Single Handed 84 Year Old Rescued off Easter Island

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Seahunter

When you consider the average 84 year old man is drooling on hospital linen while sleeping in a wet diaper, .

Maybe the average 84 year old is sleeping in a wet diaper "because" he is not out there sailing. So what age do you propose we mandatorily warehouse old people in rest homes?

I hope to die at sea doing something stupid and fun rather than watching reruns of the price is right in a wet diaper. Whether this guy has the physical capacity to do this is debatable. I would bet the farm he has the experience and knowledge and I would love to sail with him and learn a few things. Two weeks on a boat with this guy would beat 6 months reading all the BS From the armchair quarterbacks around here...

Life - Get busy living or get busy dying...

Oh - BTW, is it ok for a 30 y/o to press the button after the mast fails? What about a 40 y/o? Just trying to figure out the cutoff here. The whole idea of who should be allowed to be rescued is stupid. Rescuers rescue. End of topic...

[Canibul]

Originally Posted by Seahunter

Arguments as these still doesn't justify poor judgment at any age. Competency, is more the issue, and science has shown the older we get the more child-like we become.

Can you at least attempt to explain how his judgement and "child like nature" contributed to equipment problems? Are you claiming that equipment failures do not happen to people with better judgement? If you are defining judgement as the decision not to go sailing, your boat would be on the market, wouldn't it.

As for a blanket statement that "science has shown..." followed by some vague bull crap you just made up about older people just routinely becoming idiots..... I can only assume that you are talking from personal experience.

My father is 86. I don't know you, but I'm willing to bet I know which of you I would back in a game of chess or a shooting competition.

you basically just lost most of what little credibility you had left.

The man's boat broke. He needed help.

What about that is it that you don't personally approve of?

[boatman61]

I wish I was Erudite... used to have it... I think....
or was that an Eventide.... sigh

[Mr B]

The Captain driving the boat that rescued me was 84, The youngest of the crew was over 60.

My comment, Where are all the young people to do this rescue work. Answer. There all in the pub and wont do it,

So make sure if you need rescuing,
Dont ask for young people to save you, It wont happen, Hahahahahahaha

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Doesnt matter how good or bad you are,
A broken mast brings everybody back to a level playing field,

So. If you break your mast, I take it that you will refuse help of any kind,

Not necessarily. Is anyone injured? Is the hull damaged? Where has the mast broken? Can I fix it? Am I close to shore? Do I have motoring range? Do I have a spare spar? Can I jury rig something?

Depending on this and half a dozen other factors, abandoning ship is low on the list. I do know that if I am not prepared to solve a range of problems I may encounter offshore, it would be better to stay inshore.

And just so we're clear, my questions about this gentleman's suitability to the task (and there are clearly some men sensitive about their ages here), has less to do with his advanced years and more to do with this being his seventh uncompleted crack at it.

Chichester did a solo circ with cancer in his 70s, sure, but it wasn't his seventh crack at it. He flew very dodgy seaplanes in the '30s and was entirely versed in the doctrine of self-reliance. As I recall, he was instructed on how to operate on his own elbow (successfully) via SSB during his circ.

We are not, I think, discussing the same calibre of sailor. If this guy was 30, I'd be asking the same questions. That's a lot of at-bats.

OK: I read the article. Would one of you internet white knights care to come browse my back lawn? Dandelions are obviously the key to this man's success.

[avb3]

Originally Posted by Seahunter

When you consider the average 84 year old man is drooling on hospital linen while sleeping in a wet diaper,.......

I better tell that to my friend whose 86 year old uncle went up a 7000 ft mountain to go sheep hunting, and then when he got one, back packed it back down, making 3 trips last year.

He puts many 30 year olds to shame.

[sabray]

How did this dithering clueless old man get to the horn. Just guessing he must have trucked it down there. No way could the guy described here being unprepared I'll equipped with luck against him sailed the entire west coast.

[Sabbatical II]

I saw an interesting program on TV the other night on alzeimers and the aging population. The program showed the medical facts about how we all lose brain capacity as we get older. As far as alzeimers goes, many have it and are debilitated. Others have it and show no symptoms at all. We all use such a minimal amount of our brain cells that some seem to survive OK on what they have left.

What was the difference between the two groups of people?

The ones showing all the symptoms were the typical ones you find in suburbia who retire from life when they leave their jobs. They think they've now earned the right to do nothing. The ones who had alzeimers but showed no symptoms were the ones who were determined to die with their boots on. They were still contributing to life. Some were still seeking out new challenges and exploring new places and ideas. In other words they were still exercising their brains in some way. So there probably are many aging sailors out there cruising the world on limited brain power and guess what, this year I'm joining them!

[Canibul]

Originally Posted by boatman61

I wish I was Erudite... used to have it... I think....
or was that an Eventide.... sigh

The Erudite....hmm. Was they the ones who was slain by the jawbone of an ass?

i forget.

we certainly have some of the major components here, though.

