"Reality" Youtube Sailing Channels

[Lrak]

Originally Posted by Sailor Sailor

Part of being a man is standing behind what you say in public.

Oh great. Another person declaring how a real man should act. ��

You have no identifiable information – no photos, no location, no occupation. That may be your right, but what does that say about you?

They value privacy rather than putting their lives, coworkers lives, families lives, friends lives, etc online?


FWIW, I partially agree with your first post, but some of the YouTubers do work hard and provide quality content.

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by Lrak

FWIW, I partially agree with your first post, but some of the YouTubers do work hard and provide quality content.

Putting out a weekly video is a lot of work.

As for quality of content? Some have quite high production content, some not so much.

Value of content? That's in the eyes of the viewer. If you don't value it, don't watch.

I've browsed through most of the channels, there are only three that I always look at every release, and maybe one in each week that I actually watch through.

But here's the thing - which three I follow, and which one I actually watch, changes, depending upon what they're doing and what I'm doing, at any time.

Sailing Soulianis I found very interesting, as they took their mast down and motored from Chicago to Mobile, but not so much since. Mads at Sail Life is transitioning from a DIY channel to a travel channel, and I don't find the content as interesting. Ditto for Dan and Kika on Uma.

Most channels I don't find interesting, the few I do I don't always find interesting. But I don't in anyway place any blame on anyone.

If they're providing enough value to enough people to fund their business, more power to them.

[Letterkenny]

Originally Posted by Sailor Sailor

Let me guess: you are an e-beggar or you support other e-beggars.
Age is not the issue. It has always been about character, integrity and values.

Social media has not changed people. It has just given a voice to trashy, talentless people with no values who previously would have been ignored, or not supported. Now they can gain an audience who can marvel at their lack of character and integrity, and then send them money so they can see more.

Your own profile, or lack of a profile, says a lot about you. Part of being a man is standing behind what you say in public. You have no identifiable information – no photos, no location, no occupation. That may be your right, but what does that say about you?

Dude’s literally being a keyboard warrior here on the forums. You have my boat what else do you want to know? I’m out enjoying a nice sail testing my new prop and it’s delightful, ghosting along at 5 knots in 6 knots of true. Your comments speak enough about your character. You completely lack any of it. Sounds like you feel a you need to prove yourself here and justify your position meanwhile I’m secure with myself here and don’t need to prove anything to anyone. You are being rude attacking a group that makes content and are just making a spectacle out of nothing.

[Oeanda]

Originally Posted by Sailor Sailor

…Celebrity is not a traditional value. Providing public entertainment while soliciting contributions is not a traditional value. Going on adventures supported by others is not a traditional value. Many would consider those values to be shallow and superficial…

Celebrity actually sort of is a traditional value. Certainly it was a well established thing by ancient Roman times.

And- they say prostitution is the oldest profession. Sounds negative, but not necessarily meant that way. Admit it or not, we all do it at times, don’t we?

[Cyrus Safdari]

My favorite was Free Range Sailing about an Aussie couple Pascale and Troy and their Clansman 30 but now they're building a house

A few other channels were interesting but now it is all about showing bikinis to get eyeballs because that's what U-tube rewards and frankly who cares

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Sailer_Med

Yes, I watch a few.

For sailing my favorite is Erik Aanderaa. He has really good quality and his sailing is really sailing up in the North Sea. He is candid and adventurous, sometimes making mistakes and filming it all. I really like him. I also watch Sailing Beaver. They seem to be practical novices and there too it is focused on sailing.

For Erik, I subscribe and look forward to his new content. .. . .

Ha, Erik is the only sailing YouTuber I've ever watched.



He's a terrible sailor and does crazy dangerous things, but I can't take my eyes off. He sails to fabulous places in a tiny boat single handed and does great drone photography. He's very entertaining. Highly recommended. See, especially, his videos on the Faroe Islands.

[Macblaze]

Originally Posted by Sailor Sailor

Social media has not changed people. It has just given a voice to trashy, talentless people with no values who previously would have been ignored, or not supported. Now they can gain an audience who can marvel at their lack of character and integrity, and then send them money so they can see more.

Pot/Kettle. You do realize forums count as social media right? Lol.

