Seasickness - Jacht! Causes, Symptoms, Prevention and Treatment

Article by William L. Gills aka Bos'n Bill

My first brush with seasickness was on the charter boat Mijoy out on Long Island Sound fishing with twenty or so other offshore anglers.  The seas were steep, rolling fifteen footers, most everyone getting sick but me and a handful of others.  I've never been very good at enduring the smell of someone else's spilled cookies and my gagging from the wafts to windward never disengaged my stomach contents that day. I was too busy fishing on deck in fresh open air, rocking with the pitch and roll of the boat, unlike many who took refuge from the strong wind and sea spray in the cabin at their peril. Save the airborne vomit, I was enjoying it.

I've done some research on the subject of mal de mer, the French term for seasickness, a debilitating miserable affliction aboard a boat.  What I've learned is that if you know you might become seasick you need to take preventative measures before you shove off and if you become seasick while underway, even though you never thought it could happen to you, you need to treat the symptoms with defensive strategies, medication and yes, maybe even acupressure.  I'll go over ways to minimize the effects of seasickness, but first let's be clear about what it is and the cause of the symptoms.

What is Seasickness?

Seasickness is not an illness but rather a disturbance of the middle ear, in the vestibular apparatus, which controls balance and equilibrium. It sends information to your brain about your relative position in space.  If the signals do not match what the eye sees or what is expected from previous experience, there is a mismatch and the brain becomes confused.  This sets in motion series of unpleasant symptoms.

The Progressive Symptoms of Seasickness

At first, you may wonder why you're beginning to yawn with increasing frequency and you're feeling drowsy with growing fatigue and lethargy. In fact, you may hear yourself muttering, "Hey,  I thought I was supposed to be enjoying my time on the water like everyone else aboard. Jeeze, I don't want to move, I just want to get off this bloody boat!"

You feel helpless as the boat yaws and rolls with endless unpredictable surges up down,  left and right. You may feel queasy, look a pale green and feel cold and clammy to the touch.  A belch or more is usually forthcoming along with excessive salivation leading to the inevitable "ralph" in the head or "ralph" over the rail if you have been thoughtful enough to have foreseen the predictable product of your misery.

Triggers

A lot of elements can effect your condition adversely via the senses, triggers that seem to exacerbate the condition. I'm talking about any or perhaps all of the five senses, e.g., a hint of perfume or engine exhaust, the sight of someone hurling, the repeat of the taste of your morning breakfast, the sound of the wind and thrashing waves, the feelings of cold hands and a sweaty brow.  You get the picture.  It doesn't help that you might be in a confined space in the bow.

How to Minimize the Effects of Seasickness

What can you do about this horrible, relentless condition, "mal de mer" that strikes and hangs on mercilessly?  First let's start with prevention.

If you know you're susceptible to seasickness or you haven't been on the water for quite awhile, seriously consider the following before climbing aboard:

• Get Plenty of Rest.  If you're well rested you'll be less likely to succumb to seasickness.
• Hydrate with Plenty of Water. 
• Keep Alcohol to a Minimum.  Alcohol is dehydrating and can exacerbate dizziness inducing the symptoms described above.
• Pills.  Over-the-counter medications (antihistamines) like Dramamine, Benadryl and Antivert can help by sedating the balancing organs.  Be aware however, they commonly cause drowsiness.
• The Patch.  The drug Scopolamine in an adhesive patch worn behind the ear minimizes the effects of seasickness over a period of several days, but you need a doctors prescription for it.  The only reported side effect is dry mouth.  The company Transderm Scop makes this product.
• The Wristband.  Some wristbands have acupressure points which are touted to ameliorate the symptoms of seasickness, however their effectiveness is questionable.
• Ginger.  Bring some ginger along with you on your trip in the form of capsules, tablets, powder or tea.  Ginger has a soothing effect on the stomach.

 While underway and you're beginning to experience the effects of seasickness you should:

• Stand Up.  Sitting makes you feel worse.  Scan the horizon or look to a faraway spot to get your bearings.
• Move to Amidships.  There is less pitch and roll amidships and toward the stern.  Stay away from the bow.
• Get Some Fresh Air.  If you're down below in the cabin or salon, go up on deck for some fresh air.  Staying in a confined space only makes matters worse.
• Nibble on Dry Crackers.  Dry crackers may help to settle your stomach.
• Busy Yourself.  Find a task or something to take your mind off of how you feel.
• Close your Eyes.  This shuts down some of the mixed signals to the brain that cause the symptoms of seasickness.
• Stay Away from others who are Seasick.  Nothing can make you feel worse than seeing someone else vomit.  Stay clear as best you can.

