The Joy of Motion Sickness

[ICEMAN]

With all you guys heading out to the salt to chase fish, thought a motion sickness thread would be timely.

When I was a contractor, we would book a charter boat each summer for our crew, family and customers.

I would often get sick.

No worse feeling in the world IMHO...


I finally found Scopolamine Transderm patches.... place the patch behind the ear the night before, and I was in pretty good shape the next day on the water...

Before I found it...I ralphed a lot over the rail trying to keep fishing. We had one trip (very rough) where we had retired navy guys begging to be taken off the boat.

How much would you pay to be taken off a boat by chopper? 

What are your ways to avoid motion sickness? Bad stories?

 

[seth30]

Load up on crackers and dont drink fluids   Worked for me in the northern sea of Japan and off the coast of australia where waves can get pretty hairy.

[SquirrelHunter]

I try to avoid big meals, light breakfast then snack on the boat. Another thing that helps me is to stay outside, when i go in to sit and relax is when I start to feel it. Haven't had any issues yet

[CoryTDF]

I have never been sick but got close last year. Left out of west port and water was to bad to go for tuna so we just tried for salmon. when in the trough of the wave you could not see sky nothing but water all around. It was nasty! 25 foot North River boat. I made it without getting sick but was about as close as you can get.

[h20hunter]

Oh man....this brings back a very clear memory.

As a boy the men in the family, me, brother, couple of uncles, father, grandfather, and neighbor family father (like a 2nd family to me) would all go up to Lake Michigan to work over some salmon. We would drive up to Benton Harbor the night before and load up with a massive New York Style Pizza just before hitting the rack. 4am wake up call and to the dock by 5. Leaving the dock and fishing by 6. Then....we would just watch and wait. It was always somebody. The year of the epic hurl was a good smooth swell. It was widely spaced but man the trough was a deep one. The neighbor Simon was getting a little woozy. The vultures began to circle and taunt....As we fished that slow up and down troll he got greener and greener and then the chunks flew. Now Simon, God bless him, loved to fish. However...he was just terrible. From bluegill to catfish to walley to bass the man was awfull. However, the drive was strong in this one. He had purged most of his system and Capt Jim was actually suggesting we take him in. He was that bad. However, there were fish to catch. We figured the open deck with fresh air was the best place for him. We set him down, he closed his eyes and just tried to survive. Well, the rod went off a bit later and it was technically his turn. Being one of the men he asked to be helped to the rail. We had one guy on each side and me holding him up in back by his belt. He tucked his chin, closed his eyes, and began to crank the reel like a man on a mission. The deck hand got ready with the net and the salmon literlally launched out of the water, was scooped up in mid air and flopped on the deck. Simon was reeling so hard he snapped the line at the swivel and reeled the end of the line right onto the spool. We took the real from him and pretty much just flopped him back onto the deck. He just laid there like the fish he just landed.

After that we of course fished a bit more then went in. He remembers very little.

[vandeman17]

One word of advice from me is stay away from double jack and cokes at the bar the night before then getting a pizza to bring back to the room on your way home. That is a quick way to get sick for this guy! 

[FC]

Heartsblood and I went on a bottomfish charter out of Westport a couple years ago that was by far the roughest I have ever been out on. Glen made it about 20 minutes off the dock before he looks over at me and quietly announces that he thinks he will be chumming soon. I've never seen anyone lean so far over the rail to barf so many times in one day! I grabbed his belt a couple times when I thought he might go over the side! To his credit he did fish the whole day though and would just drop his rod into the holder so he could barf for a couple minutes at a time...LOL!!!

[trophyhunt]

I'm getting sea sick just reading these stories!! I do just fine in the sound as long as I don't go down in the bed area, I always feel like crap when I head to neah bay or west port with my cousin. The only thing that keeps me from puking are the patches, BUT, they make me feel like a zombie and dry my mouth sooooo bad I can't drink enough water. Dramamine makes me puke just thinking about it. About 6 weeks ago we went to west port and it was pretty rough, after about 4 hours I was doing ok but my cuz wanted to fish right off the jetty. It took 2 passes, caught 3 lings in those two passes, 10 minutes and I was puking my butt off. We went closer in shore and I was doing better until pulling the crab pots and he told me he took 2 Dramamine pills........ that made me puke again even harder. I think I'm done with big water, just Gona stick w the sound! Nothing worse than seasickness!!!

