Axis Wakeboard Boat Forum

Hi folks, I have a general use question about helmets. The background is that I have invented a new helmet design (method of energy absorption) after studying how brains behave in conventional helmets in sports other than football. This came from my needing to understand and do something after my youngest daughter got her 5th significant concussion while surfing big waves in Hawaii a couple of years ago. She was laid up for more than a year after hitting her head at Backdoor (part of the Banzai Pipeline) on the North Shore of Oahu. It was this injury that got our family into wakesurfing and triggered my purchase of the A22 with Surfgates.

i am in the patent process, and I am working on test articles and pre-production test units. So far I am not sure if we will produce them or attempt to license the technology to existing manufacturers of sport helmets. I am trying to understand if there is a likely market for watersports versions since I might want to license it separately to specialty helmet makers as opposed to the big guys who might not push a limited market and focus on motor sports, winter sports, and wheeled board sports.

So here are the questions:
Do you wear a helmet when wakeboarding or skiing?

Do you ever hit the water hard enough to wish you had a helmet?

If you wear a helmet has it caught on the water and pulled your head and neck in a crash?

Is there any feature you wish a helmet for water sports had?

Thanks, the neck or head you save may be your own... someday.

Wayne Tuttle

I wear a helmet about 80% of the time wakeboarding, my wife 100% of the time. I have had 5+ people get concussions behind my boat, my wife has had three, the last one she hit the side of her face and was wearing a helmet, I have never had the helmet catch water, I have also never had it catch at the cable park. I would like ear protection that is comfortable, I had one person blow an eardrum behind my boat. Pm me if you want to discuss further.

I never wear a helmet, unless I'm riding cable, but there has been a lot of debate over the years if one helps or not when wakeboarding. I would be curious to see a study done on whether a helmet helps protect your head in a water impact, or if the added surface of the helmet creates a bigger impact on the water, ultimately hurting your head.

Wilbur, the key to the helmet question comes down to what kind of helmet. Helmets made for motorcycles or football players are not ideal for watersports. The ones made for watersports may or may not add significant protection.

It comes down to reducing the internal shear forces in the brain. Think of it as Jello with a bunch of tiny, fragile threadlike strands inside it (Axon cells). Then put it in a bowl of water. If we slam it around the jello will hit the side of the bowl. it will usually have a complex angle of impact and the jello can have the threads either scruntch or stretch. Some will break. That will kill the damaged axon. then it will release a bunch of brain chemicals, trigger inflammation, need to regenerate, and generally cause a concussion. The frequency at which the brain jiggles (like jello) is about 15 HZ, so we need a helmet to do two things. It needs to limit the total force applied to the head (G Load), and it needs to prevent the energy getting to the brain from having a 15 HZ component.

Doing both for all speeds and activities is not easy, and that is the problem we think we have solved. Clearly the wrong helmet can exacerbate impacts and make the outcome worse. A couple of years ago I was meeting with a prominent brain rehab doc who works with olympic boxers. He pointed out that amateur boxing (where they wear padded headgear) had the highest amount of brain injury. Pro boxing has much less, and MMA has virtually no brain injuries from punches. The padded gloves and the padded glove-headgear combination makes the punch more damaging. I'd say we need to stay away from that resonant frequency so the jello does not shake as much.

Wayne

We carry helmets and they're worn most of the time. I got them after a couple of headaches that lasted more than a day. We haven't had any issues with a helmet catching water.

We have LF helmets with the detachable ear flaps. I once hit the water with sufficient force to blow one of the flaps off the helmet. It probably saved me some ear damage so I would consider it a must have feature.

A nice option would be a radio / receiver for coaching from the boat.