 These suggestions should help to ameliorate an extremely unpleasant situation that can occur on any body of water.  In fact, weather conditions don't always have to be formidable for you to become seasick.  Prevention is the best cure, but taking steps to lessen the effects once aboard can make for a better day on the water. 

Also, take heart in knowing that many an experienced sailor has become "green in the gills" from the time man took to the boat as a form of transport.  Truth be told, the word "yacht", one of the preferred sea going vessels, derives its name from the Dutch word, "jacht" which translates to mean, "throw up violently".  "Jacting" is just a natural occurring phenomenon on a boat and it's not just you, it's the yacht too. 

William L. Gills aka Bos'n Bill is the author of the book, Lubber's Log published by Llumina Press; a boating primer and adventure story about a couples experiences in moving up to a bigger boat.  

You can visit his website here.

Latest Boat Steering Technology - The Joystick

Introduction by William L. Gills aka Bos'n Bill

A recent technology is beginning to take hold in the boating community supplementing traditional wheel, shift and throttle controls of stern driven boats.  Volvo Penta and Mercruiser of Mercury Marine both offer sterndrive joystick systems that assist you in maneuvering in tight places with greater ease.  You can move the boat in any direction, sideways, diagonally, on a pivot at any rpm with pin point control.  There are also new designs for straight drive diesel engines for larger boats, but I'll save that discussion for another post.

Here is a video for you by Captain Steve Larivee of BoatTest.com, demonstrating how the joystick system works and how it could make you boating experience a little easier and less stressful.

William L. Gills aka Bos'n Bill is the author of the book, Lubber's Log published by Llumina Press; a boating primer and adventure story about a couples experiences in moving up to a bigger boat.  

You can visit his website here.

Rogue Waves - Myth or Reality?

Introduction by William L. Gills aka Bos'n Bill

Rogue waves?  What are they anyway and do they really happen?  Monster waves of monumental proportion have been reported by skippers for hundreds of years. Most who listened to these tales of wave heights as high as a five story building thought they were exaggerated. Those that succumbed to the awesome power of a freak killer wave never lived to tell the tale. Truth is, they are not myth, they are real.  

                                                                                
Article by Dee White
In 1978 the MS Munchen sent a garbled Mayday message from the mid-Atlantic. The ship was never found but an exhaustive search found just a few bits of wreckage, including an unlaunched lifeboat which had been stowed 20 metres (65 feet) above the water line. One of its attachment pins had twisted as if hit by an extreme force. The culprit was believed to be a rogue wave.

In 1995 the Draupner Platform in the North Sea was hit and damaged by a freak wave. Fortunately its onboard measuring equipment was still working and recorded a wave of 25.6 metres (84 feet) in height. This was the first rogue wave to be confirmed by actual scientific evidence.

What are Rogue Waves?

Once dismissed as a nautical myth, rogue waves (also known as freak waves, extreme waves, killer waves, monster waves and abnormal waves), are large, spontaneous ocean waves that occur far out to sea. They can be described as waves with a height of more than twice the significant wave height (SWH). This is defined as the mean of the largest third of waves in a wave record. In more simple language, they are not necessarily the biggest waves, but they are surprisingly large waves for a given sea state. They are not Tsunamis, which are set in motion by mass displacement, such as a sudden movement of the ocean floor during an earthquake. These develop at high speed over a wide area and are not usually noticeable in deep water. They become dangerous as they approach the land and the ocean floor becomes shallower. Because of this, Tsunamis do not usually present a threat to shipping out at sea. In the 2004 Asian Tsunami the only ships lost were in port. A rogue wave, on the other hand, is highly localised and frequently occurs far out at sea, or where a number of physical factors such as strong winds and fast currents converge, causing a number of waves to join together.

History

Stories about freak waves of around 30 metres (98 feet) in height have been told for centuries. These apparently could appear without warning, in mid-ocean, surprisingly travelling against the prevailing wind and current direction and often in clear weather. They have been described as looking like an almost vertical wall of water preceded by a deep trough. A ship encountering such a wave would be very unlikely to survive the tremendous pressures exerted by the weight of breaking water and would almost definitely be severely damaged or even sunk in a matter of moments.

