Water, Wind, Sun and Salt...all four combined are pretty tough on your body. So if you go sailing for extended periods of time, try to leave with 'I love my body and I will show this through some special care products' mentality...
1) you get thrown around a lot (see my bruises...)...get some padding...
2) if you are worried about seasickness (wasn't a problem for any of us this time around), use the patch and wear it 24 hrs before departure to avoid being drowsy
3) take loads of sunscreen and abuse it. Also get something for burns (ointment) and apply it if you do get sunburnt, immediately after you do
4) wear a hat and sunglasses with very good UV protection
5) clean yourself with baby wipes and rinse the salt off your skin every day. Try to rinse off the clothes that will otherwise stick to your skin
6) try to sit on salt-free cushions...baby rash is VERY painful. Also, take baby rash ointment. The strongest one you can find over the counter. It's worth getting a prescription if that's not enough...We both suffered from this, only in the last couple of days (lucky us!) and that's not very funny...
7) Take moisturizing cream and abuse it. My hands were SO dry that the skin was peeling off. Just try to keep things fresh and dry. The water also cut some hideous craters in both my feet and hands...so try to use a towel and anything to dry things off as often as you can.
There are three other side effects of excessive on-the-water fun:
- food grazing habits lead to intestinal discomfort (and various emergency) once you get back to a land-based diet. Stay 1) close to a bathroom for 2 days after you disembark and 2) be gradual in your path back to a regular 3 full meals/day
- try to walk around the boat and help your blood circulation with some air cycling or something like that but even with this, your legs might be a little stiff after 15 days on the boat. So walk 1-3 miles/day after you land back for a week or so before you start up your regular exercise. Swimming will help a lot too! Otherwise, you will end up with muscle ache without really understanding why!! Also you will probably walk around like you're drunk for a couple of days. Sea legs take a while to go away!
- sleep patterns: by the end, I was naturally waking up every two hours and I kept doing this for three nights...Try drinking herbal tea or something to help you sleep through the night. The earlier you can do this the better, especially if you then need to swallow 3 hours of time difference. I am totally screwed up even now...First 3 days back at work have a very funky schedule to it...Getting better but you might want to warn your colleagues...
(granted, the fact that my cats wake me up at 3AM isn't helping but still, it's worth looking after. That was quite unexpected)
Other than that, have fun :)
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