Gatormod patent is filed

[gator1]

I tore my Achilles and dislocated my peroneal tendon in an OTF two years ago. I've invented and am currently skiing on a modification to releasing bindings that I believe would have prevented my injury. My current binding system, which I'm using with the modification, is a Stealth from Connelly. The mod as it is currently designed will work with any releasing plate binding (Goode, Stealth, Fogman, FM, etc) and the principle will work with any releasing binding.

 

My fall was a crushing OTF. I came around 2 ball @ 38 off, pissed because I was late, and I had just sat in the 52 degree river waiting for some GD wally to quit buzzing the course with his jet ski, prior to which a seaplane had landed in our course. I stuffed the tip, the ski stopped, while pointed sideways to my direction of travel, and momentum crushed me downwards and towards the nose of the ski. As that happened, most of my weight was on my front foot, a little was on my rear foot, and my quads and glutes were unable to conteract the forces created by the momentum of my body. My front knee traveled towards the front tip of the ski, my butt dropped towards my front foot, and as a result my front ankle was forced to flex far beyond its mechanical limits. Something had to give, and in this case it was my Achilles and peroneal tendons.

 

There are two types of OTFs. The benign form of the OTF happens when you and the ski are moving in approximately the same direction, and somehow you screw up and get too much weight forward. Your front leg IS strong enough to withstand the compressive load, your front foot acts as a pivot, your rear foot pulls up on the plate via the rear binding, and you are "peeled" off the ski. Or, you and the ski are peeled off the water: the entire ski comes out of the water tail first, and cartwheels around its nose.

 

The benign form of the OTF most often happens after the turn is complete, the ski is coming up to speed or is already at speed, and thus the bening (peeling) OTF usually happens just before or in the wakes.

 

In contrast, the crushing OTF almost always happens around the ball. Three main instances: Hit the ball, stuff the tip, or skip the tail stuff the tip, or, like me, just stuff the tip. In all cases the ski is travelling relatively slowly, and our body is moving down course while the ski is beginning to, or has just suddenly started to, move cross course. As a result, the crushing phenomena is created by the drastic mismatch in the direction (down course vs cross course) of the skier and the ski.

 

The current releasing binding designs do not release based on the force that is being experienced by the ankle. They release based upon the tensile load that is created at the attachment point between the plate and the ski, be that a bunch of Velcro or a spring loaded pin. Since, in the crushing OTF, there IS NO TENSILE LOAD (or very little), the plate does not release while the ankle is overflexed. This is because the ankle joint and surrounding tendons are not strong enough to create a tensile load on the plate attachment while our weight is being crushed onto the ankle.

 

The lack of a tensile load on the release mechanism in a crushing OTF is the core of the problem. It is why recycling snow ski bindings or clothing attachment fabrics will not protect us.

 

A snow ski binding works with a snow ski boot. Snow ski boots are stiff, and come halfway up the shin. In an OTF on a snow ski, the stiff, high cuff of the boot transfers the load from the shin to the rear of the boot, and the binding clamping the rear of the boot to the ski releases before the shin bone breaks. But, in water skiing, we have to move around on our ski, therefore our boots must allow ankle flex over a wide range of motion. Since the boots can't lock the joint up, they can't use the shin to transfer a releasing force through the boot to the binding. Reflex put a strap on the back of their boot, but it seems the boot still cannot transfer enough force since people are still getting hurt. And with a one boot release we are still at risk from twisting fall injuries.

 

So, we have conflicting requirements:

 

In order to avoid twisting fall injuries, we want both feet locked together on a plate.

 

In order to avoid injury in a crushing OTF, we need a plate design that will release based upon the angle our ankle is being forced to flex into.

 

But we need the plate to hang on even when it is experiencing significant tensile loads, such as when we are approaching a peeling OTF, but have not actually passed the threshold into a peeling OTF (in a successful "lean lock" recovery, or a slightly weight forward wake crossing, relatively large tensile forces are created between the plate and the ski. But we do NOT want to come off the ski)

 

So, the gatormod FORCES A RELEASE in a crushing OTF, whenever the ankle is obout to be overflexed, while letting the plate release as per normal in all other types of falls.

