Too Old to Cruise?

[Dulcitea]

Since I was very young I dreamed about solo circumnavigation. Instead, I had a career and raised four children. I raced on the bay. Now, my children are on their own (and very successful, I might add So, I bought a Contessa 26. A great boat. . . for a young person??? I have arthritis and I am not strong. I get tired easy. I have scaled down my dream and am fine with that. I don't have to circumnavigate the globe. The Caribbean would make me happy. But, my question is: is it irresponsible and selfish for an older person who can hardly lift the emergency rudder, let alone install it, to put herself out there on the ocean? Or, for that matter, gets winded when she raises the main sail. Fortuantely, I had a pretty profitable (althouth sedentary) career and I'm thinking electric winches. What do you think? But, what happens if they fail? Am I endgandering others? Or, should I just do it? Thanks.

[smackdaddy]

Wow Dulci - that's really a tough question.

Here's a story about an older guy that gave it a go in the the Gulf - with a tough outcome:

Rescued Sailor Reunites With Boat | MyFoxHouston.com

If you can't get the important stuff in an emergency done yourself, do you really want to go out alone?

Take some young dudes with you and let them do the work!

Welcome to SN, BTW.

[Omatako]

Yes I'm with Smack on this. If you can't deal with things in an emergency then going alone is a considerable risk. Then again it depends on what you mean by cruising.

If cruising to you is gunkholing along a venue-filled coastline as opposed to going trans-continental then it's not a bad choice. Many folks spend years meandering along a coastline, stopping daily at new places making freinds and generally enjoy the travel aspect as opposed to the concept of crossing oceans.

Put together a list of places in your immediate vacinity, see what sort of a time frame that would hold for you then build out on it and see where it can take you.

As far as electric winches go, if the rest of the vessel's systems can accomodate them, there is no problem. Seldom does a system fail when you're taking sails in.

[DanielBoon]

My advice, for what it's worth is if you don't mind having crew on board then it is worth placing some ads on the Floatplan, crewseekers etc. outlining your plan and time frame. Within no time you should have some ready, willing, energetic young bucks who are willing to jump on board and explore the Caribbean with you. I've helped a few skippers out in the past when they were under-crewed and have never had a bad experience. There are plenty of willing crew out there looking to build miles, taking some time out etc. and it's quite normal to share day to day expenses (i.e. you are not charging them a fee for the privilege of crewing), so you won't have to pay anyone either. It's a win win situation that lets you fulfill your dreams and everyone has a good time (in theory ). I say go for it!

[puddinlegs]

Honestly, my take is going to be very different. We don't know enough about your specific health issues and situation to be able to tell you anything much at all. Your general level of fitness doesn't sound good, but this can be reversed with some hard work in the gym (my mom goes three times a week at 75, has no trouble walking and golfing 18 holes... she's probably stronger now than a decade ago) with some guidance. Are you being selfish? I doubt it. Dreams die only when our desire leaves us. Desire can lead to commitments to physically and mentally steel oneself. Leave tomorrow? No. After a good long season of nearly daily sailing and working on the boat? Maybe. You'll get stronger. Find others who might crew and will help you toward your goal.

[MC1]

This is an awful thing to suggest on a sailing web forum, and it sounds like you're a sailing enthusiast, but also consider the possibility of a trawler or other power boat. They can open up much of the experience with less need for "man handling". You'd probably want a good electric windlass for pulling up the anchor.

[Billy654]

Puddinlegs is right. We don't know much about you. We don't even know how old you are. How old is old? Just as you prepare your boat for a circumnavigation you need to prepare your mind and body.

[TQA]

In 1970, aged 69, Chichester attempted to sail 4,000 miles in 20 days, in Gipsy Moth V, but failed by one day.

Or what about Harry Pidgeon, I think he was 78 when he set off with his wife on another circumnavigation.

Get a boat you can handle and go for it.

Mark Twain said it best

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

[Jeff_H]

Dulcitea,

I used to joke that you are not too old to sail until they have nailed the lid shut and lowered you into the ground, but of course, as I am aging and my knees and shoulders are not what they were, I am finding that joke to be in progressively bad taste.

