To go or Not

[Stu Jackson]

I agree, Ross

My "seasick" friend and I always anchor out the night before we go out into the ocean(other than mere daysails in the Bay). He claims it helps his attitude and approach and lessens his potetnial for getting seasick -- seems to work for him, plus we get more time out on the boat! Overnights are always great, even the time it started blowing really hard at 3 a.m.!!!

 

[Ross]

Stu, I bet he doesn't realize that he is

just becoming accustomed to the motion of the boat. Have you noticed how long it takes to get used to sleeping in a bed that doesn't move after the trip ends?

 

[Stu Jackson]

Yes, but not only beds

A number of years ago, after being on the boat (our old C25) for a week, my daughter and I stopped at a marina on our delivery trip home and went into a nice restaurant. The restaurant had booths. Within two minutes of sitting down we were both getting really dizzy and woozy - even before they served our beverages! The small enclosed space did it to us. We now call that feeling "rocking" - same stuff that the sailors of ye olden dayes got when they first crawled ashore.I like sleeping on the boat better, too. Yes, my friend does realize exactly that, which, in addition to a boy's night out, is why he continues to recommend going out the night before. Who am I to complain?

 

[Joe Mullee]

Don't Give Up, Just Find The Remedy That Works

Franklin,My first time in blue water was from Norfolk, VA to the Virgin Islands. The weather was rough with 20 foot plus waves and 30 plus knots of wind for much of the trip. I puked my guts out for five days and felt like a dog for the last four. I had to force myself to eat, mostly bread and crackers, and drink mostly water. I remember thinking I'd never leave the Chesapeake Bay again. On that trip I used Dramamine and that wrist thing that shoots electrical impulses through your body. They were useless for me. My next offshore experiance was from the Abacos to Charleston. The captains wife had the patch and gave me one to try. True, the weather wasn't as bad but it was still the ocean and other than a little dry mouth it was a godsend. I felt terrific. Since then I always get the patch for any offshore trips I take and I have never got seasick again, even in rough weather. I think the patch is generally good for two or three days and by that time I have my sea legs and don't need to put another one on.Don't give up! Evaluate, experiment, and keep reaching! Something will work for you. Keep trying till you find out what it is.Joe Mullee1983 H34s/v Takn My Time

 

[jackhartjr]

Once on a trip I started...

...getting green about the gills, the Captains Admiral threw me a pack of the "Toasty" peanut butter crackers. Said to chew each one for a full minute before swallowing. After a couple of minutes the seasickness went away! She said it had something to do with the peanut butter coating the stomach.It works for me about 2/3rds of the time.There are two stages to being seasick; the first is you are afraid you are going to die! The second is you are afraid you aint! LOL!!!!!!!!Jack HartSEA-YA!

 

[chuckwayne]

the first 24 hours is the hardest

Franklin, you made the right choice-having the sense to know when to turn back is an important test-now start planning your next attempt!I've found that the patch worked during the first 24 hours of rough weather, until my body regained it's sea legs-keep in mind that the extra disorientation at night makes it worse. If there's a sea forecast, you might try starting your voyage early in the day to give you more daylight to adjust in. Also, we've had great luck with the electronic bracelets, even after symptoms start.

 

[Ross]

I was told that shark fat works. you tie about

three feet of string to a chunk of it and swallow it down but hold the end of the string. after a couple of minutes grab the string with both hands and pull that chunk of shark fat back out. It is said to work everytime. Nobody who follows this method gets seasick.

 

[jackhartjr]

Wow Ross...

...recon I could lose weight doing that? I am still laughing! ThanksJack

 

[Ross]

Jack, Oh YEAH, you probably wouldn't have any

desire for food for a week or more. D:

 

[jackhartjr]

I'm...

...still laughing about that one Ross! Course you may want to put a disclaimer on it...someone out here might think it's the right thing to do...Bought Slocums book yesterday, looks like a good read, still trying to find the other one on heavy weather, the site wouldn't open up the one to that book.Thanks again!Jack

 

[sailortonyb Allied Mis]

Houdini.....

