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Old 13-04-2017, 05:29   #1
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Youtube liveaboard stars?

I have been watching various youtube liveaboard videos for a few months. These series seem to constantly pop up for viewing:
* The Vagabond couple. The real star are the eyes of the young lady. How did that young buck come up with the cash for that yacht and endless voyage anyway? Again, the real treasure is his lovely co-star.
* The SVVelos crew. Once again, how did that young man buy that 52' yacht and endless voyage? I think it even has a scuba tank compressor.
* Followtheboat. Middle aged couple with 42' boat. This one seem real. He was a DJ so their audio quality is always very good. They focus on education about liveaboard challenges.
* EmeraldSteel. Another trip into a fantasy world. She somehow maintains an amazing middle aged figure. We are left to wonder if this is due to exercise or genetics. He was a home builder and can make a huge ships mast with a knife and saw (an exaggeration). Their boat is made of steel. Of course he knows how to maintain it himself.
* There are a few single guys doing their liveaboard/sailing thing. Having a hard time competing with the couples I would think.
* There is a new couple from Australia. I hope they make a lot more videos.

Have I been missing the best ones? Who do you like?
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Old 13-04-2017, 06:32   #2
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Re: Youtube liveaboard stars?

The La vagabond couple shoots some very professional videos with excellent scripting. They were just given a $1 million catamaran by a French manufacturer and have over 200,000 subscribers that contribute by a site called "Patreon". I'm afraid that they have left the traditional cruising couples behind at this point. Too bad, I really enjoyed them. I believe that almost all of these YouTube cruisers are surviving through donations on Patreon.
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Old 13-04-2017, 06:45   #3
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Re: Youtube liveaboard stars?

youtube..

Sailing Vessel Prism
Sailing Nervous
White Spot Pirates
Rick Moore
Geoff Waller
Sailing Nandji
Couch Sailors..
Drake Paragon. one of the first on youtube..
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Old 13-04-2017, 06:49   #4
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Re: Youtube liveaboard stars?

S/V Escape from Marblehead..
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Old 13-04-2017, 07:12   #5
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Re: Youtube liveaboard stars?

Quote:
Originally Posted by toodleoo View Post
The La vagabond couple shoots some very professional videos with excellent scripting. They were just given a $1 million catamaran by a French manufacturer and have over 200,000 subscribers that contribute by a site called "Patreon". I'm afraid that they have left the traditional cruising couples behind at this point. Too bad, I really enjoyed them. I believe that almost all of these YouTube cruisers are surviving through donations on Patreon.
I would guess the catamaran manufacturer felt this was good advertising. The young couple will now just have to tell us how "vastly superior" the catamaran design is. Well....a million dollar sailboat would have also been a large upgrade.

Catamaran is a nice design in many ways. I see two problems for the normal, global sailor:
1) Price
2) Good luck if it winds up upside down.

This may, or may not, have a happy ending. Being on a million dollar catamaran may wind up in a large loss in viewership. Conversely, it could wind up in numerous catamaran sales. Perhaps both.

EDIT: Can't help but wonder if the gift would have been made without the drop dead beauty of the young lady. Perhaps.....200,000 viewers is a lot.
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Old 13-04-2017, 07:13   #6
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Re: Youtube liveaboard stars?

Yep, the questions of their finances have come to mind for me as well. Though it's obvious that some of the youtube channel stars come from money, & that it's not an issue. Still, it'd be interesting to know more details.
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Old 13-04-2017, 07:19   #7
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Re: Youtube liveaboard stars?

Quote:
Originally Posted by softdown View Post
I have been watching various youtube liveaboard videos for a few months. These series seem to constantly pop up for viewing:
* The Vagabond couple. The real star are the eyes of the young lady. How did that young buck come up with the cash for that yacht and endless voyage anyway? Again, the real treasure is his lovely co-star.
* The SVVelos crew. Once again, how did that young man buy that 52' yacht and endless voyage? I think it even has a scuba tank compressor.
* Followtheboat. Middle aged couple with 42' boat. This one seem real. He was a DJ so their audio quality is always very good. They focus on education about liveaboard challenges.
* EmeraldSteel. Another trip into a fantasy world. She somehow maintains an amazing middle aged figure. We are left to wonder if this is due to exercise or genetics. He was a home builder and can make a huge ships mast with a knife and saw (an exaggeration). Their boat is made of steel. Of course he knows how to maintain it himself.
* There are a few single guys doing their liveaboard/sailing thing. Having a hard time competing with the couples I would think.
* There is a new couple from Australia. I hope they make a lot more videos.

