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The cruising life - How old is too old? revisited.

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redviking
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1771 Posts

Initially Posted - 01/11/2008 : 09:11:35

Some have asked offline to hear more about our travels aboard Lysistrata. I have been meaning to contribute more as a way of repaying this forum for all of the valuable stuf I learned while owning a C25, but haven't found my "retirement" to be so free from activity.

Anyhow, I'm 42 and the wife and I left Newport RI for parts south on Oct. 16th aboard our bluewater cruising vessel Lysistrata.

Note: By bluewater I mean she has circled twice, has an 8,000 pound lead keel and only 16,000 of total displacemetn for a 50/50 ratio, below decks hydraulic autopilot, wind vane, wind generator, electric windlass, SSB with modem packet, engine driven refrigeration, twin alternators one of which puts out 110 amps, 35lb CQR on 250' of 3/8" heavy chain, storm sails, reefing from the cockpit, liferaft, EPIRB, ditch bag, enough flares to have my own July 4th, radar, 80 gals of fuel and water each, 3x oversized rigging, etc....

On our first overnight in 3-4 foot seas - motorsailing inside Long Island Sound, the raw water impeller belt snapped at O'Dark thirty leaving the now somewhat frightened Admiral at the helm - concerned about shipping traffic - while yours truly removed 4 belts to get at the one that needed replacing. Basically an engine overhaul while bouncing around in the dark. Swapped everything out in less than an hour even though my wife was calling me topside every 10 minutes to evaluate this lighted ship or that, etc. have not been able to duplicate that time since.

New Haven was fogged in so we inched our way in for some rest. Not so much fun for the Admiral. Made it to NYC and stayed at the 79th street Boat Basin for $30 a night for a week, pretty cool. When we left we had 22 knots of wind and at least 4-5 knots of current. Under full sail with the engine running we passed the Statue of Liberty at almost 16 knots! Flying! Out past Coney island we set a course for Cape May. Through the night we endured 7-10 foot seas on our ass, cold temps from the northerlies, and up to 30 knots of wind. Lysistrata likes wind, but my wife wasn't so happy when she did her watch. "Wake me up when it's blowing 25." "OK, wake me up when it's 26." "Ok, wake me up when it's 28."

Needless to say we flew. We made it in less than 22 hours and that included the 4 hours it took to get to Cape May from 25 miles offshore as we dared not let the following seas hit us on the beam. Thank god for the hydraulic autopilot. One of those silly electric wheeled things would have lasted about 10 minutes under those conditions. Nevertheless, we had a rough night.

The passage to Annapolis was uneventful although we had to anchor in the dark in deep water with reported poor holding in front a giant seawall that looked really bad.

The passage to Norfolk VA and mile 0 of the ICW was fairly uneventful. Oh, running aground in Deltaville wasn't fun and some of the anchorages were very tight.

The ICW is simply exhausting. Like driving a car, only the potholes are going to leave you stuck in the middle of the road. You have to plan where you are going to spend the night as giant barges ply the ICW at night and you really don't want to be out there.

I won't bore you with all of the details, but we recently completed a 48 hour run from Charlston SC to St. Augustine Fl. Thank GOD!. In Charleston we experienced a coldfront that dropped the temps down to 23 degrees and drove wind speeds up to around 40 knots in the anchorage. Oh and did I mention that the holding was somewhat poor and that there was a 3-4 knot current depending on the tides! Nearly three days were spent aboard with the diesel heater running constantly, anchor alarm going off and a consistent slide towards a big 49 foot BendyToy. Needless to say we did anchor watches and were not comfortable at all. In addition, our 110 alternator gave up and we were battling power consumption until getting a replacement.

St Augustine - is a great place and we are finally warm. Great cruising friends abound and the anchorage is good with dinghy dock, laundry and showers for 10 bucks a day. Life is good.

Bottom line - If any of you are thinking about this lifestyle - do it now. At 65 I may not be willing nor able to do much of this. It can be hard work. Loading folding bikes onto the dink, getting provisions, figuring out all of the rest of it, and just in general living on a boat is challenging to say the least.

That being said, the rewards are just awesome. Great people, great places to visit, excellent sailing and the like. So I highly recommend it. But I remembered a thread awhile back ago about how old is too old, and just wanted to share.

