Sailing Strong

How I’m Growing Older Without Growing Weaker

About the Author

Jude is a former academic and psychologist who swapped land life for a yacht and now sails the world with salt in her hair and a smile on her face. She's a mother, a grandmother, and a firm believer that age is just a number—especially when you’re chasing your dreams across the ocean.

When I moved onto a yacht in my late fifties to sail around the world, I made a conscious decision: I was going to stay fit enough to keep doing this for as long as I wanted—into my eighties and beyond, if I felt like it.

Because let’s be honest—if you want to live a life you love, you need a body that can keep up.

When you’re young, your body can usually do what you ask of it. Want to hike a mountain, learn to surf, or sail into the sunset? No problem. But as we age, we tend to accept a slow physical decline — we stop doing things, shrink our horizons, get a bit creaky, and eventually settle into a chair with a nice cup of tea and a pleasant view.

But… does it really have to be that way?