there mates will think that they are soft if they wear one.

These excuses are the most dominant and the hardest to address. For cycling and motorcycling, where the consequences are much more severe, governments have had to resort to regulation in an attempt to get people to “helmet up”.

Unfortunately this excuse is only further entrenched by the top local and professional sailors. The 2001 study cited above found that only 10% of the professionals surveyed used a helmet to prevent injuries of the head. The average sailor see these guys pulling double loops and huge back loops in 40 knots without any head protection and think if these guys don’t need head protection then I will be “sweet as”.

This stigma is likely to continue to persist unless the “cool” sailors change there minds about helmets.

So in break down the 5 excuses don’t really stack up against the obvioius benefits of wearing a helmet. It seems that wearing a helmet will:

• Keep you warmer - enabling you to sail longer

• Safer - from potentially life threatening head injury

• And, as a result of the above more confident to push your boundaries.

In contrast, not wearing a helmet may make you consider yourself a bit harder and “cool” (this is a certainty in colder climates).

Ultimately, the decision is up to the individual sailor. However, looking at the issue purely from a cost benefit perspective the decision is a no brainer – Helmet up!

[1] Gosheger G, Jagersberg K, Linnenbecker S, Meissner HJ, Winkelmann W.

Sportverletz Sportschaden. 2001 Jun;15 (2):50-4.

Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11475622&dopt=Abstract