The crew of Merryjack defied their age at last week's Bangor Regatta on Belfast Lough competing in Class six YTC and taking third overall.
Crew man and poet Glen McMahon on the Oceanis 37 might never be Poet Laureate but his regatta verse posted on social media summed up the spirit of the octogenarian crew.
"Average age of 80, still spry and bold,
These sea dogs antics never grow old,
With stories wilder than the roaring sea,
Their laughter echoes eternally"
Three of the regular crew are ex GP 14 sailors, skiper Gerry Bell and a former World Champion Bill Whisker, who took the dinghy title at Stone Harbour New Jersey, USA in 1975.
