At What Age should You Stop Sailing And Buy a Motorboat?

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Question: We are considering the purchase of a 52' motorsailer and wanted to know your thoughts regarding at what age (we are 62 and 60) should a couple consider a trawler versus a sailboat. After reading your very detailed descriptions regarding handling of sails while voyaging we were just wondering if we are taking on a bit much as we plan to passage to Alaska, Hawaii and beyond.

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  3. Buying a Boat—A Different Way To Think About Price
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  18. Choosing A Cruising Boat—Shade and Ventilation
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  32. US$30,000 Starter Cruiser—Part 2, The Boat We Bought
  33. Q&A, What’s the Maximum Sailboat Size For a Couple?
  34. At What Age should You Stop Sailing And Buy a Motorboat?
  35. A Motorsailer For Offshore Voyaging?

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John was born and brought up in Bermuda and started sailing as a child, racing locally and offshore before turning to cruising. He has sailed over 100,000 miles, most of it on his McCurdy & Rhodes 56, Morgan's Cloud, including eight ocean races to Bermuda, culminating in winning his class twice in the Newport Bermuda Race. He has skippered a series of voyages in the North Atlantic, the majority of which have been to the high latitudes. John has been helping others go voyaging by sharing his experience for twenty years, first in yachting magazines and, for the last 12 years, as co-editor/publisher of AAC.

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