YouTube Sailors - Overly Romanticized Or Just Lacking Details?

[Whiz-Bang]

Originally Posted by edselby

I was interested in sailing before the explosive popularity of YouTube sailing channels, but I confess that it was Uma, Delos, Vagabond, and Wynns that was able to get my wife equally excited.

Now we are incorporating sailing in our retirement plans, and will likely do a couples live-aboard learn to sail course in the next 6-12 months.

As with anything billed as "reality TV", I am entertained by but skeptical about the content from the YouTube sailors, and I need a reality check from real life sailing veterans.

Who gets it right?

Who almost gets it right?

Who is just full of bilge scum?

So I think I’m similar to your wife. My husband sold me on the dream with YouTube videos about 6 years ago. We saved up, sold everything and quit our jobs, finalizing last year when we bought our boat in August. We have been avid viewers of many youtubers, including the ones you mentioned. We were especially into the Wynns, as we were watching them while they were still RVing (we did part-time RV as part of the transition) and so we got to see them go through the boat-buying and fixing up right before we did it.

So far we have only made it to the Bahamas and are still relatively new at this. With that perspective, I think the channels you mention jive pretty well with my expectations. We still watch them but are focused on different aspects; like, now we are paying more attention when they hoist the sails, or where they anchor.

[gallatin1988]

Originally Posted by theDangerz

Wow... this is so well timed for us, but I think maybe in the opposite way.

SO - let me ask you all this. What would actually be helpful?
What would you actually like to see? What could we (or anyone else) offer as two people who literally just started this lifestyle and are learning everything as we go??

I think you're asking to question to the wrong people.

If you're really interested in sharing what you have described I think you should put out what you would want to see in your voice and trust that if your sincere and authentic with any luck the audience will eventually find you.

[ttex]

Delos turned us into dreamers many years ago. My wife and I have saved up and purchased, just recently, our very own Baba 35.

We will of course be videoing everything and then putting it on YouTube. It's not a terrible way to spend some time. Maybe we will even be entertaining enough that people throw money at us. Ya never know.

[dalbright1963]

I failed to mention, in my previous post, what an affront it is to folks like myself and my wife, who struggled to realize the dream, from people on YouTube who state, boldly, that they want you to pay for it. In 2017, we came across a new channel and they didn't even have a boat but were begging about Patreon. I don't care how nervous you are to sail - I won't watch your content. Then, you have channels where they are using the name of another sailing channel and they couldn't pour piss out of a boot, if the instructions were taped to the heel (Saorise - the couple). Honestly, many of the newcomers to the fray are an insult to the vast majority of us who have worked our whole lives for this. They are equivalent to people who drive on the hard shoulder of the freeway during a traffic jam. I just want to run them off of the road. Thanks for the opportunity to vent.

[Kenomac]

I’ve watched a few of the youtubers, but became bored with all of it a couple of years ago, and now find them downright painful to watch... so I don’t.

My wife and I prefer doing stuff as opposed to watching others.

[CatNewBee]

What comes to mind when reading this thread:

Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
I travel the world
And the seven seas,
Everybody's looking for something.

Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused...
(Eurythmics)

Anyway i have subscribed to most of the channels and also unsubscribed a few when becoming boring.

I have found many information and inside views into the life style and technology by searching YT, forums and blogs. Some are just for entertainment, but also show places I have not imagined exists.

All in all it is a good mental preparation for our long journey that will start in a few days. We got a practical glimpse of the hard work when re-fitting our cat last year on the hard, doing all jobs ourselves, we've got a 5 weeks shake down course on 1800nm in the Med and Adriatic with passage making in all weather conditions, hanging around at beautiful anchorages and busy marinas, running away from thunderstorms and squalls and enjoying sun-downers - just the two of us.

We used the last half year back home to sort out our businesses and jobs and are getting ready to drop the lines. The videos helped us a lot to focus on the dream and what it takes to leave your old life behind for the uncertainty and adventures to come.

So, thank you all youtubers, bloggers and forum members for your input.

Back to the title: "YouTube Sailors - Overly Romanticized Or Just Lacking Details?" There is EVERYTHING on YT, you have to search for it, including storms, rescue missions, fails, big seas, crashes, boat projects / maintenance of all kind, technology discussions, un-boxing videos, educational content from sailing schools, safety gear usage, VHF training lessons, weather systems introduction, stellar navigation...

It is about you what you chose to watch.

[merrydolphin]

Having lived aboard and cruised 10’s of thousands of miles over a 20 year period, I must admit that I enjoy a number of these channels. You have to take them for what they are, informative entertainment. But I particularly enjoy Uma.

I think that they have done a fantastic job refitting there classic plastic, Uma.
Yes they all glamorize it. Some more than others. But they have shown the incredible amount of hard and very inventive work that they have done. And they have shown that cruising can be very fun and adventurous without major ocean passages, which they will probably work into in the future. They also show that youth does have it’s advantages. And yes, it has to be a lot of work to maintain a channel like this. I have somewhat followed the Whinns but they are in an entirely different budjet than Uma’s. I think that is a factor of why I like Uma’s. So new people, yes the lifestyle is glamorized, if all they showed is what some curmudgeons say “cruising is fixing boats in exotic places”. Where is the incentive there? Yes that’s a factor but we spent the vast majority of our time sailing, diving and socializing in exotic places. And our 3 cruising boats averaged about 35 yrs old.

[theDangerz]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Great Question!

In two words: "People-Places"

After a lifetime of living aboard and traveling the world, it is the wonderful people you meet that inspires me to remain nomadic.

How they adjust to that "Place" they call home ....Culturally Creatively and Physically.

