Learning to Sail at 65+ – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

 

Learning to Sail at 65+ – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Short answer: quite a lot.

When I decided to learn to sail properly at 65+, I had visions of graceful manoeuvres, quiet rivers, and the occasional gentle breeze.

Reality has been… different.

There have been:

• Moments where I confidently steered in entirely the wrong direction
• Times when “duck!” was shouted slightly too late
• Situations where I pulled the correct rope… at completely the wrong time

And then there’s terminology.

Port. Starboard. Sheets. Halyards.
At one point I was convinced everyone was just making words up to confuse me.

But here’s the thing…

Despite all of this, it’s brilliant.

Every session gets a little easier. Every mistake teaches something useful. And every now and then, everything comes together and the boat just… works.

Those moments make all the chaos worthwhile.