Dear Jerry, I don’t have any deteriorating joint problems, I’ve been lucky that way. But my knees are sore from crawling around on them inside, and on deck, and also, the layout of the cabin means there is great stress placed on knees for big steps up and down. The physical effort to sail these boats is enormous. Even the young guys, bigger than me, are talking about how tired and sore they are. And simply the motion of the boat can be appalling and not really describable, except to say that bull riders have it easy since they only have to stay on for 8 seconds! And in the chaos of an episode like the tack/gybes in the front of the depression a few days ago, if you missed one handhold, or one foot bracing in that, you cold go flying across the cabin, or across the cockpit and end up headfirst into a winch. I’m not making that up to be dramatic, it’s the case. So in that case, every muscle in your body is brought into action
Question submitted by Jerry, Burlington VT, USA