The fish whistle story:
http://www.bryankerchalfund.org/products.htm
- I’d rather be a free man in my grave than living as a puppet or a slave.
When I was in Nam, I was stationed aboard an LST which was part of Mobile Riverine Task Force 117. Our job was to transport troops and supplies from Saigon and Can Tho to fire bases in the Delta. Soon after I arrived the area was hit by a major typhoon and we had to make one drop and head to sea. When were entered the gulf, we were in the typhoon. An LST is about 300 ft long and 50 feet wide. A steel canoe. Our top (flank) speed was 7 kts. It was designed to stay upright through 45 degree rolls. We registered 48 deg. rolls We were sometimes in 7o ft seas. Our rudder was useless and we steered with our engines. I was never sea sick and had to stand watches for a lot of guys who were.
After Nam, I was on a destroyer out of Charleston. When the submarine, the Thresher, was lost off Greenland, we had to go on a search and rescue mission to try to find her. We went through 30 - 40 ft seas. The North Atlantic is like that most of the time. I was never sea sick and had to stand radar watches, though I was not a radarman because they were all sea sick and the scopes at that time showed the track revolving around the scope. That, combined with the ships rolling and pitching made everyone who had that watch sick. It didn’t bother me.
When I was out of the Navy I went out on the New Inlet Princess shortly after she was built. Everett Ayers was her Captain and I had gone to school with him. Her was in Nam about the same time I was, too. Anyway, I was up in, or near, the wheel house and we hit a squall line and the swells built to about 8 ft. I started to get sick. I shook it off, but what I want to say is that anyone can be hit by it, no matter what kind of sea legs you have, if the conditions are right - or wrong - as the case may be. I got over it pretty quick but, as many have said, fumes, looking the wrong way, something you do can trigger it. It aint no big thing if you know how to handle it. I always was told to look at the horizon because that never moves and it will pas.
Been there. Both the patch and Bonine seem to work most of the time. As to it being mental, that’s what you always hear from those who never get sick. When my oldest daughter was around three I took her out in the boat and she became very sea sick, she called it “the big spit-up”…it’s not mental.
I seem to be prone to it only when offshore . I’ve tried Bonine and Dramamine but they just knock me out. I tried the patch once and didn’t get sick but got so darn dizzy I had trouble focusing my eyes. I’ve pretty much resigned myself to never go to the gulf stream again. I don’t however seem to have any problems while inshore or on the lake. I spend pretty much every weekend on our boat and love the water but ya’ll don’t ever have to worry about me being in your “spot” beyond the jetties.