Age Before Swallowing the Anchor

How old is too old for active trawler cruising?

70?

80?

90?

When I can't climb the boarding ladder I guess.

50 is too old for some people. 90 is fine for other people. Depends on health. Trawler cruising is pretty sedentary (sailing is more active), and in general a whole lot of strength/athletics is not required. On the other hand, squirming around in the engine compartment, pulling an anchor, and the occasional unexpected emergency (Murphy's Law is in full force with all boats!) can be stressful.

John

Impossible question to answer. How long is a piece of string? For boating I think each person will know when to stop.

When I get that Viking funeral.

Burn me and my boat.

SD

jwnall said:

50 is too old for some people. 90 is fine for other people. Depends on health. Trawler cruising is pretty sedentary (sailing is more active), and in general a whole lot of strength/athletics is not required. On the other hand, squirming around in the engine compartment, pulling an anchor, and the occasional unexpected emergency (Murphy's Law is in full force with all boats!) can be stressful.



John

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I'll disagree as most writings of the cruising lifestyle point towards just the opposite...it's a healthy, not sedentary lifestyle...I have to agree as many days I'm pretty tired at the end of the day from pushing carts up/down ramps full of groceries, etc....scrambling around decks to tie up, anchor, launch the dingy, haul the gas cans...ok so it's not bricklaying but then maybe it's how you cruise.

Most older sailors sail in a style which is rarely more energetic than raising and lowering the sail more than once a day...I have two good sailor friends that are all over trawlers now that I have one...not because of the work but because of inside steering and they run their engine darn near as much as I do.

Most chores are similar and the list is ling unless you have a large crew and the tasks are split.

The average suburbanite plops on the couch with a beer till dinner...just kidding but cruising take just as much effort...maybe more than home ownership.

The PO of our boat swallowed the anchor in his 80s. He told us he was giving up living aboard and boating because he no longer enjoyed taking his grand kids out. He was too scared they'd go overboard and he wouldn't be able to rescue them. The files he gave us included a large bill for a swimstep repair and straightening the anchor so not sure if there was an "incident."

You don't stop boating because you get old, you get old because you stop boating. I guess it depends how active you are. I plan on boating and riding motorcycles until I stop breathing.

My Dad stopped when Mom got Alzheimers.
Friends of his, in their late 80s, still go to the mid coast of BC every summer. That is north of Cape Caution. They have stopped going to Alaska, due to the high cost of travel medical for all their chronic health problems (they have lots) and age.
A friend's uncle died last year, now he will need to sell the boat, or take it over.
And yes, I also know many who stopped boating. Their reasons are varied, and valid for them.

I don't see it as an age thing. You boat so long as you enjoy it.

Friends my own age just retired, started competitive cycling, so had no time to use their boat and sold it.

I know a guy 84 that launched his 25' Albin in Minn and did the loop anti-clockwise w his wife. That was 7 years ago and I see him in the Albineers of BC still.

He is an exceptional man though.

I'm 73 and figure I've got ten years w a tad bit of luck.

We didn't even get our first boat until I was 60. We're going to go until they find us folded over the helm and just drifting away into the sunset.....

A real question? At 75 bought a new boat. The question of anchor is answered with the following spoken by "who shall be obeyed". As we all know that the best time to set the anchor is right after "she who shall be obeyed" tells you to. Those of us who are smart always have the last word and do not use it. Bill

I've always figured I would know when my time was up for this boat. At that time I'll sell her and buy something in a ~27' boat we could trailer and that would be easy to handle. I think my health will be the big determinater of that.

Days spent boating are not deducted from the sum total of your life!

My grandmother had to stop a 95 when she could no longer hand pull her 95lb anchor back on deck

FF said:

Days spent boating are not deducted from the sum total of your life!

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Like the General at the end of "12 O'Clock High", you give up boating when you can no longer bring yourself to climb on board.

Phill I'm 73 and think that's funny and sad.

My wife has a ankle and hip problem so she will proable be the first to move off the boat, but we will hang on to it after we move off. I might gift it one of our children when it gets to much.

I'll stop boating when I feel I have too much boat work to do and wouldrather spend time doing someting else. Been boating over 20 years so far. I'm 61 and I figure 3 to 5 more years then I will be ready to stop.

I have a good friend in my yacht club who is planning to put his boat up for sale this year after the cruising season. He and his wife decided some time ago that they would do this when he reached 75. I think it was a compromise decision because he is dreading losing his boat and she, his wife, is looking forward to be out of boating.

I think you should keep the boat until you can no longer make the walk from the parking lot to the boat or it is no longer fun. There are a lot of guys in my yacht club who are in the final stages of making that walk.

Ron

windmist said:

There are a lot of guys in my yacht club who are in the final stages of making that walk.

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As many of TF's older members know, I've been struggling with that decision for about two years.

I still want that Viking Funeral but the law won't allow it.

Now that I think of it what are they going to do to me.

I'll be dead.

Boats catch fire all the time don't they?

SD

My dad quit boating at 60 +... when he damn near killed himself, mom, and my younger brother by grossly misjudging a big storm on the Atlantic in route to Block Island from Montauk Point LI... that was back in the early 70’s before weather predictions were as good as these days. According to my bro, evidently when they returned to port in Camden ME (and mom had been silent all the way home) mom screamed as she stepped on the dock - SELL IT... I’ll never get on a boat with you again!! So he did – an promptly purchased a Cessna to begin solo Arial Photography for rest of his life (he’d been a “Photo Freddie” for RCAF in Spitfire planes during WWII). Fellow who owned our Tolly sold it cause at 90 + he could no longer board. Me: Not till I’m damn good and ready, or simply can’t! I’d just as soon die aboard a boat and have my bod fall off the side for fish feed, often called chum! That would be the best end to life I can imagine!

PS: If my Admiral can't continue then I will slow down usage, but not quit completely.

We have just sanded and antifouled Pioneer's 50 ft hull. I'm 62 and found it to be very hard work - a smaller boat would be nice at these times. My wife worries about me getting stuck down the side of the engine or somewhere similar and it is getting more difficult to twist and turn into these places. Getting out again is doubly difficult.
The actual boating is easy, it's the maintenance that takes its toll.
We will probably downsize in about 5 years time.
"Ghost Ship" avatar is a night-time shot, with flash, from a friend's boat - while partying!

A guy I used to race against in Chattanooga is 92 and still kicks the butts of most of the non-spinnaker keel boats in our club (including mine before I stopped racing a few years ago). He was taking firsts in a very competitive club racing environment as recently as last Sept. and shows no signs of giving up.

A cool side note: he was shot down over Germany during WWII and spent 6 months as a POW. One of his closest friends at our club (until he passed a few years ago) was a former German soldier who'd been a POW over here.

angus99 said:

A guy I used to race against in Chattanooga is 92 and still kicks the butts of most of the non-spinnaker keel boats in our club (including mine before I stopped racing a few years ago). He was taking firsts in a very competitive club racing environment as recently as last Sept. and shows no signs of giving up.

A cool side note: he was shot down over Germany during WWII and spent 6 months as a POW. One of his closest friends at our club (until he passed a few years ago) was a former German soldier who'd been a POW over here.

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I hope I have some go left at 92. Heck to still have it at 72 would be nice.

SD

Good one Don.
You and RT.

Really gave me a good chuckle.
It is scary that it's true.

SD