A Thousand Words
it, “We ended up with a trawler because we were looking to avoid the learning curve of sailing.” Six months later they left Victoria, Canada, bound for La Paz, Mexico, and became, they believe, the first people to make this journey in a 36-foot Universal Europa Sedan, proving the boat’s long-distance cruising ability (facebook.com/mvhalcyoni).
They told me that they wouldn’t have been able to figure out the ins and outs of boats and cruising without the internet and Youtube. They said that they learned almost everything from one or the other.
We have yet to meet a young cruiser who isn’t vlogging, blogging, photo journaling or writing a book about their cruise. At times, documenting a trip seems to absorb as much if not more time than actual sailing. Of course, it’s only natural that our generation’s fascination with media would extend to sharing stories about sailing and life aboard.
One top-notch example of sailing documentary is Canadian cinematographer Guillaume Beaudoin’s current project, Across the Salty Roads (facebook .com/acrossthesaltyroads/). The 34-yearold Beaudoin has just completed a boat-hiking trip across the Pacific, filming community-driven ocean-conservation projects. He told me that while he likes sailing, his real passion is storytelling. “Sailing to me is not about the number of miles I’ve covered; it’s about meeting new people, discovering new places, and sharing their stories.”
His advice for storytelling? “It’s important to understand the pros and cons of documenting your trip. The upside is, you’re going to get to go deeper into communities, go places you would never otherwise get to go. The downside is you have equipment to worry about and always have to work. So, you’re not as free as if you had gone on an adventure without filming it.”
From drone-flying digital nomads to cruiser/climber adventurers, it’s exciting to see my generation develop a unique take on seeing the world by sail, and adding to cruising’s rich heritage of adventure, community and appreciation of the ocean. Undoubtedly, it will all be different 10 years from now, but I’d like to think that millennials will leave some mark on cruising culture, making it even more attractive and accessible for the next generation of sailors.
Fiona Mcglynn is a freelance writer who recently cruised from Vancouver to Australia on a Dufour 35. Mcglynn also runs waterbornemag.com, a website devoted to millennial sailing culture.