What shall we do with the sea sick sailors? – by Paul

After leaving Brunsbüttel and entering the North Sea the wind worked against the swell, which caused very short waves. The wind blew with 7 Beaufort and waves in the height of 8 metres. Those conditions made the start of our trip very hard. But we were prepared and after lunch on Wednesday “throw up bags” were handed out to everybody. A few hours later the first students and crew members did not feel well. The sea sick students came to the poop deck to vomit together.
But what causes sea sickness? Our sense of balance feels the movement of the vessel although the eye doesn’t notice that. The brain can’t assimilate those signals and nausea is built up. Over 80% of the ship crew got caught by this.


The worse day was the second. All watches worked on emergency operation and the students who weren’t sea sick had to do double work. The sea sick students sat on the lee-side and threw up over the railing or tried to sleep in their cabin. They were fed with rusk and salted sticks and got water and tea to drink. We all have been warned of headache caused by not drinking enough and so everybody got poured in water to feel better soon. Even the gallery was cancelled and there was just pea soup from the can made by the crew members who weren’t sea sick. In the messroom only 2 tables were occupied since the others were on the deck or in their bunk. Therefore most people weren’t ready for an interview and if you tried to ask a question, the answers weren’t satisfying. They consisted of different grunt and groan sounds and didn’t contain much information.

The night was restless, some people were very noisy and kept awake the tired people. This way some of us got special nick names, like “the belling moose” or “the screaming ice bear”. But they didn’t take it seriously and the next evening at dinner everybody could laugh about a song that was made by some students who have had more luck with the swell.
We will see whether the sea sickness is completely outgrown. However, after a short break in Falmouth we will leave to the open sea, so the risk of sea sickness will rise again…