What I Learned When I Suffered Seasickness for the First Time.

I am a self-proclaimed land lover. Mountain hikes, road cycling, and quite walks down city streets are what round out my completely average life. Recently my father took me out on his 32 foot sailboat, Time Out.

I’ve been tossed around plenty in fast cars on mountain passes and in rock crawling Jeeps, and in turbulent aircraft. I was horribly prepared for the tossing my stomach would receive from the sea. Hardly a half mile from the breakwater (a quarter mile long pile of boulders that breaks the waves and delineates harbor from open ocean) we found ourselves in the steadily rolling ocean and my gills turned green. I could feel my arms begin to shake as my vision began to tunnel and blur.

Within a few minutes I blew chunks of fried egg and breakfast sausage all over the side of Time Out as my father’s wife Denise called for Captain Dad to turn the damn boat around and get us back to shore. Fishermen on the shore noted our quick return as I sprawled out limp on a bench in the cockpit, nursing my pounding head.

I’m grateful for the experience. It took a good two hours to prepare Time Out to depart and no more than forty-five minutes for us to leave the harbor, me to get seasick and for us to turn around and return to the dock. It then took a further hour for my father to pack the sails and stow the rest of the ropes and various widgets needed to sail alone as I laid incapacitated on the dock.

I’m grateful I have a patient father that was willing to share is passion with me, even if it meant a ton of work on his end and very little return. This is the first time in my 25 short years on earth since infancy where I felt totally helpless.

Help those that are helpless and show patience even when it’s most difficult.

I hope to try and sail again soon, only next time I’ll take some seasickness tablets first.