Sten

DPO Zephyr - '82 C25, FK, SR
SV Lysistrata - '73 C&C 39 - St. Augustine, FL

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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6855 Posts

Response Posted - 01/11/2008 : 10:06:00

Awesome story - financially it might take me until I'm 65 to be able to pull that off.

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redviking
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1771 Posts

Response Posted - 01/11/2008 : 10:15:22

Actually you just need to sell all of your useless stuff, rent your house, and buy a boat. We were in a marina in oriental NC where after the first 2 weeks our rate was $39 a week. Meaning that we could live there for $160 a month. Most cool marinas are about 10 a foot per month. Cheaper than my mortgage for sure. Our average expenses are running about $800 a month including food, fuel, beer and wine and hanging out in restaurants, bars and taking side trips, etc...

sten

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 01/11/2008 : 10:22:52

Thanks for the story, Sten! Sounds like a pretty normal run to me, including the breakdowns and weather, based on stories from several friends who've done the ICW.

But lucky you! At 42, two college educations were coming at us like a freight-train, and I was yet to experience my first corporate implosion just as the first of the college bills appeared. I was able to pull the plug at 61, then widowed, and with a new relationship with the working mother of a high-schooler, which limited our mobility a lot. I could still have a sailboat (it would be a bigger one here), but living alone and having limited time to reach the incredible destinations around here with my friend, I went over to the Dark Side (with some trepidation).

At least as big an issue as age is whether both partners share the motivation to withstand the weather and other discomforts as you described them in order reach the desired destinations and enjoy the brighter moments. In our case, no. Sarge will get us (or just me) to Block Island, Shelter Island, Watch Hill, Newport, Cuttyhunk, Essex, Mattituck, Oyster Bay,....... within a brief weather window, and back in time for her next real estate open house. (I think that's a pretty nice list, BTW.) In shaky weather, the helm can be enclosed and she has three windshield wipers and radar.

Couples my age--good friends--cruise on 30+ footers and most likely will into their 70s. I'll be meeting them in various ports. One day, with my enclosable helm, who knows--maybe I'll make some wakes on the ICW.

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 01/11/2008 10:26:01

At Ease
Admiral

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672 Posts

Response Posted - 01/11/2008 : 17:21:15

Sten, that sounds like a great adventure. However, to be candid, I don't want that much adventure at any age much above the late 20s. I have a great boat, but do mostly day sails. Any serious travel is in our 38' 5th wheel trailer...where the admiral thinks 'roughing it' is when we only get 30 amp service rather than 50 amp service.

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redviking
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1771 Posts

Response Posted - 01/12/2008 : 09:52:22

We have met a couple of young couples cruising on a 25 foot Pearson Hull #1 and on a 35 foot Alberg respectively. They are not even 25. They just decided to get off of the corporate treadmill while they still could. They aren't rich either, just frugal - i.e. they do know where the 3 dollar pitchers of beer are sold!

We have also met folks in their 70's and 80's who are out cruising - but with a major difference. They didn't just start at that age, hence my post. We consider this our "shakedown" year, it's harder than it should be, but again we feel lucky not to be learning this later in life as we probably would have quit by now - or not...

Every few days or so it can feel like roughing it. But we do take showers onboard - granted we carry 80 gallons, so we limit our showers to way less than 5. But most days it just feels like we are living on an RV. We cook, bake bread, watch TV, pretty much everything we would be doing at our land based home. The only difference is that we are walking, biking, and sailing more than if we were still landlubbers. We now believe that sailors live longer than landlubbers. You are active, you have to be.

Not all sailors aspire to this lifestyle, nor should they. We have met the reluctant wives and the screaming Captains who have ruined it for them. Granted, I made couple mistakes on our first overnights by running in anything larger than 3-4 foot seas and 15 knots of wind that sorta spooked my wife a bit. Thankfully, she has recovered and I consider myself very lucky.

Dave - C'mon down. (I like your list too except that those places are cold right now) We ourselves are looking at trawlers for our "future" lives afloat, but we have seen a few cabin cruisers that seem comfy and able while being economical to operate. We recently befriended a fellow on a 57 foot cat trawler with a 23 foot beam that burns 80 gallons an hour at 26 knots! Different strokes depending on how fat your wallet is.

sten

Edited by - on

JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 01/12/2008 : 11:15:19

I plan to retire at 60, sell everything, and sail from wherever I buy the next boat to Europe. I also really want to go to Chile. I've already done a year long cruise plus countless vacation cruises. I don't think you're ever too old as long as you don't get a boat that is too big.

