Swallowing the anchor!

Birdseye

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Is really really really hard to do. Queue facetious comments about the size of the anchor , its flavour etc. I'm talking about giving up sailing and flogging the boat.

Trouble is that you have so much invested in sailing both emotionally and financially. The hard learned skills, the garage loft full of bits and pieces, the memories, the feel of the wind on your face, the friends, the collection of boat jumble rope lengths, the photos on the PC, the trophy or two for racing, .

Been agonising for three years now but the boat simply isnt being used, SWMBO has lost whatever interest she had, I'm getting creaky with poor balance. Still every visit to the club to potter with the boat draws me back in.
 

capnsensible

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Think of all the money you will save on mooring fees and insurance that's bound to rocket after the short termism of bertholders during the pandemic. Plus all those annual servicing costs of engines, life rafts, life jackets, routine replacement of pyrotechnics, must have latest electronic box, antifouling paint, Polish, sail repairs, beer in foreign pubs, nipping over to France for some decent wine........?
 

shortjohnsilver

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Really tough decision for you, I don’t envy it at all, but you don’t have to actually stop sailing, do you?

Sail with your fellow club members and continue to feel that sea spray upon your face and the run of the sea. To take yourself away from your passion with any finality will not bode well for you I imagine. From the sounds of your post, you’re not really ready to give up sailing totally, stay with it but differently.

We have a number of members in our club, who have been in the same situation as you and indeed they were sad to see their boats go. Some, boats, actually stayed within the club, that possibly made it easier, maybe, seeing their old boats being sailed by friends and other club members.
But a lot of them now freed from the responsibilities of boat ownership themselves are sailing with others and what a huge amount experience and advice they bring. I’m sure you will be of that ilk too. You have a lot to offer

And the way things are these days with a surge in demand for boats across the spectrum new, young and old, with any luck you will fetch a good price for your boat. That may go some way to ease the pain of seeing her go.

Si
 

Bouba

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I think there are halfway houses. A younger crew person who could be co-opted would be useful. This will allow the good wife to relax or even stay behind at the garden centre. And, dare I mention it? I must, get a motorboat....
 

oldgit

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Our club appears to be full of boats 50% ?? many that have never moved for years, some seem to be kept as simply shrines to previous good times.
Wives , probably not that keen to start with, have long ago declined to step aboard, not taking much interest even in the social side now either.
Suspect many solomn promises made to use the boat next season.
Club has lost several skippers in the past few years, more recently for obvious reasons, doubt that any of the skippers were active boaters , virtually all the boats became marina queens in varying states of neglect.

What the answer is well above my paygrade but when the time comes the boat will be gone, before somebody else has the aggro of getting rid of a neglected boat slowly going green.

We tried to get a club rule to the effect that all boats must move under their own power at least once a year, exceptions would be made via the committee for illness etc.
Never seen so many members rise from their beds/emerge from the woodwork to vote it down,
 
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Norman_E

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I have just done it. Its a hard decision, made easier for me because the man who looked after my boat in Turkey wanted to buy it, and will let me use it for a final trip when it becomes possible to go there. I never wanted my boat to go unused, but all last year I could not get to it, and this year looks as bad. at least now it will be used by someone I know, and it will be well looked after. Really at 75, and although recovered well from both heart attack and stroke, it was only a matter of time before a 45 foot boat became a bit much for the two of us to sail. Sometimes you just need to accept the reality of advancing years and decide to do other things. For us it will be visiting Italy, Portugal, and other places, mostly in Europe. Even that is now on hold. Strangely, my wife, who took a long time to decide that she liked sailing, is more upset about the decision, but it was me who put in quite a lot of work on the boat, and did all the physical work of sailing.
 

PhillM

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Always a hard decision. In my club it seems that older members are welcomed as crew, get involved in race management (so end up on committee boats) run committees etc. There is still plenty to do around the club and on the water. Indeed, season before last I was out mark laying and my rib driver was well into to her 80’s. At 55 I was the ‘young one’ whos duty it was to lay and lift the marks.
 
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Good luck with your decision. Think of the wine, woman and song you can have at least for a short time with the cash. It will be worth it, you know it makes sense before it's too late even for that. (-;
 

Frogmogman

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We tried to get a club rule to the effect that all boats must move under their own power at least once a year, exceptions would be made via the committee for illness etc.
Never seen so many members rise from their beds/emerge from the woodwork to vote it down,

In the public marinas in Toulon, rule 2 states that any boat that has not left it's berth all year will have it's mooring fees tripled the following year.

https://www.portsradetoulon.com/sit...chiers PDF/2021 tarifs amarrage plaisance.pdf
 

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

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All good things come to an end, but there are new great things waiting for us all. Sometimes it is good to finish with something and turn the page over for something new and make it equally as exciting and fully embrace it as you did with your sailing. We all going to have to make this decision one day and why not.
 

Bouba

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All good things come to an end, but there are new great things waiting for us all. Sometimes it is good to finish with something and turn the page over for something new and make it equally as exciting and fully embrace it as you did with your sailing. We all going to have to make this decision one day and why not.
I agree, he should get a motor home ?
 

Stemar

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I'm giving some consideration to the same thing as I've not used the boat much for several years, partly dur to illness, partly to Covid and partly just life getting in the way, including Milady deciding not . However, I'm still fit enough to potter around locally, so I'll see how things go this year.

My club has a few boats that never move on club moorings and there's a waiting list, so it would be tempting to make a "Must go out of the harbour" rule, but I'd vote against it because at least one of the worst offenders has done a thankless task of club admin for donkey's years. If taking up a club mooring allows him to keep his dreams alive, well, I reckon that's the least he deserves.
 

claymore

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A decision that faces us all in time. I think I'm hoping the family might want to take over Claymore but they just wouldn't look after her the way I have.....
 
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