 

Gatormod works by basing the release criteria on the position of the front knee relative to the position of the front ankle. Whenever the front knee has travelled too far ahead of the ankle, and thus overflexed the ankle, the mod creates "synthentic" tensile force between the plate and the ski, thus reducing the force required from the ankle to make the plate release.

 

In its simplest form, a lanyard (oh hell, let us call a spade a spade, its a boot lace) is attached to the skier's leg just above the knee, using a woven nylon attachment device (its a dog collar). The other end of the lanyard is attached to a lever, which is attached to the rear of the plate and is constrained to pivot around an axis parallel to the surface of the plate. The free end of the lever acts on the top surface of the ski, and in essence "pries" the plate off the ski when the lanyard is pulled hard enough by the knee. If the knee continues forward, the lanyard continues to lift the rear of the plate off the ski (via the lever which is attached via the pivoting axle to the plate), thus limiting the maximum angle ever experienced by the ankle. It has the effect of making the ankle joint behave as if the Achilles tendon becomes infinitely strong at the point of over flex.

 

The length of the lanyard is skier-selected (ok, I tied a knot in the bootlace at the right length) to allow the knee and ankle to flex unencumbered until such point as the ankle begins to feel pain from being overflexed. At that point, the lanyard becomes taut. I've found that, in the process of skiing normally (and in my case abnormally), the lanyard never gets tight. It just flops around with the shoelaces on my Stealth boots. I've unintentionally tested it in severe mach schnell lean lock recoveries and never felt it. Only when I am in deep sh!t trouble in a potential OTF does it ever get tight. So far this spring I've run into 38 off with it, and had no interference from the lanyard or levers, and no inadvertent releases. And I have had a couple of high risk crushing OTFs in which the thing worked exactly per design intent. Last night I had an unsuccessful lean lock recovery and crashed into the first wake. In previous years, that type of fall meant at best laying in the water with the wind locked out of me, and worst case a cracked or separated rib. This time, the plate released and I somersaulted into the wake butt first. Sweet.

 

That seems to be the eject mode. In the bad crushing OTFs the guys in the boat say I do a couple of tucked somersaults on the water. The sensation of being slapped onto the water is gone.

 

 

So, having said all that, the pictures are attached below for anybody who wants to try rigging this up on their plate. I make no representations about how it will work for you, and the description I've written above is only a documentation of my experience with it.

[Wish]

So, that's kinda cool. THE worst falls I have are off the second wake where the tip of the ski bites or dips giving me that slapped in the water so hard I see stars feeling. I cant even tell you if my front knee travels that far forward it happens so quick. But you mentioned not being slapped in the water. Will this, in theory, protect against that? Or is that a case where a different directional release is needed.?

 

My other question (general -not specifically for you) based on your snow ski boot comparison, why hasn't any manufacture made a hard shell that hinges for ankle movement but is beefy enough, with a stop built in, where the OTF type fall does in fact transfer enough of a load to force a release and not allow the ankle to travel any further forward. I've seen rollor blade boots where there is such a stop mechanism that you can adjust for more or less forward movement. They are just no where near beefy enough.

 

I've always felt the low cuff (some even cut down) hard shells out there were just injuries waiting to happen. Bones are small, many, complicated and relatively week at the ankle joint vs up much higher, as you say, in the shin bone. My boots are high cuffed and the cuff is extremely ridged. But it hinges.

[MattP]

@gator1 first off intersting... I like your passion for innovation... I run a hard hell and RTP so I do not have the kind of falls you have experienced.

 

Reflex put a strap on the back of their boot, but it seems the boot still cannot transfer enough force since people are still getting hurt.

Do you have evidence of this? Please do not make claims about another companies product with out citing the evidence first.

[Wish]

@ MattP ....Strap.....

[Wish]

another.. I actually may do this to my boots.

