I never did......

[Wansworth]

Too late now but I never did brave the roaring Forties or drop anchour in a Caribbean bay,but I still have all the books and sure I could rig a auxiliary rudder or stem a leaking seem in the garboard,somewhere in the shed stands a trusty seagull, and if I dig deeper a dorado vent coils of useful rope,antifoul ing and more useful wood and fastenings needed for a hull repair.

 

[pvb]

Doesn't matter, you enjoyed the potential anticipation and preparation.

 

[Chae_73]

when does it become too late?

My father is 73 and we have just bought another boat together. We talked of crossing the Atlantic 30 years ago but then other stuff happened and we didn't go sailing for decades.

I'm hoping we may still go farther than the Walton Backwaters in the time that is left. Maybe not across the Atlantic, but perhaps the Shetlands, Norway, who knows?

 

[dansaskip]

Really ! I would say it's never too late... unless... but don't let mere age be a barrier.

 

[mjcoon]

It's very unseamly to have a leaking seem!

 

[Capt Popeye]

Too late now but I never did brave the roaring Forties or drop anchour in a Caribbean bay,but I still have all the books and sure I could rig a auxiliary rudder or stem a leaking seem in the garboard,somewhere in the shed stands a trusty seagull, and if I dig deeper a dorado vent coils of useful rope,antifoul ing and more useful wood and fastenings needed for a hull repair.

Yea just Dreaming just Dreaming on & on, but ? Got some gear !

 

[lustyd]

when does it become too late?

When the government removes your freedom for longer than you have left to go sailing? So now, for a lot of folk.

 

[johnalison]

Helen Tew managed it when she was 89 I think, although crossing the Atlantic in a 28-footer was obviously more like a luxury cruise.

 

[alastair2707]

Age is only a number, it is the physical demands of sailing that determines when a body is "too old" to sail!!

 

[Bajansailor]

My pal Stein rowed across the North Atlantic 5 years ago at 70.
And some years earlier, his mother was one of the crew on their sailing cat when they crossed the Atlantic to Barbados - she was (I think) 92 at the time (and she later happily reached 97).

 

[Wansworth]

It’s not a question of age more a question of desire and circumstances.So many years have passed when life somehow got in the way that now I am much older I would have to leave behind too much baggage.A cautionary tale of leaving things till later.

 

[Daydream believer]

No good dreaming. The fact is, if you really did want to do it you would have. You just did not have the willpower & drive .

 

[Daydream believer]

when does it become too late?

My father is 73 and we have just bought another boat together. We talked of crossing the Atlantic 30 years ago but then other stuff happened and we didn't go sailing for decades.

I'm hoping we may still go farther than the Walton Backwaters in the time that is left. Maybe not across the Atlantic, but perhaps the Shetlands, Norway, who knows?

Nothing wrong with being 73. I intend to try my third round uk single handed in 2021 as soon as i can get that promised vaccine & i will be 74. Just got to avoid the covids until then!!mmmmm

 

[Blueboatman]

I have been ‘ lapped’ by friends sailing rtw.

first naughty thought “ what, is there nothing out there worth stopping for then ?”
second thought “ why the rush ?”
As far as I am concerned , officially I am still on my way rtw?

Current boat which I have owned for 11 years is simply a great all weather, knockabout , super comfortable English Channel fun to sail etc etc thing .
Ironically it was spec’ced to sail rtw but it never quite fully happened for the previous owner .

I am jolly glad Wansworth you have packed as much time afloat already as you have?

As to the shed full of gear-
Perhaps there should be a forum , non monetary , Swap Shop section?
then we could all rotate the stock occasionally

 

[Wansworth]

480 meters above sea level in farming community little demand,but could supply to passing rtw yachtperson,ring before coming?

 

[Jonny A]

No good dreaming. The fact is, if you really did want to do it you would have. You just did not have the willpower & drive .

Deeply unfair. Many people are just dreamers, but for many others life's chances take the opportunity away.

 

[Blueboatman]

And staggeringly rude .
Why ?
Daydreamers, believers we all are ?
Writes a “ let it be” man

 

[rotrax]

Really ! I would say it's never too late... unless... but don't let mere age be a barrier.

One of my bike racing mates. the late Bill Davis of Shipston on Stour fancied having a go at gliding.

All his mates up the Golf Club took the piss and said he would never do it, too old etc etc.

He went further, training and obtaining a pilots licence for single engined airplanes.

At the time he was told he was the oldest licence holder in the UK.

He was 89 and flew into his 90's.

 

[Daydream believer]

And staggeringly rude .
Why ?
Daydreamers, believers we all are ?
Writes a “ let it be” man

So why is it staggeringly rude, to any other than a snow flake perhaps. Health considerations aside, one can do lots of things if they really want. -yes it is great to dream but that is all it is. Doing things is different, but saying that you could not do it "because", does not rub.
i will give you an example - some say " family restrictions", but has that stopped Robin Knox Johnson or Alex Thomson?
Read some of Chay Blythe's quotes. "It is no use laying in bed staring at your toes, waiting for the angel Gabriel, whilst thinking, I wish i had done that"
Be a dreamer if you wish ( That is what my boat is called after all, it is what drove me to get in a position to be able to afford it) It is nice to dream but I do not in anyway think that it is rude to say that if one actually got off one's rear & made a positive lifestyle choice , selfish to others as it may seem, then one can do it.
ie If one does not want to leave the wife at home for 3 years then one did not want to sail round the world as much as they wanted to be with the wife. Understandable of course. But it makes the point
As for my point being rude-- Cobblers !!! in a nice way of course, because everyone is entitled to their opinion That is what makes the world go round.

 

[Wansworth]

Don’t everybody get worked up,the thrust of my post was I doubt that I will do things in a boat I thought I would in my youth but as is normal other events came along and desicion were taken that included other people’s lives and also responsibilities that we all gather on the way.Having sailed across bits of ocean and discovered forieign lands fro m the deck of my boat I am quite content with my choices.?