# 41' "Siesta" beached in Outer Banks



## Overdue (Jun 14, 2021)

95 year old member from Florida aboard, glad he made it.









Large sailboat washes ashore on the Outer Banks with 95-year-old mariner inside


A 41-foot sailboat with an elderly mariner on board washed ashore on the northern Outer Banks early Saturday.




www.pilotonline.com


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

"Siesta" 

Poor old bugger.


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## Wade (Feb 17, 2021)

Wait, so a 95 year old man was single handing a 41 foot boat? I have a new role model


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## marcjsmith (Jan 26, 2021)

Wade said:


> Wait, so a 95 year old man was single handing a 41 foot boat? I have a new role model


but it did end up on the beach rather than nicely tied up to dock....

is that like "any landing you can walk away from is a good one?" 

Not sure i want to live to 95... not much good happens after 90 in my family...


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## SanderO (Jul 12, 2007)

Insulting and ageist comment removed per forum rules. Jeff_H SailNet Moderator


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## hpeer (May 14, 2005)

A new role model indeed.

Wonder what happened to the rudder.

Infinitely more interesting story that the cat “rescue.”


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## Overdue (Jun 14, 2021)

I hope he told the Coast Guard to take the recovered diesel to a local marina, so he can then have the boat towed there and return the diesel to his tank, then fix whatever else needs fixin, then head back out.


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## AWT2_Sail (Oct 12, 2021)

SanderO said:


> Boneheaded... essentially could put others (USCG) in jeopardy. Well past time to have retired from active sailing.


Not really yours to say, nor your approval to gain. I think the USCG were safe enough rescuing him from the beach. It is their job after all.


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## SanderO (Jul 12, 2007)

AWT2_Sail said:


> Not really yours to say, nor your approval to gain. I think the USCG were safe enough rescuing him from the beach. It is their job after all.


NO! A 95 yr old man single handing is being irresponsible.


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## Sabreman (Sep 23, 2006)

hpeer said:


> Wonder what happened to the rudder.


Quite possibly due to corrosion of the rudder post. I know about that the hard way. See my posts from earlier this year. The insidious part is that post corrosion is really hard to spot - when painting the bottom this spring, I actively looked at what I could of the post as it entered the boat and didn't see anything amiss. But the problem was only a tiny bit further up, hidden, where the 1/4" thick SS rudder post wall had corroded over 38 years to < 1/16" in places. Rather dramatic when one loses a rudder while under spinnaker at 7.5 kts.


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## OntarioTheLake (4 mo ago)

I got nothing to tell a guy that lives to 95 and gets on his own boat.


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## AWT2_Sail (Oct 12, 2021)

OntarioTheLake said:


> I got nothing to tell a guy that lives to 95 and gets on his own boat.


I bet he’d have something to say if you told him to get off.


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## oldmanmirage (Jan 8, 2022)

I hope to die on my boat at 95..at sea.


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

I hope to die on my boat at 95 in my sleep after another gentle and successful cruise, the boat tied to a dock with a bar recently frequented. 

Mark


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## hpeer (May 14, 2005)

I used to say I wanted to die on my 95th birthday, shot by a jealous lover.

Then I thought......

It might be my Wife's lover!


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## fredbrillo111 (Nov 29, 2021)

marcjsmith said:


> but it did end up on the beach rather than nicely tied up to dock....
> 
> is that like "any landing you can walk away from is a good one?"
> 
> Not sure i want to live to 95... not much good happens after 90 in my family...


My 97 year old Mom has dementia really badly but I always tell her to look at the bright side... Think of all the new people you meet every day!.


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## LaPoodella (Oct 5, 2018)

Sabreman said:


> Quite possibly due to corrosion of the rudder post. I know about that the hard way. See my posts from earlier this year. The insidious part is that post corrosion is really hard to spot - when painting the bottom this spring, I actively looked at what I could of the post as it entered the boat and didn't see anything amiss. But the problem was only a tiny bit further up, hidden, where the 1/4" thick SS rudder post wall had corroded over 38 years to < 1/16" in places. Rather dramatic when one loses a rudder while under spinnaker at 7.5 kts.


Had our rudder post completely inspected, rudder pulled, the whole shebang. Still had to head back to the shop just over an hour into a 1200 km delivery for more rudder post work.


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## LaPoodella (Oct 5, 2018)

Overdue said:


> 95 year old member from Florida aboard, glad he made it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Boat looks easily salvageable if they can get it on a truck/trailer.


