One of my favourite places to enjoy sailing is from the trampoline – the sound of the waves rushing over the hulls and the feeling of being so close to the water are usually guaranteed to put me in my happy place. So while sailing downwind with a steady 20 kts of wind from Leverick Bay to Jost Van Dyke, I grabbed my beach towel and headed to the trampoline.
After about 40 mins of enjoying the waves, I was surprised to be feeling a bit queasy so I sat up for a bit. It was day 6 of our charter and I had felt fine all week, without any help from Dramamine. Fortunately seasickness doesn’t usually affect me.
We had picked up a honey dew melon at the Leverick Bay grocery store the previous day so I thought it would be a good idea to escape the rolly motion of the trampoline for the more balanced galley area while cutting up some melon. About 15 mins later I discovered it was a bad idea! It actually made me feel worse – and fast! I figured that sitting while looking out the front windows would help the queasiness dissipate, but each time I looked down to watch what I was cutting (kind of important since I like my fingers intact), the sick feeling got worse.
When John came into the galley as I was looking quite green he told me I should go sit out back where I could benefit from the fresh air and better visibility of an all around horizon. Wish I had listened to him sooner!
My lesson learned – when I first start to feel even a tiny bit queasy, recognize that I need to stop whatever I’m doing that takes my eyes off the horizon until the feeling has completely passed. If the feeling isn’t subsiding, get myself into a spot where there’s lots of fresh air. Each person is affected by seasickness differently, and remedies are equally different however this is what I learned (the hard way!) will work for me. Recognizing the early symptoms and taking quick action may prevent a misspent afternoon of feeling the full effects of seasickness. And yes, I still love lounging on the trampoline, but didn’t get to enjoy any of that yummy melon.
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