Road to Recovery

Jaeger Stone (Starboard / Severne / SWOX / Shamal Sunglasses) was unfortunately forced to retire from the final wave event of the season — the NoveNove Maui Aloha Classic — on the morning of the first day of competition after injuring himself the day prior, while warming up. 

Despite missing the final event of the year, the 26-year-old still finished fifth overall, which saw Stone record two podium finishes — Pozo and Sylt. We recently caught up with the Australian to see how his recovery is coming along.

PWA: Hey Jaeger, you injured yourself the day before the start in the contest in Maui, how’s the injury now and how long do you expect to be out for?

JS: “Yeah, I’m improving every day. Improvements have been a little slow over the last month but I feel like things are starting to happen a little more rapidly now. I partially tore my left MCL and also partially tore one of my right hip adductor tendons where it inserts in to the bone on my pelvis. It’s been 5 weeks already and I’m starting to feel much more confident with my knee. That will be a couple more weeks and my adductor injury is unfortunately a little worse. It just needs time to heal and being a tendon/bone and muscle injury it might take closer to 12 weeks. It could be worse, I have good support and I know what I need to do so I’ll stay positive and hope to be back sometime in January depending on how my body is feeling. I’ve always felt like I’ve come away from injuries better and I can’t wait to start sailing again.” 

PWA: You entered into the Red Bull Storm Chase — if a suitable storm develops during the holding period will you be back in time to take part if chosen?

JS: “It depends on how early it runs but I’m confident I’ll be back at 100% by then. If I get selected I would hate to turn it down but I only want to do it if I can go as big as possible and don’t want to go in to it nursing an injury. Hopefully I get selected but there’s so many good sailors hoping for the same opportunity.”

PWA: Despite not being able to compete in the final event of the year you still finished 5th overall. Happy with that?

JS: “Yeah, I’m happy with my year. It was disappointing missing the last event because I felt confident before it began and I didn’t feel like it was beyond me to get a good result in Maui. I finished equal on points with Thomas [Traversa] though and the guys who finished above and below me in the rankings are all insane windsurfers so it’s good to be in the mix. Overall I learnt heaps this year about windsurfing, myself and competing. It’s the first year I’ve felt that I can actually go in to an event with the confidence to win so hopefully I can carry that forward.”

PWA: You had some close calls in Tenerife and Sylt - are those hard to take?

JS: “Ha ha yeah, they were. But it’s part of it. You win some and you lose some. All those losses did were make me want it even more so it can only be a good thing. Hopefully next time it doesn’t come down to such small margins and goes my way.”

PWA: Thanks, Jaeger. Good luck with the remainder of your recovery.

You can stay up to date with all of Jaeger Stone’s latest news and adventures via his Instagram: @jaeger_stone