Life onboard does not always begin with perfect sea legs. Even if you have completed your training and feel ready for the work, spending extended time on a moving vessel can be a very different experience from training on land.
Certified Training is a Cape Town-based superyacht training academy that prepares aspiring crew for the practical and safety demands of working at sea.
Seasickness is one of the realities that can affect people onboard, and looking after yourself at sea comes down to the same fundamentals: rest, hydration, nutrition, communication, safety, and knowing when professional support is needed.
There is no reason to treat feeling unwell at sea as a test of toughness. A professional response is to look after yourself, remain aware of how you are functioning, and communicate if the way you feel begins to affect your ability to work safely.
Why Can Seasickness Be a Challenge for Superyacht Crew?
Seasickness is a real part of onboard life, showing up alongside travel fatigue, changing weather, and the wider pressures of yacht work. There’s no need for a clinical explanation of why motion sickness happens; what matters is the practical effect it has on you at work.
If you feel unwell while the yacht is moving, that discomfort can become harder to manage when you are also tired, working a demanding shift, or trying to carry out safety-sensitive duties.
Fatigue deserves particular attention. Tiredness is known to reduce situational awareness, affect coordination, and make it harder to perform safely onboard.
That is why seasickness should be considered as part of the wider reality of working at sea. Your goal is not simply to make the uncomfortable feeling disappear, but to manage yourself in a way that does not compromise your work or the safety of the crew around you.
How Can You Tell When Feeling Seasick Is Affecting Your Work?
There’s no official checklist of seasickness symptoms to diagnose yourself against, so don’t go looking for one online. A more practical question is whether the way you feel is beginning to affect your concentration, coordination, reaction time, or ability to perform an assigned duty safely.
Fatigue and distress can show up as slower reactions, coordination lapses, headaches, digestive problems, and unusual sluggishness. These are worth watching on board, since they can get in the way of working safely.
If you are beginning to struggle, tell the appropriate person rather than trying to conceal it.
Speaking up matters here: clear communication, safe working practices, and raising concerns through the right onboard channel are the core of how any professional crew member should handle a condition that might affect their responsibilities.
The same principle applies if the problem continues or becomes more serious. Feeling unwell does not mean you should simply walk away from an assigned duty, but neither should you try to prove yourself by continuing with work that you can no longer perform safely.
10 Practical Tips for Managing Seasickness as a Superyacht Crew Member
No single technique guarantees a cure for seasickness, but there are useful habits that can help you manage your physical well-being and stay functional during demanding periods at sea.
1. Step Into Fresh Air When Your Duties Allow
Stepping outside for fresh sea air is a simple way to reset during a demanding stretch onboard. If you’re starting to feel uncomfortable below deck, moving into the open air can also give you a calmer environment to assess how you’re actually doing.
Always consider your duties and the conditions first. Do not leave a working position without informing the relevant crew member or move onto the deck where conditions make doing so unsafe.
2. Use the Horizon as a Visual Reset
Its crew-wellbeing guidance points to looking out at the ocean horizon as a grounding break at sea. That’s not a guaranteed treatment for seasickness, just a simple, available action when your responsibilities and location onboard allow for it.
The important point is not to disappear from your duty station in search of a view. Use this kind of reset appropriately and in the way your department is operating.
3. Keep Yourself Properly Hydrated
Hydration comes up constantly in the crew-wellbeing and safety guidance. Staying properly hydrated during demanding periods, rather than relying on caffeine or sugar to keep going, is one of the simplest things you can control.
This is a useful habit regardless of whether you are currently feeling seasick. Crew members work in an environment where physical performance and clear thinking matter, so water should be part of your normal onboard routine rather than something you remember only when you begin feeling unwell.
4. Eat Properly During Demanding Periods
Balanced nutrition supports both physical and mental well-being onboard. The demands of yacht work make it important to keep your body properly fueled, rather than letting a busy schedule replace normal meals with caffeine and quick snacks.
If you are feeling unwell, follow the yacht’s normal procedures and listen to any appropriate medical guidance you receive. The academy’s material does not prescribe a particular “seasickness diet,” so there is no reason to invent one.
5. Protect Your Sleep Before Demanding Periods at Sea
Rest is one of the clearest, most repeated themes in the academy’s material. The watchkeeping guidance explains that fatigue can compromise situational awareness, while the crew mental-health content treats quality rest as essential maintenance for the body and mind.
