Heat Stroke and Dehydration. I was the crew
member.
Started off with getting belted as we left
Morehead City, NC. Marlin
fishing tournament was going on and we were leaving the outlet just as they were coming in, so we got tossed around like a
washing machine.
I have never had
sea sickness before, but that motion did me in, I didn't help I had a bowl of crab chowder about and hour or so before we departed. It didn't hit me fully for a few hours but when it hit it took me out. I was a write off the first 12 hours of the trip.
Added to that the first 2 days of the trip were 112 deg and 113 deg, we had little to no
wind so we floated around, there was no shade on the boat other then in the
cabin, which was a good 20 deg hotter then outside.
I was drinking lots of
water and was not able to keep things down. My energy level never came back I was exhausted the entire time. That was also something new, when my watch was over I would pass out instantly, regardless of the time of day.
We made very slow progress for 4 days, winds were against us, we would tack on direct, and when we would turn to make our return tack the winds would have either died or changed.
On the 4th day I blacked out, don't remember much about that, I was completely out of it for a while. I had not had a bowel movement in 5 days and hadn't urinated in almost 2 days and when I did it was painful to do so.
That was when we decided to push back into shore. My condition wasn't improving and with the slow progress we were making we felt it best to have this dealt with rather then risk things getting worse.
Winds would go from blowing 10-15 to 1-2 knots, mainly SW which was the direction we wanted to go, but then would change to N or NE, then back to SW. It was a slow go but we made it back to shore.
I went into hospital and was given fluids through IV, and had second degree sun burns treated on my feet. The doctor suggested I take it easy for 5-7 days, which meant not the best idea to
head back out in the boat. I was feeling much better after getting proper fluids into me, but still felt it to be a risk to go back out given the previous leg of the trip.
Waiting around for 5-7 days wasn't an option as the boat needed to be moved.
Personal
health was a concern at that point, I am also from
Canada, so the
medical attention I received was paid for by my
Insurance company, having a second claim for the same issue on the same trip, would not have been covered under my policy. That was also a concern.
The entire trip was to have taken 4-5 days, but with
weather and
wind conditions, the trip was now at 7 days.
Skylark was able to secure another crew, and she has made it to
Florida.
The second leg took almost 2 weeks, the owner had to leave the boat to return to work and the boat was captained by a
delivery captain and another crew
member.
Given now that I know the extent of the rest of the trip, I am glad I made the final decision to leave. It was another 3 days before I was able to have a bowel movement, and my energy level was low for almost a week. T
I was not as useful of a crew as I should/could have been and I don't think that would have improved.
I have since been sailing several times on the
great lakes where I live, and never had any issues.
I think it was a combination of the
sea sickness, extreme heat and the sun burns all took their tole.
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