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Young Salt At 60 — Why the Next Chapter Can Be the Boldest
Season 1 Episode 107
“When I tell people I started sailing at sixty, they’re shocked. We don’t see our sixties as a place to begin — which is tragic, especially if you’ve invested in your health. What’s the point, if not to do something fantastic?”
In this New Year’s Eve episode of Ageless Athlete, I sit down with Deborah Hammett, a former school principal who did something most people never consider — she learned to sail at 60, moved onto a boat, and now lives and travels solo by sea.
Deborah’s story isn’t really about sailing. It’s about what happens when identity loosens. When long-held roles fall away. When you choose to become a beginner again — not because you have to, but because you want to feel alive.
We talk about fear and solitude. About real consequences — like fixing an overheating engine thirty miles offshore with no help coming. About competence earned slowly, and confidence that comes not from comfort, but from adaptation.
This conversation explores aging not as decline, but as a long arc of learning. It’s about reinvention without theater. About staying open to awe. About asking a better question as we move into a new year: what would you do if the next chapter didn’t need to look like the last one?
Deborah shares the lived reality of life aboard a sailboat — the beauty, the friction, the quiet moments, and the hard-earned lessons — with honesty, humor, and humility.
If this episode resonates, I highly recommend her book Young Salt at 60, where she tells the full story of learning to sail late, making plenty of mistakes, and choosing a bigger, more meaningful life after retirement.
You can also follow Deborah on Instagram for real, unfiltered glimpses into life at sea:
📸 @youngsaltat60
And to you, the listener — thank you. For being here. For your curiosity. For supporting the show by listening, sharing, or buying me a coffee. These conversations exist because people are willing to show up honestly — and because you choose to listen.
Happy New Year!
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Published on 16 hours ago