Cruising with Alzheimer's

Tony and Ann Montgomery-Smith have been sailing for almost 60 years. Now both in their 80s, and with Ann's Alzheimer's diagnosis, Tony explains how they have continued to cruise

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Sailing together for nearly 60 years, my wife Ann and I have for much of that time been members of The Cruising Association. Ann started as a novice, but soon became our chief navigator, and this was in the days even before Decca, let alone GPS, when navigation offshore on a small sailing boat required genuine skill.

We sailed as joint skippers, and each stood our own watches on overnight sails. We took our Yachtmaster certificates together and, for a time, Ann taught Yachtmaster theory.

However, gradually over the last 10 years her memory and general skill level have become degraded, although she is still physically pretty fit. She can no longer sail the boat without detailed instructions for nearly every task. And the instructions have to be free of any nautical terminology.

Direct instruction

So not only does she not recognise, for instance, that the mainsheet needs tightening; she does not know what to do when I ask her to tighten the mainsheet. Instead, I need to say something like: “Wind the blue and white rope in front of you round the winch, and wind it in until I say ‘enough’”. So far, she still knows her colours, and can usually locate the winches and clutches.

And she remains her cheerful and affectionate self, which makes it bearable for both of us.

I suppose many would say it was time to ‘swallow the anchor’-after all, we're both in our 80s. But we both still enjoy our summers pottering around the Ionian, anchoring in beautiful places and meeting old friends. Also, I firmly believe sailing is possibly the best way to remain fit in old age, with its mix of varied but not excessive exercise, fresh air and changing scenery.