Prefer to trailer

[Urban Hermit]

First, about that age thing. When I turned 70 I was in a small harbor in the Abacos about halfway through our ~5,000nm journey from Lake Ontario to Key West to the Bahamas. Two years later I'm about 1900 nm into another journey from Lake Ontario, down the St Lawrence and on to the Bahamas. There is no mandatory retirement age for sailing.

It is however, somewhat mandatory to keep yourself in decent physical shape and to outfit the boat so that the loads and physical requirements are reduced. This might mean smaller sails, electric winches, heat, and so on.

30' is a good intro to cruising size. Easy to manage, big enough to feel comfortable and be able to stand up to put your pants on. It will also have the basic systems you will need to learn, like freshwater plumbing, sanitary plumbing, refrigeration, inboard diesel, and electrical system. A few years of cruising will teach you whether this is what you want to do.

There is also a trade off with boat size, a 30' boat will have greater loads than a small day sailer, however the day sailer will require you to be much more nimble.

Finally, if your boat is simple enough to rig that you trailer sail it, then it will no big deal to pull a couple times a season to trailer to some new location. Meanwhile it is sitting in the slip ready to sail as soon as the ice and beer are in the cooler.

Amen to comments about golden years sailing. We're 83 and 80 and were active boaters, the last being a Freedom cat-ketch 33 (lots of muscle required) until we sold our waterfront lot to fund retirement and turned to RVing. Out of sheer love for it, wishing I still had it, I strongly recommend a Bayfield 29 as a cruising intro boat. Truly blue water, a delight to sail, and designed by Gozzard for a cruising couple. I prefer the 29 to the 30s because the 29 has a huge full-width head, not a hanging locker with a toilet/shower combination. The cutter rig is most preferred for flexibility if one is in wide water and doesn't have to tack constantly. (I put a quick-release on the inner stay to turn it into a "cloop" for tacking runs because we mostly sailed the Intracoastal from Mobile Bay to Apalachicola.) I'm returning to sailing, though with a just-purchased, driveway-sized Compac 16. Ain't cruising, but it's sailing.

 

[RussC]

At 74 years old I've trailer sailed my Mac25 to local lakes for the past 9 years. mostly multi day trips but I've also day sailed it numerous times. with so much practice, and having refined the process, it only takes me about 45 minutes from launch to hoisting sails. when the day comes that I can't continue this routine I'll sell the sailboat and get lake time with my runabout. the level of security gained between sails by admiring them out my front door, not to mention the cost savings, is paramount in my retirement.