Something like a Bayfield 36 seems just right to me.

Lucky for me my wife is "in" and has recently agreed to do the hop across the Atlantic.

10 years and counting. Meanwhile me and my Catalina 25 will go as far as we can. Who knows? It may be all I ever have.

Edited by - on

ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Response Posted - 01/12/2008 : 14:18:02

>"next boat to Europe. I also really want to go to Chile"

Then there's really only 1 way to go! Cape Horn.

It's been a long-standing dream of mine to 'round the Horn'... and to visit Easter Island.
T-minus 2.5 years for me. Planning on getting out at 57... unless the economy totally blows up.

Heh, in that case it may be sooner.

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Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 01/12/2008 : 15:52:37

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by redviking
 Dave - C'mon down... We recently befriended a fellow on a 57 foot cat trawler with a 23 foot beam that burns 80 gallons an hour at 26 knots! Different strokes depending on how fat your wallet is.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Well I don't have that kind of space (v-berth, small galley, enclosed head, and huge cockpit), or that kind of wallet, but it appears my Honda burns around 7 gph at 20 knot cruising speed, maybe less, and a third of what many boats my size consume. (You sailors can chuckle--I used to, too.

) For my total running time this year (based on the engine meter), I averaged about 2 gph.

I found that a majority of trips on our C-25 with an actual destination were under power--noisy and slow--because of wind on the nose or no wind at all... Now I burn 8-9 times as much per hour and get there 4-5 times as quickly. And if a storm comes up, I put the handle down and get the he!! out of there.

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 01/12/2008 15:53:48

Nautiduck
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3704 Posts

Response Posted - 01/12/2008 : 18:49:59

We're in! Let's raft up a bunch of our 25 footers and head off for the Cape!

I think our retirement cruising will likely be mostly in the PNW including trips to Alaska. Would like to do the Great Loop and the ICW too. If we do a lot of cruising I see a trawler in our future. While I like adventure, I do not aspire to cross the ocean in a boat. Well, maybe a cruise ship.

I'd like to split the year. Half cruising and half trailering around the country. The Admiral is retired and I am 18 months away from retirement at 58.

Edited by - Nautiduck on 01/12/2008 18:52:06

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 01/25/2008 : 23:46:33

Renowned world cruiser Miles Smeeton set an age limit of sorts. He was well over eighty, but accompanied by 70 year old youngster when he last sailed to Hawaii. After that trip, he said he thought he had made his last ocean crossing and would limit himself to coastal cruising in the future!

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DaveR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2015 Posts

Response Posted - 01/26/2008 : 08:55:45

Great Story Sten!
At 48 yrs old I was really surprised when after only a 3 day cruise last fall I was bruised, sore and pretty tired. It was my shake down. I attribute the fatigue mostly to the tediousness of the ICW and only having a tiller tamer. Add a tiller pilot and a chartplotter and I wouldn't have beat myself up so bad running from here to there. I'm sure with time I'll settle in. Hopefully in the next 10 years or so I'll move up in size, live on board and eventually explore the east coast. Ah, it's a nice dream!

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redviking
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1771 Posts

Response Posted - 01/26/2008 : 09:25:13

There was an article recently in Blue Water Sailing where they profiled 5 or 6 singlehanders in Australia. The average age was nearly 70! They were from all over the world and there was a group photo. It can be done.

We have met a few "younger" cruisers... OK, very much younger - in their twenties - who have agreed that they will probably be living in a log cabin at 65. "How do they do it?" is our common dialogue when discussing older cruisers. We all get banged up out there and need days to recover after one ordeal or another, party way too late into the night - wait! that's probably it! That and older cruisers don't anchor out as much, they can afford a dock. They also pick up crew for what I would now consider a "routine" voyage. Some even pick up captains. Pricey at anywhere between $500 and a grand a day, but worth every penny to the hubby wife team that wants to be in the Bahamas and are worried about crossing the Gulf Stream by themselves.

Sten

DPO Zephyr - '82 C25, FK, SR
SV Lysistrata - '73 C&C 39 - Temporarily in St. Augustine, FL on a Dock - Aaarrrggghhh! $$$

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