Why does our sailing skill suffer as we get older ?  I know there are a few notable exceptions,  but most people who are still sailing whilst qualifying for the buss pass also find themselves slipping back somewhat from whatever typical placing they had, and it is galling to find much less experienced but younger crews getting ahead. I could understand it in tough conditions where athletic skill counts, but one would have thought that in light/moderate conditions where acquired skills like downwind over waves, spotting shifts, tactics where other boats are involved etc. are needed, the cunning & experience that comes with age would be an advantage practically up until the time when we go gaga. 

But it doesn’t seem to be the case. Is it rapidity of thought, maybe keener feelings for things like wind on face, or greater aggression of the young?

Yes, you are right.  It's related to memory and recall.  As we get older, the recall mechanism in our brains gets more difficult to access in a rapid manner, neuroligcal pathways get blocked so the brain has to compensate by looking for other routes.  This recall effects decision making skills from the late 20's onwards, however you wouldn't notice it at first.  Decision making skills such as wave technique can be delayed by split seconds, which will, over time, coupled with staring position, mark rounding, tactical decisions, will see you slip back through the fleet.

The best way to rekindle this is to stimulate the pre-frontal cortex in your brain.  word skills, jigsaws sailing, threading the split ring in the boatpark in 4 degrees really gets the blood circulating! but will never stop the rott completley. sorry!

Unfortunately this is life, as we get older, we will see the youngsters starting to teach us lessons and you too will remeniss when you were younger, cost of living was cheaper, there was less crime, the Merlin rocket design, moved at a much quicker pace than it does today and wood was the material of choice!

Don't give up though.  Its the taking part that counts!

Well, the answer is that the older you get the more you lose your facilities and that starts at a scarily young age, younger in some than in others. 
Fact.
Having said that it does, always, depend when you started an the latent ability and physical scales and perhaps more critically at what age. The younger you were when you started acquiring any skill, the longer you are likely to retain it, some have more latent talent than most and they too will retain it longer. Physical disintegration however tends to hit the real athletes sooner, Hurdlers get bad hips, marathon runners bad knees, rugby player bad knees and frozen shoulders dinghy sailors bad knees, all sailors various hand complaints notably dupytrens contractures, the bigger framed in all sports seem to deteriorate sooner than the smaller people. Most get away with it.
In its wisdom the DVLA says after 70 we need to be looked at regarding our ability to drive however most pass, some should never have driven, dementia starts at a scaryly young age in some never in others, factors like alchohol consumption are factors bizarely there is a body of evidence that suggests smoking -tobacco that is- tends to fend off dementia, it does however in most shorten your life.
Dr Wot is a qualified doctor practising as a GP.

My brain turned to mush when I had kids. Can hardly string a sentence together some days. It's better nowadays when I get a sensible amount of sleep, but I'm sure there's been a permanent change.

What about all these new brain-trainer games on the Nintendo whatever-it-is? Are they balooney or can they sharpen the mind?

Mags what tosh, you're brain is as sharp as any, brain excercise? Get that boat of yours sailing again, do the Telegraph Cross word or the Times Jumbo on Saturdays. There are lots of people, direct contemporaries of mine, - to a great deal older than me still sailing dinghies, though I have a keel under me, but the other day I was late for a flight and went straight to the gate following two young men who needed haircuts (It was a BA Flight.) I followed them on to the plane we all turned left I found my seats and settled in to wait for the plane to be boarded, they went straight on and onto the flight deck, God they hadn't started shaving yet! It is I suppose a sign of age (Though I haven't noticed Policemen or Doctors looking young.) but by goodness they did they didn't look teenage, though clearly they were. We do not seem to forget things we learned young, walking, talking, riding a bike, swimming and if we were young enough sailing, tying knots etc., it seems to be the things I picked up later like Scottish Country Dancing, playing bridge etc., that I forget!

Round 2,940,999? to the nearest thousdanth`s? And then to the nearest prime number?

PS Maths homework????????????????

Testing at 70? Didn't happen to me though I had to complete a form and I'll have to do it again next year. 

Returning to Merlin Rocket sailing at 70 after more than 20 years flying gliders was the real test which sadly I  failed.

Starting to helm at 53 in a Merlin means that I am still on the learning curve and every year I am a little faster.  It's when learning and physical incapacity meet coming in the opposite direction that I will peak (soon I fear) and then decline (rapidly I also fear)!!!

I should have added - sail a really old boat like Gannet then you can blame the lack of speed on the boat.  I would love for someone who knows what they are up to to have a race in her.  She is a one string wonder (there is a jib tensioner aka Highfield lever) and nothing else really much to adjust.