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## Sabreman (Sep 23, 2006)

LaPoodella said:


> Had our rudder post completely inspected, rudder pulled, the whole shebang. Still had to head back to the shop just over an hour into a 1200 km delivery for more rudder post work.


Sorry about that but at least you weren't further down the road where adjustment may have been more difficult to find. My yard couldn't get me an installation estimate in a timely manner so I did the job myself. Big job but I know it's done right.


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## Overdue (Jun 14, 2021)

LaPoodella said:


> Boat looks easily salvageable if they can get it on a truck/trailer.


What if it was beached at low tide? Maybe at high tide it could be towed to a local marina? Would that be easier/cheaper than getting it on a truck / trailer?


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## freeislandguy (6 mo ago)

marcjsmith said:


> but it did end up on the beach rather than nicely tied up to dock....
> 
> is that like "any landing you can walk away from is a good one?"
> 
> Not sure i want to live to 95... not much good happens after 90 in my family...


Ok but how many of us could keep her off the beach with out a rudder regardless of age?


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## marcjsmith (Jan 26, 2021)

couldn't read the article since it won't allow ad blocking. Not aware the the rudder was missing. yes hard to sail with no rudder but not impossible. Much harder the older you are as it requires a bit of physical effort managing the sails.

I'm going assume that he deployed all his available anchors and rode then they drug and he ended up on the beach.


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## Interlude (Jun 16, 2016)

SanderO said:


> NO! A 95 yr old man single handing is being irresponsible.


I usually never comment on such, but my friend there are many much younger folks single handing that are being irresponsible. Jus sayin! Meanwhile Merry Christmas!


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## Ineptune (1 mo ago)

Squirrel_Nuts said:


> Boneheaded... essentially could put others (USCG) in jeopardy. Well past time to have retired from active sailing.


Do you know the guy?


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## boatpoker (Jul 21, 2008)

I aspire to that kind of irresponsibility at 95. Kudos to him


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## AWT2_Sail (Oct 12, 2021)

Interlude said:


> I usually never comment on such, but my friend there are many much younger folks single handing that are being irresponsible. Jus sayin! Meanwhile Merry Christmas!


Beat me to exactly the point I wanted to make


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

My heart goes out to the guy. If you sail long enough, there is a chance that something will happen that is beyond your control. Your first priority is to do your best to keep yourself and your crew safe from harm. Secondarily your priority is to try your best you to keep your boat afloat and avoid doing damage to the boat, the environment or others. Given that he lost his rudder, it sounds like this guy did about as as good as he could.

Maybe the guy really was too old, but maybe he wasn't. It really bothers me when people draw conclusions about a person's capability based solely on age. It is especially bothersome when person making that statement does not even know the person. Personally, I really hate it when someone who doesn't even know me tries to tell me that I am too old to be racing single-hand under spinnaker at my age (won three of the four, and was second in the fourth) . My hero, Dr. Stuart Walker, raced Solings for much of his life, and won the 'Ice Bowl' (New Year's Day distance race in Solings) the last year of his life at age 95. Then there is always Jack Lalanne who at age 70, handcuffed, shackled and fighting strong winds and currents, towed 70 boats with 70 people from the Queen’s Way Bridge in the Long Beach Harbor to the Queen Mary a distance of 1 ½ miles.

While I know that age takes its toll, we each age differently. With some mix of proper genetics, diet, and physical exercise, it is possible to responsibly keep doing things longer than might seem probable. In my mind, if you have managed to stay capable, continuing to do the difficult does not make it irresponsible to do those things that may seemingly be beyond your numerical age is anything but being irresponsible. 

Jeff


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## SanderO (Jul 12, 2007)

Jeff_H said:


> My heart goes out to the guy. If you sail long enough, there is a chance that something will happen that is beyond your control. Your first priority is to do your best to keep yourself and your crew safe from harm. Secondarily your priority is to try your best you to keep your boat afloat and avoid doing damage to the boat. It sounds like this guy did about as as much as he could.
> 
> Maybe the guy really was too old, but maybe he wasn't. It really bothers me when people draw conclusions about a person's capability based solely on age. It is especially bothersome when person making that statement does not even know the person. Personally, I really hate it someone who doesn't even know me tried to tell me that I am too old to be racing single-hand under spinnaker at my age (won three of the four, and was second in the fourth) . My hero, Dr. Stuart Walker, raced Solings for much of his life, and won the 'Ice Bowl' (New Year's Day distance race in Solings) the last year of his life at age 95. Then there is always Jack Lalanne who at age 70, handcuffed, shackled and fighting strong winds and currents, towed 70 boats with 70 people from the Queen’s Way Bridge in the Long Beach Harbor to the Queen Mary a distance of 1 ½ miles.
> 
> ...


sure... but statistically one can predict the "capabilities" of seniors of different ages.