Lighthouses, such as the Eagle Island lighthouse in 1861, and the Fastnet lighthouse in 1985, were both struck by waves of over 40 metres (130 feet) in height. In 1966 the SS Michelangelo had a hole torn in her superstructure and heavy glass smashed 24 metres (79 feet) above the water line. There were 3 deaths recorded during this incident. In 1980 the first mate on board the Esso Languedoc photographed a 25-30 metre (80-100 foot) wave as it washed across the stern of the French supertanker. In 1995 the Master of the cruise liner Queen Elizabeth 2 described a wave looking like the White Cliffs of Dover, which came out of the darkness. The vessel attempted to “surf” the near vertical wave to avoid being sunk.

During the twenty-first century several vessels have been damaged by waves between 21 and 30 metres (70 to 100 feet) in height. In February 2000, a British oceanographic research vessel sailing in the Rockall Trough in the west of Scotland, encountered one of the largest waves ever recorded by scientific instruments in the open ocean with a SWH of 18.5 metres (60 feet) and individual waves up to 29.1 metres (95 feet). The US Naval Research Laboratory detected a freak wave caused by Hurricane Ivan in the Gulf of Mexico in 2004. It was about 27.7 metres (90 feet) high from peak to trough and around 200 metres (656 feet) long. Vessels are not alone in their risk from rogue waves. It has been suggested that the loss of several low-flying aircraft, such as helicopters on Search and Rescue missions, may be attributed to these types of waves.

 Evidence – Myth or Reality?

On average about one ship is lost every week in the world’s oceans. This is thought to be mainly due to bad seamanship, poor maintenance or severe weather, but it now seems likely that a small percentage is due to encounters with freak waves. However, although rogue waves have been blamed as a likely cause for the sudden, unexplained disappearance of many ocean-going vessels, there is little clear evidence to support the claims. Radar data from the North Sea’s Goma oilfield recorded 466 rogue wave encounters in 12 years. Evidence such as this has helped to convert previously sceptical scientists.

Oceanographers and meteorologists have, for a long time, used a mathematical system called the Linear Model to predict wave height. This assumes that waves vary in a regular way around an average wave height. It suggests that there will rarely be a wave higher than 15 metres (50 feet). Although one of 30 metres (98 feet) could happen, it would be unlikely to occur more than once in 10,000 years. That is the theory! The reality is that they do happen with surprising frequency.

More recently, satellites have been used to establish the existence of rogue waves. The European Space Agency (ESA) is using its European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS) to study their origins and to try to predict their occurrence. In December 2000 the European Union initiated a scientific project called MaxWave to confirm widespread occurrences of rogue waves, study their behaviour and consider their implications for ship and offshore structure design. Data from ESA’s ERS satellites were used to carry out a global rogue wave census and in 2004, after analysing radar images of world wide oceans taken over a period of three weeks, MaxWave found 10 waves of 25 metres (82 feet) or higher, an astonishing number for such a relatively short time span. ESA have undertaken another project, named Wave Atlas, to survey the oceans over a longer period of time and develop the most accurate estimate possible for the frequency of rogue waves.

Some theories 

• Rogue waves are often associated with sites where ordinary waves encounter ocean currents and eddies. The strength of the current concentrates the wave energy, forming large waves. Examples have occurred in the notoriously dangerous Agulhas current off the east coast of South Africa and also in the North Atlantic where the Gulf Streaminteracts with waves coming down from the Labrador Sea.

• Data shows that rogue waves also occur in areas well away from currents, possibly being associated with weather fronts and lows. Sustained winds from long-lived storms, exceeding 12 hours, may enlarge waves moving at an optimum speed in sync with the wind.

•  In the field of Quantum Physics, a concept called the “Schrodinger Equation” is based on the belief that in certain unstable conditions waves can steal energy from their neighbours. Adjacent waves shrink, while the one at the centre can grow to an enormous size.

 The implications

Current ships and offshore platforms are built to withstand a maximum wave height of only 15 metres (50 feet) and about 15 tonnes of pressure per square metre. If they are hit by a rogue wave they will have to endure a wall of water up to twice that height and a pressure in the region of 100 tonnes.

Facts like these make us realise how little we know about our oceans and remind us to treat them with respect. How many more secrets do they hold?

Author- Dee White, The Yacht Market 

William L. Gills aka Bos'n Bill is the author of the book, Lubber's Log published by Llumina Press; a boating primer and adventure story about a couples experiences in moving up to a bigger boat.  You can visit his website here.