Storm conditions over English Channel

[Kitty]

I want to travel across the English Channel on Thursday night (Portsmouth-St Malo) but have a daughter who is hospitalised if she gets sea sick. (Last bad crossing, she was in St Malo hopital for 10 days.) There is a major storm on its way (www.bbc.co.uk/weather) over the Channel.

How else can I travel?  Do I hold tight until better conditions arrive?  Do I go via the Channel Tunnel?  The car will be loaded up and so I can't stay overnight in a hotel without secure-ish parking.

I am going from Bristol to Bordeaux by the way.

Help!

[Tresco]

[quote user="Cathy"]

I want to travel across the English Channel on Thursday night (Portsmouth-St Malo) but have a daughter who is hospitalised if she gets sea sick. (Last bad crossing, she was in St Malo hopital for 10 days.) There is a major storm on its way (www.bbc.co.uk/weather) over the Channel.

How else can I travel?  Do I hold tight until better conditions arrive?  Do I go via the Channel Tunnel?  The car will be loaded up and so I can't stay overnight in a hotel without secure-ish parking.

I am going from Bristol to Bordeaux by the way.

Help!

[/quote]

Cathy I saw the weather forcast and it's pretty bad, but they get it wrong so often.

 I would sit tight and hopefully it will pass over before you travel. I'll check the  various forecasts and get back to you.

You should still be able to go on the tunnel even at a late stage. If it comes to that I don't know whether you will be able to get your money back (for the ferry) though I  hope so, as your daughters problem sounds serious.

sending you a pm

 

[Dick Smith]

Julie (Mrs Smith) is a bad traveller and we used to use the tunnel for that reason - it is the obvious answer. Nowadays we travel BF with a cabin, which means that she can sleep and has a loo to herself if she needs it, and even on bad weather crossings she has been relatively OK, but then she was never as bad as your daughter. I recommend the tunnel even though it adds to the drive on both sides.

[le bouffon]

Take the tunnel,and as most of the big hotel chains have secure parking,some have guards as well.ps have you tried sea sickness tablets.

[Russethouse]

 I suffer from sea sickness, at one stage I had difficulty just standing up when I was ill and often it lasted a good day after the journey ended, so I do sympathise.

I use Kwells now (because as I have got older its improved) but I used to be able to get some patches that you stick behind your ears and they slowly release an sickness drug. I stopped using these because they were withdrawn from the market for technical reasons (nothing to do with safety) but they may well be available again now.

I find a cabin on BF the best bet as Dick says, could you change to the shorter Cherbourg route, it much less time at sea?

[Tresco]

Storms were predicted for down here this morning but it's sunny blue skies.

The weather predicted for the north looks a bit grim though.

http://fr.weather.com/weather/local/FRXX0032?x=5&y=1

[st]

[Deimos]

I can appreciate that you will be very reserved about “stretching” the weather or chancing things given your previous experiences. However, I would check with a doctor as sea sickness, even in extreme form would not normally hospitalise somebody for 10 days. The worst that can happen (particularly over a short crossing like the western channel – 8 hrs) is dehydration which is pretty easy to resolve (and would not normally require medical treatment let alone hospitalisation, let alone 10 days). I would check with your GP about what is happening as I think there may be more than just sea-sickness.

I would suggest you take some Dioralite (available in Boots of chemists without prescription) so that if weather does ever turn bad you and start giving her re-hydration salts a.s.a.p. (its just a mixture of appropriate salts and sugar with something to make it taste OK’ish – e.g. blackcurrant). Not a drug to prevent, just to lower the effects of the dehydration caused by the sickness. Again, check with your doctor.

However, whilst words like “storm”, “gale”, etc. do have definitions they tend to be used in a very general sense and thus in common use have less meaning. Do you have any idea about your “threshold” for wind and direction (direction is very important as a westerly will cause a greater swell than e.g. a northerly). Similarly, the direction of the wind in relation to the time is also important. Thus a westerly wind during a westerly flowing tide (i.e. east to west tidal flow) will cause a far worse sea than the same wind on an easterly flowing tide (“wind over tide”).

The small rolling banner displays you get at the ferry port showing the weather conditions seem to be based on some part of the planet other then the English Channel.

Another source of wind forecast is http://www.xcweather.co.uk/index.php. Once it has displayed the map (you cans elect UK or France – France shows the channel better, and you can change it to show different things like wind or weather or temperature, etc. on the map but the forecast/current conditions is unaffected by the map display type) – you just move your mouse over the blue blobs or weather symbols or arrows, etc. and it shows you the current conditions (including wave height) and the wind forecast (both strength and direction) for the next 6 days.

(I’m not a doctor, not medically qualified but am used to dealing with people suffering from sea-sickness from years of sailing).

Ian

[Russethouse]

Another thing I have used effectivley is ginger - you can by capsules at a health food type shop or if not just nibbling on gingernuts, sipping ginger ale, helps.

After a bad experience your daughter is bound to be apprensive, good luck with it.

[daryl-et-elaine]

[quote user="Deimos"]However, I would check with a doctor as sea sickness, even in extreme form would not normally hospitalise somebody for 10 days. The worst that can happen (particularly over a short crossing like the western channel – 8 hrs) is dehydration which is pretty easy to resolve (and would not normally require medical treatment let alone hospitalisation, let alone 10 days). I would check with your GP about what is happening as I think there may be more than just sea-sickness. I would suggest you take some Dioralite (available in Boots of chemists without prescription) so that if weather does ever turn bad you and start giving her re-hydration salts a.s.a.p. (its just a mixture of appropriate salts and sugar with something to make it taste OK’ish – e.g. blackcurrant). Not a drug to prevent, just to lower the effects of the dehydration caused by the sickness.  (I’m not a doctor, not medically qualified but am used to dealing with people suffering from sea-sickness from years of sailing). Ian[/quote]

I have experience of people undergoing survival training being seasick, and still suffering the consequences days later. Bearing in mind the training is done in a facility which before the wave machine is switched on, is no more than a glorified swimming pool.

Dioralyte is for re-hydration however, give it before the person requires it and it's very likely to cause additional problems plus it is highly unlikely a sufferer of mal-de-mer will be in a position to drink it without vomiting it straight back - especially the blackcurrant flavour!

Regarding weather forecasts, telephone HM Coastguard, explain the position and request their synopsis in easy to understand language, they will be only too pleased to help plus the forecast will be the most accurate.

 

[Loiseau]

I would say go for the tunnel whatever. 

Even if you are given a good forecast, who's to say conditions won't change quickly?  Plus your daughter will already be apprehensive if she has had such major problems on a previous trip, so will be keyed up before sailing and likely to be ill even in a flat calm...  If she knows you are going via the tunnel, that will put her mind at rest

The other possibility is to send her by plane, if that is feasible (and assuming she isn't equally ill when flying), and for the rest of you to travel by ferry.

Angela

[Opalienne]

I am a bad sailor and for three years commuted every weekend by ferry (Dover-Calais).   Sometimes in the winter it was horrendous, but I found that so long as I lay down the minute I got on board, shut my eyes, and didn't move until the ferry docked the other end, I was usually OK.   But I too would recommend the tunnel for someone who gets so sick.   There are plenty of hotels in and near Calais that have secure parking.