Urchin Toe
I’d almost rather get cut on the reef and get reef rash than have ‘Wana’ sea urchin stingers in my foot. I was surfing out at Kaiser’s a while back although I never go there normally. I went to meet a friend staying at the Hilton to let him try my stand up board but it was windy and choppy and he got frustrated. Since I was there, I decided to go surf at Kaiser’s.
It had to be only 2 waves into the session when I took off an a wave that was steeper and faster than I expected. After wiping out I pushed off the reef with my foot to get back on the board and felt the vanna stinger go through my toe. I thought it was just one stinger but when I pulled up my foot to take a look it was more like 10 of them sticking out of my toe, through the bootie, just like chopsticks sticking out of a bowl of rice.
It burned bad and I ended up moving to surf down at 3s after pulling out what I could get out with my fingers. When I got home I shot some pics. I tried digging out the stingers with a needle but that only got out some of it. It took weeks for the toe to heal but I was back in the water the next day.
Sorry Evan, but I just couldn’t pass up the chance to tell you that the spelling is “Wana”. You may be just too excited that Wheel of Fortune just recently filmed on the Big Island and is currently broadcasting : – ) HeeHee!
I made the changes…thx. I’m actually in Las Vegas right now at a conference.