Our cruising lifestyle allows us a longer, simpler stay at their table, without the strong tourism overtones...... That is when the ordinary in one culture becomes extraordinary to viewers, worlds away, if you document them sharing their dream with you.

Also practical cruising operational intelligence on visiting those Places.

Well said!
This is exactly what has always drawn us to travel/be nomadic and a huge reason we've now started doing it on the water instead of land... to get further and experience even different cultures.

However... the difficulty becomes that when we are fortunate enough to find ourselves "at their table" the last thing we typically want to do is be pointing a camera at them and asking questions rather than simply soaking up that culture...

thanks for the thoughts!

[theDangerz]

Originally Posted by gallatin1988

I think you're asking to question to the wrong people.

If you're really interested in sharing what you have described I think you should put out what you would want to see in your voice and trust that if your sincere and authentic with any luck the audience will eventually find you.

Maybe you're right... but based upon my time here on CF it seems that the vast majority of people on here are not yet cruising and still looking for something help them "tip the scales" towards making the leap and getting out there.

I remember those days vividly and wish I had found more of an influence (from real people not those asking for money) telling me that it was going to be okay, showing me that despite what society was telling me, that it WAS actually possible. Just a voice from "the other side" to help coax me along I guess...

But your message is well received.
We'll just keep doing what we're doing and if someone happens to find it helpful, all the better!

[RSH]

Originally Posted by Whiz-Bang

So I think I’m similar to your wife. My husband sold me on the dream with YouTube videos about 6 years ago. We saved up, sold everything and quit our jobs, finalizing last year when we bought our boat in August. We have been avid viewers of many youtubers, including the ones you mentioned. We were especially into the Wynns, as we were watching them while they were still RVing (we did part-time RV as part of the transition) and so we got to see them go through the boat-buying and fixing up right before we did it.

So far we have only made it to the Bahamas and are still relatively new at this. With that perspective, I think the channels you mention jive pretty well with my expectations. We still watch them but are focused on different aspects; like, now we are paying more attention when they hoist the sails, or where they anchor.

We are very similar, except we still have our jobs and we don't live on our boat . And we just bought our boat in November, and we're still learning. Delos inspired my husband, he showed the videos to me, and I'd been watching the Wynns back when they were in the RV and just happened to be having the boat discussion with my husband at the same time they bought their catamaran.

I enjoy watching the Wynn's how to videos and the details they provide, especially for stuff like watermakers, etc. We are taking baby steps with our boat, and we're not in a hurry to go blazing around the globe. Just enjoying every day we can escape to the ocean and bob around like the newbies we are.

I would never have considered owning a boat if it hadn't been for those videos. I really enjoy being on our boat-it just makes me happy, whether I'm cleaning it, fixing it, or watching the dolphins. Ironically, I think my husband is more stressed by it since he doesn't like making mistakes, and boats appear to be nothing but mistakes waiting to happen, lol...

[biko01]

I followed La Vagabonde since their first recordings in 2014. Guy didn’t have much sailing experience and was learning on the go which meant learning from his mistakes too. It was quite authentic and down to earth. Over time that has changed. Since they switched to cat and signed almost $1mln loan it became very commercial and hard to watch. Soft porn, manufactured drama, click bites titles and flogging advertising. They make over $20,000 an episode just from the video alone. Unfortunately that changed them and it’s hard to watch transformation. Sometimes I wonder how many refer to “their family” using less favourable terms in private conversations between themselves…

[john61ct]

Well I have had a lot of exposure to celebrities in my life, and even traditional pretty well insulated movie / musical "stars" have an ambivalent attitude to their general-public fans.

There are a lot of very weird people out there, and being Internet-based gives much more intimate exposure, in both directions.

Trying to make a living based on personal fame, is not a fate I'd wish on my worst enemy in any case.

[johnny AoB]

As an old former boater/sailer like many others here on CF, I look at the sailing-crusing YouTube channels as informative entertainment. At a time in the past i subscribed to every channel I could find just to see what I might have missed (over 500 at that time), then I discovered: https://sailing-channels.com/ which lists them all so I deleted 400 and realized that most of the ones I deleted never did anything interesting or entertaining most of the time anyway. I check in every now and again and find new channels but as stated above many of the new ones are newbies trying to fund their life style via Patreon. I guess they are thinking that they are another Delos (which they ain't). The ones I enjoy most are the ones that explain things such as Emeral Steel and Rigging Doctor.

[CatNewBee]

... I watched the rigging doctor a couple of times, and finaly unsubscribed. The channel does not inspire me nor the technical content they provide.

I expect from a "doctor" a more professional background. They are trying hard to make a living online, but they overestimate their skills somehow, they are newbees still learning the lines. There are better channels out there.

[rallyman1122]

Originally Posted by swisssailoralex

Hello!

I got inspired by the same channels and started my "Winded Voyage" about 4 years ago. I documented everything from the very beginning. Choosing a boat. Buying it. Doing a Swiss blue water license. Renovating the boat. And finally sailing from the south of France along the coast of Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Canary Islands and now have been in the islands of Cape Verde. By following my voyage, you'll see what it takes to get to where I am now.



Cheers, Alex.



https://www.youtube.com/c/WindedVoyage

Thanks Alex. I found your channel about 18 months ago and watch regularly.

Windedvoyage on YouTube is a pretty good follow. Alex doesn’t throw money at his boat, he looked long and hard to find it and worked to fix it up. Took sailing lessons in Switzerland, and spent time learning how to sail a modest, very modest boat

Well edited videos(Alex has a background in the arts) and very good music. This channel is well worth a look at.