That matters before passages as much as during them. If you know you will be working while the vessel is underway, using your available rest period properly gives you a stronger starting point than arriving already exhausted.
6. Avoid Excessive Alcohol
Avoiding excessive alcohol matters too. It’s a recognized factor in medical fitness and fatigue management, and a professional crew member needs to arrive fit for duty rather than adding another variable that could affect concentration or physical performance.
This matters most when the yacht is underway or you’re heading into a demanding shift. The safest approach is to follow the vessel’s rules and make decisions that support your ability to carry out your responsibilities properly.
7. Slow Down Your Breathing When You Feel Overwhelmed
Controlled breathing is one of the practical techniques for regaining calm during a stressful moment. The wellbeing guidance points to slow, structured breathing as a short mental reset during busy shifts.
That does not make breathing exercises a cure for motion sickness. They can, however, give you something simple and controlled to focus on when discomfort is making you tense or anxious.
8. Tell the Right Person Before the Problem Affects Safety
Professional communication matters more than pretending everything is fine. If feeling unwell begins to interfere with your ability to concentrate, move safely, keep watch, handle equipment, or complete another duty, communicate with the appropriate senior crew member.
The safety material places strong emphasis on recognizing problems, alerting the crew, and following established onboard procedures, and the PSSR training covers the same ground: safe working practices and the realities of everyday working conditions at sea.
Speaking up is not the same as abandoning your responsibilities. It gives the people responsible for the operation the information they need to decide what should happen next.
9. Put Safe Working Ahead of Looking Tough
Working while dizzy, exhausted, distracted, or physically unwell can become a safety issue, especially during deck operations, watchkeeping, or other duties where awareness and coordination matter.
The safety and watchkeeping guidance consistently puts situational awareness and safe working practices ahead of simply pushing through fatigue.
A new crew member may worry that admitting to feeling unwell will make them look inexperienced. Professionalism is better demonstrated by recognizing when your condition may create a risk and communicating appropriately.
10. Give Yourself Time to Become Comfortable With Life at Sea
Training prepares you for procedures, safety responsibilities, and practical yacht work, but living and working at sea still takes adjustment. Yacht life is demanding largely because crew work long days, live in close quarters, and operate in an environment very different from a land-based job.
Do not assume that one uncomfortable passage tells you what your entire yacht career will feel like. Focus on good routines, listen to your body, follow onboard procedures, and allow your experience of working at sea to develop.
How Can Superyacht Crew Prepare Before a Passage?
Good preparation begins before the vessel starts moving: adequate rest, proper hydration and nutrition, and avoiding excessive alcohol all matter when you need to stay physically and mentally ready for work.
Know what is expected of you as well. If you are assigned watchkeeping, deck work, guest service, engineering duties, or another responsibility during a passage, make sure you understand the task and who you report to before conditions become demanding.
This is also where honest communication helps. If you already know that you have previously struggled while at sea, raising that appropriately is more professional than waiting until you can no longer perform your work safely.
The crew should also understand the yacht’s medical and emergency procedures. Certified Training’s STCW training includes Elementary First Aid, Personal Safety and Social Responsibility, firefighting, and personal survival because working at sea requires crew to be prepared for situations where health and safety need immediate attention.
Can Seasickness Medication Help Superyacht Crew Members?
There’s no motion-sickness medication protocol here, no individual drugs named, no dosage advice. That’s deliberate: this article isn’t the place to tell you which medication to take or to suggest that one product works for everybody.
Medication is also tied to a seafarer’s wider medical fitness. As part of the ENG1 medical, doctors review medications, medical history, alcohol use, health conditions, and anything else that could affect a person’s ability to work safely at sea.
If you are considering medication for a recurring problem at sea, discuss it with an appropriate medical professional and follow the medical procedures of the yacht on which you are working.
This matters most when your duties involve watchkeeping, machinery, tenders, deck operations, or other work where alertness and physical coordination are critical.
Do not assume that something is suitable simply because another crew member uses it. Your health, medication history, job responsibilities, and medical fitness are specific to you.
How Should You Handle Seasickness While Working Onboard?
