Heave Ho

[James S]

Welcome to the forum Fairwinds....

[imagine2frolic]

Ocean Girl

With every preperation to leave after being on land. I get a wee bit anxious. Friends have asked me if I ever get scared. I tell them there have been a number of times my fear was strong, but like you. I also tell them my greater fear is to never leave at all.....i2f

[fairwinds]

Thanks a lot for the welcome.
The sea sickness cure, well I know many who would be interested.

Sailing around the world just about what I need to do now, just to clear my head, taking the Harley with me of course LOL.

[captain58sailin]

There are several that have worked for me over the years, until I stopped getting seasick all together. Meclazine Hydrochloride, which you can get through your health care professional, if they are decent about it, can be quite inexpensive, I used to get it from my dentist for 1.95 for 100 tabs. If not, there are commercial applications at a horrendous price, I believe Bonine uses it in their pills, the trick is to take them before you feel bad. I like putting my face in the wind and breathing deeply and focusing on the far horizon, or if there is a mountain in sight, focus on it. Ginger is a good one too, I like the little ginger candies from Malaysia, they taste good too, or you can get the ginger slices that they put out with sushi. Holding a cold can of soda behind your left ear can help. 6 soda crackers or ritz crackers. Stay away from coffee & sodas. Get a good night's sleep and don't drink booze the night before. Stay away from cigarette smoke. Don't breath exhaust fumes from the boat. There are two sources for sea sickness that I know of; one is the imbalance in the inner ear, the other is psychological. If you put yourself in a positive frame of mind about the voyage then you have that one whipped. Once you have been out for awhile, your inner ear will gain it's equilibrium, usually in about 3 days. If you find yourself seasick, after you throw up, drink some water, your body will need the hydration, and it is easier on you than the dry heaves. And do throw up over the side don't go in the head, make sure the wind is at your back while bent over the rail. There great big ocean out there to receive your offering, with minimal environmental impact, fishes need to eat too.

[CharlieCobra]

Originally Posted by fairwinds

Thanks a lot for the welcome.
The sea sickness cure, well I know many who would be interested.

Sailing around the world just about what I need to do now, just to clear my head, taking the Harley with me of course LOL.

It's gonna take a very large boat to carry the scooter. My bike is 7' long and 670 Lbs which precludes me from taking it with me. Having that bike along would be SWEET but unless I acquire a large boat, it ain't happening.

[hellosailor]

Fairwinds, by all means give it a try. Sometimes you can get your body acclimated to the sea, and find it gets easier every time out.

But there's also a wealth of solid information on beating it.

Alcohol or smoking within 24 hours will make you more likely to be sick, as will exhaust fumes, especially diesel. Anything that reduces blood oxygen levels as well. Insufficient sleep, excess heat and humidity, or low bpdy temperature from being cold or not having eaten recently. Greasy foods--skip the clam chowder and anything with lots of dairy or fat as well.

On meds, there's something that works really well for almost everyone, but nothing works really well for more than 1/3 of the people who try it. Compazine, Sturgeron, Scopolamine (my choice) are among the meds that hit hardest. All have some side effects and sometimes bad reactions, so the best thing is to try them AT HOME on a slow weekend, so you can either get help or sleep it off or, more typically, decide if the drug has any odd effects on you like cotton mouth. Then when you try them at sea, you don't have to worry about imaging things--you already know what the drug really is doing.

There's also the wrist bands, ether the plain elastic with a button on your wrist to stimulate the ne-qwan point (works somewhat) or the electric Relief Band, which is so effective it is used for morning sickness and chemotherapy, about $100US and similar to a wrist watch. Positioning this according to the instructions is critical--if it slips off, it does't work. I find it outstanding, almost as good as Scopolamine but not quite.

And there's ginger, plain ginger powder as a spice, taken in capsules. It dilates the capillaries and increases blood oxygenation--so it may give you the hiccups but it works well enough that even NASA respects it.

And with any of them, getting that rest & prep beforehand, and USING the remedy an hour or more before you leave the land, is probably the most important part. Tell your mate to ply you with ginger tea next time.<G>