[MattP]

@wish I know what it looks like... But how do you know accidents are happening at the same rate with this boot as presumed over the the older models with out the webbing.

[Than_Bogan]

Sweet!

 

That is really elegant. I can't resist a joke it reminds me of: A software engineer is asked to design a system that prevents a fish hook from coming out. He develops sensors to determine what direction the hook is travelling relative to the fish and dynamically adjust its shape. An elaborate control system is built to do the right thing in each possible situation.

 

A mechanical engineer is given the same task. He says "Put a barb on it."

 

Sometimes simple elegance is really hard to come by, but a good designer will always recognize it and appreciate it.

 

Now you've got me thinking if there is anything analogous to this idea for rubber boots. I'm not 100% certain it's the *release* that is the critical safety enhancer, but rather the *stop*. If the whole ski comes with you into your tumble, but the ankle is never extended beyond its range, then at least the Achilles shouldn't tear. I have to think about whether some other horrible thing will occur in that or some other situation, though!

[Wish]

@MattP i didn't take away from what he said as "same rate" but rather his suggestion of "still getting hurt". That could mean just one or two people since the new boot. Sounds like he's had conversations with other skier who may be on them. Thought it would be nice to see what you both were referring to. :-)

[Wish]

@Than_Bogan the horrible thing would be the ski tip biting off the second wake, the ski boots not releasing and you being slammed into the water with the ski now traveling over your head tail first at a high rate of speed while you have slowed to almost no longer moving. The back is not meant to bend in that direction. No ankle injuries but the back would be in ruff shape....... Of course I'm just speculating. ;)

[gator1]

@mattp thanks for the gentle rebuke. (not being sarcastic) I do know of one guy who got hurt with the strapped Reflex, said that the strap held but the front of the boot collapsed onto his arch. But I'm not going to chase him around to get permission to cite him.. So, I retract the statement. I have no proof admisable in court. Also, in my first post on this subject way back, I said that I thought the reflex was the best out there so far, but I can't ski in it because I hate a RTP. Still do think that. And I have no idea as to rate of strapped injuries vs non-strapped. The poll I did on BOS is the only data I have gathered in addition to talking to people.

 

From the theory standpoint, in a "perfect storm" crushing OTF (no force vector other than straight at the toe of your front foot) it doesn't matter if your foot releases a little sooner because somebody put a strap on it. Imagine you are standing with your knees bent on a flat surface, heel to toe, weight mainly on front foot. Somebody drops 1200 lbs directly onto your shoulders (we generate 6gs pretty easily). You'll get smashed to the floor, and on the way your front ankle will get ruined. You don't need a release, you need a stronger ankle. Reflex strap gives you a slightly stronger ankle. Gatormod gives you a lot stronger ankle. I don't know if slightly is enough, or if its plenty. As Than Bogan says, I'm just a simple mech eng. But, my sh!t is always built hellastout. So now my ankle is too.

[gator1]

@than_Bogan:

 

Part of the patent covers mounting any bindings to a common plate, including a full front and RTP. In the case of soft bindings with RTP, I anticipate a "safety strap" that encircles your ankle that you click to fasten around your ankles once your foot is "in" each binding. This ensures both feet stay where they should in a fall, gives the soft binding guys compliance to attenuate their ankles (See @HOrton, I listened) in edge change, gives the RTP guys the option to do the shuck and jive they love with their back heel, yet gets everybody the hell off the ski when the time comes.

 

@wish: I think my lean lock fall is the same as your tip dipper. I didn't think my knee went far forward in these "slapping" falls, but sure seems to. I can't really begin to explain how good it feels to be just sliding through the air instead of the pain you know is coming. I went to FL once to ski with a buddy from up here. He thought it was funny as hell when the look of bliss spread over my face as I jumped into his 80 degree water for the first time, unconsciously expecting the 52 degree crap I deal with up here. Same feeling I get as the slapper goes by:"AHHHHH......oh that didn't hurt". So, THAN, I think we really want off the ski in times of trouble.

