Re: [Paddlewise] Vertigo?

>  I have felt a sensation of disorientation while becalmed at sea and have
>heard others say they had similar feelings. I read (but can no longer
>remember where) that researchers had studied what they called "qajak angst"
>(SP?) among the Inuit.  Apparently some Inuit  lost touch with whether they
>were right side up or upside down. If I recall correctly it happened most
>often in calm conditions.
>
>Never heard of a cure.
>
>Cheers,
>
>John Winters
>

Peter Freuchen's Book of the Eskimo has a good treatise of "qajaq angst" 
also John Heath wrote a Sea Kayaker article on this topic a number of years 
ago, which I do not have available.

Freuchen writes: 
"The Greenland fjords are peculiar for the spells of completely quiet
weather, when there is not enough wind to blow out a match and the water is
like a sheet of glass. The kayak hunter must sit in his boat without
stirring a finger so as not to scare the shy seals sway. Actually, he can
only move his eyes, as even the slightest move otherwise might mean game
lost. The sun, low in the sky, sends a glare into his eyes, and the
landscape around moves into the realm of the unreal. The reflex from the
mirror-like water hypnotizes him, he seems to be unable to move, and all of
a sudden it is as if he were floating in a bottomless void, sinking,
sinking, and sinking .... Horror-stricken, he tries to stir, to cry out but
he cannot, he is completely paralyzed, he just falls and falls and falls.
   This trance may last until perhaps a slight ripple of wind on the
surface of the water brings reality back to him."

Freuchen mentions no cure, the "kayak illness" accounted for the ruin of
many able-bodied Greenland kayakers who were no longer able to provide for
their families.

Barbara, since you are paddling when you feel vertigo then you are probably
experiencing something somewhat different than "qajaq angst". Perhaps
talking, ensuring that you don't fix your gaze, and checking the horizon
frequently would help. I have also heard of paddlers slapping a blade
against still water in a fog, to provide sensory input, to prevent similar
problems. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the problem disappears once
your sense of balance on the surf-ski, and your confidence with it, improves.

Greg Stamer

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