We had finished shooting all day with Andrew Adkison. During the day Shaun and Gerry both showed us how to go Ironing Board, it's sort of like wakeboarding, but it's ironingboarding instead. They built this 2x4 cross brace and attached one wakeboard to the top and one to the bottom. The top one has bindings and you ride it way up in the air. Both Shaun and Jerry were riding it and it was hysterical. Then Andrew barefooted for his first time, Shaun helped teach him in about ten minutes and he loved it. In between all of this fun, we shot alot of real wakeboarding and when I say real, I mean very real. Andrew's blind 540 and 313's and suicide raleys and even dum-dums and Gerry Nunn's huge 313 and batwings to blind. We shot everything and it was an awesome day out on the water.
We were doing just one more set of sliders as the sun was setting. Andrew was sticking the flatbar and the A-frame and Shaun was pulling him on the SeaDoo while I was Shaun's Nautique shooting. Nobody else was around and the lake was empty. Shaun wanted to take a quick set before we went back in. Andrew was pulling him on the SeaDoo and he stuck both of the sliders like nothing. Then he went in switch, ollie 180 to 50/50 on the rail of the flatbar, but he came off the rail and was sliding along very close to the side of the slider. Then he caught just the very tip of his board under the last post of the rail and it kicked him violently over the front. Andrew called me over and we lifted Shaun into the Nautique. He told us right then that he broke his leg and we started the long slow journey back across the lake.
Andrew went up ahead with the SeaDoo while I drove Shaun back in the Nautique. Shaun was on his cell phone to the people back in the house and soon Jerry Nunn appeared on the SeaDoo bearing the screwgun and other tools and he escorted us the rest of the way to the dock. On the dock were more tools include the garden shears that we used to cut Shaun's Belmonts off. There was some discussion about whether to keep the left binding on to hold his leg in place, but we all decided to cut it off to remove the extra weight pulling down on his leg. Well, we learned that you can cut the rubber on the Belmonts with garden shears in only a couple of seconds. Then someone arrived with an old wheelchair that Shaun had around his house and we loaded him up and got him to the emergency room.
I went back to the house later that evening to give Shaun a copy of the video and that sequence, but when I arrived, they hadn't even returned from the hospital yet. I showed Andrew the sequence and we decided to first find out what the doctor said before we show it to anybody. Andrew said that he'd show it to him in the morning after all the drugs wore off.
I remember one time at a Pro Tour, Shaun had hurt his wrist and he was handing out these little pieces of paper that had the whole story printed out on it. He gave one to anyone who came up and asked him, "Hey Shaun, what happened?!" This time, I wanted to do him a favor so I made the sequence into a sticker that he can put on his cast. That should explain everything to anyone and save our hero's voice.
So take this word of advice, always be careful when you slide any kind of obstacle. This is a dangerous sport, please be careful.
