Tiredness is dangerous at sea, and it creeps up faster as we grow older, so we need to think hard about how best to avoid it. Having good equipment is obviously vital, but top of my list of priorities is not hardware but changing our attitude to the challenges of weather and sea. We must take the lazy option, and stay where we are if it looks too much like hard work out there.
We once bought a boat from a highly competent couple who said they had not been out in a Force 6 for 10 years, even though they spent three months a year afloat. They had the right idea: they were adapting their sailing to their age, and refusing to hurry to meet fixed schedules.
There was a time when the prospects of a long passage to windward or a fast ride downwind surfing from the tops of waves were exciting challenges.
I remember multiple occasions standing on the foredeck gybing a big spinnaker in strong winds, sometimes at a race turning mark with other boats fiercely jockeying for position. Changing a foresail on a plunging foredeck with seas breaking over the bow was a routine job.
All good to reminisce about now, but at my age they’re reminders of why we should not be going anywhere if the forecast is bad.
The racing spinnaker should stay in the garage and the asymmetric cruising chute should be reserved for fine weather. We usually sail with two to four people on board, two of whom and sometimes three are over 70. Athletics on the foredeck are out of the question, and so is racing (with the single exception for me of the annual Transadriatica).
If the forecast is bad, we should wait, or maybe leave the boat and catch a train home for a couple of weeks. There are extra costs in travel and mooring fees, sometimes in expensive places where we might only have been planning a stopover. That’s part of the price of keeping sailing.
Meanwhile, don’t forget entertainment for those long days spent waiting for the weather……
tide by tide 