But I do hear complaints about how sedentary sailing/cruising can be by friends and family though. I also think it's just one reason some young people are not drawn to it; it's not an aerobic recreation like many. So we do similar activities(you mention) and combine much hiking and walking with our coastal sailing. It goes hand in hand with what we love about sailing the coast, it's a way to travel and see new places.

My wife is adding some excercise and stretching. I like to read a book while she does that(my work is quite active). Plus, with 2 dogs, you have to walk a lot, no matter where you are, so we put on many miles anytime we're on the boat.

Then there's rowing. We enjoy that immensely and don't even consider the excercise it gives you.

A while back a nice guy in a big inflatable approached us in our dinghy as we headed for shore. He asked, "Would you like a tow into shore,...unless,...you're enjoying rowing of course?". We looked at each other and could see we both found the question so peculiar. We had just had a tiff over who would get to row.

All in all though, and for no obvious reason, I find sailors appear to be pretty fit as a group, power boaters, not so much.