- Joined
- May 1, 2016
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Anyone suffered injuries or accidents while detecting .
About 12 months ago I was beach detecting on a night time hunt . Low pressure system of the coast was generating swell and I decided to rock hop across a headland to the other side as I have done many times before . Climbed up onto the first basalt Boulder and jumped to the next in the rain . Overbalanced forwards and then backwards and fell . I remember looking back at the jasper looking bedrock thinking this is going to hurt. I had a harness on at the time which gave a slight bit of cushioning and as I hit the bottom the swell came in . ..... hmm no pain.
I remember the water being warm and not too salty because of the amount of freshwater in the system .
The detector was okay as I could here it picking up signals through the headphones and my head light was still working so I could see under water . I was amongst the boulders now and used my metal sand scoop to wedge me through the rocks as the waves smashed overhead .
I was hoping the boulders were not moving and because of their size they seemed stable.
As I made my way through the maze I managed to climb up onto another Boulder to see my way out , about 4 meters in front I saw a flat sandy spot , as the waters receded .
In one of the few perfect jumps I had done in my life I managed land on the spot with all my gear , except there was one problem , the sand turned out to be settled foam . Down I plunged about 2 meters into the water between to basalt boulders with one having the sand being gauged from underneath.
I knew then I needed to get to the surf and out of the rocks .
As I made my way out to the surf and around I could see I had about 100 or so metres to go and realising there were still boulders underneath me , I still was in much danger.
The equinox and scoop were tethered to me by bungee cords and I positioned them underneath me for protection and allowed the swell to push me over the top of the rocks .
Still no pain , so far so good .
As I headed in towards the beach, the boulders started to jut out . Although smaller in size, they we no less dangerous . And because I could stand up , I could also get knocked over .
And thats exactly what happened for the next 20 minutes until I reached the beach and pulled my self together and checked for injury.
Shins bleeding from a million cuts that was about all I suffered . All equipment seemed fine .
I tailed it back across the headland using the path and as I was climbing the steps watching my blood drip onto the ground I was stopped by a bloke with a head light.
I thought he was going to ask if I was okay , but instead was I out there looking for coins and what detector I was using .
I said in an annoyed tone to the first question , yes , I was looking for coins out there . And to the second question as I pulled up the Knox , i realised the detector was in 2 pieces .
You could not of done a perfect laser cut clean through even if you tried . It was then I realised how lucky I was not to loose my life or suffer more serious injury , and how stupid I was to underestimate the conditions.
Anyways I tailed it back to the car and since the cable on the detector was not cut , I detected on the way back to the car holding the bottom half with the coil in my left hand and the top part in my right . As I neared the car I heard a familiar signal pulling up a silver ring .
I wish I took a picture of the detector but the blokes at gold diggers did and in a happy ending I had a new detector back within four days from minelab.
About 12 months ago I was beach detecting on a night time hunt . Low pressure system of the coast was generating swell and I decided to rock hop across a headland to the other side as I have done many times before . Climbed up onto the first basalt Boulder and jumped to the next in the rain . Overbalanced forwards and then backwards and fell . I remember looking back at the jasper looking bedrock thinking this is going to hurt. I had a harness on at the time which gave a slight bit of cushioning and as I hit the bottom the swell came in . ..... hmm no pain.
I remember the water being warm and not too salty because of the amount of freshwater in the system .
The detector was okay as I could here it picking up signals through the headphones and my head light was still working so I could see under water . I was amongst the boulders now and used my metal sand scoop to wedge me through the rocks as the waves smashed overhead .
I was hoping the boulders were not moving and because of their size they seemed stable.
As I made my way through the maze I managed to climb up onto another Boulder to see my way out , about 4 meters in front I saw a flat sandy spot , as the waters receded .
In one of the few perfect jumps I had done in my life I managed land on the spot with all my gear , except there was one problem , the sand turned out to be settled foam . Down I plunged about 2 meters into the water between to basalt boulders with one having the sand being gauged from underneath.
I knew then I needed to get to the surf and out of the rocks .
As I made my way out to the surf and around I could see I had about 100 or so metres to go and realising there were still boulders underneath me , I still was in much danger.
The equinox and scoop were tethered to me by bungee cords and I positioned them underneath me for protection and allowed the swell to push me over the top of the rocks .
Still no pain , so far so good .
As I headed in towards the beach, the boulders started to jut out . Although smaller in size, they we no less dangerous . And because I could stand up , I could also get knocked over .
And thats exactly what happened for the next 20 minutes until I reached the beach and pulled my self together and checked for injury.
Shins bleeding from a million cuts that was about all I suffered . All equipment seemed fine .
I tailed it back across the headland using the path and as I was climbing the steps watching my blood drip onto the ground I was stopped by a bloke with a head light.
I thought he was going to ask if I was okay , but instead was I out there looking for coins and what detector I was using .
I said in an annoyed tone to the first question , yes , I was looking for coins out there . And to the second question as I pulled up the Knox , i realised the detector was in 2 pieces .
You could not of done a perfect laser cut clean through even if you tried . It was then I realised how lucky I was not to loose my life or suffer more serious injury , and how stupid I was to underestimate the conditions.
Anyways I tailed it back to the car and since the cable on the detector was not cut , I detected on the way back to the car holding the bottom half with the coil in my left hand and the top part in my right . As I neared the car I heard a familiar signal pulling up a silver ring .
I wish I took a picture of the detector but the blokes at gold diggers did and in a happy ending I had a new detector back within four days from minelab.