Concussions and Sailing. Winter Speaker Series 2021

Boats have wet surfaces that bounce and tilt. Sailing boats have a boom that flies around. Docks and ramps can be slippery. Injuries happen in our sport. Ontario is rolling out Rowan’s Law, in response to concussion injuries in sports. It’s the right time to learn: • how to recognize concussion in yourself or your team-mates • what to do if you suspect a concussion • how to achieve a return to sports • special responsibilities of coaches and event organizers The main part of the talk will be given by NSC member Dr. Cathy Duchesne. Cathy is a physician with training in Emergency Medicine. She is co-owner of “Corrie Doon”, an Ontario-32 keelboat at NSC. Dominic will outline the responsibilities of sailing event organizers. Dominic races his Albacore dinghy "Skye" at NSC and race crews on friends' keelboats, starting on C&C 25 "Sir Behari" and most recently J/80 "Segueh". His favorite time sailing is when one of his grown-up kids joins him. His volunteer contribution to the club is in sailing event organization. He has chaired 5 regattas and recently completed a term as Fleet Captain, steering the largest club race program in North America through smooth and choppy waters. The Government of Ontario has developed concussion awareness resources https://www.ontario.ca/page/rowans-law-concussion-safety , which will be the basis for this presentation. Ontario Sailing has provided codes of conduct and procedures. These can all be found at Ontario Sailing https://ontariosailing.ca/concussion-information . For those that participate in racing or sail training at NSC, regardless of age: every season, you will need to acknowledge that you have studied the concussion awareness material. So, start now by attending this talk.