DIAGNOSIS
I knew I had to find out what was wrong as soon as possible. I could not walk at all or put any weight on my leg and it was hurting bad. A few guys dragged me out of the water and we drove to the nearest hospital straight away. I went to Carnarvon Hospital about two hours drive away. They just told me it was a bruise and nothing else, so that was not very useful. I was sure it was more serious. I did not trust their diagnosis. Then we had to drive 900km down to Perth for another opinion. The specialist there told me all the ligaments around my knee were snapped and that I should get surgery in Perth or somewhere as soon as possible. I decided to fly back home. The guy in Perth gave me a knee brace but my knee was super swollen. I flew home and with insurance I was upgraded to business class, which was helpful. I knew already
I was not going to be on the water for a long time and I was going to be on holidays for a few months at least! I knew I could not windsurf in the near future and that I was going to have a long break away from events. I obviously wanted to be back on the water as fast as possible.
I flew to Hamburg in Germany to a top knee specialist and surgeon who fixed me up on the day I arrived. I had an MRI scan and all the tests all in one day. He knew there was a lot of damage just by looking at my leg. I broke all the ligaments and the meniscus around the knee. It is not my first injury but this was pretty bad. I also broke the femur bone on my left leg once and I broke my arm windsurfing. This was by far the longest injury I have had to endure. I would have preferred to break a bone and then it heals in two or three months but with ligaments it was a bit more complicated. The initial assessment of this injury was that I would be out of action on tour for at least a year!