"Reality" Youtube Sailing Channels

[Idylles15.5]

This Girl is legit. Much cred to her.

[Peregrine1983]

As someone who knows multiple very well known "Reality" youtubers, I can attest that most absolutely work their butts off to create this content. If you consume it and enjoy it, you should support them.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by Peregrine1983

As someone who knows multiple very well known "Reality" youtubers, I can attest that most absolutely work their butts off to create this content. If you consume it and enjoy it, you should support them.

Why? It's a business and they get paid for their work just as SAG actors do. I used to enjoy watching Law & Order - never occured to me I should send Lenny Briscoe $50.

[Peregrine1983]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

Why? It's a business and they get paid for their work just as SAG actors do. I used to enjoy watching Law & Order - never occured to me I should send Lenny Briscoe $50.

Because, unlike Lenny Briscoe (Jerry was a fantastic actor, btw), YouTubers get paid fractions of a penny from ad revenue unless they have a huge subscriber base, and even if they have a huge subscriber base, YouTube is like a treadmill - once you get on, you must keep feeding it content consistently in order to make a living.

TRUST ME - Jerry had a much better deal on Law and Order.

[Letterkenny]

Originally Posted by Happ

If you haven’t seen Sailing Uma I highly recommend them. Start at the first episode or as they call it Step. They were 2 kids right out of architectural school. They bought a boat for $3500. Spent a year fixing the boat on a shoe string. They have sailed across the Atlantic. Spent a year above the Arctic Circle. The story is compelling.

They started out good but can’t stand them since they crossed the pond.

[mvweebles]

I understand your point, and maybe I should have chosen an actor in the background who gets SAG day wages vs a star actor which doesn't pay the bills for an apartment in NYC, so viewers should send a gratuity?

Truth is, in the early days, I sent the folks on Project Atticus $50 on the theory that if I bumped into them cruising, I gladly buy them a beer. A while later, after they discovered Patreon, I asked them a question on how they had chosen certain equipment (specifically, sailed without radar). Their response was that they were very busy and only had time to respond to subscribers. I reminded them of the prior gift, and that the answer wasn't that important anyway.

Certainly their right to run their business anyway they see fit. But when you look around and see truly astounding brains freely giving their talent to folks who politely ask, it's a stark contrast. I'm thinking folks like Steve D"Antonio, Rod Collins, Tony Athens, and so many more.

I realize my experience with Atticus should not be a yardstick to measure the entire YouTube universe, but if a channel cannot figure out how to make it work without an additional subsidy, they need to move on and spend their time doing something else. Not unlike a child who chooses a career that is thoughtful but doesn't pay the bills.

But hey if folks want to piss away their money, feel free. My uncle used to say "there are only two reasons people give you money. They either want you to have it, or they're stupid." Take your pick.

[OldManMirage]

So I just put up another video, and I've been following this thread and thinking about how much time, effort and money I spend.

First, I don't have a huge following and mu channel is not monetized by YouTube. Yet. If I ever get there I'll let you know.

I will say that the most difficult thing is spending the time and trying to find ways to film whatever it is your trying to film.

I bought a GoPro 8 and I use my Samsung S10 sometimes too.

I paid $60 for Filmora from Wondershare. It's been a good program - for me - to do the editing. When I sit down and try to put a video together it usually takes me most of a day. I end up watching the "completed" project several times and then going back in and making changes until I'm happy with it.

But all in all I find it a fun and rewarding thing to do. I'm not obsessed with it, and I have all these memories committed to film.

I started this back when I realized I had no video of any kind where I could hear my dad's voice. That made me rather sad and I resolved I would do something about for my kids. My channel is the result.

[NaClyDog]

Originally Posted by Peregrine1983

As someone who knows multiple very well known "Reality" youtubers, I can attest that most absolutely work their butts off to create this content. If you consume it and enjoy it, you should support them.

The problem is there really isn't anything real about their "reality". They will say and do what they feel they need to do to generate those views or get some some of subsidy from some one or some thing.


We were never really into these youtube things but we did succumb to the bug when we were in the market for a boat. I'd been in contact with a manufacturer and we had visited a model we were interested in at a boat show. Shortly after that time, we saw a channel advertising a review of the same model we had interest in.


This is where we had a big of a rude awakening. How can you review a sailboat WITHOUT sailing it? Why would you intentionally put something misleading into your video to knock the manufacturer? Let me tell you...to prop up another manufacturer who you end up getting a nice hefty discount from down the road without disclosing anything to your viewers.


Welcome to sailing channels on youtube. ��*♂️

[Peregrine1983]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

I understand your point, and maybe I should have chosen an actor in the background who gets SAG day wages vs a star actor which doesn't pay the bills for an apartment in NYC, so viewers should send a gratuity?

