Heaven and Hell 13/12/2016

Heaven and Hell, these are my (Julie's) words to describe our sailing adventure. HELL explains our last 2 long passages during which it felt like I was in hell due to experiencing bad motion sickness on both long passages. Despite wearing Sea Bands, eating ginger, earplugs and taking motion sickness drugs.

Heaven, is all the great time we have had and there has been many, many moments.

The story goes as follows........

We departed from MacKay Marina knowing we had a long passage ahead of us due to northerlies, and no sheltered anchorages along the way. After 162 nm/43 hours motor sailing we reached North Keppel Island. Arriving 2000hrs, thus having to anchor in the dark, something we try to avoid if possible.
The wind was variable, up to 12 knots only with horrible rolling swells which played havoc with my sensory organs, sending mixed messages to my brain causing motion sickness despite taking my tablets, add a migraine to this and I was incapable of functioning. Leaving me curled in the cabin praying for this misery hell hole I was in to end. Which it did, after 12 long, agonising hours.

The anchorage at North Keppel Island was lovely and calm allowing us a recovery period. The next morning we lifted anchor and motor sailed to Great Keppel Island which was only 8nm away. Once underway, Gerd on the helm I lay down to continue my recovery. We spent 2 nights anchored at Great Keppel Island. A lovely Island, however as still recovering, I didn't have the physical or emotional strength to get out and about and explore. It took me all of 2 days to recover. While at Great Keppel Island/Yeppoon we were able to reunite with Lyn and Gary, fellow sailors we meet along the way earlier in the year.

After this passage it was time to rethink our sailing adventure plan, I had been feeling miserable. We made the decision to motor sail to Yeppoon Marina, only 9nm away. We spent 2 nights in the Marina, contemplating what we wanted to do, throw in the towel, sell the boat was on the list. My mind was in a body not handling the sea conditions very well causing some very unpleasant moments on Kestrel, adding extra pressure for Gerd as when I was down, I was down, non-functional.

Still wanting to undertake this sailing adventure I ordered some recommended motion sickness tablets from US (as not sold in Aus). "Stugeron". I had read about these in several different articles/ sailing forums. After talking to our sailing friends, they swear by them. So, an order was placed. As postage cost was high, I ordered 200 tablets. Here's hoping they work. They were going to take 7 days to arrive.

Not wanting to sit in the marina paying $53 per night we headed back out to Great Keppel Island. On waking the next morning anchored at Great Keppel Island and looking at the weather forecast, and having by now recovered fully, I was all geared up to continue sailing. Feeling confident knowing I had yet another motion sickness tablet I had not yet tried (Paihia Bombs, from NZ. Also highly recommended by different fisherman) up my sleeve. So I popped a pill and we set sail. Yet again, we knew we had another long passage.

This passage was another visit to Hell. This tablet was to be taken every 24 hours, however after 12 hours, motion sickness was starting to creep back upon me. Having no choice, as not wanting to suffer in hell again I took another tablet 12 hours into our travel. This kept me semi functional. We had winds 15knots/gusts up to 20, which was fine, however we has swells abeam for a good part of the passage. These were horrible, as we were rocked from side to side for a good 15 hrs.

That's it, after a second visit to hell, I was calling it quits with my sailing adventure. I had had enough.

On arriving into Bundaberg Marina we were both willing to walk off the boat. We were both very tired and exhausted after our second long shitty passage. This adventure was no longer fun.

However, we have been 1 week in the marina and all is well. We have made no knee jerking decision and plan to sit the cyclone season (until March) out here in Bundaberg Marina. My new tablets are due to arrive this week. This gives us plenty of time to hash out different options.