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## boatpoker (Jul 21, 2008)

Jeff_H said:


> My heart goes out to the guy. If you sail long enough, there is a chance that something will happen that is beyond your control. Your first priority is to do your best to keep yourself and your crew safe from harm. Secondarily your priority is to try your best you to keep your boat afloat and avoid doing damage to the boat. It sounds like this guy did about as as much as he could.
> 
> Maybe the guy really was too old, but maybe he wasn't. It really bothers me when people draw conclusions about a person's capability based solely on age. It is especially bothersome when person making that statement does not even know the person. Personally, I really hate it someone who doesn't even know me tried to tell me that I am too old to be racing single-hand under spinnaker at my age (won three of the four, and was second in the fourth) . My hero, Dr. Stuart Walker, raced Solings for much of his life, and won the 'Ice Bowl' (New Year's Day distance race in Solings) the last year of his life at age 95. Then there is always Jack Lalanne who at age 70, handcuffed, shackled and fighting strong winds and currents, towed 70 boats with 70 people from the Queen’s Way Bridge in the Long Beach Harbor to the Queen Mary a distance of 1 ½ miles.
> 
> ...


This guy ol' sitting in Great Bridge, VA without an engine agrees


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

Jeff_H said:


> Maybe the guy really was too old, but maybe he wasn't. It really bothers me when people draw conclusions about a person's capability based solely on age. It is especially bothersome when person making that statement does not even know the person.


Thus we will remove gratuitous insults against the person involved in the future. 


🙂

Mark


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

SanderO said:


> sure... but statistically one can predict the "capabilities" of seniors of different ages.


Sure, but a statistical probability of a person's capability at any given age is totally irrelevant in any given specific case where the person in question might actually be the exception.

By way of example, the statistical life expectancy of a man in the US is 77.28 years old. But that does not prevent the life expectancy for a 72 year man from being 13.07 years longer than that. Nor does that prevent Francis Zouein from being the oldest living man in the US at 111 years and 359 days.

My point in the post that you quoted is that some folks have had a compulsion to condemn a specific person's actions as being irresponsible without considering whether that person might be the exception or solely some statistical average.

So for example, my dad and I took our last cruise together when he was around 90. Beating up the Chester River we encountered a J-36 beating the same direction up ahead of us. Pretty soon we were in a tacking duel with the J-36; Dad steering and me trimming sails. We caught and passed the J-36 even though statistically the J owed us time. 

Or for that matter and for what it was worth, my 94 year old Aunt Sue is a line-dance instructor. And yes statistically that does not seem possible. (That's a recent picture of Aunt Sue below)
Jeff


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

MarkofSeaLife said:


> I hope to die on my boat at 95 in my sleep after another gentle and successful cruise, the boat tied to a dock with a bar recently frequented.
> 
> Mark


And with a good woman by your side, cash in your pocket and the bar bill paid!


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

Great car!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

MarkofSeaLife said:


> Great car!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Great Aunt!!!!!


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## AWT2_Sail (Oct 12, 2021)

SanderO said:


> sure... but statistically one can predict the "capabilities" of seniors of different ages.





SanderO said:


> sure... but statistically one can predict the "capabilities" of seniors of different ages.


NO statistic can predict what any individual person is capable of. Period. Stats only tell you the chances of finding someone with a set of characteristics, like being able to sail. 99.9% of Americans are under 95. So statistically speaking 95 year old men don’t exist, and yet somehow they do, and they keep doing amazing things, like sailing or running marathons.


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

I have been thinking about this discussion since it first appeared. Threads like this one are good teachable moments since it so clearly demonstrates something that seems too often happen around here.