Try Valium. Then if you you dont win, who cares.

I never did win, don't care, and have zero plans to stop sailing. I just wondered why, never having been much good, I now seem to be getting worse. We are competing mostly in OK Dinghies, so it might also have something to do with the fact that I'm still sailing BEL-1 with wooden rig whilst more & more people are sporting black masts

But Rod - are they sailing with black masts AND red bank acounts?

This thread is taking a very depressing turn for us older ones. At 72 years, I seem to be going quicker. I put it down to: fit skilled crew, better boat, more time for maintenance, time to improve skills by reading and doing opens etc. I keep my brain active by doing puzzles in the Telegraph, and learning Russian. So don't give up, there is still time to win that club trophy!

At what age can you start claiming to have senior moments.

An older Merlin-Rocket sailor goes into a ice cream parlour and asks for a vanilla ice-cream as he levers himself painfully onto a bar stool the girls says "Crushed nuts"? "No" he says "Arthritis"!

I can't remember when I had my first senior moment!

Mine was the first time I couldn't recall my childrens' names when they were about...., sorry it's gone!

Although all sorts of things do decline with age, I thought that the brain was still making new connections even with a declining number of neurones with ageing.  There are some situations where there is no substitute for experience, but looking around it would seem that even dinghy sailors are past their best after 50.  It's not the case with musicians except vocalists, nor writers or philosophers so you can't argue that mental decline is an inevitable part of ageing.  Balance and agility definitely decline though and may well account for the loss of performance.

But the difference between being right at the front of the fleet and in the next rank back is very small, an incremental set of losses with each less than perfect tack, a rocky or stable bear away or spinny hoist.  I am not any worse now than a decade ago, having never been near the front I am probably a bit closer now, can usually reckon to at least see the leaders go round the 1st windward mark!

Another practicing GP

Good to note that your eye sight has not diminished then,

I have a new theory! 

Having seen fist-hand the amount and quality of junior training on offer and having taken my children all round the county for coaching events and regattas I believe the quantity and standard of coaching is much greater now than even a few years ago let alone 20 or 30! We oldies had to learn the hard way and read books, the youth are getting a fast-track. I would say my teenage kids have the knowledge and experience that I didn't have until twice their age. You only have to look at the Olympic results over the years to see the evidence. The bar has got progressivly higher, it's not that we have got slower.

But can they tie a bowline,do an wire-rope splice, mend and rig their own boats? 
Will they still be sailing when they are your age or older like some of the super oldies are in a lot of classes MR included.

Good point Andrew, the % difference between me and guys I wanted to beat is very small. I think loss of concentration is a lot of it, and recognition that it doesn't really matter anyway.

I haven't found that the bar has got higher - it's just the price of the stuff they sell has gone up!!

What a nice thread!, and thankyou all for your wise & constructive comments. However, from our splendid isolation here in Sarkosyland I have noticed that Merlins younger than ours(1620 & 2988) have what appears to be a Zimmer frame in the centre of the boat; can it be that the class is specifically looking to attract older sailors?

Yep, the class is trying to attract the older folk.
I found I had to get a Zimmer at 60 to avoid falling over when tacking. The carbon boom wAs the first physical concession,at 55, because the head that once hit finn booms with nonchalance couldn't cope with a Proctor ali M/R job any more. The carbon mast, to automatically deal with gusts at came at 57. So it goes on.
Sad innit?
But keep punting, what else can we do

Mike (3675)

I have a slightly different theory. I heard on the radio today that 'genius' is 1% inspiration 99% perspiration, and that it take 10,000 hours of practice to become a 'genius'.

Take avergage club sailor, sailing a 2 hours on the water 30 weeks per year => to become a true 'great', assuming no memory loss or other issues would take 166 years to acheive greatness.

Take a dedicated olympian or pro sailor, or focussed amateur with 20 hours a week on the water 50 weeks a year, would take 10 years to become a 'genius'.

Whilst this is all a generalisation, the timings do seem to make some sort of sense to me.

The answer, stop working, get out there sailing (preferably some where warm today). If only!

Or as Arnold Palmer put it or was it Jack Nicklause - a golfer anyway -the more I practice the luckier I get or when a young violinist said to Yehudi Menuin after a performance "I would give my life tp play like that Mr Menuin" the great man replied "I did".
Bill Bryson tells us we lose 500 brain cells a minute so get your practice in young.

Mags asks 'what about these new brain trainer games'.

Save your self some money, you can buy books on Amazon for about a £5 that offer brain training. Ideal Christmas presents for some one- maybe?

I have wondered what it is that golfers take up when they retire.

Sames as every one else. Crown Green Bowling

I thought they only lost their balls.