Top tips to prevent seasickness
We’re just ahead of the sailing season, when many people will be heading out onto the water, some for the first time this year. For many people, however, this also comes with dreaded seasickness – which can be debilitating.
To help lessen the effects, Rob Cage, Craftinsure’s Founder, has shared his five top tips to avoid seasickness.
He says: “Seasickness is horrible and can affect even the most experienced sailors, so try not to be hard on yourself if you do suffer.
“Seasickness is motion sickness were the balance mechanism in the inner ear and the eyes send conflicting signals to the brain, causing the release of hormones that leads to vomiting, nausea, and other symptoms many people know all too well.
“Never worry that seasickness indicates a lack of boating experience. In the last Round the World race in which all the crew are professionals, several boats had multiple crew members incapacitated by seasickness. The good news is that symptoms usually last only 24-48 hours into a voyage and the recovery rate is 100%”
“Here are five tips to help avoid it:
- “Take a motion sickness tablet earlier than you think you should. You need to consume it several hours before going to sea or even before strong winds are forecast. If you wait to you feel ill, it’s too late and the pill is likely to reappear! You should also ensure you drink lots of fluids while on your journey.
- “Get lots of fresh air and try to stay outside if you can. It will be windy, and you may be hit with sea spray but it’s important to get in the breeze. The worst thing you can do is hide away below deck or in the cabin.
- “Focus on the horizon, ideally out on deck. This is a proven tactic to avoid motion sickness. You may feel that you want to hide away or lie down while feeling nauseous. However, staying inside the boat or down below in the cabin will only make things worse. Focusing on the horizon helps to stop the brain’s internal balance mechanism from getting confused and should abate your symptoms.
- “Do something that engages you totally, as this will help to keep your mind off the seasickness. I find helming the boat when it’s rough takes your mind off the seasickness as you’re forced to work hard to steer.
- “Have a plastic bag to hand for if the worst happens. Leaning over the side to vomit is dangerous. You should be wearing a harness, and you should be clipped on, but even so a bad wave could catch you out. Man overboard is a very real risk.”
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