Lessons Learned: Managing Seasickness

Lessons Learned Part 2 - Sondra's tips on minimizing sea sickness

When seasoned sailor and co-founder of 59 North Sailing Mia Karlsson was asked about a recent shakedown cruise made on Falken, their Farr ‘Millennium’ 65, she responded with

something like, "I sea-trialed the buckets". Her delivery of this comment had me cracking up, but it is such a great line because Mia has been known to be one of the least prone seasick members of the team, and it is a nice reminder nearly everyone eventually could experience seasickness from time to time.

Seasickness is a form of motion sickness, something I have not had issues with on land. I do get vertigo when looking up at man-made structures, but that is the extent of it (yeah, Jimmy finds this to be very odd too) . However, I have occasionally found myself feeling a little green while on a boat, and it had seemed to be quite random, until I started to learn more about what causes it. It turns out to be quite a mental game that manifests itself by physical properties.

Now, everyone is different, but this is what works for me, and for me most of these are only needed for rough seas or overnight passages. I'll pick and choose depending on the conditions.

Pre-Trip Planning

• For trips that involve overnight passages, where being physically and mentally able is very important, I start with a healthy diet the two days before. I'll avoid greasy or overly large meals, and for this short-handed passage I chose to avoid all alcohol 48-hours before the earliest departure time.

• If the sea-state looks a to be a little bumpy, I will skip my morning coffee when leaving the dock before lunch.

• And to really be honest, I will share some TMI. Do not read the rest of this bulleted item if this makes you uncomfortable. I really debated on whether or not to include it, but hey, this blog is supposed to be about being honest, so here it goes: a bowel movement before heading out to rough seas will reduce my chances of getting seasick.

Underway

As the trip gets started, here are some simple things to do to avoid becoming seasick:

• avoid looking at my cell phone

• minimize trips down below

• keep an eye out on the horizon as much as possible

On one trip the seas were so rough, I had spent time looking at my phone (sending / reading text messages) and worrying about how our cat was handling the conditions (he was much better than me), I started to get green. By chance, Jimmy needed me to take over the helm, and within the hour I was feeling fully recovered.

As the trip progresses, or if the sea-state turns less than desirable, you should continually pay attention to how you feel. If there might be the smallest hint of seasickness, do not ignore it! It needs to be addressed right away. I'll take the above tips more seriously, and kick in a few more tips, like

• Begin sipping on quality ginger ale. Make sure it really has ginger in it and not ginger flavored sugar.

• Eat small meals or frequent snacks. Before a longer trip, and if short-handed, be sure to have some ready to eat foods available. Jimmy will pre-make some meals, and I'll place snacks in the cockpit.

• Avoid breathing diesel fumes. When the fumes tend to enter the cockpit, like during a light downwind day, I need to find fresh air to avoid feeling nauseous.

• Lay down quickly once off shift. Being down below can really confuse your brain when the boat is moving around a lot. If you miminize your time down below, you can improve your odds of getting sick. However, on a long passage, you will need to eventually sleep. Once I get into my bunk I will often begin to feel better. They key is to lie down quickly.

• Don't think about being sick. this can be a tough one, especially if others onboard are sick. I have found my self getting sick after others have turned green. Another indicator of how mental seasickness is. If you can, distance yourself from others who are expressing how sick they feel, or place them in a location away from the crew to keep the crew from feeling the same.

• And another tip in the gross category: empty your stomach if you feel nauseous. On one of my earliest seasick moments I avoided voiding my stomach because I really, really, really hate vomiting. However, wow, did I ever feel better afterwards. For safety's sake this should be done in a bucket and not overboard.

Lesson Learned: Somethings are easier said than done...

Although I have been learning more and more about how to avoid getting sick while at sea, it turns out I certainly made some rooky moves that last passage.

We left the dock at 4:30 p.m., 24 hours after our initial plan. I felt fine until the sun went down and and the sky eventually turned pitch black. I had not expected the complete darkness, enhanced by our cockpit enclosure, to rob me of my horizon view. With no horizon to focus on anymore, the small but building swell was enough to make me feel just a tad seasick.

Around 9 p.m. Jimmy began his first solo watch of the night and I went down below hoping to sleep off the queasiness. My error was made upon waking right before midnight, by spending too much time getting dressed and gathering up our New Year's Eve toast. I should of had the "Champaign" and glasses placed in a handy location before we left the dock. Instead I stayed below after getting dressed, fumbling around looking for our New Year's Eve toast items. I should of went up to the cockpit after getting dressed, looked around, before heading back down to get ready for the toast. However, I had woke up a little late (to be covered in a different Lessons Learned article), and did not want to take the time to come up to the cockpit for a moment and miss our midnight toast.

So when I finally come up to the cockpit up at midnight I was probably starting to turn green again, which was worsened after the New Year's toast itself. Our non-alcoholic sparkling apple cider was way too sweet. After Jimmy went down below and I started on my first solo watch, I found myself feeling not so great. At least it was only a low level seasickness, and I was still able to function, which is critical on a short-handed passage. I found that being sick is almost like being drunk, one stops thinking logically. For the first our our two I would not eat or drink anything. However, I worked hard to talk myself into sipping on ginger ale and begin snacking on something not too sweet. Another thing we did not properly prepare for was that Jimmy knew what food was on board, and where everything was stored. I should of taken the time to learn what snacks were available, and have them placed in an easy to find location. While Jimmy was sleeping, I had to quietly dig around the cabin looking for the right snacks as fast as I could to avoid increasing any sickness I felt.

Over time, after sipping on ginger ale and snacking, the moon came out to provide a sliver of light and I could somewhat see a horizon, allowing the seasickness to become less strong before the end of that shift. When I next awoke for my next shift before sunrise, I was feeling much better (thank goodness, because it was going to be a long day).

I am a firm believer that if I had not taken the extra precautions to avoid getting sick, it could of been much worse that it was. In that case, Jimmy may of had to stay awake for the entire 23-hour trip, not exactly the safest situation to be in. Especially since the next day required both of us on watch at all times. But more on that later.