I dont know about any merrit this would have to curing seasickness but it is an old magicians trick. Houdini practiced this trick with a potato. Thats how he eventually learned to swallow keys and regurgitate them back up at will. Also sword swallowers learn using this technique, Now if only.....NM. Anyway, from whhat i understand, the term nausious comes from the old latin word something like nauti, refering to the sea. So, mal de mer is not new. Different enthnic groups have somewhat different tolerances to seasickness. It is also my understanding that the Asians have a generally low tolerance which might explain their high technology in many areas not just in naval engineering, way back when, but yet never had a great navy or are known for any amount of sea exploration till more or less modern times.  As for developing a tolerance....I am one of the more unfortunate ones. With all the time I spend on the water, I still get sea sick. Im much better than i used to be, but not fully cured. At one time i was not able to even go inside a boat TIED UP AT THE DOCK.  When i was a Capt., we would get new deckhands (another nautical expression..'green hands'). They would get so sick the first time out that i thought we would have to get them back to land before they became seriously dehydrated. They literally looked like they were going to die. After one day, they got their 'sea legs' and NEVER got sick again. I would give anything to be able to not become seasick. Its in my genes.

 

[sailortonyb Allied Mis]

FRANKLIN !!!!!!!!!!!

So, tell us...up until the point of seasickness, how was the trip?Was it exciting, was it a rush? was it really cool? how did you boat do? There must have been a fun part somewhere.

 

[tom]

Timing is Everything

Looked at some of the NWS buoy Data south of Panama City and a little farther SE. Man it looks good right now. About 20kts 110 degrees 6' waves. With a reef and a 110 my boat would be going well. BUT not east to make much speed I need to be 50 degrees or better off the wind especially in waves. say 60 degrees so that would be heading 160 degrees or 50 degrees. Maybe ride it south and hope the wind changed then get a better heading towards key west.  I met a man who claimed that when he got tired he just dropped his anchor a slept. Out in the open sea!!!! Much of Florida you can anchor in less than 50' of water many miles offshore. He said that sometimes he did it waiting for a wind change instead of beating himself to death.

 

[Ross]

Darwin wrote of natural selection

but most people think that he wrote of the survival of the most fit. In sailing and in most other things in life DARWIN RULES!!

 

[tom]

Ross exactly What do you mean???

Darwin is right up there with Captain Cook in my book of heros. And even though "Origin of Species" is a rather dry book I read it cover to cover. Such insight without a knowledge of genetics!!!! Wouldn't you just love to have tea with Mendle ,Cook ,Newton and Darwin!!!!!  Anyway I have no ideal of what you meant by your remark on Natural Selection.

 

[richard]

yeah...but fit means more than just surviving!

fitness is simply put, for human males, how many eggs you tap with them wiggly swimming troops (we have football teams of em to battle each other to the egg!). Doesn't matter how strong or fast you are, or how good a sailor. But, of course you have to stay alive to tap, and, winning races or having a sweet boat greatly increases you tapping potential!

 

[richard]

I agree Tom!

He was soooo right on it...as you said, without the help of mendal...heck, even mendal didn't know about genes. VERY amazing the insight they both had. I too, have read "The origin of species..."cover to cover a few times...very good read! He received, and is still receiving today a very bad rap by people who know nothing of his work.And, one addition to the previous post; birth control has totally changed the name of the game! The historically most "fit" (in humans pretty much, for males, those with the most resources) are no longer the most fit. They are doing the most copulating with the most number of women...but it is the lower educated, lower on the economic scale who are now acheiving the most reproduction and so, are the most fit.

 

[tom]

Right Whales take it to the extreme

Richard Right whales have gonads that weigh over a ton...each!!!! They put out a rally big football team. How many trillions of sperm must die to make one baby whale????  Without a little "selection" life would probably stopped evolving when we were something like oysters. Life at the essential minimum ,mouth ,stomach, gonads!!!! Hey I know some people like that!!!! I wouldn't want to be a worm.... when they have sex they both get pregnant. Much better to give than recieve. IMHO

 

[richard]

yeah Tom

couldn't imagine that recieving thing. But you have to admire the adaptability of a hermaphroditic worm, like the tape worm... What are the odds of hooking up with another worm when you hang out in a gut! Ya just impregnate yourself and get on with it! Some of em have a hypodermic penis...just stick in somewhere while one gets stuck in you too...aaggghhh!Guess we're geting away from the "fit SAILOR" thing though...unless said sailor also has a 30 foot tapeworm in him!

 

[Ross]

Natural selection is simply the sorting of the

traits that allow individuals to reproduce in suffient numbers to aviod extinction. Would be sailors that believe everything they read but read a very limited library may not live to reproduce if they start before they become reproductive.