[RadSav]

Ralph and Rachael made regular visits on our charter boat.  Over the years we began to notice some common trends in seasickness that were interesting.

Among women fear seemed to be the biggest trigger and the ear patches and Dramamine did not seem to effect that.  Most women that get sick began convincing themselves they were getting sick before we ever left the dock.  So ladies, if you are fearful of being on a boat or of getting sick, you might want to keep your feet on solid ground.

The seasick rate of African Americans was near 100%.  No reason why that I could tell and the patches did not seem to help most of them.  Seeing a black skinned man turn green is a bit of a concern.   Odd thing was that I have never seen an  Asian American get seasick.  While the rate of white adult men seems to be somewhere between 25 & 30%.

I worked one summer while fighting mononucleosis.  The long hours, lack of sleep and effects of the viral disease caused me to become seasick a number of times.  Especially while having engine problems and working to fix them below deck without customers noticing.  The skipper I was working for suggested the ingestion of orange juice while at sea.  It worked WONDERS!!!  You could feel the immediate benefit.  Not sure if it was the acids, the sugar or what.  But it did work!  Once back on dry land a large milk shake (i'd always get chocolate malts) seemed to give the most relief.

Not sure if others who have motion sickness not related to a virus would see the same results.  But, I can not see where it would hurt to give it a try.

[runamuk]

I grew up boating in the Puget sound so when Loki took me and my son fishing I totally went in thinking I would be fine, he did have all of us take a Dramamine just in case that was a good call...because after a little bit of... top of wave, bottom of wave, top of wave, bottom of wave...... I was getting a little woozy, my kid turned green but thankfully fell asleep and slept it off once the fish started biting all was well....

So no idea what to do or not do

[jackmaster]

DRINK BEER, i am lucky to not get sea sick, however my older brother, well lets just say it is down right funny, now he pays for a kid he knows to go out on a halibut charter to catch fish for him 

[NRA4LIFE]

I'm usually OK but if I'm going out in what looks super nasty I'll just pop a dramamine, I haven't got sick on a boat since high school. I always liked the charters out of West Port when the whole boat got sick.  More fish to catch for me.  I remember one where me and a buddy were on and about 3/4 of the boat got sick and my buddy and I were out back drinking beer.  It was awesome.

[pd]

My story is now a few decades old.  I worked for many years in the Far East.  I went out a couple of times with all of the men from our workplace.  We were probably within 10 miles of shore.  Summertime fishing there can be very hot, especially on a still day.

I don't get sick.  By that I mean that I don't vomit.  Ever.  For any reason.  Alcohol, influenza, nothing can make me vomit.  I hold it all in.  Can you imagine how bad this is when you are on a fishing boat, and cannot relieve yourself?

I most vividly remember the oldest guy (must have been close to 60 at the time) from our group, a very avid fisherman.  From early morning until quitting time he always had a beer in one hand, food (usually a rice ball) in the other, somehow juggling his pole, and laughing all of the time.  He never once got sick. 

And there I was, sprawled out on the deck, ready at any time to die.  The heat, the wave action, the smell of diesel exhaust, the extra loud radio with the various charter captains perpetually asking the same thing ("...are you catching anything over there...."), it was pure torture.  You would not wish this on your worst enemy.

Sorry, Iceman, I don't have any advice for you.  The old man in our group and I are exactly the same: We never, ever vomit.  But neither of us could figure out why he had so much fun, and I suffered.  Perhaps it was the rice balls?

[RB]

The method I have used for years is Dramamine Less drowsy which has the main ingredient of Meclozine. Take one late afternoon before going and one as soon as I get up in the AM with a light breakfast. Water and food with a a couple beers mixed in throughout the day and stay on deck with a fresh breeze the entire time! Have not gotten nearly as sick with this regiment. With really rough water I still will occasionally but I will fish regardless! I only get so many days to do the things I love a little vomit will not get in my way! 

[h20hunter]

here is a good quick little story....my wife is prone to motion sickness. She is especially prone after a dive. I believe that when she is coming up her inner ears don't equalize the same, then, on the boat, instant barfville. We were diving on the ferry on Possesion and she was the first in the boat. I'm at the side putting my gear on the gear line and all I see is her wide eyed face leaning over. I think she is going to say something but out of instinct I bite down on my reg and just duck my head. She heaved all over me. Thankfully I still had on my hood and full gear. I just went under a bit and shook myself clean. Took her about 3 months to eat eggs after that.