Is 80 too old to go sailing

Your never too old until you decide you are, I reckon. I knew an old boy of 91 who sailed a beautiful wooden folkboat. He was always crewed by young ladies whose purpose seemed mainly decorative! His Doc told him he had to give it up. It wasn't clear whether he meant the boat or the decorative young ladies. But he laid his boat up that autumn and died before Christmas....
 
I think it's all in a person's mind. If you think you are too old then you are.

July 26, 2019 Anne Lorimor wasn't willing to let go of her title without a fight. The Arizona woman had climbed Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest freestanding mountain in the world, a few years back, according to Phoenix ABC affiliate KNXV, becoming the oldest woman to summit it at 85 years old.

But then she found out that another, older woman climbed the 19,341-foot peak, and that a man held the record for oldest person to climb it.

So this month, at 89 years old, she returned to Tanzania -- and got back home to Arizona this week with a new title: the oldest person to summit Mount Kilimanjaro.
 
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RichardS said:
The only thing that you are too old to do at 80 is make babies .... unless you will have nothing whatsoever to do with the rearing process. Anything else would be sheer madness. :ambivalence:

Richard
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Didnt Charlie Chaplin father a child when he was well in to his 80's? Take about 3 weeks to recover I guess! On being too old: I had an Aunt who was a keen Mountaineer most of her life. I dropped in to see her and found her absolutely fuming: 'that dam fool Doctor has told me I cant ride my motorbike any more'. She was 96 at the time!
 
RichardS said:
The only thing that you are too old to do at 80 is make babies .... unless you will have nothing whatsoever to do with the rearing process. Anything else would be sheer madness. :ambivalence:

Richard
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The opportunity to do so is unlikely to present itself. However, if it does, I am sure I will do my best to rise to the occasion.
 
Age has nothing to do with it. What matters is physical state and a love of the sport. Last year I fell off the deck onto the concrete at the yard and cracked my pelvis on both sides. This year I broke my thigh bone (femur) needing a DHS to be installed. I am 'only' 72 but I cannot go sailing this year. Maybe next year... :dejection:
 
Wot's refrigeration got to do with it? To keep him 'in condition' until the end of the trip?
I know a few who sail in their 80's and at least if the worst happens, they were doing something they enjoyed. Better than watching the TV.

Edit: I will be 72 next week-end and am building a new (small) cruiser, mainly because moving fast in my tender double ender is getting a bit awkward with creaking joints.
No doubt something will tell me to quit. Bit like 'Death is nature's way of telling you to slow down' :)
 
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My old mate and fellow Speedway competitor Jim Gregory retired from giving high speed veteran Speedway demonstration races at 82. He was one of the original " Men in Black " - so named for the black leathers. The Men in Black performed at most tracks in the UK for years, using pre 1930 Speedway bikes.

Two years later, at Exeter, someone did not turn up and Jim got the leathers on, won one race, third in another and wrapped himself and the Rudge around the fence in the third.

He was a tough old bastard!
 
A couple or years ago we met a chap in a cruising dinghy who was sailing around the furthest reaches of Chichester Harbour, a long way from his base in a good F5-6, we gave him some hot soup and a bit of a rest for a few minutes - it turned out he was 93 then and I'm sure still at it now.
 
Of all the matelots I have encountered over the years, the basic cognitive abilities all seemed to be present whatever the age. But there are two physical abilities that I'm guessing many readers of this site will recognise as progressive restrictions to sailing unaided - an adequate sense of balance and an ability to hold a rope. As these impinge, the self-aware skipper will progressively admit the need to share responsibility for conning the vessel. This way one need never retire from the sea...

In hope

PWG
 
peter gibbs said:
Of all the matelots I have encountered over the years, the basic cognitive abilities all seemed to be present whatever the age. But there are two physical abilities that I'm guessing many readers of this site will recognise as progressive restrictions to sailing unaided - an adequate sense of balance and an ability to hold a rope. As these impinge, the self-aware skipper will progressively admit the need to share responsibility for conning the vessel. This way one need never retire from the sea...

In hope

PWG
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Well said.
 
Balance is certainly one sense that is likely to decline. I feel secure enough moving round the boat while under way, but I am probably fooling myself in thinking that I am as safe as I once was. Very few people over 70 can stand on one leg with eyes shut for more than a few seconds, something that sounds simple until you try it.
 
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