Sailing very dangerous--for the elderly!

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by Polux

Not very popular reality in this case

And since you have brought reality to the thread I will continue saying I am quite amazed nobody had acknowledged an obvious increasing risk to elderly sailors, specially solo sailors or offshore sailors: Health care is many hours, sometimes days away and with the increasing age, mostly after 60 the chances of needing urgent medical treatment increases dramatically.

I bet most of us have friends that survived after strokes, cardiac arrest and other almost fatal accidents due only to the availability of very fast emergency health care. None of them would have survived if they were many hours away from health intensive care.

Sure, one can decide that at an advanced age, it is his own live and that he is willing to take the added risks the non availability of quick medical assistance represents regarding staying alive and well, but denying that does not represent an added life threatening risk makes no sense.

I am very conscious of both the lack of any available health care facilities and my vulnerability in a healthcare emergency as an elderly single hander wandering about on a boat in wilderness places.

However, given a choice between continuing to enjoy the natural world every day on a voyaging sail boat and sitting in front of a TV set in a suburb somewhere slowly rotting away in both mind and body whilst I wait to die, I'm going with the sail boat thing.

If an incident occurs when I am at a remote place and I can make contact via phone of radio I will have no compunction regarding calling for help and demanding the bludgers come get me as I have never drawn a days unemployment benefits and am an entirely self supported retiree and have been financially supporting the mongrels all my life and feel entitled to any assistance they might give and will accept it with a clear conscience.

[dw5055]

Originally Posted by zedpassway

He wasn't sailing. He was out on a slippery dock in near gale force winds by himself. He could have been blown into the water, which would have been fun to get out of. And then without his cell phone he jumped 4 feet on to a slippery dock from somewhere, maybe his boat.

I'm sure if he'd been sailing it would have been fine. If things hadn't gone just right for him, he could have died out there on that dock. That would have ended his sailing days, I suspect.

Age is supposed to bring wisdom. That kind of thing is what I expect from a 16 year old.

And.... you may actually live a lot more than once BTW.

Again what a joke....if he didn't have a sailboat he wouldn't have jumped on a slippery dock. The main point is not to sit a home and rot! And like you haven't done something just as stupid in your life time...lol.

[geoleo]

Thanks for all the comments -both positive and negative. FYI John had just returned from a 7 week cruise 1200 miles from St Pete to Abacos and back and he is recovering well.

[TomAndLee]

Wooohoo! Go John! Glad his recovery is going well

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by geoleo

Thanks for all the comments -both positive and negative. FYI John had just returned from a 7 week cruise 1200 miles from St Pete to Abacos and back and he is recovering well.

See? Sailing is safe, but docks, not so much. And so the lesson is......?
Come to think of it, the last injury I got was from stepping from the dock on to the boat. Docks! Another one of those dangerous conveniences!

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

I've noticed that as I age, "acceptable risk" has changed for me [as frailties have increased, proximity to medical care has become more of an issue], and also, I'm more and more aware that the end of the story is both closer and inevitable. So what? The actual process of dying probably isn't going to take very long: it is the process of living with a horrible illness that may be time consuming and expensive (as well as mentally and physically painful). Because there's nothing you can do about it once you've been struck by *whatever*, imo, one's best stance is to focus on the joys of your life: smile and laugh whenever you can, do what you enjoy. Why on earth not? (Written in the knowledge that we never know in advance what the sticky little details may be.)

Great attitude. We have grown to expect 1st class health care but most of the time when cruising in places I like it's 3rd world at best so you either just accept that there is a higher risk for you or you quit and go home and find other things to do. Now I expect that's going to happen and I may not have to wait too long but my first choice is to keep doing what we are doing until my body gives up, then the choice will be made for me.

[Polux]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Accidental falls are the leading cause of accidental deaths in people over 65, way ahead of autombile accidents, drowning, and poisoning. That also means they are a serious cause of death in younger people - there is nothing magical about being 65. I remind myself of this on occasion, as I climb about my boat, and recall that I am well past that age.....In the words of the immortal Phil Esterhouse, "Let's be careful out there."

