Sickest session at Cypress

[Pedro]

Bob, that sucks you got stung by the sting ray....thanks for sharing, now I know what to look forward if it happens to me.

This past April I spent three weekends in a row kiting in Isla Morada and kept running into giant sting rays....it was cool to follow them just to see them closer....then one monster changed course, crossed me perpendicularly and I surfed right over it! It scared the hell out of me because I have heard how much it hurts...lucky for me, the animal panicked and scurried away.

These sting rays are about 4 feet wide and very dark in color....can you tell me if all of them sting? I understand that there are some that are benign and harmless (Sting Ray Beach - Cayman). I just don't know if we have the good ones in Florida or not.

Anyways, I agree that one of the better parts of kiting is not just where it takes me, but what I see in the water. Nothing (so far) beats the humpback whales spraying and jumping in the water I saw in Manta, Ecuador. That was surreal. It felt like I was kitesurfing in Sea World! If any of you get the chance to go to Ecuador, the wind blows in Manta 18k-30k every single day from June-December...excellent place to kite.

Paul Menta just teamed up with a friend of mine down there to open a Kite House Ecuador. Check it out in the Kite House website. It's far away, but well worth it. I'll be down there again this summer for sure.

[Danimal8199]

Originally Posted by Pedro

I understand that there are some that are benign and harmless (Sting Ray Beach - Cayman).

I went to Stingray City in Grand Cayman a few months back on a kiting trip. They will sting you, as a matter of fact the tour guide showed us the stinger and it was HUGE!! not something you would want to mess with, guess thats why they tell you to do the shuffle even at stngray city!

[robertovillate]

I got stung about 2 years ago at Lassing Park while teaching...TWICE on the same foot, about 30 minutes apart..how's that for probabilities?...and yes - it hurts like hell.

My student was a surgeon whose advice was to immediately soak in hot water (as hot as you can take without burning yourself) to denature the toxin...then allow wound to remain open to drain toxins and contaminants for a few days...DO NOT ALLOW TO SCAB OVER RIGHT AWAY.

Also, if the barb is broken off inside you must have this removed immediately otherwise serious infection will follow. Under any circumstances it's not a bad idea to see a doctor to make sure you do not have complications.

In my case, I followed the initial advice - I was able to get very hot water from my van cooktop...and this killed the pain almost instantly - and I kept soaking in refreshed hot water for the next hour.

What I did wrong: I kept going into the water for the next few weeks. 4 weeks later I was in the OBX and my foot was severely infected - the physician that I finally saw there was very concerned and wanted to put me in the hospital. It took a month of antibiotics to get it under control...not a good situation.

A few weeks ago, while in the OBX, another kiter got hit WHILE RIDING HIS BOARD (which I did not know could happen) when we were doing a downwinder. Apparently the stingray schools will swim near the surface and they will lash out if scared or threatened. Another friend in the OBX who is a commercial fisherman say that when a stingray is accidentally netted or hooked everything stops on the boat and the stingray is "handled" very cautiously...look what happened to Steve Irwin!

Certain rays are worse than others...the cow nose rays are a "pelagic" species (usually swimming around in small schools- and beautiful to watch as your ride over them) and the barbs are closer to their bodies and not as dangerous, but the devil rays are bad though and they lurk in the sandy bottom often difficult to see. The rays start showing up in numbers during April when the water warms up.

watch out...not a fun experience getting stung.

[Erick]

Yeah, first time I see somebody feeling the pain after being stung and I definetely don't want to experience that. Thanks for all the advices!

[Unimog Bob]

Thanks for helping out so much when it happened Erick, as well as Dr. C.
I am taking your guy's advice of not letting the site of entry heal up, and took a small knife and re-opened the wound a little and let it bleed. It is still sore today and a tad swollen. Re-opening the wound let much of the fluid off, relieving the pressure and helping to reduce the swelling a little.

I went fishing yesterday with a Podiatrist. He sees this stuff on occasion and said water as hot as you can take it is the best course of action, so that seems unanimous.
Oh - one tarpon, one big shark and don't kite in the Egmont Key channel right now.

[BigR]

That sucks about the stingray sting scott

hope you feel better soon , at least the fish seem to be biting

heal up and we'll see ya' back on the water in no time.

[Unimog Bob]

Thanks Raul

It's back to normal now. Going out (fishing) again tomorrow night.
Saw at least 200 'poons last time out. Pretty crazy.

[mkelly08]

My wife and I got stung last month about 3 days apart. She got hit first and was in serious pain ( about snapped my wrist while grinding her teeth during the car ride home ). 3 days later I got hit walking out to get her board. I have a new found respect for my wifes pain tolerance now... we both were somewhat functional about 2 - 3 hours later. We joke about it now that its over but you can see us walking more cautiously at Bald Point