Preparation for Operation Seasickness

Date: 07.11.2023
Geographical Position: 50°21.620’N 000°15.465’W (English Channel)
Etmal: 96nm
Total: 280nm
Ship: Regina Maris

Preparation Against Seasickness

Yesterday, we already started to prepare for seasickness: We cleaned the ship and prepared it for the incoming 3 meter waves. First of all we were split up in three groups. The first group was in charge of cleaning the poop and main deck. After they were done with that literally dirty work they had to hoist flags. They raised a Dutch flag in the back and an Amsterdam flag on top of the main mast.

The second group was responsible of preparing the messroom for rough waters. At first they put the remaining cups and dishes from the lunch into the Galley and rinsed them clean. Furthermore the floor of the messroom was mopped and vacuum cleaned as well as the Galley. Afterwards they prepared boxes with water, some cups, lots of crackers (Zwieback), several rolls of toilet paper and ginger. The third group had to steady the cabins for the wavy ride. They put toilet paper in every cabin and buckets in the hallway (They were a lifesaver).

In addition Luis collected the trash from the cabins, the Galley and the main deck. Then he threw the trash into a container that was brought to us by the harbour employees. In the end most people took on all their clothes and filled up their bottles and thermos flasks to be prepared for staying outside a longer time.

Start of Operation Against Seasickness

Finally after preparing the ship for two to three hours we headed into the deep waters, away from the city Calais. Because we left in the evening almost everyone was tired and tried to sleep, also a good method to not get seasick. Surprisingly it helped a lot and not even half as much as last time had to puke. Jacob, one of our Officers, gave us the tipp to smell raw potatoes because the smell of dirt helps against see sickness.

Seasickness

We (Bravo Watch) had to stay up from one am to five am to steer the ship. We unfortunately didn’t set any sails due to the wind which was coming directly at us all the time with 30-60 knots.

Nevertheless in our opinion we had the best watch of the day, because it wasn’t raining and we got to see one of the biggest cargo ships in the world. It was 400 meters long! Just imagine being on a 50m sailing vessel and then you see a cargo ship which is eight times bigger… You feel very small and think about the fact that they just break the waves and we ride them up and down. Every single wave.

In our Watches we listened to music, sang a lot and danced. Everybody tried to keep up good vibes. But to continue with chapter Seasickness: The waves have been three meters high and about the half of every watch felt seasick. That’s a pretty good amount of people who felt fine considering the first trip to Calais. All in all everybody tried to help each other out the best as possible and of course, sailing or rather motoring in these conditions is a perfect team building event.