Overcoming Seasickness

The one sure fire way to avoid seasickness is to stay away from boats.

Symptoms

Motion sickness can affect anyone who has normal inner ear balance function.

Even those of us who, like me, seem to have been born with their sea legs, can be affected while out on the water.

Unfortunately, there is no sure-fire way that I know of to totally avoid seasickness, but there are some precautions that you can take to minimize the effects.

First thing is to recognise the symptoms for what they are.

Even though you feel extremely nauseous you are not really ‘sick’, you are just out of balance.

Sea-sickness like any motion sickness is caused by the balance centre in your inner ear recording the unfamiliar motion, while your eyes are telling your brain that the world is stable.

The nausea is the result of this confusion.

One of the first signs is feeling drowsy.

This won’t necessarily develop into full scale nausea, in fact many people do actually suffer from mild seasickness without realizing it.

The next stage after the sleepiness is mild the nausea.

This can be kept in check by following the precautions I have listed below.

However, for those unfortunate enough, the symptoms will escalate, nausea can become extreme, followed by dizziness, headaches, cold perspiration and the dreaded vomiting.

And it certainly doesn’t help you feel any better if everyone else on board is perfectly comfortable and happily enjoying the ride.

If you have a seasickness remedy that works for you please share it in the comments box below.

Precautions

We have all read the stories and advice about seasickness clearing up after three or four days at sea.

While they may be true they are not very reassuring for those who just want to enjoy a day on the water, or I suspect for the long voyager on the first day of sickness.

The few times when I have felt nauseous on board it has mainly been due to the combination of the motion plus over indulging the evening before.

So, for anyone but especially those who are prone to motion sickness, precautions should start well before going aboard.

Avoid eating anything that is inclined to cause a stomach upset such as fried or spicy foods and allow plenty of time for it to be digested before sailing.

Get plenty of rest and avoid partying too hard the night before, a hangover is bad enough without exacerbating it with motion sickness.

While you should avoid drinking too much alcohol do drink plenty of the other stuff.

And stay hydrated while on board.

Just as ballerinas have a trick to stop them becoming dizzy so we boaters can help reduce the chances of seasickness.

Once on board you will be less likely to feel the worst effects of seasickness if your eyes are seeing what your ears are feeling.

This is why going below is not such a good idea.

Laid on a bunk, the interior of the cabin will appear to your eyes be steady when your ear is saying that you are anything but.

The same goes for reading a book, spending more than a few moments looking at the charts, the compass or through binoculars.

Try to keep your eyes, working to interpreting the motion of the boat and the waves, at the same time keeping your peripheral vision out on the horizon  and not staring at objects that your eye will interpret as being stable.

Find the position on the boat where there is least motion but at the same time allows you to see the horizon, this will normally be low down in the cockpit.

While being out there in the fresh air is good, it is vitally important to keep warm.

Try to loosen up and allow your body to roll with the boat.

Take some deep breaths.

And try to keep busy, anything you feel up to doing will help distract you from your discomfort.

If you feel drowsy a nap might help but don’t lie down or go below, find somewhere in a corner of the cockpit where you can sit, wedge your self and keep well wrapped up.

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Seasickness Remedies

View my Flipboard Magazine.

• First Aid
• Life Jackets
• Ventilation
• Crew Comfort
• Cold Water Boating

“She found out that having something to do prevented you from feeling seasick, and that even a job like scrubbing a deck could be satisfying, if it was done in a seamanlike way.

She was very taken with this notion, and later on she folded the blankets on her bunk in a seamanlike way, and put her possessions in the closet in a seamanlike way, and used 'stow' instead of 'tidy' for the process of doing so.

After two days at sea, Lyra decided that this was the life for her.”
(Philip Pullman)