*****

In other news, the only Youtuber I support financially is Sailing Chuffed. Not the greatest channel in the word but she is an Australian vet sailing up the west coast of Centra America and giving free and necessary veterinary care to domestic and wild animals alike. And the woes of her aluminum boat and it's endless refit are certainly not whitewashing the downsides of cruising...

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

[danno7]

Originally Posted by capt jgw

I like the channels where they are rebuilding the boat. That I can relate to, and I learn stuff. But when they get done and go sailing, I lose interest. I know how to sail.

I agree completely. I want to learn things, and if I enjoy watching, all the better.

[Cyrus Safdari]

But theres a lot of boatbuilding-en-route too

One of the chanbels with real sailing is Wind Hippie's
https://m.youtube.com/@WindHippieSailing

[lhogdenwa]

I watch as many as I have time for. They are entertainment better than on TV and better than other streaming sources.

[Greatest Lakes]

Wind hippie is pretty good. Much better than most.

[Renegde_Sailor]

Originally Posted by Sirzones

I used to watch sailing la vagabond until they teamed up with Greta Thuneberg, then I stopped watching
Most others all have children aboard now , so there content is changing

Old sea dog keeps it real as do sailing nahoa
Also one of the first sailing channels is still great to watch is “ Chris and Jess Brea , Sailing Teleport” well worth a watch

I stopped following them for the same reason, IMHO Gretta was a child being exploited by horrible people for political purposes, and assisting in that exploration for further fame was a F-U for life from me.



With many channels I am there as well when it comes to having kids, it does change the dynamic, and it really isn't for me as I am not a family man.

[Renegde_Sailor]

Originally Posted by Gigaflopper

1. Do you watch any of these YouTube channels yourselves?

I do have a few favorite boating channels I watch pretty much every week, Sailing Uma is usually pretty good, Sail Life I have enjoyed for a long time, Sampson Boat Co, Acorn to Arabella and SV Seeker are all on the list.

Travels with Geordie is a wooden motor boat, but Peter is quite the carpenter, and I love watching what he has done with his setup.

I am also enjoying Sailing Melody and Wildling sailing can be entertaining.

Originally Posted by Gigaflopper

2. If so, do you watch them on occasion, or pretty routinely?

I have my regular ones I watch every week, it is kind of my thing.

Originally Posted by Gigaflopper

3. Are you a Patreon for any of them, or financial support your favorite in any way?

I don't touch Patreon, because they have a bad history of banning people for no good reason.

At the same time when one of the channels I follow had to replace their engine, they were about 600 bucks away from the 10k goal that they had to raise the money to get it, and I happily threw that last bit down to get them there because they had been producing good solid content for years at that point.

Originally Posted by Gigaflopper

4. How accurately do your favorites channels reflect true live-aboard life, in your opinion? (if you have enough experience to have one! Obviously I do not )

I would say pretty well, I live aboard full time, I actually got encourged to take the leap and buy my boat after watching Delos in the Philippines, even though I had been boating since my youth, and was in the Navy.

Sailing is mostly what you make of it, for myself, I have found more happiness out here on my boat than anything else I have ever done in my life, done right it is a wonderful way to travel and see the world.

If you are an idiot about it, well stupid hurts out here, it hurts a lots worse on the water than it does on land, and you can get yourself in quite a pickle.

I do a YouTube channel myself, (RenegadeADV) and one thing I have found, is that there are the arm chair captains who love to come running to the comments section to tell you how you can't do it, or that you are doing it wrong, and many of them come post here, but they are sitting at home not sailing, what do they know?

My advice is do your homework, learn all you can, take the plunge and experience it. Just make sure you have a way of financing it, as that seems to be where most people run into issues.

Also the one thing that is key is getting someone who knows what they are doing to teach you to drive the boat, I did just that and within a couple of days he had me handling this boat like an ace, and now where ever I go, I make it look good, and that feels good when you can walk into a dock and single hand a 42' boat onto the dock without any running, jumping or even getting your heart rate up.

There are lots of people who do not do this, then they practically die of embarrassment when they start slamming into other boats, and what is worse is it screws up everyone's insurance rates.

During COVID lots of people bought boats who had no business buying them, and got no training as to how to run them. It did a lot of damage to the boating community.

Your experience out here is all going to be based on your willingness to learn, if you attack it with personal pride and professionalism, and learn all you can, you will be fine, if you half ass it and no one can tell you nothing, you are gonna learn the hard way, and there is a good chance you wind up dead depending on how bone headed you want to be.

