Preventing Foot Injuries

[chicagopaul]

I have seen several foot injuries over the last few years that I have been competing in Stock Outboard Racing. Some might have been prevented by safety gear. Some might not.

I was the first responder in a recent serious foot injury. It was tough watching a scared, brave young kid, in real pain, while I was holding a badly cut foot in my hands trying to minimize furhter damage and paying attention to bleeding while we rushed him to shore.

We did not know if the injury was casued by a fin, prop or something else. But it was powerful enough that his shoe was ripped off. So ... something to think about.

I wear 2 pairs of cut resistant socks and wear my cut pants a little long. After looking at that injury, I am considering a strap under my shoes to ensure my cut pants do not ride up. Not sure if that's a good idea or not, but I will play with it.
I have heard of others that wear steel toe'd shoes so that their feet will not float. Thus reducing the risk of being run over while their feet are floating.

Yeah it's a gruesome topic.

But with all the goofy stuff we discuss on this site, I would appreciate your serious ideas as to how to reduce foot injuries.

Thanks,

Chicago Paul

[T Chance]

Interesting thoughts. I wear SRP Tuff-N-Lite socks but I never thought about steel toe shoes. Good idea. I tried gloves and I hate 'em I have to have my hands on the wheel and throttle.

[Big Don]

Paul,

Great topic.

Donny just started wearing the cut resistant socks this year and we have talked about going to some sort of leather boots/shoes. We also discussed the pant cuffs riding up issue.

Several years back when Donny’s back was cut we realized the bullet on the lower unit got caught and pulled his short torso sleeves with the mesh up so the prop could get to unprotected skin. We made the decision at that time to get the longer torso style.

In my opinion I feel that is what happened to Kurt. The cuff got caught on the pointed part of the bullet and pulled the pants up. One in a million chance? Maybe, but it certainly had Donny and I at least talking about how to make the cuffs tighter.

[Jeff Brewster 59s]

Size 12 steel toe's with a steel shank in my Red Wing boots add weight to my rig but I think they are worth it.

Just make sure your kill switch doesn't short into the water in the back of the boat. The steel toes to steel throttle makes you part of the circuit, and I know this from one heck of a shocking experience.

[sponsonhead]

Foot protection

Great topic!

I agree with what several have suggested. The heavier the shoe, the better. And the cut-resistant socks are another important part of foot protection.

The other benefit of a heavier shoe is that it will help considerably with your lifejacket flotation properties: Many racers are wearing wet suit booties or worse yet, old running shoes for racing shoes. While both are comfortable and fairly inexpensive, running shoes in particular are not the best answer, since they're made with lots of air and foam, and are kind of like strapping two little buoys to your feet.

So, a heavier shoe not only offers protection, but it's going to help you float in a better position, and may assist the offset flotation in your lifejacket in rolling you if you are not face up. Think of a keel on a sailboat.

R-19

[Tomtall]

Heavy shoes

The only dis-advantage I see with heavy foot wear is that when you are tumbling thru the water your feet become pendulum and accelerate faster as you get flung from the boat. If you look at videos and pictures of open cockpit crashes you will notice most people cannot hold their legs together during a crash due to the weight and mass of the lower body extremities. This can cause damage to the body and muscles as well. I have also seen shoe laces cause more than one rescue effort problem when the get caught on boat hardware. Duct tape your shoe laces down to your shoes to prevent this from happening. Some good ideas in this thread. Thanks for sharing.

[j hydro racer]

hey

i dont ever leave the beach without my kevlar socks or kevlar gloves. I experienced it first hand at lock haven three years ago. it took months for my foot to heal.. The propeller ripped through my leather workboot and caught my foot but i was not wearing the cut socks. I am always looking for something new to protect my feet and had a good conversation with pat at the nationals this summer on whats out there..only thing is a kevlar shoe from japan that only goes to size 6 or 7. he suggested the "Billy Allen" boot.

[Graham 18ce]

I picked up a pair of hikers a couple of years ago which have a kevlar knit throughout. I'm sure it is not enough density to stop a prop altogether, but i'm sure it will reduce the force.
Laces are duct taped.
Although i'm sure they still float, they certainly didn't have the same float feeling of the runners I have wore in the past.

[Brew56]

I guess I would take pulled muscles, etc over being cut so I'm planning on going back to the Red Wing leather boots I wore for years. The great points about your feet floating is something I never thought much about.

I have been wearing kevlar socks inside tennis shoes which is not smart. I have a nasty foot scar to prove how important this is. At that time, I believe I had no protection on.

I am amazed at the time we spend protecting the majority of our body but neglect those most vulnerable: hands and feet. Very few people today use any gloves at all.

By the way, what is the Billy Allen boot?

[Mike Schmidt]

Billy Allen Boot....

Just a big old steel toed work boot. They work.

We were using hard sole diver boots for several years. Worked great....Until Bob Brozowski (3-D) crashed in Maine and took the prop in the foot. Couple of operations and out of work for several weeks. Not fun.

Have been using the work boots since. I am able to work the pipe puller in a laydown without any issues.

Best bet is to toss them in the water and get them soft on Saturday morning.

Michael D-1

[Eric Engler]

Well guys, having cut my foot on a prop back in what was it 1988, I ran using steel toe and shank boots for about 3 races until I got tossed out on a straight.

I remember not being able to pull my legs into a tuck and wound up doing handstands across the water.

I wound up with a crack in a neck vertebra that I only found out about 6 months later. It still bothers me after all these years.

My opinion is Kevlar socks are good, heavy boots are not.

It also comes down to if you tell us how you are going to crash we'll make you safe... But you never know how you will crash...

[Kev43V]

Vasque USED to make a hiking boot the was made with double full grain hide uppers. They were the closest thing to armor I have ever seen. I sure wish they still made them. Rocks and cactus were no match for them when dirt biking in the desert.

I have been wondering about using motocross boots that are the hard shell kind with the lap joints.

[Gunjumper]

Great thread...

I'm finding both sides of this discussion interesting. I don't want my feet to float from the sneakers, but extra leverage on my bottom half could be worse in the work boot example. I wear SRP kevlar socks and wrestling shoes just because they are comfortable, may be rethinking next years footwear. I also wear thin kevlar gloves under Mechanic gloves every heat, this way I have protection and grip. No matter which article of safety gear we are talking about, I put all my trust into Security Race Products. GL

[Fast Jack]

boots saved me

I have a nice slit in my jump boot from a crash in Cmod at the Nats last year. The kevlar soxs Jack and I have are meat cutters arm protectors with one end sewn closed. My foot hurt for a year, If I had light weight sneakers or dive boots I think it would have been a bad injury. Holding Direct pressure on Bobs (3-D) foot to stop the bleading made me make the change to surplus jump boots.

[DougMc]

I wear US Army issues combat boots and can say they worked in my case. The boots with stood a direct hit from my own Yamato 102 spinning about 7,000+ RPM. My foot would be gone without the boot and was saved by Orlando Regional Medical. The prop rode up my leg starting at the inner ankle ending on my mid shin bone where the boot ended where it cut like butter through a brand new, out of the box Lifeline cut suit. Make sure your cut suit has more than one layer of kevlar. Paul Hooten was run over wearing a brand new two layer Security suit and was only badly bruised due to the second layer protection.