How Old is Too Old ?

[deckofficer]

Bob,

If your 21, you must have been born on Feb 29. If I was, that would make me 15.

[Irish rambler]

bobconnie, Don't worry about being politically correct my friend the worlds gone crazy with the PC tree huggers, just tell it like it is.
Fair winds and safe harbours.

[Capt.Fred]

It is difficult to convince people the age of a sailor OR the size of a boat is immaterial. I am not bragging, I'm just sayin, at 43 years old I solo designed and built a 50' sailboat from scratch and launched in 1977, without any boat building experience and less than 2 months of actual small sailboat sailing. I sailed that 50 footer by myself and with my loving spouse until I sold her for lots of $ in 2002. Now I solo a Rob Roy 23, mainly because I wanted to be closer to the water, there’s a trailer and this RR23 is beautiful in every way. I'm turning 80 in a couple months. A properly rigged boat any size can be sailed by the strong will of a very handicapped person. That person with bursting self-esteem will be lovin every minute of it. The pain is secondary.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

We are doing a little adapting with age. I flew my cruising chute for the last time this trip.


I love this sail, but it beats me up physically. I'm going to let it go and keep my sails suitable for easy cruising.

I posted this over a year ago and now, looking back, I recall that I had an unusually tough day. I'm a year older and I've kept this sail. It can be daunting with it's 33.5' foot on my 41' ketch. All I need is good sense to put it away before the wind picks up too much. If I can continue to stay wise with age I'll expect many more than my current 42 years of liveaboard cruising.