[rubyjean]

Originally Posted by Eleebana

I saw an interesting program on TV the other night on alzeimers and the aging population. The program showed the medical facts about how we all lose brain capacity as we get older. As far as alzeimers goes, many have it and are debilitated. Others have it and show no symptoms at all. We all use such a minimal amount of our brain cells that some seem to survive OK on what they have left.

What was the difference between the two groups of people?

The ones showing all the symptoms were the typical ones you find in suburbia who retire from life when they leave their jobs. They think they've now earned the right to do nothing. The ones who had alzeimers but showed no symptoms were the ones who were determined to die with their boots on. They were still contributing to life. Some were still seeking out new challenges and exploring new places and ideas. In other words they were still exercising their brains in some way. So there probably are many aging sailors out there cruising the world on limited brain power and guess what, this year I'm joining them!

Good for you. Your gonna love this life. See out there somewhere..Michael..

[deckofficer]

And I'll join you both, but first, my job is caring for my 92 year old dad who raced bicycles till the age of 85. After mom died, he lived alone for 12 years, and only moved in with me 3 years ago. I'm no spring chicken either, and with the strength of dad's heart and overall health, I might be 70 before my care giving is completed and I can return to the sea.

[rubyjean]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

And I'll join you both, but first, my job is caring for my 92 year old dad who raced bicycles till the age of 85. After mom died, he lived alone for 12 years, and only moved in with me 3 years ago. I'm no spring chicken either, and with the strength of dad's heart and overall health, I might be 70 before my care giving is completed and I can return to the sea.

Good for you, sounds like your a great son. Your dad sounds life the dad I would like to know. My dad died at age 66 at sea.[commerical fisherman]
I plan on being with him someday...Michael..

[deckofficer]

Thanks Rubyjean, he is a great old guy, was a very good father to me, so what comes around, goes around. This time when I return to sea it will be on my schedule and choice of destinations instead of the shipping company. I really like Coos Bay, great clam chowder and sand dunes that are between the level of the easy ones of Pismo Beach, and the really tough ones of Glamis in the desert.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Me father is coming up to 80, has always worried about losing his marbles - I reassure him by saying that nobody will be able to tell . and pointing out that he will probably be very happy sitting with underpants on his head, dribbling to himself.

FWIW he gets an Alzheimers test twice year - navigates his motorboat around the SE corner of Jersey from winter to summer mooring (lots of rocks / reefs inside and outside the route), last couple of years the GPS has been kaput (I think he wiped the waypoints ). If he fails the test (and somehow gets ashore!) I have assured him that am happy to cure him. permanently .

He is still dithering over whether to get a small sailboat (for around the bay use) - wants something that will still be useable "when he gets old" .......but in the meantime is thinking about becoming a part time liveaboard this spring / summer on his motorboat......between visits to Europe in his motorhome.

Fortunately he ain't got enough years left to spend all "my" money .

Old people not all as old as they once were

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by Canibul

I'm rethinking this whole Canadian thing, now, in this new light. You see, these people spend their entire lives up north at high latitudes, where their skin is protected from the environment to the point it stops producing melanin. Then at some point in their lives they decide to buy a boat and cruise the Caribbean. The sun down here is nothing like the sun in Montreal or Coos Bay. Oh no sir. And those Canadians come down here with white skin and risk severe sun burn, and melanoma! And I am starting to wonder why we should have to maintain clinics and hospitals with the capability of treating people too ignorant of UV to avoid burning themselves. Maybe we need to restrict sailors to stay within one or two degrees of their home latitude. For their own safety.

Don't you love that term, 'it's for your own safety'? You know, the same rationale used when government employees were groping us at airports. For MY own safety they need to feel my crotch? My crotch hasn't threatened my safety since we were both about 17.

Maybe we need to start testing the eyesight of all sailors, and their reaction times. How about how they react to stress and sleep deprivation? Shouldn't we wonder about the collective wisdom of allowing sailors to take their families out if they haven't passed a stress test in the past year? Hey, how about a brand new US government department of sailor evaluation? We can hire thousands of bureaucrats to administer it, and field agents to enforce it! "Pull that boat over buddy, you're about to get a color blind test!"

And DNA. Any thoughts on requiring all sailors visiting a country to submit DNA samples as part of the check in procedure? then Uncle Sam's minions can keep track of all of us as we move around the world. Send us birthday cards and tell us our license is expired, our medical is up for renewal, and by the way, the White House has been thinking about our recent online posts and wants to restrict us to a 16 ft. inflatable beach cat. During daylight hours. With no passengers. For our own safety.

Oh no ,not the colorblind test and whoever wrote that comment about bears snakes and Indians well I dont think you got it quite right thou I get the meaning,the indians are(were) more analogious to poison ivy than any "real " threat....poor ignorant fools that we are!..and I think the old man that was rescued from the sea should try it again as soon as possible....DVC