| First Turn // Event 22 August 2009 By: Andrew Cassidy Location: Port Macquarie I took off on my first wave of the first heat of the first Australian SUP Titles. It was one of the better waves of the day. I was a bit deep but it had a nice wall. The lip started pitching and I probably should have bottom turned around it to get back onto the open face. That was the safe option but this was the Aussie titles - go hard or go home. I took the more impressive line of climbing up onto the lip and pushing down and across to make the section - more points for the same end result. Unfortunately the section was a little more critical than I first thought. A little more critical than my available talent could handle. I lost my balance while up on the lip and dropped down backwards instead of forwards. This was the Aussie titles, I had to try and recover. I couldn't fall on my first manoeuvre. Come on Casso, hang on. I pulled the paddle around behind me to try and cushion my fall and regain balance. I dropped down the face, hit the flats and landed backwards on my paddle, twisting my shoulder to oblivion. I was upside-down, underwater - not quite the impressive manoeuvre I'd planned. Maybe I should have taken the safer route. A lower scoring ride is better than a non-scoring ride. I was furious with myself. So furious that I still hadn't noticed the pain in my shoulder. I resurfaced and grabbed my paddle, still cursing myself. It wasn't until I tried to spin my board around and get back out to improve upon my dismal effort that I realised I couldn't move my right arm. What the hell? And what is that excruciating pain in my shoulder? I somehow got to the sitting position on my board and thought I’d spend a few seconds giving the situation a bit of analysis. My arm hung limply and I couldn't raise it under its own power. That can't be good. It might be more than just a stretched ligament. I looked down and saw that my shoulder was hanging down where my armpit used to be. No, not good at all. Now I was really worried. A dislocation. I haven’t dislocated my shoulder for six years. What a time for that old snowboarding injury to come back and haunt me. I was almost in tears, not because of the pain but because my Aussie titles campaign was probably over - before I'd even completed a single turn. Nooooo! I remembered seeing a guy dislocate his shoulder on Bondi Rescue - he popped it back in himself. He just grit his teeth and went for it, throwing his arm up and twisting it so that it snapped back into the socket. I can do that. Surely it couldn't hurt too much more than it already did. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Teeth clenched, a deep growl from down low, hands together, lift and twist - arrrrrhhhh. I dropped my arms and checked my shoulder. Hey, it looks anatomically correct again - and it ... sort of works. I could raise my arm without the aid of my other one, albeit very painfully. That'll do. Let's see if I can paddle out. With a little groan on each stroke I eventually got out the back. Then I needed to work out how to get another wave. I sucked it up and made it through the remainder of the heat with a pair of 5s to my name. I came last. With ice, strapping, Voltaren, Dencorub and tender loving care from my wife, daughter, dad and the event marshal, I pushed on through two requalifying heats and a semi final where poor wave selection finally got the better of me - nothing to do with a blown shoulder!  | |
