Cruising and the aging sailor

[larsake]

I am 66 and I have sailed almost full time since I was 63, mostly singlehanded.


It works out just fine although it would of course be nice to have some more of the strength and agility one once had. I try to compensate with technical aids as muck as possible; anchor winches, electrical winch handle, handy duck buoy hook etc. It is a nice exercise to figure out how to manage different situations.



Lars

Originally Posted by Don55

My previous sailing experience has been limited to lakes and protected inlets on small sailboats. My biggest adventure so far was a few years ago when I bought Renacer (rebirth in Spanish) a 1979 Cape Dory 28 in Jacksonville and brought her down the ICW to Fort Lauderdale, where I now live. Her renovations are almost complete. In two days I turn 63. I have a dream to sail the Keys, Bahamas, and Caribbean in retirement two years from now. My encouragement has come from Reese Pawley, sailor and author who advocates sailing as a life extending activity for old people. A work acquaintance of mine of similar age and interests has just sold his Cape Dory 36 in order to buy a Ranger 29 Tug to use in retirement. So my question to you good people is how do you feel about sailing in your golden years? Keep at it as a safe and healthy activity or ditch it for the comfort of power boating? There is no right answer for everybody of course, just that I’m having the occasional doubt.

[wingssail]

Great question and wonderful replies,

As for my 2 cents worth: I'm 72, Judy is 68. We sail a 43ft race boat, finished a circumnavigation four years ago, now we sail locally, including racing around 25 times a year and do local cruising, (just finished 1500 mile loop in Sea of Cortez). We know we're older and not as strong but we just work smarter on the boat (but we still have a tiller, no roller furling and our main is on a bolt rope, so we're sort of purists). If we can do it, most anyone can. If you love sailing (Big IF) go for it.


PS: Sailing makes you fitter, it's an athletic activity, outdoors, and often hard work. You body responds. We do recommend hitting a gym when you can.

[Seajay52]

Yes, youve got many more years sailing ahead of you if you take care and keep flexible and fit

[David Gunn]

Hi Aging sailor!
I am nearly 73 and left Australia in 2010 and sailed via Asia, the Med and crossed the Atlantic last year. We are now in Grenada and preparing for Panama and the Pacific where we will spend at least 2 years. Should get home to Australia when I am 75.
Just my wife and I on a 42 foot monohull.
The main lesson is to stay fit - I swim (try to swim 1 mile 3 times a week) and exercise and eat well: mostly salads and vegetables with plenty of fish. I drink a little wine and occasional beer but the healthy lifestyle is the key for me.
I have maintained the same weight for 50 years around 70kg.
However I pale by comparison to an 80 year old kiwi who we discovered was preparing to solo circumnavigate non stop.
He also swam the English Channel so must be fit.
We find the Caribbean to be good cruising with small passages and good anchorages. We will be sad to leave!

[Oceano]

The age thing depends on how you feel, it's not numerical.

Physical work of sailing? Technique and patience instead of strongarm.

There are former NFL players who can't walk at 60, and there are regular folks who do more now than ever when they were chained to a desk or consumed with worry about clients, employees--or their own teenaged children.

In many ways it is really a burden off, to be older. Old? It comes. When it does, we'll know it.

My doc has a photo on his wall of two guys on top of Mt. Everest -- the caption is, "Knees by Dr. Mandelbaum!"

Do what you can, what you want, what the cards deal. Everybody is dying all the time, including our grandchildren. It is important to see it that way, because that is the way it is.

I'm 75.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5m9yT06Khg

[MHW382]

At 88 years, I am probably the senior in these replies. I grew up in Florida and spent most of my teen years messing around in sailboats. After 8 years in the military and 5 years in college, finally got back to sailing again in 1965. Over the next few years acquired a 33' Ranger and later a 38' Morgan 382. Divorced, I retired in 1998 and immediately moved aboard the Morgan as a full time liveaboard and sailed over from Texas to Florida with a crew. From Florida, I spent several years cruising to the Bahamas, Isla Mujeres, Belize, Guatemala, local locations on Florida West Coast, and Cuba. In 2005 I moved full time to the Western Caribbean and have been there since. Usually, I spend 6 months in the Rio Dulce in Guatemala (hurricane season) and then 6 months cruising to different places in the Western Caribbean. Usually cruise to Isla Mujeres, Belize, Honduras and the Bay Islands, Panama and Cartagena, Colombia. I usually have crew if the trip is longer than 36 hours. Fortunately, I have been in good health and have medicals yearly during my trips back to the US to see family. There is a lot of balance and physical requirements in sailing and living on a boat, and I think this helps in maintaining reasonable physical condition. This is not necessarily for everyone, but works for me.

