Sea Sickness - does it ever go away?

[Christopher]

This year I've really started sailing on a lot of other people's boats.  As a result, I've found that I've had to assume the role of gopher and go below decks to fetch beers, stow outboard motors, put away sails, and other random below decks tasks while underway.  I've found I get REALLY sea sick when I go below.  I'm used to running a tiller and I'm fine all day long in any kind of seas when I'm on the tiller.  I was out in 6 or 7 foot rollers last weekend and got stuck below for maybe 5 minutes in a Merit 25 after polishing off a 1/2 cheeseburger and 3 beers.  I had to bolt for the back of the boat to donate my tasty dinner to the fish.  I tried to stay above decks, but there was no place to sit or lie down on that Merit.  I couldn't shake it, and proceeded to puke 3 more times while above decks.  It seems no matter what the conditions, if I go below decks I get sick.  It seems to have only gotten worse for me.  Does this go away with time?  I've read lots of things on how to cope, medications, patches, staring at the horizon, etc..  I'd like to get to the point where I can just be okay below decks.  Will I get there????

[Karletto]

the worst thing is to go in the cabin. everything that you do, do it fast. sometimes you should leave the job and go on the fresh air, at least with your head. breath slowly and deep. leave what you can do in port.
seasickness can be controlled with patches, tablets, food, drink... even maritime officers have seasickness.
i had seasickness only once in 10 years because i drank whole night and made free dive to 65ft next morning. the sea was Beaufort 3.

my advise -> say them to bring beer out the cabin themselves!!!

polish hamburgers? darn it speak English. ???  i suppose it means make hamburgers. 

[s/v Faith]

.....polish hamburgers? darn it speak English. ???  i suppose it means make hamburgers. 

  'Polish off' is slang that means (in this case) to finish eating or to compelete something.

[Karletto]

ammm so he ate 1/2 hamburger and 3 beers in the cabin?  wth do it outside. if it means you cleaned dishes -> you can do it in port or outside too. if it's your turn/ job no one will complain if you leave it.  8)








wow 3 beers in 5min

[CharlieJ]

lol- yeah- it goes away- after about 3 days at sea.

Couple suggestions. We use Bonine. Take it BEFORE you go out. Another brand may work better for you. Still need to take it BEFORE you get sick

FORGET the beers. FORGET any alcohol. Drink tea, or gator aid. Just don't consume any alcohol- makes it worse.

[Christopher]

Getting out quick is definitely my new priority, or avoiding it altogether.  I guess my ultimate question is, does it ever go away?  Will you ever get over sea sickness below decks or am I stuck with it?

[Karletto]

in maritime school we used to make bwlaaaa sounds/ puking sounds next to guys with seasickness on the top of every wave. hihi kids...

try the technique described above. as i said it depends.
i saw people that are seasick even long time outside.
if you are 1 of them you have to change whole technique -> go out quick, leave what you can do in port, ask someone else to bring it himself, no alcohol or junk food, look the horizon/ stars, show the head at least outside the cabin door, breath slowly and deep.

[Christopher]

haha --
I ate the burger and drank the beers in the short time before the race.  Definitely would not be eating burgers and drinking beers below decks... Especially on a Merit 25!

It was certainly a moment to behold though.  This was THE FINEST start I have ever been a part of for a race.  What a sight... The little Merit crossing the start EXACTLY at the horn and me clinging to the stern rails hurling chunks of partially digested burger into the water.

As an aside, Samuel Adams tastes almost the same thrown up hours later as it tastes going down.  That's good beer!

[Shipscarver]

Forget the booze, try ginger ale.

[Christopher]

Agreed -- Beer does not seem to be the best companion on the boat for me.  It seems to be on every boat I crew on the skipper and other crew are insane drinkers.  I think the situation will improve when I get my own boat.  I get anxious out on other people's boats for the first time, especially in a racing situation.

[Paul]

Sea Bands worked for my wife.  They are elastic bands that have a bead that presses on the underside of the wrist.  I don't know exactly how it works, but she changed from green back to an almost natural color.  ;)  Works even if the symptoms have already started.  Of course, follow the advice stated above, too. 

[Shipscarver]

My Grandfather, started sailing at 15 on a steel hulled, 3 mast out of San Francisco. He in turn taught me at a very early age, there was an important old sea going tradition to have ginger cookies and ginger soda before sailing.  And, that you couldn't be a real sailor unless you drank that horrid tasting ginger beer (which is not beer) he kept on board for me to drink during the day because, "you can't get seasick when you drink, Ginger Beer." Of course, I believed him. I ate the cookies and drank the ginger soda before we would sail, and consumed the "Ginger Beer" like a real, grown up sailor. Sly old salt that he was. 
But, ya' know, as I got older I realized his ginger soda smelled different than mine.  ::)

[AdriftAtSea]

Works by pressing on an accupuncture/accupressure pressure point located in the forearm.

Sea Bands worked for my wife.  They are elastic bands that have a bead that presses on the underside of the wrist.  I don't know exactly how it works, but she changed from green back to an almost natural color.  ;)  Works even if the symptoms have already started.  Of course, follow the advice stated above, too. 

[Auspicious]

The one absolute, never fail, works-for-everyone cure for seasickness is sitting under a tree.

Had a fellow desperately ill from the day we left Falmouth for two weeks to Horta. Got him under the tree right up from the dock and he was all smiles.

