The kayak incident

Directly after moving to our new place, we both got ourselves occupied with another week of intensive sailing and other watersport activities during China's second most imported holiday: the Golden Week. It starts on October 1st, China's National Day, and runs for eight days in total, coinciding this year with the Mid-Autumn festival. The latter follows the lunar calendar (on the 15th day of the 8th month). This year, Mid-Autumn Day was on September 30th, but it's usually a bit earlier.
A while ago, Paul had asked us if we would be available this week for assistance, which we were, so while almost everybody else was enjoying a week-long vacation, we got up early every day, to be present at the beach at 8:30 in the morning, and help Paul set up camp and bringing the boats out (one catamaran sailboat, two kayaks, some peddle boards, and a dingy with outboard motor, standing by for emergencies).
This week is the busiest week in whole China for tourism, so we were guaranteed to have a lot of customers for short sailing trips and renting smaller equipment. My job was mainly to act as captain of the sailboat, taking out groups of people (up to seven people, including children) for a half hour trip. The weather was perfect for sailing: blue skies, a good wind (3 to 4 Beaufort), some waves, but not too high. For almost everyone it was the first time on a small boat at sea, but they all loved it. Most people got wet, as expected (we told them in advance), and some got completely soaked, because they chose to sit on the net spanning the two inflatable hulls in the front section of the boat, catching the spray and some larger waves head on.
From time to time, when we had no customers for sailing, or when Paul took the boat out, I helped people using the kayak or peddle board, which both are a bit tricky in the first moment, when going out into the surf. The breaking waves can easily tip the kayak or board over, and do so with incredible force. Yesterday, when the Golden Week was already over, and all tourists had already returned home, I was helping Ling Ling getting into the kayak when such a thing happened: a big wave crashed into the kayak while she was still standing behind it and I was holding the boat for her to step in. The boat was scooped up by the incoming wave, and to prevent it from hitting Ling Ling full on, I tried to throw it even more upwards so it would fly over her, instead of hitting her. It worked, but the boat still hit me on my eyebrow while flying past me, and I was bleeding. This would be the second time in less than two months that I had to go to hospital to get myself stitched up. This time, the cut was not as deep, but it still needed five sutures to close it properly. One day later, it looks like the doctor did a good job, and it will probably hardly leave a mark.