Let me tell you about the time I was surfing in remote West Sumatra, on a reef break called Macaronis, and I got the worst fin cut of my life. A gash from my knee to my ankle, wide open, salt water pouring in, and the nearest clinic was a two-hour boat ride followed by a four-hour drive to Padang. The camp manager looked at my leg and said, ‘We can stitch it here, but if it gets infected, you’re in trouble.’ I called my insurer. Sport Travelling’s emergency team immediately connected me with a tropical medicine specialist in Singapore via video call. She looked at the wound, asked about the reef’s coral composition, and prescribed a specific antibiotic cocktail that the camp happened to have in its first aid kit. They then arranged for a private speedboat to evacuate me to a clinic in Padang the next morning for proper cleaning and a tetanus shot. The entire time, a case manager texted me reminders to keep the wound elevated. I was back in the water in ten days. The stitching was ugly, but the scar is my favorite souvenir. And the peace of mind? Priceless. The link is sportravelling.com – use it before your next surf trip.