 

And, a MIT Phd called my design elegant. I may as well quit, I'll never surpass that. Of course he compared it to putting a barb on a hook, so I should just have quit reading.

[Than_Bogan]

Fwiw, I don't have a PhD. Dr. Bogan is either my mom or my brother :).

 

And a barbed fish-hook is #@!ing brilliant. Elegance requires simplicity.

[Zman]

@gator1 First, as already stated, kudos for your persistence and ingenuity. You also have to be pretty daring/trusting testing your apparatus after already sustaining the injury you had - and knowing what the outcome might be if it does not work.

Guess my biggest concern would be getting the lanyard adjusted just right for each skier and skier style.

 

[gator1]

@than_bogan: Ok, I'll trade you one elegant and a effing brilliant (by association) for a Phd. Masters? Or BS like me? Thanks for the kind words at any rate.

 

@Zman: thanks. But, even if it didn't work I was as just as safe as with a standard Stealth, which is pretty good.

 

Adjusting the lanyard is easy. Get in the binding, put the dog collar around my knee, bend my knee until my ankle hurts. Tie knots in the lanyard until it is tight when my ankle hurts. All done.

 

@wish, forgot your other question. The loose boot till stout stop with high cuff is tough to get right..need it to go from floppy to hard in a few degrees of angular displacement. Not much movement even halfway up the shin, so the boot has to really be stiff when it hits the stop. Lots of plastic and expense and custom fitting to make it work. I tried that first.

[mwetskier]

i assume the lanyards need to be rigid cord and non stretchy so the release will be consistant?

[Than_Bogan]

@gator1. Degree list (all from MIT):

Masters of Engineering, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering

B.S. of same

Minor in Economics

Coursework equivalent to a degree in Applied Mathematics, but not enough total credits for a double degree. (I seriously considered staying on and taking the 4 most ridiculously easy classes I could think of just to emphasize how silly the "total credits" rule was, but when I found out people wanted to actually pay me, I changed my mind... Also, MIT has quite a lack of easy classes :) )

[eleeski]

@gator1 Interesting idea. As one who sort of prefers to stay in no matter what, I'd be concerned with pre releases associated with big knee movements (like when scrambling to catch up). Any issues so far? You mentioned feeling it - could that be a performance advantage?

 

My neighbor tore his achilles tendon snow skiing. Ski boots and bindings are not perfect. Some falls just have too much energy for the body to handle. My ankle issues last year were an absolute overstress of the joint. A release wouldn't have helped my specific injury.

 

I'm a little leary of involving my knees in the release equation - I'd trade an ankle injury for a knee injury any day. And while my ankle reinjury the day before had it so I could barely walk to the starting dock at Regionals, the ankle support from my hardshells allowed me to slalom a couple passes and win age division tricks. Duct tape in the rubber Wiley jump skis let me plop for an overall score. Knee issues impact my performance much more. All this is personal preference - with a worrisome ankle your needs and release preferences could be quite different.

 

I wonder if your lanyard idea combined with a very high cuff might really work well. Hmmm a high cuff is probably doable. Too many other projects pending right now but... Thanks for the great innovative ideas!

 

@Than_Bogan BS=bullshit. MS=more shit. PHD=piled higher and deeper. In the pursuit of GNAR points "I can't believe you went to MIT. I'm so much smarter than you!" (If you haven't seen the movie GNAR from Unofficial Sqwaw, nevermind.)

 

Eric

[jimbrake]

@eleeski - didn't you go to Stanford? I can't believe you went to Stanford, I'm so much smarter than you!

[eleeski]

@jimbrake Touche!

 

Eric

[gator1]

@eleeski:

I never feel the lanyard go tight. If you look closely at the pics, there is a piece of stainless shim stock between the actuating portion of the levers and the ski. I know the lanyard got tight and forced a release because the the levers dig a bit of a gouge in the shim stock when they actuate. I buff that gouge with some scotchbrite after a release so I can tell what happens next time. I put the shim in there to protect the ski, then got curious and started using it as forensic evidence.

