Swimming an Instant Cure for Seasickness ?

[Stretch]

YVR got me thinking about seasickness with his post and I read this in the Jan 2013 issue of Sail magazine.

"If everyone onboard is puking off the stern,heave-to and give everyone a swim break. Being in the water rather than on it is usually an instant cure for seasickness and more than worth the lost miles."

Andy Schell, pg 56, seamanship article on heaving to.

I had never read this before so I wonder if it has worked well for others.

 

[Captn TJ]

The good news with this technique is that no one has to clean up - especially the victim!

Seriously the only time I've had people seasick on my boat is when we had big waves.There's no way I'd recommend they jump in the water to cure seasickness. They're going to be weaker and good chance in waves they going to swallow seawater. This cure is worse .....

 

[Ross]

When I was fifty years younger than I am now I was swimming in a heavy swell in the South China sea and became nauseated in the water.

 

[Erieau]

Swimming in good-sized waves at the beach is great fun, but always leaves me a little woozy. I'm not sure it would fix my seasickness.

 

[capta]

I don't think it works for everyone. My second wife could get seasick SCUBA diving, well below the surface and in very calm water. Strange woman.

 

[Jalepeno]

Maybe jumping into your 6 deg C Squamish river water (south to the Defence islands) or our balmy 14-16 deg C water in lower Howe Sound (4 deg C in the winter) will make you forget about being sea sick.

 

[Winkfish]

When I was a scuba instructor, if sea sick, we would always jump into the water ASAP. It really worked, and we taught that to our students as well. I believe its the pressure that does it's magic. I guess everyone is different, and if you're well and truly green with seasickness, maybe that wouldn't work.

 

[MrBill_FLL]

Yes, always works for me. Dive boat especially. bobbing on anchor...



just like staying up top vs going below. stabilizes your inner ear.

on Scuba you're compressing your guts.... not unusual to get upset stomach... I take a pepcid AC before I dive to calm my stomach.

 

[patrickfarley]

I have never been seasick. I have been out in storms with waves taller than the boat(fishing in the Pacific) I only feel funny when I have been out for a long time and I step back on shore. I don't feel sick just unsteady.
My daughter started to feel sick one day in a breeze and almost calm water. Since I have no understanding of seasickness I head for shore if someone is starting to feel ill.
I think that jumping in the water would work since your body motion would match what your brain expects.

 

[Me and Boo]

Excusing those who get sea sick looking at a painting of a boat on water, or filling the bath tub, this might be useful for someone in calm waters. I think only a hard heart skipper would toss her crew overboard in the sea conditions which make even an iron stomach mate feed the fish.

 

[Cwoody]

Works for some....

Sailing in the BVI when early in the trip, one of the crew succumbed to the sickness. The usual getting behind the wheel did not take care of this. We did not toss her overboard, but grabbed a mooring ball at one of the day spots. She felt much better once in the water and for the rest of the trip.

 

[bill5347]

It may work for some. Not my daughter. Even when snorkling the reef we would be amazed as she was always surrounded by schools of fish. Chumming underwater.

 

[Jentine]

YUK

It is bad enough being seasick without swimming in puke. I have known many scuba divers who were prone to seasickness. They were instructed to get in the water which didn't help at all other than to relieve the urge to vomit by vomiting. In the dive course, we were instructed to puke into the regulator if under water and then purge the mouthpiece to clean it.

 

[Vegas]

It definitely worked for me, when I got seasick on a dive boat heading out in rough seas for a dive. I was skeptical, but my divemaster convinced me to try it, and within seconds of hitting the water my nausea completely disappeared!

 

[Mark Sutherland]

Not sure about jumping in the water, but I read an article that suggested putting an ear plug in ONE of your ears. I've tried it myself, and I think it works for me. I keep a package of ear plugs on the boat for this reason.

 

[lbirdwell]

I used to do quite a bit of diving off of anacapa, etc. when I was a kid. By the time we would get out there, I usually had a touch of sea sickness. Not to where I was hurling big chunks, but enough to make me a bit green. Anyway, first thing I would do was to either jump in, or just splash cold sea water on my face, dump a bucket on me, etc.

INSTANT RELIEF!!!

I have had "some" luck getting others to try it, but it sure works for me.

 

[Windependent]

The good news with this technique is that no one has to clean up - especially the victim!

Seriously the only time I've had people seasick on my boat is when we had big waves.There's no way I'd recommend they jump in the water to cure seasickness. They're going to be weaker and good chance in waves they going to swallow seawater. This cure is worse .....

I concur. I have sailed for many many years....and if the sea is rough, the last place you want you crew is OVERBOARD.

 

[zeehag]

more air and a better frame of mind unless you have inner ear problems---

 

[ropeslope]

Sea sick? Look at the horizon for a while but don't even think about diving into the water!

 

[justsomeguy]

I concur. I have sailed for many many years....and if the sea is rough, the last place you want you crew is OVERBOARD.

Windependent's right about Captn TJ's being right.

Even when hove to, without tethering, you could easily be outrunning a swimmer.