Here we have an unfortunate event that we know very little about. What we have been told is pretty basic.
A 41-foot sailboat washed ashore on the northern Outer Banks.​The boat, named Siesta, lost a rudder and beached itself in Carova.​One person was on board, identified by witnesses as a 95-year-old man from Florida.​No injuries were reported.​The Coast Guard will oversee removal of diesel fuel from the sailboat to prevent any possibility of pollution.​The sailboat will be secured on the beach through this afternoon and tonight,”​
Looking at the picture, it appears that the boat is actually an Irwin 43 CC, a pretty conservative cruising boat. The boat appears to be in good condition and heavily updated with modern cruising gear. (Jib stay added, mast steps, davits, rigid bimini, sails maintained in good condition, radar solar panels, stern boarding platform and so on.) Blowing up the picture, it appears that the trailing edge of the rudder is torn away from the rudder post and is missing. Looking at the unflaked mainsail, eased mainsheet, and loose main halyard, it is possible/probable that he was motor-sailing, or sailing, or maybe tried to send up the mainsail to try to avoid ending up on the beach.

All we know about the skipper is his age and where he originally came from. We also know that he got off the vessel apparently without serious injury, and apparently before the Coast Guard even arrived on the scene. That is perhaps a conjecture based on the statement that it was witnesses who described the man to the Coast Guard. .

There is a lot we don’t know. We don’t know what the weather was like at the time of the grounding. We don’t know what actions the skipper took to avoid the grounding, We don’t know what anchors were deployed. We don’t know how the man got off the boat. We don’t know what, if anything specific, damaged the rudder. We don’t know how physically fit and experienced the skipper was. We don’t know whether the skipper was on deck or down below. We don’t know whether the man was the boat owner and if so, how long he owned the boat and how much he has sailed on her. We don’t know where he was coming from and where he was going.

And yet, somehow, some folks chose to draw conclusions about the incident and blame the skipper for having his boat beached solely based on the limited amount of information that we have. I am writing this not to blame those who chose to condemn the skipper for being under way at his age. I am writing this because in so many cases, all of us tend to ‘arm chair quarterback’ these disasters too quickly and based on skimpy information.

Often, these condemnations are based on the wildest conjecture. Often these conjectures are based on the incomplete, erroneous, or misleading information that results from the ‘fog of war’, and the distortions of memory that occurs when all hell is breaking loose. And all too often, these conjectures unfairly blame the victims or their choice of boats. 

Pulling off my moderator hat for a moment, and speaking now solely as a member of the sailing community, and as just one of us denizens of the SailNet community, I ask that we try to be more charitable in our appraisals of disasters and more patient in drawing conclusions until more of the facts are known. 

Beyond that, this thread also shines a light on the issue of aging and sailing. There is no doubt that age impacts all of us over time. The physical nature of sailing means that it will become harder to sail as we age and that, if we live long enough, at some point each of us will not be able to safely operate a boat. But we all age at a different rate, and aging hits each of us differently.

Some will age out of sailing at a relatively young age, while others of us, will fight with all we have to remain active sailors. It is way too easy to judge, without knowing, whether a person is too old to sail, or too blame the person who quits sailing at an early age for not taking better care of themselves. Both are cheap shots. None of us did anything to deserve the gifts that allowed us to remain sailors as long as we did.

For those of us who remain active sailors late into our twilight years, we did nothing to deserve the genes that gave us the core health made that possible. We did nothing to deserve gift of the mental toughness and will-power needed to live a healthy life. We did nothing to deserve the parents and/or friends who supported us in living that lifestyle. Those were gifts neither earned nor chosen by us, but they remain gifts for which we should be grateful.

Similarly, for those of us who were less fortunate, and for whom the roll of the dice meant that they were not able to physically or mentally remain in shape to continue sailing late in life, they too did nothing to deserve that fate. It is not their fault that they were born with a fault in their genes, were not given the internal strength or guidance to live a healthier lifestyle, or did not have family and/or friends to guide them on a different path. They too should be grateful for the joys that sailing gave them, even while they may mourn the loss of sailing from their lives. Hopefully, the memories of that joy will help ease the pain of no longer being able to actively go sailing. 

And for those of us who are lucky enough not to be inflicted with disabling medical issues, and who are able to keep sailing long past our nominal ‘best-used-by-dates’, it is not for us to throw stones. It is for us to be empathetic towards those for whom the sailing hourglass ran dry, it is for us to try to help those, who can no longer get out on the water by themselves, to go sailing if they want, and it is for us to keep going for ourselves, and as mentors and role models for folks who follow in our footsteps and seek the joys of this sport that has given each of us so very much.

Respectfully,
Jeff


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