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To learn more from this group, . caught up with some senior skippers to find out how and why boating is still their passion.

Mack Maloney

After a half-century-plus immersed in the boating life, Elbert S. "Mack" Maloney is sure of one thing: he still has no desire to sail across an ocean. Actually, staying well within sight of land is just fine with him.

It's ironic that the man who "wrote the book" on boat handling for generations of cruisers, many of whom probably keep a copy of Chapman Piloting & Seamanship securely stashed on board as they cruise around the world, finds the greatest enjoyment in the simple, close-to-home pleasures of boating. A sunset cruise up the Intracoastal Waterway near his home in Pompano, FL, and a cocktail while at anchor are all Maloney and his wife, Florine, need for a getaway.

And it's not because Maloney is now 85 years old. He's always been that way.

"You go out on the water to relax and enjoy life; speed is so unnecessary," he says. "Boating should not be done fast. That's why I have an eight-knot trawler."

One would think that by 85, the ex-Marine colonel, author and editor would be long retired, but in a recent conversation, Maloney seems to have the exact same problem as boat owners who are decades younger: too busy with work to get in enough quality time on the boat, in his case a 38-foot Present Leeway.

"I'm active as I can be with time constraints," he explained. "I have plenty of work, but it's flexible. It's going to doctor's appointments that gets in the way of boating.

"Retirement? I tried it once, no, twice, he grumbled. "I'm just not the type to sit in a rocking chair."

The Maloneys usually take off on their boat for four to five days at a time each month, sometimes just staying at anchor. "I try to get away from the darned computer but then again, I take one with me," Maloney said. He's already working on the 65th edition of Chapman's, as well as providing corrections and updates to Waterway Guide's Southern Edition, plus working as an expert witness in boating related court cases. During the fall rash of hurricanes, Maloney didn't call his marina or ask anyone for help--he prepared the boat himself, motored to a safe harbor in North Miami Beach.

Maloney started boating around 1954 and has owned everything from small sailboats to a 47-foot Chris Craft which he lived on. He served 28 years in the . Marine Corps specializing in communications and electronics, before he became a national boating expert. Both the . Power Squadrons and . Coast Guard Auxiliary education programs greatly benefited from the work Maloney did for them. And, oh yes, back in the 1960s when he was living in Washington, DC, he helped two young men organize a new boating group called . Maloney served for many years as chairman of the . National Advisory Council.

Over the years, Maloney has cruised extensively in the Bahamas, ICW, Chesapeake Bay and up the coast to Maine, and the New York and Canadian canal systems. The deep ocean holds no special allure for him: "It's a lot of days just looking at water. To me it's not as interesting as going up the ICW or the Caloosahatchie River."

Now boating in another century, Maloney said he is more careful while moving and working around the boat and takes his time; he recognizes that his balance and eyesight might not be as good now.

He sees the biggest change to boating in electronics. He still does all his own boat maintenance. Ironically, diesel engines are almost exactly the same as they were when he first started cruising, he said. "If I had to pay 16 cents a gallon for diesel fuel, I was upset," he chuckled. "I think fewer people are doing extended cruising now because of the cost of fuel," he said.

Maloney's best advice: "Slow down and hang in there as long as you can. It's a way of life like no other."

Kay Miller

Eight years ago, Kay Miller decided to give herself a birthday present--a lovely 38-foot Catalina sailboat. In fact, she liked it so much she moved on board--at age 75.

Now 83, Miller has no plans to give up the sailing lifestyle she's enjoyed at Marina del Rey in southern California. "Gosh, why would I," she asks. "I'm having too much fun."

Miller, a . member as well as an active member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, is also active in her local yacht club, South Coast Corinthian, as well as the Santa Monica Women's Sailing Association where she acted as cruising chairman last year.

"My husband hated the outdoors," she explained in a recent conversation. "After he passed away I got back into horseback riding and then decided to get a boat. My two daughters thought I was nuts. But a boat doesn't kick or bite you or need to be fed."

Taking up sailing in her 20s, Kay learned on small Capri rental sailboats, sailing out of Newport Harbor on weekends, "which was like a parking lot." She eventually rose to coxswain in the Auxiliary and taught their coastal navigation courses.

"It's an education, and it's still going on," she said. "You don't have to be a 1,000-lb. gorilla because sailing takes more skill than strength."

Miller, who still works three days a week for a property management company, sails just about every two weeks and shares her knowledge with novices who she takes out with her on practice sails. Taking younger people out also helps her with some of the physical chores on deck. But the chance to learn something new on each and every trip out is what keeps her in the sport. "Learning to sail well is a lifelong job," she explained. "You're drawing on so many skills at once it keeps it interesting."

While being a liveaboard is "a bit more complicated" Miller said she's staying on her boat until they carry her off. Life at the marina brings her close to nature, especially the abundant birds such as blue herons and ospreys, as well as some great dock neighbors.

Bill McVey

Catching a striped bass is not at all unlike reeling in a juicy advertising account for one of his clients, according to Bill McVey, 70, currently working full time and representing . Magazine in the rough and tumble world of advertising sales. For some, the competitive spirit of the working world and the never-ending quest for catching the big one are all part of the same adrenalin rush that keeps life interesting.

"It's a renewal," said McVey recently about his boating. "It's revitalizing and inspires you to go out and do great things."

With an office in New York City and one at home in Long Island, McVey makes the break to his 28-foot Grady White Sparky II any time he can. "I boat from March 15 until the ice compels me to take it out of the water," he said, adding that just before Christmas when it was 28 degrees he was out surf casting at nearby Fire Island inlet, a prime spot.

McVey caught the fishing bug from his father, a minister who took the family on trips up and down the Eastern Seaboard. Starting with a Maine dinghy, McVey remember having to "row everywhere" as a kid and once was tossed up on shore in the dinghy during a howling hurricane on Penobscot Bay, ME. "It gave me a thrill," he remembered fondly.

For McVey, age is irrelevant. It's the freedom boating provides that keeps him fully involved. "Once you cast off, you're in a different world," he explained. "The attraction is being distanced from the every day responsibilities. You're responsible, but in a different way."

The biggest change he sees in boating is the lack of knowledge he sees among the throngs of other fishermen that now crowd the best spots along Long Island's tricky Moriches Inlet and Atlantic coast. "Years ago you could count on people being as knowledgeable as you; today it's no longer true," he said.

When asked if he would eventually slow down, or even retire, he practically choked. "Good gracious, no! Why should I?

"I have the same fire in my belly to go after the catch as I had in my 30s, 40s and 50s," he added. "Age is a state of mind and you're only as old as you feel and as you act."