Truth is, in the early days, I sent the folks on Project Atticus $50 on the theory that if I bumped into them cruising, I gladly buy them a beer. A while later, after they discovered Patreon, I asked them a question on how they had chosen certain equipment (specifically, sailed without radar). Their response was that they were very busy and only had time to respond to subscribers. I reminded them of the prior gift, and that the answer wasn't that important anyway.

Certainly their right to run their business anyway they see fit. But when you look around and see truly astounding brains freely giving their talent to folks who politely ask, it's a stark contrast. I'm thinking folks like Steve D"Antonio, Rod Collins, Tony Athens, and so many more.

I realize my experience with Atticus should not be a yardstick to measure the entire YouTube universe, but if a channel cannot figure out how to make it work without an additional subsidy, they need to move on and spend their time doing something else. Not unlike a child who chooses a career that is thoughtful but doesn't pay the bills.

But hey if folks want to piss away their money, feel free. My uncle used to say "there are only two reasons people give you money. They either want you to have it, or they're stupid." Take your pick.

Comparing YouTube’s monetization treadmill to professional actors getting paid day rates and possibly some residuals depending on their clout is apples to oranges.

YouTube demands constant new content, or else you drop down in rank and get less $$ per video.

[pete c]

Been over a year since I visited this thread. I have skimmed through the posts since and here are my thoughts....

I don't get the haters. These folks put a lot of work into what they do and last I checked, they weren't forcing me to hand over a single penny. Wish I could say that about the government.

I understand the comments about tubers using all sorts of pricey free stuff without acknowledging it was free stuff. But I fully understand why they do it. They need to make a living. If you are someone mad at them because you feel tricked, well, get over yourself. And go do something other than watching their vids.

On to comments regarding particular channels.

UMA- I was a huge fan of them early on. Their creativity and Dan's technical skills were impressive.

They turned a tired old boat into one with interior layout that challenged much newer stuff. It was a very nice coastal cruiser.

Then they lost me.

They took an amazing coastal cruiser that could have spent the rest of its life sailing around the Med or Caribbean and gutted it with the intent to make it into a Blue Water beast.

The sensible thing to do would have been to sell UMA and buy an actual older blue water cruiser and work their interior design magic on it.

I would think that for what UMA would sell for they could have found an 80s Swan or Hallberg Rossy or similar. They could also have went up a little in size so maybe they could get to work on crew expansion as Atticus did.

But I do get it. Got to keep the conveyor belt turning out episodes so, in their youtuber world, what they did makes sense.

Atticus- Here is an example of doing what I just said Uma should have done. I will admit that this isn't the most exciting way to produce content, but I watch anyway because I think they are a great role model.

They show us that you can be a sailing youtube channel and still take do what matters a million times more than sailing and that is having a family.

I watch very talented young people like Uma or Adventureman Dan or countless others and I think to myself, the world needs more talented people. How about you folks get to making them.

In Adventureman Dan's case, he has the luxury of time. He can keep living his adventure for another decade, then settle down with a 25 year old cutie to make new ADs. Tika doesn't have that luxury. Her ability to make new Tikas and Dans will degrade over the next decade. This is a statistical fact which I can attest to. My wife and I had our daughter at 28. Easy peasy. A few years later we got to work on number two and about 4 years later it happened after many $$$$$ and invitro fertilization.


OK, thats enough philosophy, back to the topic.....

Boat buyer channels...

I really miss Captain Q. His knowledge, humor, overall likeability and Ran-Day's production skills were awesome. I still watch Ran-Day and enjoy his videos for their info. I just wish he'd drag the Captain back in front of the camera every now and then. My fear is that he's not up to it for health reasons. And Ran-Day if you're reading this, please get Walter back on the show. He is hillarious. He is a less polished version of the Captain.

Lady K/Practical Sailor- My favorite channel at the moment.

Chasing Lattitudes- He has some good info and is valuable to a particular clientele.

That clientele is a person who wants to do minimal work himself and stay tied up to a slip in a marina in the islands with occasional short sails to another marina.

He completely dismisses things like at sea comfort. He is absolutely fixated on LOA/LWL ratios and age.

He basically thinks that anything older than 20 years old is ready for the dumpster.

My problem with this way of thinking is that the 15 year old Benny he is recommending is gonna age too. Does he think that maybe you should just buy 10-15 year old boat then sell it in 3 years?

He does understand that standing rigging actually can be replaced, does he not?

Does he also understand that that heavy 40 year old full keeled beast is gonna ride like a cadillac offshore while his 10 year old Jeanneau may not? And if you come across a shipping container or pod of homicidal Killer Whales, that old thick full keeled steam roller might fair better than a twin rudder newer boat.

And if all you're doing is sipping mojitos in the marina or on the hook in a protected anchorage, who gives a crap about standing rigging that's 23 years old? Just inspect regularly and realize that you'll eventually need to replace it.

Oh and one more thing. Chasing Lattitudes dude is the biggest douchebag on the internet.