How Long Do I Have, Sailing?

[tomdidit]

I agree with Reality Check. My favorite quote, which I think that I got on this website a few years ago, is by Ashley Montagu.

"The idea is to die young as late as possible".

Your life will end sometime after this moment. Your job is to enjoy it while you live and to live longer than the average. My other favorite quote, which I developed in my working life, is "Outlast the bastards!"

[Noname1]

What every one else said.

Then look up synovial fluid and see how living on a boat keeps your joints young and healthy.

Also you can plan for your older years - I am. Right now I'm looking at the Hoyt Jib boom and planning the boat to be as easy to sail as I can so that as we get older we can manage the boat as long as possible. The man I bought the boat from could still sail her at 89 yrs. all 40K# of her. When we can't living on a mooring and finally a marina is still cheaper than about any other way to live. We gripe about the cost but it's tough to live cheaper than living aboard at rest.

[Dinghy101]

It seems to me that in the short time I have been sailing, all of the sailors i've met have been hardy fellows. Aside from some weathered faces and perhaps the chance for skin cancer if not careful, they seem stronger and more fit than any other land loving people I have found.

The seem to eat better, healthy, fresh foods. The stand taller, not all hunched over from working at a computer all day. They generally aren't obese as they are busy all day, fixing this, repairing that. But moreover, they don't have the daily stresses of land life. They are fulfilling the "Dream", the dream everyone has of going to work and it being the most favorite thing of yours to do.

Most of all, sailors have learned patience. Generally, very calm, slow to shout, except over a gale wind and always willing to show you or explain to you for the 3rd time that the thingy in the front is the jib sail.

It is in my non-medical opinion that the answer to extending one's life beyond the "average" age, is in fact to become a sailor. From there out, its genes and luck.

Lastly, it is my firm believe as a former leader of Soldiers, that when you don't "LOVE" it anymore and its becoming more WORK than PLAY, its time to call it quits.

Best of luck to you.

[chris_gee]

Life expectancy for males in their 50s is until 80-82 probably longer because life expectancy is increasing so you could add 5 years. More if you have a perfect lifestyle less with an unhealthy lifestyle. You could probably expect significant impairment from health problems from say the mid seventies on. Not to say some people in their eighties are not in relative good shape, nor some in their fifties and sixties are not in relatively poor shape. As you are pre-retirement I would not lie down yet, but attention to weight, smoking, diet, and exercise would pay off.

[Pacific Jewel]

Average. You know that average is the mid point of the overall, right? C'mon mate. If someone asked you "How long should I do the things I enjoy?" what would you say? Me? I'd say, until you don't enjoy it anymore or until you drop dead.

Get that one foot out of the grave will ya? Too much life to live for that!

[Sahara]

The guy I bought my boat from was 86, he quit sailing because his friends had either died or wouldn't go out with him anymore, and he didn't want hired crew. He came around the yard when he was about 90, the service manager called me to see if it was OK if he went aboard. He relayed that he was very pleased with our care of the boat, and that he was happy she now sailed with a kid aboard. Classy guy.

He had the boat set up for easy sailing with Stoway and electric self-tailing winches at the helm, autopilot, etc. Since for the first year or so I was functionally singlehanding while my family learned, the setup worked out very, very well.

[anotherT34C]

Becoming feeble is really the thing that will stop you. Unfortunately we tend to survive for quite a few years longer than we live.

Exercise, eat right, don't smoke, and get regular checkups. All you can really do.

Maybe 80? This will probably go up as the years go on.

[Starbuck]

marting, he say:
My question is more related to physical condition of my body not financial or family problems which may develop. I know that everyone is different and this will cause a fluctuation in the results. I was trying to ascertain the centre of the bell curve for this distribution. Average life expectancy type thing (4 score and 10) etc.

You may get the best information from your insurance agent, who has actuary tables describing this sort of thing.

[chris_gee]

Age years left Total
55 26.71 81.71
60 22.35 82.35
65 18.22 83.22
70 14.4 84.4
75 10.97 85.97. These are the latest NZ figures for non-Maori males. Australia will be virtually the same but their file did not download. As I said earlier you can expect on average to reach 82 probably more as life expectancy is increasing. However you can count on your health deteriorating with age depending on your habits and fitness. This would accelerate from say 75 and 80. So your capacity would diminish each year but from say 75 you might handle easy cruising. On the other hand some 85 year olds are fitter than some 70 year olds.

[barnakiel]

No rule, some stay afloat like for ages. I believe it is only the matter of health and this differs with each of us. So no answer, just hope.

b.

[Philsboat]

Keep sailing till it isn't fun anymore then sail for a few more years just to make sure you didn't miss any good days.

Old sailors never die. They just get a little dinghy!

Phil

[Bloodhound]

Originally Posted by bvimatelot

I heard somewhere that the Good Lord does not deduct days spent sailing from one's Lifespan.......T

Now you're talking. That's music to my ears.

[redcobra]

I think the answer is to have a female crew/partner 25 years your junior

[u4ea32]

I am 52, and I stay pretty fit. My father is 80, and he has tried to stay fit. Sailing is history for him, and has been for a few years. Not that he can't do it, but if anything went wrong (break a reef line) it would be a disaster.

I figure I'm getting one more yacht, my last yacht. In a few more years, and I'll design it and have it built.

Its going to be a powerboat. Very simple, easy to work on, efficient. We will live aboard most of the time.

But its going to have a sailing dinghy aboard. Oars, no outboard motor. Bicycles. Probably a kite board too.

In other words, I think George Griffith (father of the Cal 40) did the right thing. He's still out there on his Sarissa at age 88. Sarissa, a 48 foot ULDB powerboat, is the model in my mind's eye for my last boat.

[u4ea32]

I did meet a guy who was sailing and living aboard his boat in the Caribbean. The boat was a little wooden sloop, probably about 24-26 feet long, similar to a 26 foot folkboat. The boat was beautiful, and perfect.

He was about 50, working on Wall Street, when his doctor told him his heart was about to go. Time to make his final plans. He went home, told his wife he had always wanted to go sailing. She said "Go ahead" but she wanted to stay home with her friends and family. So he bought this little boat, and learned how to sail, and gradually got further and further from home.

He was about 80 when I met him.