The Ultimate Guide to Seasickness Relief

How to Battle Seasickness combines research and personal experience to identify the causes and remedies for seasickness and motion sickness. It includes 100 proven tips to help you understand the phenomenon, prevent it, and battle your way through it. Some of these methods are pharmaceutical, some are natural, some are psychological. The book includes advice from doctors, sailors, mariners, fishermen, and seasoned boat captains.

How to Battle Seasickness: 100 Tips to Help You Get Your Sea Legs

By Michelle Segrest

In my experience, there are two kinds of sailors. Those who get seasick, and those who lie about it.

There is no cure for seasickness. However, it can be helpful to learn ways to prevent it and how to cope with it.

For some of us, the wretched phenomenon is a given every time we go to sea. At some point you just accept that it’s going to happen. It can be minor, or it can be severe. But it will affect some of us to some degree on every passage. Even sitting at anchorage or in a marina, some of us tend to get queasy at times from the motion. I have personally suffered from it so severely that even the activity of researching and writing this book has made me a little queasy at times. I don’t just remember what it’s like to be seasick—at times, I can still feel it!

For others, the seasickness strikes less frequently. The bouts can be shorter and manageable, and perhaps they only show up in heavy offshore conditions or for other specific reasons.

An experienced sailor once told me that it’s all about tolerances. For him, he was fine until the waves reached three meters, then he generally became seasick. But in sailing conditions with less than three-meter waves, he was fine. This book dedicates more than a few pages to diving deeply into the fascinating psychology of seasickness.

While some sailors only suffer mild seasickness and infrequently, for some, the debilitating effects can last nonstop for several straight days, as it did for me in September 2018 while crossing the Bay of Biscay in a 43-foot steel ketch.

At some point in time, I believe that every sailor experiences some level of seasickness—even if they don’t suffer as severely as I do. Experience can help. Preventive measures can help. And one thing is certain—nothing is as awful and debilitating as the first time. There are ways to manage the uneasiness and to quell its effects. But let’s be clear—there is no sure-fire cure.

Seasickness is a fascinating phenomenon. I am ultimately intrigued by it when I am not experiencing it. Therefore, I have studied it deeply and intently. I have researched and tried almost all the so-called cures—chemical, physical, natural, and psychological. 

I decided to write this book to share with you my exhaustive research as well as some of my experiences and the experiences of fellow sailors around the globe. It’s a common topic among sailors, and every experience with seasickness is different.

I’ve been sailing since 2013. For a year (August 2018 to August 2019) I sailed some of the world’s most challenging passages on a 43-foot, steel ketch, Seefalke, with only a two-person crew (and a couple of beagles, who also experienced motion sickness at times). Even with different levels of sailing experience, both the seasoned skipper and I battled our way through seasickness many times during the voyage. It’s a necessity. With only a two-person crew and passages that often extend for weeks at a time, it is important to learn how to function and fight your way through the incredibly uncomfortable symptoms and effects of seasickness.

While fighting my own battles, I was desperate to find something—anything—that would help me. This is another reason I wanted to write this book. Hopefully it will help you if you are a victim of this horrible phenomenon.

In this book, I combine all of my exhaustive research on the topic and share some grueling first-hand experiences with explicit detail. After reading some of my stories, you will know what it feels like to be seasick. Most important, I offer 100 Tips To Help You Get Your Sea Legs—to help you understand the phenomenon, to help you prevent it, and to help you battle it.

Some of my methods are pharmaceutical, some are natural, some are psychological. Some of them are proven tips and tricks from my own experience and some are from the experiences of fellow sailors and boating enthusiasts from around the globe.

I also share a few tips that helped our four-legged crew members—beagles Cap’n Jack and Scout. And yes, dogs and other animals also can experience seasickness.

I was inspired to write this book based on all the comments and responses I frequently receive on my online blog, “How to Get Your Sea Legs.” It’s an award-winning blog that chronicles my sailing adventures—including graphic and detailed battles with seasickness.

I want to stress that I am a sailor, and I am a journalist. But I am NOT a doctor. I am not a health care professional of any kind, and I don’t claim to be one or pretend to be one. In this book, I share some information about pharmaceuticals that I have tried (even though they all failed for me, they may help you). I encourage you to consult a doctor before trying any medication to battle seasickness or motion sickness. I do not recommend ANY of the pharmaceutical remedies for seasickness. I can only tell you that they exist so that you can consult your doctor to discuss whether they may be an option for you.

The methods that have helped me the most are natural and psychological. By sharing my specific experiences and my extensive research, I hope that you will understand that you are not alone, and that there are some great tips and techniques that will help you!

You don’t have to be sailing in blue waters hundreds of miles offshore in a small sailboat to benefit from the knowledge shared in this book. I use the terms “seasickness” and “motion sickness” interchangeably, and these tips will help you whether you are in a sailboat, motorboat, fishing boat, battleship, rowboat, canoe, kayak, cruise ship, airplane, train, space ship, or automobile.

There is no cure for seasickness. However, this book will help you find your sea legs so you can battle your way through it.

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