For any sport or activity to survive, it has to draw in new enthusiasts, and some of those should probably be young enthusiasts. Cruising is a pursuit that has aged a bit over the past few years. Some observers have commented on the smaller numbers of new people getting involved. At least one young voyaging couple has decided, however, to tackle this issue head on. They have launched a new web site called Young and Salty aimed at younger cruisers. Robin Urquhart and Fiona McGlyn, who live and cruise aboard their Dufour 35 MonArk, are the team behind Young and Salty. They are freelance writers whose work has appeared in several magazines, including Ocean Navigator. Their goal is broaden the appeal of sailing and voyaging among the 20 to 40 crowd. The site is supported by Good Old Boat magazine.
Urquhart described it this way in an email: "It's a website devoted to the younger sailing community by and for young sailors. We profile young seafarers and swabbies and cover the salty skills of interest to a younger generation. The site was created to build community, encourage, inspire and support more young sailors to get out there."
One of the most pointed posts on the new site is entitled "Where are all the young sailors? A millennial’s perspective," written by McGlynn. It's a clear-eyed look at why many millennials have not caught the voyaging bug. According to McGlynn, there is hope, however, and perhaps even the signs of a possible "millennial wave" of involvement: "We believe sailing may be experiencing something of a watershed moment among millennials, with many of us now reaching a place in life where boats are a financial reality. Anecdotally, there’s a lot to suggest a very real uptick in the number of young cruisers. When we recently queried a group of young PNW cruisers, everyone agreed that they’d seen a significant increase in young cruisers over the last 4-5 years."
The piece is well worth a read by sailors of all ages who want to see ocean voyaging continue as a source of rewarding adventure.