You can go boat fishing out of Ramsgate even if you get seasick, and most people who plan for it have a good day. Book a four hour trip rather than a full day, pick a date with a light wind forecast, take a motion sickness tablet from a pharmacist before you leave home rather than once you feel ill, and spend the trip on deck in the middle of the boat with your eyes on the horizon. Skip the fry up and the pint the night before. That is most of it, and the rest of this guide explains why each part matters on this particular stretch of coast.<\/p>\n
Ramsgate faces east onto the southern North Sea, close to where it narrows into the Dover Strait. The water here is shallow compared with the open ocean, and shallow water builds a short, steep chop when the wind blows against a strong tide. A boat at anchor over a wreck or a bank sits in that chop, rising and dipping every few seconds, and that rhythm is what unsettles people. A long, slow swell on a deep ocean is often easier to live with than an hour of short chop in the Channel.<\/p>\n
The good news is that the same shallow water means a lot of the fishing is close to home. Many Ramsgate trips fish inshore banks and marks within reach of the harbour, so you are not committed to a long run offshore. And when the forecast is poor, skippers here postpone rather than take guests out to be miserable, which we cover in our guide to what happens when a Ramsgate trip is cancelled for weather<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trip length is the decision that matters most. A first timer who is unsure about the sea is better off on a four hour trip they enjoy than on a ten hour day they spend wishing it were over. Hussler<\/a>, the 26 foot charter boat on Ramsgate Marina, runs 4 hour and 6 hour trips, boards from the pontoon and can leave and return at any state of the tide, so you are not waiting around on a tide window either. Start with the four hours. If you love it, the six hour trip or a full day is there next time.<\/p>\n The second choice is the date. Summer and early autumn usually bring calmer, warmer days on this coast, while winter trips for cod and whiting run in colder, livelier conditions (our winter boat fishing guide for Kent<\/a> covers that season). If you have a choice of dates, keep a second one free and let the forecast decide.<\/p>\n The third is the forecast itself. Look at the wind, not just the sunshine symbol. A bright day with a fresh wind against the tide can be rougher than a grey, still one. When you book, ask the skipper how they decide whether a trip goes ahead and what they offer if it does not. They watch these waters every day and will tell you straight.<\/p>\n The NHS guidance on motion sickness is practical and it fits a fishing boat well:<\/p>\n For medicine, the NHS says a pharmacist can recommend tablets (there are dissolvable ones for children) or patches, which are for adults and children over 10. Tablets containing hyoscine hydrobromide are meant to be taken at least 30 minutes before you travel, and they can make you drowsy, dizzy or give you a dry mouth. You should not drink alcohol with them, and you should not drive if they make you drowsy, which matters if you are driving home from the marina afterwards. Acupressure wristbands do not work for everyone.<\/p>\n The single most useful line in all of this is about timing. Once you feel sick, a tablet is much less use. Take it before you leave, as the pack and your pharmacist tell you, and talk to the pharmacist if you take other medicines, are pregnant or are buying for a child.<\/p>\n Once you are aboard, a few habits keep you fishing instead of hanging over the side:<\/p>\n Hussler is also a dry boat, with no alcohol allowed aboard, which suits this advice anyway.<\/p>\n It happens, even to anglers who have fished for years. Being sick over the side (the downwind side: the crew will point you to it) often brings relief, and plenty of people go on fishing afterwards. Keep sipping water so you do not get dehydrated, stay on deck, and keep looking at the horizon.<\/p>\n On a short trip from Ramsgate you are never far from harbour. If someone in your group is really suffering, talk to the skipper. Whether they head back early is their call and depends on the rest of the group and the conditions, which is one more reason a private charter with people you know suits nervous first timers. Your own group decides together, and nobody is spoiling a stranger’s day.<\/p>\n Children need the same plan as adults, plus warmth and food: a short trip, a calm date, the middle of the deck and something to look at. The NHS notes dissolvable tablets for children and patches only from age 10, so ask a pharmacist which is right for your child’s age before the day. Our guide to fishing from Ramsgate with kids<\/a> covers ages, seasons and what to pack for a cold deck.<\/p>\n If you are new to sea fishing altogether, read our guide to your first sea fishing trip from Ramsgate<\/a> for what a day on these boats looks like from start to finish. Then pick a short trip on Hussler<\/a> or a family day on Lady Ann<\/a>, or see every boat on the Ramsgate charters page<\/a>, choose a date with a light wind and a spare day behind it, and visit the pharmacist the week before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Worried about seasickness on a Ramsgate boat trip? When to take tablets, where to sit, which trip length to book and what to ask the skipper about the forecast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","rz_lang":"","rz_translation_of":0},"categories":[133,56],"tags":[169,170,140,141,253],"class_list":["post-1374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guides","category-uk-fishing","tag-beginners","tag-charter-boats","tag-kent","tag-ramsgate","tag-seasickness"],"translations":[{"lang":"en","id":1374,"slug":"seasickness-fishing-trip-ramsgate","link":"https:\/\/reelzy.co\/blog\/seasickness-fishing-trip-ramsgate\/"},{"lang":"es","id":1378,"slug":"mareo-pesca-en-barco-ramsgate","link":"https:\/\/reelzy.co\/blog\/es\/mareo-pesca-en-barco-ramsgate\/"},{"lang":"ru","id":1379,"slug":"morskaya-bolezn-na-rybalke-ramsgeit","link":"https:\/\/reelzy.co\/blog\/ru\/morskaya-bolezn-na-rybalke-ramsgeit\/"},{"lang":"fr","id":1383,"slug":"mal-de-mer-sortie-peche-ramsgate","link":"https:\/\/reelzy.co\/blog\/fr\/mal-de-mer-sortie-peche-ramsgate\/"},{"lang":"de","id":1382,"slug":"seekrankheit-angeltour-ramsgate","link":"https:\/\/reelzy.co\/blog\/de\/seekrankheit-angeltour-ramsgate\/"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reelzy.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reelzy.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reelzy.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reelzy.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reelzy.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1374"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/reelzy.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1376,"href":"https:\/\/reelzy.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374\/revisions\/1376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reelzy.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reelzy.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reelzy.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reelzy.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Book the right trip: short, early season, light wind<\/h2>\n
What the NHS says actually helps<\/h2>\n
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On the boat: small habits that make a big difference<\/h2>\n
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If you do get sick<\/h2>\n
Children and seasickness<\/h2>\n
Questions to ask the skipper before you book<\/h2>\n
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