I'm fairly immune to feeling sick in situations like that, which is just as well since I do aerobatics in a glider in real life. But your post does remind me of something that I found really shocking when I went on a fishing trip in a small boat off the coast of Wales many years ago.
The fishing boat had a Decca Navigator installed so that it could GPS its way to known wreck sites (where the fish shoals would be). So off it goes with the captain/pilot explaining this to us (about six guys I seem to recall), and it eventually arrives over a wreck spot just barely within sight of land.
'Alright lads, there you go', he calls out, and we duly drop our lines over the side and start catching a lot of fish. What I guess was about ten about minutes later, he calls out for us to get our lines in, which we all do. Then he sets off going again, and I assumed he was taking us to another wreck spot. It was at this point that I looked up and noticed that a cottage which I'd spotted on the land in the distance was now absolutely goddam miles away up the coast, and we were actually on the way back to the same wreck site again!
That's when I developed a healthy respect for how dangerous and fast-flowing ocean currents can be! I simply couldn't believe how far we had drifted in ten minutes