As one geezer to another, my best advise is this; unless you have serious respiratory/pulmonary issues, I would seriously suggest that you go into training. Do it one step at a time but just do it.

Over a decade ago, I started doing yoga to deal with a variety of muscle and skeletal issues. slowly, as I lost weight, gained flexibility and strength, it became easier to exercise. After a while I was able to add aerobic exercises to my routine. With greater aerobic capacity, I went to a trainer a couple times, who evaluated my over all condition, and set me up with exercises to further build up those areas that were not so great. I have some arthritis but the combo of exercise, weight control and occasional judicious use of ibuprophen or naproxen keeps me going.

I also am a vegetarian which mades it easier to control my weight and other indicators which help avoid forms of medication which can make it harder to maintain muscle tone.

Other than building up your own strength, I would look at what you can do to make your boat easier to sail. I had a folkboat, the precident design for the Contessa. The sails are comparatively small and the loads are quite moderate. Even an emergency rudder can be pretty light if carefully thought through.

Long before I would think about adding electric winches on a boat this size, and dependence on electricity with a boat that has limited area for solar panels, wind generators or the fuel capacity to keep the battery charged, I would upgrade the conventional manual equipment including going through through and changing out the hardware to low friction blocks, and perhaps more powerful two speed winches.

To some extent, I have followed my own advise and for what its worth, I routinely single-hand my 38 footer, even under spinnaker.

One last point, no matter who you are, a trans-atlantic crossing in a small boat requires quite a bit of endurance. If it doesn't kill you it will toughen you up. BUT, if it were me and I were you, and my goals were to sail the Carribbean, I would seriously consider sailing on this side of the pond starting out sailing the US and Carribbean until you were confident that you could cross the big pond. And after a couple years, even if you never felt like trying the leap, at least you had a couple years doing what you set out to do. Not so bad that....

Cheers,
Jeff

[sailingdog]

Without more specifics on your health, it is hard to say. However, if you can increase your level of overall fitness, and mitigate the issues of your arthritis, there is no reason you couldn't sail single-handed through the Caribbean.

Increasing your overall health and fitness makes far more sense to me than installing electric winches, since I am not a big believer in using powered winches. Not only will you be more reliable than electric winches, you will be healthier and better able to enjoy sailing.

I'd also point out that Murphy's law still applies to electric winches, especially on a smaller boat like a Contessa, so avoiding the need for electric winches is probably a good idea.

One thing you may not have considered is how the actual boat you get can make sailing it easier. While the Contessa is a great and solid little boat, it may not be the best choice for what you're looking to do. A multihull, a small catamaran like a Heavenly Twins 26, or a small sport trimaran, like my Telstar 28, might make more sense.

The fact that these craft do not heel to any significant degree would probably make them safer for you with your mobility limitations. It would also make living and working on them easier, since they don't sail with 15-20˚*of heel... Not having to fight against the boat heeling over would make things much simpler and safer for you IMHO.

One friend of mine, who has some serious health issues, owns and regularly single-hands a 34' catamaran. So this is reasonable. The fact that most multihulls are very shallow draft also means that you're able to access far more waters, especially in the Caribbean, where many areas are draft limited.

Originally Posted by Dulcitea

Since I was very young I dreamed about solo circumnavigation. Instead, I had a career and raised four children. I raced on the bay. Now, my children are on their own (and very successful, I might add So, I bought a Contessa 26. A great boat. . . for a young person??? I have arthritis and I am not strong. I get tired easy. I have scaled down my dream and am fine with that. I don't have to circumnavigate the globe. The Caribbean would make me happy. But, my question is: is it irresponsible and selfish for an older person who can hardly lift the emergency rudder, let alone install it, to put herself out there on the ocean? Or, for that matter, gets winded when she raises the main sail. Fortuantely, I had a pretty profitable (althouth sedentary) career and I'm thinking electric winches. What do you think? But, what happens if they fail? Am I endgandering others? Or, should I just do it? Thanks.