[thataway41]

I may be in the minority, but I had to stop sailing because of health at age about 63--I continued power boating and am now 82, with a 1000 mile voyage planed in the next month. Our last sailing voyage was from Alaska to Pensacola Fl, and included our 3rd Panama Canal Transit. I had been sailing since age 5 and skippering boats since age 14, with over 250,000 miles of open ocean voyaging.

At this point I have had 2 bypasses, over a dozen stent procedures, and over 18 angioplasties---but that is not the disabling factor--it is back problems--probably related to sailing earlier in life. Even with power boating, we use winches, block and tackle and other "devices" to help us do what we love doing--being on the water.

If you are healthy, continue to sail as long as you can.

[cruising_ollie]

Here is a book with good information to cruisers in your age range:
https://www.amazon.com/Too-Old-Not-G...+old+not+to+go

[joeblake@y7mail]

I was 70 when I stepped off our 49foot steel ketch in Hobart, Tasmania, after sailing from the Pacific end of the Panama Canal to Australia.

My wife and I did this wonderful cruise in 2008 - 2011, first to Bahia de Caracas, Equador, then Zihuatanejo, Mexico, then the Marquesas, Tuamotus, Friendly Is, and west to Bundaberg, Queensland via Tonga, Fiji, and Vanuatu . (I put in the names to inspire you - imagine you feeling the thrill of sailing your own boat into quiet harbour, Hiva Oa, for example, after a 28 day passage from Mexico .) And then, now in Australia, we faced a 1200 nm run down the east coast to Tasmania, probably the hardest part of the cruise.

We had never done any blue-water sailing before. Look up S/V Bluebottle at SailBlogs.com to read the log of our cruise if you’re interested.

Do not fear. Just make your preparations as well as you can, and go!

[brine]

Aging of course is both a state of mind and a fact. When they intersect, people need to practice common sense. That said, I'm 69 and my wife is 65. We sail 6 months of the year (currently based in La Paz) and I feel no forces yet tugging my to retire to another form of winter adventure. What has been a helpful factor for me is a regular yoga practice which we started about 4 years ago. The yoga principles of balance, flexibility, strength and mindfulness also lie at the core of sailing. These help with confidence, resilience and endurance while reducing doubt and anxiety. I will add that I'm blessed to have a wife who shares my instincts in these matters. On, On.

[Sailmon]

I agree with above posts. We retired 18 months ago, completed our refit over the winter & embarked on a 12 month journey on Her Diamond, our Freedom 38. I was 68 at the time and the admiral is several years younger. We cruised the boat from Lake Erie, down the east coast, through the Bahamas & back to Florida. We are now back in Ohio for the summer & Her Diamond is on the hard on the west coast of Florida awaiting our return to resume cruising after Thanksgiving. We realize a trawler may be in our future at some point - but we have no intention of stopping any time soon. If curious about our travels, check out our tracking map & blog at Herdiamind.net. Staying safe involves careful planning & paying attention to the weather - but that should apply to cruisers of any age. When the admiral was feeling a bit apprehensive early in the trip, I suggested she think about the journey as a series of 2 week sailing vacations - like the ones we had taken for 33 years before retiring - but without the frustration of having to head home & return to work at the end of the 2 weeks.

[JPA Cate]

What I think the newbies need to understand about most of these posts which are encouraging is that international cruisers represent a very small proportion of sailors, and that therefore, these elderly hold-ons like myself are a very small fraction of sailors. I think we want to encourage you, but also to warn you, because if you really already know you are not fit for ocean crossings, you need to acknowledge to yourself that that is how it is (the reason really doesn't matter), and create a different dream from the sailing one.

There is a huge quality of life discussion waiting here, for elders.

Ann

[Don55]

Originally Posted by gulfcoastsailor

To remove any remaining misgivings after reading these comments get a copy of "Call of the Ancient Mariner". That will solve the rest.

https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...l_71b3te6ir1_e

That book along with “There be no Dragons” are by Reese Pawley the author I mentioned when I began this thread, Glad you have read it also. I find it inspirational.

[Don55]

Originally Posted by CapnElan

I want to thank you all for this wonderful thread. I am 59 years old and last year I purchased my first sailboat, a Coronado 27 and have loved every minute of it here on the lake in the Midwest. In a few weeks I will go to Fort Lauderdale to take a weeklong course to get my ASA 101, 103, and the 104. I have nine years until my youngest child is finished with college and then intend to retire and just sail. In a couple of years I plan to upgrade purchase a bigger boat and moor it in one of the coasts. I’m sure I will be on this forum looking for advice when that day comes.

Is that water sailing">Blue Water Sailing School by any chance. I took the same course from them two years ago and had a wonderful sailing experience!

[Arclight]

I sailed up and down the east coast from Maine to the Bahamas numerous times in my sixties and have made two trans Atlantic crossings, my last, as captain was last summer at 71. This fall I will sail from Portugal to the Caribbean. Your body will change, take care of it, but your age is in your head.