 

The lanyard needs about 3.5 lbs of tension to force a release. I can't feel that in the heat of battle, and I can't see how that would ever injur my knee. If it was just tied to the back of the plate, without the mech. advantage of the levers, then I'd agree that your concern is valid.

 

I've been skiing with it all spring. No inadvertent releases. My OPINION is that it never will. But, proof is in experience. I can tell you my motto is : I got around one, all I need to do is scramble 5 more and I GOT THIS PASS.

 

A no-risk way to test this on yourself, (I'm not as crazy as some have suggested) is to try a lanyart with..............wait for it...........a frangible link! Take a boot lace, tie it to your knee with a piece of thread strong enough withstand flopping around in the wake. Tie the other end to the back of your rear binding. Adjust the length to get tight when your front ankle is bent far enough that it hurts really bad. Go skiing. See if you ever break the thread. I never did, unless I had a bad fall.

[Deanoski]

might want to check your fin setting after standing on the dock.

 

 

[gator1]

@mwetskier, yep, you wouldn't want it stretchy. I'm using 1/8" parachute cord which seems to offer the precision needed. I do the "bend till it hurts, cord get tight?" check every time before I get wet, though, just to be safe.

 

And, @deanoski, I've been using @eleeski trick for years now: Once I get the fin set I scribe it and the ski for depth, angle, fore and aft, and wing angle. If it moves, I see it.

[Deanoski]

right it never moves??? or bends??

[ral]

@Deanoski, as Schnitz stated once, scotch-brite and docks are adjusting tools...

[Brady]

@gator1 So, I am guessing this works with the strata boots only if you have a plate?

[vtjc]

Great description of the forces injuring us in crashes and innovative ideas. I broke my ankle in a properly setup Fogman bindings. I now ski in Radar Strada’s bindings, but miss the nice tight and stiff Fogman shells, something I gut used to as an alpine ski racer.

Brady, I don’t think this would work with Strada system, since the plate doesn’t release from the ski, instead the liner comes from the shell.

 

[AKShortline]

Wow, ok, now I'm scared...

For those of us skiing on tape (velcro), how about using 2 separate plates instead of mono? Would that not allow the release we are looking/hoping for? Anyone ever try it?

[skidawg]

@akshortline, then there is the possibility of a front foot release and a rear foot staying attached. that could be bad too.

 

[Killer]

one thing to consider with any mono-plate setup that is rarely mentioned is the fact that in a fall your feet are now anchors and can not move independently of one another. If a skier is injured this can pose more serious a problem then broken ankles...

 

 

[franciscolalas]

Finished my 10th set with the Gatormod and I have to say that every Fogman should come with one fitted! After a small ankle injury I talked with Craig and he encouraged me to test the Gatormod. I'm now proud to be one of the gatormod testers!

[Klundell]

I ski on a double powershell and would be interested in testing the gatormod. I stuff the tip all the time. I've never been seriously injured from doing it but I've done it so often that we have named it the ankle biter crash because they are always a little sore after it happens. Has anyone tested it on a powershell?

[franciscolalas]

I think it's possible on powershells, drop gator1 an email!

[franciscolalas]

I have to say that due to the gatormod I had an injury free season! Not even a sprain on the ankles! Worked every time I had an OTF fall. Thank you gator1 for the gatormod!

[gator1]

@franciscolalas: glad to hear all went well. That's great! The rest of the gatormod test team also completed the season with our ankles untweaked, and I am currently building some more for stealth/fogman equipped ballers. And some non-ballers, since our orthopaedic surgeon has stopped skiing until I get him one. After fixing my buddy's Achilles, he said, and I quote "I can't have this shit happen to me, how am I supposed to operate on people sitting on a stupid scooter"

 

@klundell, it looks like @ob will be my first test subject for a powershell/dualok version of the mod sometime this winter. I'm gonna take a page from @brewski's book and make the powershell version look like it came off a race car.