Have I been missing the best ones? Who do you like?
The guy on lavag worked and lived cheap. I don't think it was supposed to go on "forever". He lucked out with the pretty and talented girl.
Delos does it with a loan on the boat. He also did a little remote work for the company he owns.
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Old 13-04-2017, 07:40   #8
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Re: Youtube liveaboard stars?

There's a rather large discussion about YouTube sailing (cruising) channels here:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...be-112593.html

As for how they afford it, most of them talk about where their money comes from either in a video on their YT channel or on their personal website. None of them fell into a pile of money. Many of them don't have nearly as much as you think and are just scraping by. Some of them did the classic sell everything and buy a boat super cheap, while others worked really hard to save a lot of money, and others stop along the way to work for a few months to keep the dream going.

The only one that I know of that is truly living on income from the videos is Vagabond (I think they alluded to around USD$10K/month). Delos crew still stop for work occasionally, but are making a fair shake from their videos as well - there's just more of them and more boat cost so apparently supplementation is necessary.
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Old 13-04-2017, 07:54   #9
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Re: Youtube liveaboard stars?

Quote:
Originally Posted by softdown View Post
* The SVVelos crew. Once again, how did that young man buy that 52' yacht and endless voyage? I think it even has a scuba tank compressor.
Brian is a software developer. There is money to be had if you join the right startup company. It is a huge gamble. While many software startups fail, many are acquired or go IPO. It is long hours. They pay, but also pay you in stock options (Promises; "I'll gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today"). If you go IPO or get acquired by a large company, all those stock options can pay off. This is especially the case if you make significant contributions to the product line.

If you get acquired, many times the Developers and Support Engineers are the only ones the new company keeps. Everyone else gets laid off and the engineers (development and support) are given retention bonus (commonly more stock options) to stay around for the next 12 - 18 months to keep the product line going. If you get in early and work like a dog, this can be a substantial amount of money.

I've known guys who've written programs on their own and sold them to large software companies for millions.

However, most people aren't willing to do what it takes to make that type of gig work. We used to have a joke that if someone left before 7 pm, his dedication was questioned. "What's with the new guy working a 'half-day'"?

That is how I bought my first boat with cash.
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Old 13-04-2017, 08:15   #10
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Re: Youtube liveaboard stars?

I see it as new variations on old business models.

Many of the currently labelled greats in the art world were wholly supported by wealthy patrons.

These days the patrons follow the crowd sourced model. (Patreon) . The real innovation has been Youtube + Patreon.

My wife and I support emerging stars. The ones just starting. Currently it's Ocean Around, prior it was Sailing Nandji and then Ran before that.

They take the time to produce videos which entertain us. We are quite happy to help fund them. Rather them than droll repetitive hollywood or mass media.

I think we'll see more stars and business models emerge. Micropayments, blockchain ciphers and the demise of traditional financial institutions will open up much greater innovation.

The 21st century looks like it will be the century of small business and the dominance of mega business.
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Old 13-04-2017, 08:17   #11
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Re: Youtube liveaboard stars?

This is an educated guess, but I think the LaVagabond couple was not given the new Cat. Even at the builders costs that Cat is a lot of money. I believe they were given an incredible price for the Cat to help promote the brand. I think they are also making a LOT of money on their donations and patrons so they can probably afford the boat. They are truly You Tube Entrepreneurs.
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Old 13-04-2017, 08:28   #12
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Re: Youtube liveaboard stars?

