Water sports accidents are expensive
The lakes and the sea attract water sports such as stand up paddling, wakeboarding, surfing and kite surfing. However, these sports also have an impact on the number of accidents. According to Suva, around 13,100 water sports accidents occur each year.
According to Suva, no less than 300 accidents per year are due to "Stand Up Paddling". The accidents occur mainly in the months of June, July and August. The age group most frequently affected is between 35 and 54. Three quarters of the reported accidents are falling accidents, because the people involved often lose their balance and injure themselves on the board or when they hit the sea. Injuries and bruises to the torso, back and buttocks are then common, followed by sprains to the hands and feet.
Particularly high costs: wakeboard accidents
The number of windsurfing and surfing accidents has doubled in the last ten years, as Suva further writes. Currently, the statistics amount to 1200 registered accidents per year. Annually, this means running costs of 3.6 million Swiss francs or an average of 4200 Swiss francs per accident. However, sports enthusiasts from old to young (between 25 and 54 years of age) are affected, with men (60 percent) being injured more frequently on average.
40 percent of surfing accidents occur in the Mediterranean countries of Spain, Portugal and France, while Switzerland records only 13 percent.
Accident insurers pay 1.6 million Swiss francs per year for wakeboard accidents, or standing activities on a board pulled over the surface of the water by a motorboat. Sixty percent of the reported accidents involve men between the ages of 25 and 44. Particularly costly were 440 accidents involving kitesurfing (3.8 million Swiss francs). On average, a kiteboarding accident costs 8100 francs.
Source: Suva/Editorial Office