Bless him, after flying home to recover, he rejoined the boat in Bermuda and finished the trip from there.

sail fast, dave
S/V Auspicious

[AdriftAtSea]

What is sometimes very ironic, is some of the people who are seasick the longest, when they finally get acclimatized to the motion of the boat, get land sickness when they get back on dry land. 

[vinegarj]

there was a fellow who use to have a website specifically dedicated to the subject of seasickness.  he claimed a near 100% cure rate with his method and while i can't prove that it works for everyone i've found it to be an excellent treatment.  basically, the guy recommended that you take one tab of bonine or nondrowsy dramamine (both have meclizine as the active ingredient) at the first sign of feeling sea sick.  however, you don't swallow the tab, rather you place it under your tongue and let it dissolve.  the big advantages to his method...number one, it seems to work and number two, it doesn't make you feel sedated.   note you don't take it unless you start feeling sick and the idea behind placing it under your tongue (i believe) is that once you feel queasy any meds that you take will just sit in your stomach and so placing the meds under your tongue gets the stuff into your system.  it does make your tongue feel a little funny, but beats the heck out of being nauseous or throwing up.  also, bonine is dirt cheap.

[Oldrig]

Ironic to stumble on this thread today, because I was sailing yesterday on a very bumpy Buzzards Bay, and I got seasick for the first time in years.

I find that the battery-powered "Relief Band," originally designed to provide relief to folks undergoing chemotherapy, does the trick. I've only had to use it once or twice, but it does make the queasyness go away. The gadget isn't cheap, but if you buy the more expensive model, you can keep changing the batteries.

The band works on the same principle as the Sea Bands, but provides an electrical stimulus to the accupressure points rather than just pressing against them. I always keep at least one Relief Band handy on the boat--for my wife. She wasn't sailing with me yesterday (she almost NEVER does), but it worked again.

Just my two cents' worth.

--Joe

[cubemonkey]

I suddenly started to experience seasickness late last season, on our last cruise south. The sea state was pretty rough. We left late at night, after working all day, and so I was definitely tired, and probably stressed. It was also October, so it was gonna be cold. We headed out of the harbor (Boston, so almost 2 hrs) and that was when the swell started, and I started feeling queasy. I don't recall, but we had probably had our supper on the way out, just prior to entering Mass Bay. Well, I vomited over the side for the next 8 hrs or so. Nice. It was raining, cold, we were heeled well over, and I was curled in a ball in the cockpit between trips to the leeward rail. The one nice memory I have of this, is the phosphorescence. Up close and personal!

So this is at the end of my third season of sailing. Hmmm. Virus? Food poisoning? or was seasickness to blame. I felt kind of low the rest of the trip, but didn't experience seasickness again on that cruise.

Fast forward to early this summer. Norm and I helped a couple deliver their boat, a Pearson 28, from City Island NY to Sandwich, MA. We set out in a flat calm, with just haze and the threat of the daily thunderstorms and squalls we have now seen all summer. The wind picked up as the day wore on. Norm had high hopes of sailing straight through, although there was some miscommunication about the head. The pump wasn't working correctly and he indicated we would pump out somewhere along the way. With this proscription, and the close quarters, it seemed unlikely that we would be able to "hold it in" for 30 hrs or so.

At any rate, the motion of the Pearson was very lively. We rolled and yawed, not just due to the conditions in shallow Long Island Sound, but because we also had 2 new-to-the-Pearson owners, CP & EM, who we were encouraging to take command of the helm.

Well, dinner did not stay down for me. I had felt queasy before we ate, and hoped that it would pass, that I was over-hungry. Listen to your stomach! EM also bacame sick, so 2 down for crew. We tried sleeping, ginger, tea, etc. Staying above helped, so we just rotated through the cockpit. Stopping at Newport the next morning answered my prayers, and EMs too. We got the head straightened out, got some rest, a good night's sleep, and set out the next day, with no symptoms for anyone, arriving in Sandwich for dinner.

Since then I've used the scope patches, which don't seem to make me drowsy. Actually, I've had no side effects at all. Problem with these is they are prescription. So you have to keep going back to your doc. I may try the suggestion about meclizine under the tongue.

I've also used the wristbands. Those seem to also do the trick.

On previous trips, early in my "career", I have become queasy. Most of the time cystallized ginger or ginger snaps and some tea have been all that was needed. We always keep crystallized ginger on board. Now I keep an extra wristband on board.

We never drink alcohol while underway. And we also don't have any junk food on board. We try to keep the toxins out of our system, so we are rested, fed, and hydrated. Sometimes we miss the rested part, either trying to go too long, or starting out too late.

I've also noticed this year, that it takes time to acclimate. So I'm less likely at the end of the season (notwithstanding last year's experience) to experience seasickness. And as someone noted, if you can't stop, you will probably get over it in a few days. We find that 3 days underway pretty much give us our sea legs.

-elizabeth

[winkali]

I watched an episode of Mythbusters recently and they tried everything. The most succsessfull remedy was Ginger. My wife keeps it on board ''Winkali'' and swears by it. 8)

[AdriftAtSea]

Good ginger candy, ginger snaps, and ginger ale are all very good remedies, and I usually have two of the three aboard, if not all three. :) 

Avoiding alcohol, greasy foods, getting a good night's sleep all help too.