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Originally Posted by YachtBroker View Post
This is an educated guess, but I think the LaVagabond couple was not given the new Cat. Even at the builders costs that Cat is a lot of money. I believe they were given an incredible price for the Cat to help promote the brand. I think they are also making a LOT of money on their donations and patrons so they can probably afford the boat. They are truly You Tube Entrepreneurs.
That is correct - they detail it a bit more in their videos. They were given a great deal on the boat and loan from the manufacturer. They make significant money from the videos already, and the agreement with Outremer is they produce at least 2 videos per month; they're already making one or more per week, so it's really no effort for them.
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Old 13-04-2017, 08:44   #13
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Re: Youtube liveaboard stars?

LOUD MUSIC,
Thanks for confirming what I thought. The builder was smart to capitalize on their popularity.
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Old 13-04-2017, 09:03   #14
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Re: Youtube liveaboard stars?

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Originally Posted by softdown View Post
I have been watching various youtube liveaboard videos for a few months. These series seem to constantly pop up for viewing:
* The Vagabond couple. The real star are the eyes of the young lady. How did that young buck come up with the cash for that yacht and endless voyage anyway? Again, the real treasure is his lovely co-star.
* The SVVelos crew. Once again, how did that young man buy that 52' yacht and endless voyage? I think it even has a scuba tank compressor.
* Followtheboat. Middle aged couple with 42' boat. This one seem real. He was a DJ so their audio quality is always very good. They focus on education about liveaboard challenges.
* EmeraldSteel. Another trip into a fantasy world. She somehow maintains an amazing middle aged figure. We are left to wonder if this is due to exercise or genetics. He was a home builder and can make a huge ships mast with a knife and saw (an exaggeration). Their boat is made of steel. Of course he knows how to maintain it himself.
* There are a few single guys doing their liveaboard/sailing thing. Having a hard time competing with the couples I would think.
* There is a new couple from Australia. I hope they make a lot more videos.

Have I been missing the best ones? Who do you like?
I've been watching these folks for years, as well as the recent explosion of others wishing to follow in their "monetary income" wakes. It will be interesting to see where this goes (money wise) over the next few years, yet here's a few of my thoughts, opinions, ideas, and guesses - point by point:

A few things first, and by the way, it's "Delos", not "Velos".

Personally, I enjoy watching many of these "home movie" videos. However, would I ever "pay money" to watch them? No! Just like I never payed my friends to watch THEIR home movies. Would I ever pay money for one of their coffee cups, hoodies, or t-shirts? No. However, some people do.

Who would pay? My guess?
1) Rich yacht-sters or others who just want to blow some bread.
2) Mom & Dad, Sis & Bro, Grammy & Gramps, and assorted pals.
3) Folks that just wish to live vicariously, because their own lives are dead.
4) THEMSELVES! (ping pong!): Keep in mind that maybe many of their gracious patrons could be "them" paying "themselves". You don't want to appear to be the "sad sailing ducks" with no patrons. Thus, set up accounts and pay yourself, that might encourage others to do the same. The more "patron" money you get per upload, the more chance that "anonymous" wannabes will want to join the "let's pay them" club.

Oh, but there's more to think about. Let's examine a few, and I'll keep proper names away for political correctness:

1) Crocodile Dundee is not so young. As for the money to buy the first boat in Italy, I think he was working for years on oil rigs, or something akin. Thus, he saved enough to buy the used French boat. After sailing to Greece, he met the wannabe "Sheryl Crow / Joni Mitchell". She had the "make videos / patron money" ideas. She was just a Roo on a Greek island, with no bread and no plans. Before that she was a runaround hippie. Lot's of those around. Good thing she's a looker. That helps. It also helps that he's a good looking guy. I sometimes enjoy watching them, yet would I pay money for that? Nope. That aside, they lucked out. It's the "new age of advertising" for yacht makers. Watch them embrace and start laughing in glee on their new boat. Even "they" cannot believe that "strangers" give them money to sail around and that a yacht company gave them a boat. It's like high-school kids hitting the jackpot in Vegas. Where will it go? Who knows? They recently put out a contest for a new crew member, because they need "video editing" help. Since the new boat, their patron money has gone down.

