That\u2019s a very interesting question, and I suppose it entirely depends on the susceptibility of the individual. My friend Lee is very prone to motion sickness; I think I could make her seasick just by swaying side-to-side while talking to her. Nevertheless she has endured two narrowboat trips and is looking forward to a third, so I think most people would\u2014under most conditions\u2014have no problems on a narrowboat.<\/p>\n
That said, I\u2019m sure there are conditions when one could get motion sickness while on a narrowboat. Normally the water in the cut is pretty still with passing narrowboats being the only source of disturbance. At a maximum speed of 4 mph, narrowboats move at a stately pace and often energetic walkers can outpace a boat. But two boats passing can make quite a disturbance, especially if the boats don\u2019t slow down. However it lasts only a moment.<\/p>\n
A person in a moored boat might be upset by a passing boat, but again it lasts only a moment. Remember, you should reduce your throttle to tick over\u2014meaning the prop is only barely turning\u2014when passing moored boats. In reality, a moored boat is quite stable, although there\u2019s always a barely perceptible rocking. That\u2019s why after a narrowboat trip, you may find yourself unconsciously swaying when on dry land. It\u2019s a mild form of \u201csea legs\u201d that I find occurs most often while taking a shower. I think of \u201ccanal legs\u201d as a pleasant reminder of canal trip and have experienced it as much as two weeks after a narrowboat trip.<\/p>\n
Fortunately I\u2019ve never experienced being on a narrowboat during a violent storm, but I imagine it could be quite unsettling if strong winds are pushing your boat against the bank. Similarly, you might experience motion sickness if you\u2019re moored on a river. A combination of tidal flows, torrential rains, high winds and passing boats might make for a rough night.<\/p>\n
Of course you\u2019re most likely to experience \u201crough seas\u201d on open water, which you\u2019re unlikely to encounter while on the canal network. Some canals, however, incorporate natural bodies of water, like the Caledonian Canal in Scotland. The Caledonian connects several lochs, including Loch Ness, so the disturbance you feel might be Nessie passing under your boat. The Shannon-Erne Waterways connects those two rivers in the two Irelands and is a combination of rivers, lakes and canals. If you have a queasy stomach, it might be best to avoid these waterways.<\/p>\n
One remedy for those who easily get seasick is to avoid narrowboats in favor of wide-beam barges. A ten-foot or wider barge should be quite stable in comparison to a narrowboat. This limits the number of canals you can travel, of course, but there are still plenty of wide canals. I would definitely recommend not hiring lighter boats with fiberglass or glass-reinforced plastic hulls. The flat-bottomed metal hull of a narrowboat or barge is inherently stable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
That\u2019s a very interesting question, and I suppose it entirely depends on the susceptibility of the individual. My friend Lee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Can I get seasick on a #narrowboat? #canals #waterways","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-narrowboating-for-beginners"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p74kO9-B1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/narrowboatingforbeginners.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/narrowboatingforbeginners.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/narrowboatingforbeginners.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/narrowboatingforbeginners.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/narrowboatingforbeginners.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2295"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/narrowboatingforbeginners.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2296,"href":"http:\/\/narrowboatingforbeginners.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2295\/revisions\/2296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/narrowboatingforbeginners.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/narrowboatingforbeginners.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/narrowboatingforbeginners.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}