A new young You Tuber - "Sailing Optimist"

[wonkywinch]

I've been watching a new You Tuber recently, he's only on his 7th video and I like that he is young and very keen. As I look around the local club and marina, I often wonder how younger people can be attracted into the hobby. Ed seems keen as mustard and is just 28 years old.

Wasn't planning on posting here but looking at his channel, only 203 subscribers so far and an hour after posting his latest videos, it's only had 20 views, unlike the usual sailing channels that have 10s of thousands in no time at all.

Got no connection to him, just think he's a good spokesperson for the younger generation taking up sailing and if you like his content/channel to help spread the word for him.

Hey im Ed, Im 28 years old and have decided to take the Leep of faith and leave my comfortable home to pursue my life-long dream of living onboard a sailing boat. Follow me as I take on the daily challenge of living full time on a boat, and come along with me on my adventures. Who knows where this channel will take us!

https://www.youtube.com/@SailingOptimist

 

[ylop]

As I look around the local club and marina, I often wonder how younger people can be attracted into the hobby.

Interesting… I’ve always associated British sailing in general with having a “thriving youth scene”. Its a scene very much focussed on racing, which is a shame, and I am sure like many sports suffers an issue when people get to the age when they leave home, meet new people (who may not be into sailing), and have to afford it for themselves. One thing I don’t think YouTube is short of is relatively young people taking up living aboard as a lifestyle choice, you won’t usually find them in a marina or clubhouse though as they prefer to be sailing or in some idyllic anchorage. I’ll give his channel a try, unfortunately for him, the benchmark in terms of video production, decent story telling, interesting content etc is set quite high by all the other channels: keeping up filming, video editing, promotion, working on the boat etc becomes a full time job.

 

[mjcoon]

Hey im Ed, Im 28 years old and have decided to take the Leep of faith and leave my comfortable home to pursue my life-long dream of living onboard a sailing boat. Follow me as I take on the daily challenge of living full time on a boat, and come along with me on my adventures. Who knows where this channel will take us!

I would prefer it if he knew how to deploy a spelling-checker...

 

[Stemar]

unfortunately for him, the benchmark in terms of video production, decent story telling, interesting content etc is set quite high by all the other channels: keeping up filming, video editing, promotion, working on the boat etc becomes a full time job.

I'll watch it later, but you're right about the film production side of it becoming a full-time job. Leo started out documenting what he was doing to rebuild Tally Ho, but his job now is cameraman and film editor, and he doesn't get his hands dirty very often. OTOH, the way his channel has taken off does appear to have allowed him to build the boat to a much higher standard than he would have been able to do if he'd kept to the original plan of work on the boat a bit, go and earn some money, then back to the boat. It's also allowed him to give employment to some good workers. Others aren't so gifted, and as far as I'm concerned, at least, have fallen by the wayside.

 

[wonkywinch]

I would prefer it if he knew how to deploy a spelling-checker...

A few years ago, I would agree, I can even hear my Dad shouting about the length of his hair, tattoos, diction, spelling etc. "Why doesn't he go and get a proper job" etc but it's 2024 and this is how it works nowadays. We often wonder what day jobs people like Cadoha have that can keep them in the lifestyle as You Tube big timers are like premium bond winners, you have to put a lot into it and even then, there is no guarantee of a decent return.

As far as age goes, the Royal Southern is full of young faces when there is a race on, but 95% of the rest of the time, in out early/mid 60's, we are the youngest in there.

 

[Never Grumble]

When I saw the word optimist I thought he was going to be a very young dinghy sailor.

 

[ylop]

We often wonder what day jobs people like Cadoha have that can keep them in the lifestyle as You Tube big timers are like premium bond winners, you have to put a lot into it and even then, there is no guarantee of a decent return.

I believe the trick is to keep your costs low, make sure as much as possible can be offset against tax (making a video about installing a diesel heater that brings in £500 revenue, then clearly the £250 heater and parts are a business expense! etc), promote the hell out of your channel to get patreons (99% of which amazes me) and then in Cadoha's case do a bit of odd jobs on the side - I think Carly has worked in Cafe's, Dom has done some labouring for riggers/boatyards, etc. If you've no debt, or even better no debt and a property paying some rental income, you could quite feasibly survive on a frugal lifestyle with the sort of following they have and consequent ad revenue, patreon etc.

 

[Tranona]

Interesting… I’ve always associated British sailing in general with having a “thriving youth scene”. Its a scene very much focussed on racing, which is a shame, and I am sure like many sports suffers an issue when people get to the age when they leave home, meet new people (who may not be into sailing), and have to afford it for themselves. One thing I don’t think YouTube is short of is relatively young people taking up living aboard as a lifestyle choice, you won’t usually find them in a marina or clubhouse though as they prefer to be sailing or in some idyllic anchorage. I’ll give his channel a try, unfortunately for him, the benchmark in terms of video production, decent story telling, interesting content etc is set quite high by all the other channels: keeping up filming, video editing, promotion, working on the boat etc becomes a full time job.

He claims video production is his day job which is why he thinks he can work from the boat

 

[Stemar]

Well, if he can make it work, good for him.

 

[doug748]

"Sailing away from Burnout" is the title of one video. Selling his house, blimey mid life crisis at 28.

Good luck to him but I can't say I will be watching.

 

[Never Grumble]

Watched 5 episodes a bit weird ... at 28 I was sailing to war not burnout he must have had a tough paper round.

 

[doug748]

I do think this lad is worth watching, in it's quiet way well above the average sailing channel. It gives you a lift just to watch him:

He has now sold his boat but, I think, has sailing plans for the future.

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