2) Mr. Computer from Flagstaff saved money, sold house and car, quit his job, took a bank loan for the boat, and went sailing - with now "ex-wife"(?) and brother. Similar to Crocodile Dundee, he's not young, and they had no idea that they could make some bread sailing around when they left Mexico. In fact, I think that someone suggested to them "You should buy a video camera and record your passage." Good thing that the ex was replaced by a cute desperate Swede who enjoys being topless. Not much was waiting for her in New Zealand, so why not go sailing? That aside, I like many of their home videos. Would I pay? Nope! Why pay? Now, and after their recent trip to France, where it appears that the French boat maker also wants to enter the "new age of advertising" game, their patron money has gone down. But, don't forget that Mr. Computer can always probably make "secret" computer-related money over the Net. That fact won't be mentioned when they stare gleefully into the camera and say "Buy us a beer, bro!" Keep in mind, many of these patron seekers may actually have a lucrative "secret" side business. heheheh! They are laughing ALL the way to the bank!

3) The "Cat from Canada" trudging around for years in the Caribbean with assorted girlfriends who eventually leave him. I liked the first video of his that I noticed. He was sailing down to Granada to avoid a hurricane. Eventually the blonde left. Recently, the communist girlfriend (who also previously left) came back, as who would not select "sailing the Caribbean with Grandpa and his kid" over cold nights in Moscow working part time at McDonalds? It's an easy choice. Recently, Canada Cat decided to try and join the "patron" game, and there's even a video of them chatting with Mr. Computer boat. Do you wanna guess what they were "really" discussing that was not on the home movie? I know what they were talking about.

4) The Man from Brighton, Massachusetts! OK, I'll say it! Drake! I LIKE this guy, and I used to live in Brighton 30 years ago. It's a section of Boston. He's a very good egg. The first video I saw he was leaving NYC, headed solo for Bermuda. He heard an SOS from a chump with no cash and decided to help him. While towing the dude to Bermuda, the boats "banged in the night", and his bowsprit got mangled. Of course the dude in the other boat couldn't pay him any bread to fix his bowsprit, so he had to chew it. Poor guy. That aside, I like many of his home movies. He loves sailing, and he's got a good heart. Why he picked up the gal in the Carolinas who always appears "sour" and stays below seasick, I have no idea. That's love, I guess.

5) Ms. Deutschland! Pretty enough. Good legs. Dad has money through his pharmacy. I can tell by her English that she lived in the States. She sometimes flies home to Germany for the holidays, and for more bread from dad, but is now pulling in a fair "patron" income. We'll see where she ends up in that old steel tub of hers. I think she's now in the Pacific after a few years in the Caribbean, where she learned to sail. Good luck, fraulein!

6) Ms. Texas! Not much needs to be said about her. She was recently hanging around "Canadian Cat" for a while, yet I'll leave her sordid story alone.

And finally, the EXPLOSION of others who basically just wish to follow in the wakes to make money, hoping for a "dream life" tropical vacation that pays $500K a year. Good luck!... and we'll see where this all ends up. I think the more folks that enter the game, or just the boredom that will probably soon arise, the more the patron money will go away. I could be wrong. Who knows? Television shows eventually go off the air, because ratings drop. It should be the same with home movies.

With that aside, what type of person wants to give even "ONE DOLLAR" to strangers on the Internet who are laughing all the way to the bank, with also a free million-dollar boat? I have no idea where that idiocy comes from, but it doesn't come from me.

Lastly, I REALLY LIKED "Boston SV Slick", and "Alex Rust" (RIP). Those cats sailed for the true love of sailing. Nothing else. No begging for beers while taking delivery of a million-dollar yacht.

All food for thought.

Cheers!
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Old 13-04-2017, 09:12   #15
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Re: Youtube liveaboard stars?

It seems like everything else- the slicker the production, the more you can figure out it's not as "real" as what we would like it to be. Yes there is money being traded and boats and accessories are being donated, and some of them are models. Many of them come from a film/photography background and have enhanced their careers with these productions. That's good and bad for the viewer but inevitable in this world of money-fueled overproduction. The stuff I'm sailing away from.
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