Too Old??

“Aren’t you Kind of Old?”  Well, admittedly we are not exactly spring chickens, but neither are we ready for the stewing pot.  Even so, we did wonder…afterall cruising off to the unknowns is way out of our comfort zone.  It is not that we have never made leaps into the unknown.  We have.  First of all we moved from the heart of Los Angeles, to a small (not to us) 67 acre farm in what seemed like the middle of nowhere:  no visible neighbors, 25 miles from the nearest city, 3 miles from the nearest town (population 2200).  Turning city folk to country folk was quite the adventure.  Then we jumped into the unknown of raising llamas who fortunately are a sturdy sort with a mild temperament and were able to withstand the idiosyncracies of our learning curve.  And now we have leapt onto a 44 ft cruising sailboat that will be our home at least part time, if not full time.  A lot of systems and complications come with a boat this size – again a huge learning curve and the boat may just not be quite as forgiving as a llama.  But, are we too old?  Have we waited too long? 

  Reading over the seminar list for the Miami Strictly Sailboat Show in February, 2014, we came across the title, “Too Old to Go?” presented by Captain Fred Braman, USN (ret).  Perfect.  Maybe he would have the answer for us, or at least a rational discussion of pros and cons.  As it turns out, he did have the perfect answer for us:  Right there at his booth was his book titled:  “Too Old Not to Go!!”  What??  Too old not to go!!  No one had said this to us, in fact no one had even hinted this to us.  We took it to heart, bought his book, read it, hired Jeff and Jean, Two Can Sail as our brokers and consultants and the rest as they say is history!!  Or better said, that is where this story begins.