Re: [Paddlewise] Seasickness

I too suffer from motion sickness to the extent that I often get sick riding
in a car unless I drive. Any attempts to read while riding and it's barf
city.

At one point I thought I would have to quit sailing. To avoid that I did
some research into "home" remedies and ways to avoid seasickness since in
those days the usual pills put you to sleep (not good when working on
deck!).

Here, for what they are worth, is what helps me.

Stay warm and avoid fatigue. Getting cold and tired seems to set me off big
time.

If possible, keep the eyes on a stable horizon. Definitely don't look down
to read a map unless the map is in a barf proof plastic envelope.

Do not watch the compass too closely. Mount the compass well forward on the
boat if possible so you don't have to shift your eyes down too much. Just
the thought of having to use a compass in fog makes my stomach turn.

If the urge starts to come on, bite into an apple. If you suffer from acid
indigestion stay away from foods that trigger your problem. I always paddle
with apples. Not sure why they work for me.

Keep active and talk to people if have them to talk to. This seems to take
my mind off my stomach.

Some sea sickness stories.

Both Charlie Morgan and I suffer badly so we usually carried apples when
racing. In a race off San Diego we had heavy fog that postponed the race. An
hour of drifting around in a large swell finally did us in so I reached for
the apples only to find that we had failed to check them and they had
rotted. Rotten apples make you even sicker.

After concluding that a wet suit would keep me warm best I wore mine on an
Annapolis-Newport race. A gale developed and we sailed for 12 hours under
storm trysail in some truly scary conditions. I did fine for a while but
finally it got so rough with waves washing over the boat that we decided to
keep only a minimal crew on deck. Unfortunately when one person gets sick
everyone seems to get sick. One person would barf and we would pass the
bucket around until all had thrown up. Then we emptied the bucket out the
companionway. On one occasion a large wave swept us as the bucket emptier
made his toss. He was knocked off balance and the helmsman got hit in the
chest. Fortunately the wave bathed him. He later complained that we could
have found a nicer way to critique his steering.

One down side to the wet suit revealed itself when the ship's doctor passed
around sea sickness meds in the form of suppositories (oral stuff does not
seem to work for everyone  once the heaves have started) Everyone got a huge
laugh out of watching me try to insert a suppository in a bunk while wearing
a wet suit .

On our honeymoon my first wife and I sailed to England on the old "America".
A spring storm had the hand lines out and the waiters wetting down the table
cloths. My wife got sick and the stewardess brought her the suppository
meds. She told the old joke about a passenger complaining that for all the
good the thing did he may as well have stuck it up his ass. That cheered my
wife up and she felt better right away.

Charlie Hunt (designer of the famous Brisote) tells the story of the Havana
race when everyone got sick and one of the crew threw up into the stew pot
on his way on deck thinking it was the barf bucket.  They had to eat cold
meals after that  as the cook refused to cook again if that was the way they
felt about his cooking.

A fellow who claimed he had not  been sea sick on a Bermuda race in thirty
years stuck his head out the companionway and blew his lunch across the
deck. He looked up, smiled, and said that if the food don't improve on this
boat he would fly home from Bermuda. (The owner's daughter did the cooking
and a very fine cook she was). This was on a Fifty-two footer and I can
recall looking over the side and being able to see the tip of the keel as
the boat came off the crest of a wave. She drew 9'.

Cheers,
John Winters
Redwing Designs
Web site address, http://home.ican.net/~735769



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