I think it is far more common for spouses (I mean wives) to lose their interest in sports some time between marriage and child birth. Husbands most certainly find budgets and time is diverted towards the interest of the family (otherwise, what was the point?).

As it happens, my wife never regained her interest in windsurfing, even though we learnt together early in our marriage. She never got interested in mountain biking or anything else wobbly, and as for sailing, well she did have a ride on my very stable Nacra 6.0, briefly, while in sunny Aruba (note, not the UK), and called time when the windward hull almost parted contact with the water along 20% of its length.

However, due to a few life changing experiences we have had (involving many months of her time in hospital), she is very supportive of my current interest, and now the children are almost totally independent, she is planning to come to the odd weekend regatta this year - by which I mean she'll be in the same hotel, and we'll have dinner together! If she turns up at the water's edge, I will be very pleasantly surprised.

So my point is that it is pretty much a given that wives will lose interest, but they don't have to take part to be supportive. I'd like my wife to take part, but the next best thing is for her to be happy at home, doing what she wants, while I do my thing, and I can live with that.

When I look around at other sailors, I realise I am very lucky to have a wife who is so supportive without sharing the same interest. That's due to the 'life changing' business we've been through - which is a function of age and experience.