Top Ten Tips for Avoiding Seasickness

I work on a boat for a living. This has been the case for nearly seven years of my life. By the time I am retired from the Coast Guard I will have spent a large percentage of my life at sea. In my years on the ocean I’ve had a quite the bout with sea sickness a time or two. I’ve started making a mental list of the techniques I use to combat the worst feeling in the world. There are ten tips I recommend to help you the next time you’re rocking and rolling on the high seas.

Tip #1: Don’t get seasick –
- I know, I know. “Thanks Brandon. That’s bleeping brilliant!” Honestly, my biggest problem with seasickness is avoiding it. I find that when I get seasick I don’t ever feel right again until I am on solid land. That being said I am doing everything imaginable to stay feeling well. I psyche myself out well before the trip, convincing myself that it will take an act of God to get me sick. I also plan out what I will be doing during the rough weather so I don’t ever have to think about how sick I am feeling.

Tip #2: Don’t let the boat tell you how sick you are –
- I have a large mixer in the corner of my galley. Right next to it are 5 cutting boards. When the seas are rough enough these cutting boards flop back and forth between the mixer and the bulkhead. Right underneath it is a large rolling pin on the shelf. Across the way 5 ladles and 8 spoons hang from a bar above the counter. The resulting noise is deafening and coordinated. I know that as soon as I hear the cutting boards and rolling pin I will start getting squeamish. These things remind me of the war that the sea is waging against the floating hunk of steel that is my boat. I do my best to mitigate these things. Visual cues also throw my inner-ear for a loop. On my first boat I looked out of the galley through portals on the Starboard side of the boat. Ocean – sky – ocean – sky – ocean – sky. Yuck.

Tip #3: Attempt to leave nothing to do –
- Mise en Place – Have everything in its place. In the cooking world it means that I do as much prep work as possible ahead of time. The last thing I want to do in rough seas is pipe manicotti shells full of ricotta. Actually, I’ve already done that once. ONCE. If I am feeling well and I run out of things to do, I sit and relax. Others may find it useful to stay busy and keep their mind off of the sea state. If I want to stay busy and I’ve already prepped a meal to the max, I set off prepping the following meal. Or I may decide to do extra cleaning.

Tips #4 and 5: Eat healthy before and during bad weather – Stay hydrated –
- I’m not sure how far I can go into this without being redundant. Eat well so you are full of energy. Being tired doesn’t improve your odds of avoiding seasickness. And staying hydrated is a double bonus – it keeps you feeling well longer AND gives you something to do once you aren’t feeling well. Yuck.

Tip #6: Burping is good –
- The number one sign that I am getting sick is this constant pressure in my upper chest that feels like it’s restricting my esophagus. The number one relief of that feeling is a good belch! So I like to break open a can of soda early on in rough weather. Please note that this technique DOES NOT work for me when I am already queasy.

Tip #7: Wake up with drugs in your system to beat drowsiness –
- I once woke up somewhere near the Cape Cod Canal. We were on our way up from Baltimore and it was about 3am. The seas were awful and it felt like they were driving us around in the trough. I had a couple hours before I was required to be up to cook breakfast, so I jumped up and went to the medicine cabinet. I grabbed some Dramamine and went back to the rack. I woke up nice and refreshed from my power nap with none of the ill side effects of the motion sickness pills. Now if only I could have been ninja enough to avoid the side effects of the pot of boiling water that got underway – that’d be awesome!

Tip #8 - 10: I got lazy, so you get ‘em all at once! –
- The more I can stay horizontal when the seas are rough, the better. Sleep and you may wake up sick, but you won’t actually BE sick while you’re sleeping. Besides, who doesn’t like sleep?
- Stay well below the water line. My galley rolls a lot less than the bridge does. The engineering spaces hardly roll at all compared to the bridge. At times I don’t feel a thing in the galley while the bridge will make me sick.
- Keep cool! Being overheated will lead to puking!! Another great reason to stay hydrated!

And that’s it! These are all of the things that I do to keep from getting sick! Well – besides my typical behavior of doing as little as possible for as long as possible! Everyone is different and it’s important to pay attention to what keeps you well. Good luck!