CNN: I was in denial, but I had felt a wave of seasickness coming over me for quite some time.
I tried to persevere but after focusing far too long on every wave that hit the Sunsail F40 yacht as I steered, I had to take some time out to catch my breath.
“There’s a big taboo around sailors getting sea sickness,” British Paralympic sailor and world champion, Hannah Stodel, says as we sit on the side of the boat. She tries to take my mind off the overwhelming urge to be sick and suggests looking out to the horizon.
“But it happens to everyone,” she laughs, “I redecorated my yacht the other day!”
We were sailing on the Solent off the Isle of Wight ahead of Lendy Cowes Week — a regatta that’s been taking place since 1826 and is one of the oldest in the world. Stodel, who has represented Great Britain four times at the Paralympics and is a three-time world champion, was born without her lower right arm. It seems she was always destined to follow in the footsteps of her parents who were both competitive sailors — her mother just missing out on selection for the 1988 Olympic Games.
She’s been on a boat, Stodel says, for as long as she can remember.
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