Can you still do this ?

[J. Dillon]

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/5378/crewpersoncmorgan7hd.jpg

Lady crew member of he Charles W. Morgan climbing the falls of a whale boat to get back aboard the whaler prior to hoisting her aboard.

A little jaunt around the bark first.
http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/298/crewpersoncwmorganboatunderway.jpg

Four of this boat's crew were all women and they came aboard the same way.

One male crew member did't use his legs at all for climbing aboard only his arms. Can you guess which one ? ;)

JD

[Ken Hutchins]

Please edit that question to:
How long ago was it you could do this? :D Actually even though I'm slightly past 60 I think I could still do it, boat building, cutting firewood, hunting, etc has kept me in fairly good shape. smile.gif

[bamamick]

Well, I think that I can do the sitting in the boat part. The rope climbing part I could never do.

Mickey Lake

[Brian Palmer]

I can't (probably never could), but my 7-year old could. He can climb the edge of a doorway, the little monkey, with just his feet and hands and let go with one arm to assault his old man who's trying to get him into the tub.

-- Brian

[Alan D. Hyde]

I grew up with a 220 pound Golden Gloves Champ (Al Green) who could go up the gym rope (~25 feet), arms-only, in six seconds... :eek:

Alan

[Bayboat]

The operative answer is no; but I used to until I passed about 65 (almost 15 years ago). Pushups, pullups, hand over hand rope climbing, and generally doing the monkey act in the rigging. However, I never did clown around aloft like Irving Johnson; among other feats he climbed down the leech of a square sail holding on with his fingers, and descended to the deck from far aloft via a backstay.
For sanding and varnishing/painting masts in place, we used to hoist the bosun's chair & bucket to the masthead, climb up and get into it, have the guy on deck cast loose the halyard, tie the cowhitch and get to work, lowering ourselves by slipping the hitch. We painted or slushed plow steel standing rigging the same way. There was nothing unusual about this--it was just the way we did our work.

[ 07-24-2005, 03:37 PM: Message edited by: Bayboat ]

[Art Read]

Using the backstays to regain the deck is hardly unusual aboard vessels that require going aloft frequently. It's faster and arguably safer than climbing down the ratlines. Hand over hand, on well worn, worm parcelled and served rigging is no great exertion. Just don't try to slide down! ;) http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid180/p467bd8f03a077b5176c374403f5aed1b/f2fbcbcd.jpg
Me... MANY years ago!

[ 08-03-2005, 09:31 AM: Message edited by: Art Read ]

[TomF]

Originally posted by Brian Palmer:
I can't (probably never could), but my 7-year old could. He can climb the edge of a doorway, the little monkey, with just his feet and hands and let go with one arm to assault his old man who's trying to get him into the tub.

-- BrianYour son too? I thought that was just my six-year-old's trick ...

[PeterSibley]

When my youngest daughter was 12 she would/could hang upside down from the edge of her bunk by her knees and do 40 or 50 sit ups :eek: with no perceivable effect ! She could easily have done a 100. :D

and to answer the original question..No! I'm pretty fit and 55.But climbing ropes was never a strong point.

[ 08-03-2005, 05:50 PM: Message edited by: PeterSibley ]

[Alan D. Hyde]

I did an iron cross when I was 23.

Not before.

Not since. :(

Alan

[TomF]

Originally posted by Alan D. Hyde:
I did an iron cross when I was 23.

Not before.

Not since. :(

AlanI described one to my aforementioned 6 year old while we were at the park one day, playing on the rings.

"Like this Daddy?" (pulling himself up with no visible discomfort)

"uhmm, yes. Well done Nat." (Dad pauses to collect jaw from ground) "How many pull-ups can you do?"

"Dunno." (gets bored at about 15, and pulls into another Iron Cross.) "This is way cool."

My grandfather was a competitive gymnast in university. Seems the genes are alive and well, strengthened no doubt by having skipped a couple of generations. Terrifying.

t.

[ 08-04-2005, 01:43 PM: Message edited by: TomF ]

[Alan D. Hyde]

:D

Alan

[John Meachen]

To answer the original question with another question,since I have at no time attempted such a climb,how can I determine whether I can still do it or whether I am still building up to being able to do it?

[Alan D. Hyde]

Well, John, I'd say you climb rope now as well as you did when you were a boy of 12. :D :D :D

Alan

[Tristan]

Both my younger kids (now 15 and 16) could climb to the top of the gym very rapidly when they were a good bit younger. 25 years ago I could go up the shrouds of my cutter (no ratlines)and sit on the spreaders. I could do a reasonable number of chin-ups and push-ups. I could jog seven miles. At age 50, after seven years of training, I earned a black belt in USA Goju karate. But old age and medical problems creep up on us. I (age 71) can still do push ups, but chinning myself, even once, requires abdominal muscles which, on one side, are messed up by a large hernia (post surgery). My upper body strength is also compromised by lack of testerone (result of prostate CA meds), so I have become "femininized" to some extent, no longer have the upper body strength I used to have. Use it while you can, guys and gals. There'll be a day when you get jerked up damn short by nature no matter how hard you work to keep in shape.

[Alan D. Hyde]

It varies widely from person to person, though.

A little wiry great uncle, in his 90's, would sling one (hundred-pound) grain bag over each of his shoulders, and then walk them both out to the barn at once, with no apparent strain.

He was also very proud of his teeth, almost all of which he retained. He'd lift a grain bag with his teeth to demonstrate how good they still were.

But, for each of us, our moment will come.

When this same uncle was 95 or so, his wife felt compelled to look out her kitchen window. She did so, and saw him standing erect in the doorway of the barn, looking up at the mow. Then he began to topple. His knees didn't buckle; he went straight over all at once like a felled tree. She ran out to him, but he was across the river... their dog bayed mournfully, and then licked desultorily at one of his ears.

Alan

[ 08-05-2005, 04:58 PM: Message edited by: Alan D. Hyde ]