On Wed, 09 May 2007 00:10:54 +0000, Larry wrote:

Chuck Gould wrote in
oups.com:

Under you standard, almost nobody old enough to be retired would be
allowed to go boating without a babysitter?


I sail offshore on an Amel 41 ketch. Cap'n Geoffrey is around 70. It's
his boat. I must admit we HAVE sailed offshore of Florida, just the two
of us, between Ft Lauderdale and Ponce Inlet, S of Daytona Beach.
Weather was perfect or we wouldn't have gone.

Neither one of us are "disabled" and either one of us can sail her safely
for a day, maybe two. But, neither one of us will go offshore over 2 in
our condition, which isn't really that bad, but we DO GET OVERTIRED IN 2
DAYS....too tired for safe sailing in a squall condition, which happens
often, here.

Our "crew" is SIX sailors, sometimes EIGHT, for passages Charleston to
FL, for example. Everyone gets SLEEP, noone gets DEAD. All hands are
available, including ours, in bad situations. The other four are late
20's to mid 40's, experienced sailors, physically fit. And we STILL have
been beaten up to exhaustion a few times offshore of Georgia.

I cannot imagine how an 80-year-old goat and his 78-year-old wife can be
called "fit" to sail a 38' boat under those circumstances...I just can't!

Larry


Maybe so, Larry, but I'm about half way around the world from where
you are and the marina here is full of boats. Certainly some of them
are based here but I'd guess that half are on their way the rest of
the way around. I don't go around asking people how old they are but
from looking at them I'd guess many/most are over sixty and I have
known quite a number who were in their seventies. Hell! I am and I
sail a 40 footer; alone.

I think the difference is that you are doing something like a delivery
voyage, i.e., trying to get there quick. Most single handers are
certainly trying to get there but aren't adverse to heaving to if that
is the best solution to whatever is facing them.

I have a good friend who has sailed literally all over the Indian
Ocean alone. I know innumerable people who have sailed from south
Africa to Thailand, alone. No licenses either..

I just brought a motor boat from Singapore to Phuket, some 1,000
miles, with just my wife.

As for your six man crew, to quote someone or another, "I don't know
six people I'd want to go to sea with" :-).


Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeatgmaildotcom)

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