What you make of it is entirely up to you. This is why your experience will never mirror what you see on YouTube.

[Ryban]

I had a small-ish sailing channel for a few years (Adventures of Tarka), and reading through this thread it feels like people have a lot of strong opinions. We heard a lot of those strong opinions in the comments on our videos as well.

There was a certain demographic that viewed us as lazy millennials not contributing anything to society. Or another group that assumed we must be bank-rolled by our families. I'm sure the Venn-diagram has overlap. I worked hard and saved aggressively before I bought Tarka. As a millennial I didn't have the financial burden of home ownership (because we can't afford homes), or of childcare. I had good health, and very modest savings, so it made sense to go have this adventure now, rather than waiting, fingers-crossed, that my health held-up to do it in retirement.

We took 100% of our YouTube earnings and donated them to charity. Later on, we started accepting Patreon donations for people who wanted to contribute to the boat, but those paled in comparison, and were never enough to live off.

I think the "reality" is, is that people will always find ways to try and poke holes in your fun. Most of these people are just sharing their adventure.

====

To the original question, does it depict reality? I think it depends. We were pretty honest in our depiction of cruising, and almost always shared the not-so-nice things about living on a boat, especially far from the conveniences and resources of land. Not to mention the anxieties associated with being on the hook all the time, local safety, thunder storms, infections, etc. When you're watching from your living room, with all the luxuries of every day life, I don't think these sentiments really sink in.

It's the pretty drone shots, the coral reefs, and the wing-on-wing sailing that you fixate on, which is good. The majority of the time, you're spoiled by beauty around you, literally living in paradise. It will become so commonplace, that you'll need to remind yourself to go watch the sunset on deck, or to take note of the turtle swimming under your boat.

But just remember, your boat is constantly going to demand work from you, and it's all going to be ten times more difficult when you're on a far-off island.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Gigaflopper

Hello! I'm a relatively new owner of a small cabin cruiser, landlocked in the Midwest on a lake.

Most lakes can be understood as wide spots on rivers that lead to the ocean. Here is Namakan. We were motoring on this trip. Have also sailed the Great Lakes. I'm told that unlike the Caribbean this area offers neither worthwhile rewards nor worthwhile challenges so I must not be a real sailor; you decide. [see photo]

I watch a lot of these YouTube sailing channels, and I've always wondered if they accurately reflect live-aboard lifestyle for cruisers, or if it's just a skewed perception designed for us "dreamers" to take the click bait and monetize their lifestyles.

Journalism in all forms selectively reports only those snippets of fact that support a chosen narrative.

Motives for the YouTube channels vary. Only a handful bring in enough money to cover costs. Most attempt but fail. The ones pursuing money are full of false drama and padded swimsuits.

Some of the best ones exist for reasons other than money.

1. Do you watch any of these YouTube channels yourselves?
2. If so, do you watch them on occasion, or pretty routinely?
3. Are you a Patreon for any of them, or financial support your favorite in any way?

I have sent money to Dylan Winter once or twice. His early material suffers from poor production values as it was filmed on tape. Much of his most recent material is overtly political. In between there's some real gold.

I occasionally watch Fun on Holiday because I like their sailing style, authenticity, and the locations they visit. Some of the others I've watched specifically because I wanted to find out about a particular area or destination. SY Florence did a nice sequence on the Canal du Midi for example.

4. How accurately do your favorites channels reflect true live-aboard life, in your opinion? (if you have enough experience to have one! Obviously I do not )

In my own sailing life I cultivate consistency, planning, conservative operations, and quiet competence. I believe most experienced sailors/yachtsman/etc do likewise. But this approach makes for boring video. None (well, few) of the videos capture how small the inside of a boat is, how much work it is to keep everything put away, or what the long spans of nothing but occasional nav and traffic checks are like. The videos also fail to capture interactions with other boaters because of the permissions problems this poses. People are interesting and the videos miss most of that.


Shooting video is work. Most of what you see on YT is scripted. If they're on a hike on a steep trail well they'll hike up through a picturesque part, set up the camera pointed the way they came, then walk down that section and walk back up again to get the take. If they're filmiing a dinghy ride they position people so that the shot looks good, etc. Some channels do more of this than others but he camera is never just a silent partner.