The first priority is to understand whether you can still perform your work safely. The PSSR and emergency guidance come back to the same core things: safe working practices, situational awareness, clear communication, and knowing what to do when a health or safety problem develops onboard.
Tell your supervisor if the situation begins affecting your duties. That gives the appropriate senior crew member the chance to respond within the yacht’s procedures rather than discovering later that you have been struggling silently.
Continue looking after the basics where possible. Rest during legitimate rest periods, stay hydrated, maintain sensible nutrition, and use fresh air or a short grounding break when doing so fits safely within your responsibilities.
Most importantly, do not make independent decisions that create a second problem. Leaving an assigned duty without communication, attempting a risky task when your coordination is affected, or ignoring a worsening health concern can place other people in a difficult position.
When Should a Crew Member Ask for Medical Help?
Medical readiness is part of professional life at sea. The STCW course includes Elementary First Aid for responding to accidents and medical emergencies onboard, while the ENG1 medical exists to confirm seafarers are fit to carry out their responsibilities safely.
If the way you feel becomes severe, unusual, persistent, or begins affecting your ability to function safely, do not assume you simply need to “tough it out.” Report the problem through the yacht’s appropriate medical or command procedure so that a qualified person can decide what level of attention is needed.
This is especially important because not every episode of feeling dizzy, weak, tired, or physically unwell should automatically be labelled seasickness. Proper medical assessment matters when symptoms fall outside what you normally experience or do not improve as expected.
Frequently Asked Questions About Seasickness for Yacht Crew
What are the best tips for overcoming seasickness as a superyacht crew member?
There’s no single guaranteed cure, but the basics make the biggest difference: rest, hydration, good nutrition, moderate alcohol use, fresh air when you can get it, and speaking up if the way you feel starts affecting your work.
Can experienced yacht crew still feel seasick?
Yes. Seasickness is a normal onboard reality, and experienced crew aren’t immune to it just because they’ve done it before. It’s not something that only happens to beginners.
Does looking at the horizon help?
It can help. Looking at the horizon is a grounding technique some crew members use at sea. It’s not a guaranteed treatment for seasickness, more a simple, practical reset when your duties allow it.
Should I keep working if I feel seasick?
That depends on whether you can perform the duty safely. If feeling unwell starts affecting concentration, coordination, awareness, or your ability to complete a task, communicate with the appropriate senior crew member rather than hiding the problem.
Can I take medication for seasickness on board?
There’s no specific medication or dosage recommended here. If you’re considering medication for seasickness, get proper medical advice and think about how it fits with your health, medical fitness, and onboard responsibilities.
Why is sleep important before working at sea?
Fatigue affects situational awareness, coordination, reaction time, and overall performance. Protecting your available rest helps you begin a demanding passage in a better physical and mental state.
Should I tell someone if I feel unwell on board?
Yes, especially once the way you feel starts affecting your ability to carry out your responsibilities safely. Yacht operations depend on clear communication and on crew following the correct reporting and safety procedures.
When should seasickness become a medical concern?
There’s no fixed threshold that turns seasickness into a medical concern. As a rule of thumb: if symptoms are severe, persistent, unusual, or affecting your ability to function safely, follow the yacht’s medical procedures and get a proper professional assessment.
Seasickness Does Not Have to Define Your Time at Sea
Feeling unwell when a yacht starts moving can be frustrating, especially when you are eager to prove yourself in a new role. The professional response is not to hide it or search for a miracle cure, but to manage the factors you can control and speak up before discomfort becomes a safety issue.
Good sleep, hydration, proper nutrition, sensible alcohol choices, calm communication, and awareness of your own physical condition are already part of looking after yourself as a professional crew. Those habits matter whether the sea is flat or the yacht is moving enough to make you wish your cabin had been built on dry land.
Certified Training’s STCW training in Cape Town gives aspiring crew practical exposure to first aid, personal safety, sea survival, firefighting, and the working responsibilities that come with life at sea.
A yachting course cannot promise that you will never feel seasick. What good preparation can do is help you understand how to respond professionally when life onboard does not go exactly as planned, which is a far more useful skill once your career takes you beyond the marina.
If you’re preparing for a career at sea, it’s worth exploring the yacht training that gets you ready for it, seasickness included. Speak to Certified Training about the STCW pathway that fits the role you’re aiming for.