Re: [Paddlewise] Towing, seasick

It happens.  Last summer one of my students said he was prone to being
seasick on larger boats, so he though he would try kayaks.  He climbed in
with me standing in shallow water helping him balance.  Within a couple of
minutes he puked all over me.

For myself, I get very woozy in flat light conditions, be it skiing or
paddling.  

Cheers,
Richard Culpeper
www.geocities.com/~culpeper

----------
> From: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com
> To: PaddleWise_at_lists.intelenet.net
> Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Towing, seasick
> Date: Friday, April 09, 1999 10:50 AM
> 
> > > My girlfriend is prone to sea-sickness, and has had good results with
the
> > > new, less-drowsiness formula Dramamine (which we couldn't find in
Canada).
> > > That was in rather light swell, though she gets sick pretty easily. 
Has
> > > anyone had a failure of this stuff in severe tests??
> > 
> > Not familiar with any improvements in Dramamine, Mike --- even
> > kids' Benadryl knocks me out --- but has she tried those little
> > pressure point straps for the wrists?  
> 
> I was surprised to hear all this talk about seasickness in a kayak.  I
> have never seen it in 10 years of paddling with groups.  My supposition
> was that a lot of seasickness happens on a larger boat where your head
> is a good 12 feet above the surface of the water and the rocking of the
> boat swings you in a greater arc and therefore might induce sea
> sickness.
> 
> I have been sick on the water, most recently last year, but not from
> seasickness as such.  I had not been feeling well anyway that morning
> but I was scheduled to help out on a swim support donw the Manhattan
> side of the Hudson and felt that I was needed as we didn't have a lot of
> support kayaks.  I was okay on the swim support because my mind was
> occupied with what I was doing.  But after arriving at the swim end and
> paddling down a bit further to a kayaking hangout, I started feeling ill
> again.  I had lunch but, dumb me, I had a hot dog!  NOw I was really
> swaying and quite ill.  I did have the choice of just folding up my boat
> and heading home by cab (always a nice safety move with a foldable; make
> a one-way trip of it when things go bad) but I decided to paddle back
> anyway.
> 
> The 5 mile trip back to the put-in was a nightmare.  Huge wakes were
> hitting me from the heavy recreational and commercial traffic and
> causing clapotis as the wakes reflected off the seawall and piers.  I
> did warn my companions that I wasn't feeling well and to keep an eye out
> on me, something they probably would not have ordinarily done, knowing I
> can fend for myself.
> 
> I remembered the old thing about keeping my eye fixed on the horizon, in
> this case the straight line of cliffs on the Jersey side and not at all
> look at the wakes and waves.  Since I wasn't looking at them, I couldn't
> do the little wiggles and Body English adjustments you unconsciously do
> on the water (or on a bike or a car in uneven terrain).  The sensation
> was the same as paddling at night when you can't see what the water is
> doing around you, just hear it, although with the din of highway traffic
> nearby, helicopters and the roar of boat engines, I couldn't hear much.
> 
> I was certainly glad to get off the water, crawling on the dock and
> happy to see a big Russian friend on the pier above me who I could ask
> to take my boat up.  He grabbed my K-Light under one arm.  I should have
> asked him to carry me under the other; what a sight that would have
> been! :-)
> 
> ralph diaz
> -- 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter
> PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024
> Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com
> "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag."
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
>
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