They may be the main cause of accidental death but way below from the three main causes of death over 65:

1st Heart disease
2nd Cancer
3rd Chronic lower respiratory disease

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by Polux

They may be the main cause of accidental death but way below from the three main causes of death over 65:

1st Heart disease
2nd Cancer
3rd Chronic lower respiratory disease

That's not an accurate way of comparing things Polux. This thread is about an 'accidental' injury, not a health related injury, which you have then compared with the three main causes of death for the over 65's. Sailing is a physical activity and therefore I'd suggest you need to compare that physical activity with physical activities which causes injuries.

Therefore, the number one killer of person's over 65 is, wait for it,

1st Falls
2nd Motor Vehicle Accidents
3rd Accidental Suffication and then 4th poisening and then 5th fire.

Our friend John was a victim of the first. Thankfully, he's recouping well in order to battle on.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/844322

[DumnMad]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

That's not an accurate way of comparing things Polux. This thread is about an 'accidental' injury, not a health related injury, which you have then compared with the three main causes of death for the over 65's. Sailing is a physical activity and therefore I'd suggest you need to compare that physical activity with physical activities which causes injuries.

Therefore, the number one killer of person's over 65 is, wait for it,

1st Falls
2nd Motor Vehicle Accidents
3rd Accidental Suffication and then 4th poisening and then 5th fire.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/844322

Not so sure I agree Rustic;
1st Heart disease
2nd Cancer
3rd Chronic lower respiratory disease
In many cases early death from these could be classified "accidental injury" to body function from lifestyle choices. (they should have got a boat.)

[tkeithlu]

What a parsing of "accidental!" I accepted the government's statiticians definition of "accidental," which doesn't include deaths due to disease, however self-inflicted. Focus on the central truth, not on the possible peripheral arguments: Older people are more prone to falls than are younger, the consequences of the fall are worse, and our hobby requires agility and poses risks of falls. We also go one heck of a long way from medical help. I'm not going to stop cruising just because all that is true, but I am going to recognize the risks and do my best to minimize them while enjoying myself.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by DumnMad

Not so sure I agree Rustic;
1st Heart disease
2nd Cancer
3rd Chronic lower respiratory disease
In many cases early death from these could be classified "accidental injury" to body function from lifestyle choices. (they should have got a boat.)

oh rubbish. They are 'diseases' not 'injuries'.. It's correct to say they are the number three causes of 'death', but it's not true at all to say they are the three top causes of 'accidental death'. NO..

At least no in the English language dictionary

[maxingout]

I never had any serious injuries at sea.

All my troubles happened on land, and I was not elderly. When I rolled my vehicle three weeks after sailing to New Zealand, I broke two legs, five ribs, punctured one lung, and broke one shoulder. I was 47 years old at the time.

I hope I got all the bad luck/physical trauma out of the way for the rest of my life.

[Don C L]

I wonder if there are any stats on the top 5 injuries while ON a boat. Falling down the companionway? Falling on a winch? Smacking your head on the boom... ?

[DumnMad]

I'm making a point here Rustic. The thread is "Sailing very dangerous--for the elderly!"

I say defying health authorities recommendations for intake of fruit & veggies on the good side, animal fat, salt and high glycemic on the bad side and defying logic by intake of smoke into the lungs etc etc is far more dangerous to older people than sailing with its fresh salt air and exercise.

[Terra Nova]

Besides two drownings, which were related to commercial dive boats, the worst boat related injuries to which I have personally been witness, are two head injuries; one which required immediate withdrawal from race, with lifeguards taking injured to hospital; the other, racing from San Francisco to Santa Barbara, was serious enough to require surgery, which included drilling through the skull. But we finished the race.

Plus broken bones which also required extensive surgery.