Circumnavigation Videoblogs Recommendations

[BlueBuddha]

Hi all. I've enjoyed a few YouTube video blog series of people/couples doing long passages including S/V Delos, S/V Honeymoon and Impi. I've tried searching youtube for more but there is so much noise that is hard to find the good ones among the millions of irrelevant results. So I was hoping some of you could share some leads for video blogs. I particularly enjoyed s/v honeymoon, so if you know of any similar video series on YouTube or vimeo I'll buy you a beer next time I see you . Thanks!


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[BlueBuddha]

I also found Shaun Sailing (Shawn Bockmaster), which I've enjoyed a lot especially because of the focus on the sailing related issues.


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[Kenomac]

I like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKm2FX9kKZ4

[SFBaySail]

I enjoyed watching this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28TAdDu5L6U

[BlueBuddha]

Thanks. I'll check it out.


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[letsgetsailing3]

Some of these video blogs should be subtitled "The Real World, amateur cruiser edition. This is what happens when a 30-year-old guy pays cash for a boat, takes his girlfriend sailing to some fun places, and takes short videos in order to ask for money on the internet."

The formula seems to be: alter 30-second videos of your port visits with 2-minute segments clowning around the boat, have one or two 20-something girls in bikinis narrate your video, and put a Paypal link in. Life could be a dream come true. The key is to get the photo of the bikini girl as the photo for hits.

I'm a little envious, though. Seems like a great lifestyle if you can manage it.

[BlueBuddha]

Originally Posted by letsgetsailing3

Some of these video blogs should be subtitled "The Real World, amateur cruiser edition. This is what happens when a 30-year-old guy pays cash for a boat, takes his girlfriend sailing to some fun places, and takes short videos in order to ask for money on the internet."

The formula seems to be: alter 30-second videos of your port visits with 2-minute segments clowning around the boat, have one or two 20-something girls in bikinis narrate your video, and put a Paypal link in. Life could be a dream come true. The key is to get the photo of the bikini girl as the photo for hits.

I'm a little envious, though. Seems like a great lifestyle if you can manage it.

Yes, some have that feeling. Especially SV Delos, but Shaun Sailing so far is totally different and much more enjoyable for a newbie like myself interested in seeing some of the in and outs of the sailing process as opposed to the bikini girls. For bikini girls there are much better sites.


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[Randyonr3]

Originally Posted by letsgetsailing3

This is what happens when a 30-year-old guy pays cash for a boat, takes his girlfriend sailing to some fun places, and takes short videos in order to ask for money on the internet."

I dont mind dropping a few dollars on any that I watch, as there are little bits I can pick out for our own travels.
I had no Idea to travel to the San Blas until I watched "untie the lines" and the ventures of S/V DELOS opens up the areas of the east. Most of the videos are not "Travel" videos but rather what you might see when cruising.. I get a good amount of info from them..

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by Randyonr3

I dont mind dropping a few dollars on any that I watch, as there are little bits I can pick out for our own travels.
I had no Idea to travel to the San Blas until I watched "untie the lines" and the ventures of S/V DELOS opens up the areas of the east. Most of the videos are not "Travel" videos but rather what you might see when cruising.. I get a good amount of info from them..

We don't need permission to cruise around, and we don't need someone to blaze the trail and label it. Well, except for those people who blazed the trail and labeled it (to make charts, lol). You never heard of Fiji and New Zealand? Delos didn't really open up the east -- it was already there.

I have enjoyed realism of boat maintenance in "Untie the lines", but after a while it didn't seem like there was much soloing or sailing going on.

I worry that video blogs will become the "Rick Steves" of cruising. That started out a good idea with the "Europe through the back door" approach, but ended up commercializing all the sites mentioned to where they became the next front door. Suddenly those hidden treasures were mainstream, and everywhere I went in Europe were full of people with Rick Steves travel books in their back pockets, following the same bouncing balls that the Fodor crowd had done before. You could no longer just show up in most of these "off the beaten path" places and find a place to stay, as in peak season they're full. The tourist industry really grew up in a lot of those places. Sorry, /rant off.

I don't really think that's going to happen with these video blogs, but you don't need to follow in the footprints of these video bloggers. Pave your own way. You can stop off wherever you want. You can find information on any of these islands on the internet.

To me donating a few bucks to video bloggers is the same as feeding the pigeons - don't encourage it. I think video blogging is a fun idea, but they can pay for their own vacations -- otherwise, people are going to start seeing video blogging as a valid career choice. Ooops, they already do. Maybe I'm just envious of the 50-foot boats and 20-something girls in bikinis, though .

[NOLA_sailing]

I get the sentiment against the "beggar" vacationers and for the most part agree with it. I do follow Delos closely though and it seems to me that, at least in the first few years, they were self-funded with no need or interest in living off internet and sponsorship income. The captain had the means and professional downtime to take a fully funded two year cruise of the pacific. He claims to have ended up within $100 of his budget at the end of his second year. Naturally they wanted to continue cruising so spent off seasons replenishing the cash reserves to continue to do so. Their early videos were geared towards friends and family and is reflected in the quality. But as viewership increased so did the effort and quality of their videos. The market demand for their product grew organically (I hate using that word in this context) and they realized that money could be made by meeting that demand. Like any venture, they invested in new equipment and developing ways to improve their product.

I consider the six year evolution of the Delos crew from independent vacationers to a cruising media enterprise to be a far cry from those who shamelessly establish themselves as entitled charity cases long before they even embark on their voyage.

[BlueBuddha]

Thank you all for the comments. It's pretty interesting to see the variety of opinions about some of these video series.

Getting back to my original question, I just finished watching the entire pacific crossing series by Shaun Sailing (Shawn Bockmaster). I enjoyed the first 1/2 tremendously but then it became an "island tour" series. There is nothing wrong with that, and I'm sure one day when I'm getting ready to sail those islands I will appreciate it even more. Yet, i'm looking specifically about series that put more emphasis on the sailing part of it (as opposed to the sightseeing). Again, nothing wrong with the guide tour style of video blogs, I'm just looking for video blogs of similar long passages/cruising with a bit more discussion about sailing/navigating, etc. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[NOLA_sailing]

Originally Posted by BlueBuddha

Thank you all for the comments. It's pretty interesting to see the variety of opinions about some of these video series.

Getting back to my original question, I just finished watching the entire pacific crossing series by Shaun Sailing (Shawn Bockmaster). I enjoyed the first 1/2 tremendously but then it became an "island tour" series. There is nothing wrong with that, and I'm sure one day when I'm getting ready to sail those islands I will appreciate it even more. Yet, i'm looking specifically about series that put more emphasis on the sailing part of it (as opposed to the sightseeing). Again, nothing wrong with the guide tour style of video blogs, I'm just looking for video blogs of similar long passages/cruising with a bit more discussion about sailing/navigating, etc. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

If you're looking for storm and weather tactics, there are a number of videos featuring Skip Novak who specializes in high latitude voyaging.

[donradcliffe]

Its not a circumnavigation, its only a Panama to Hawaii passage, but its worth watching

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGnDpkXWSL0

[BlueBuddha]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

Its not a circumnavigation, its only a Panama to Hawaii passage, but its worth watching

Thank you! this is exactly the type of videos I was looking for. I like seeing the process of sailing as it actually happens, both the "boring" and "exciting" stuff.

I loved this line: "This is why they invented cruise ships.... but not! I have to have my own boat!"

I also enjoyed this one also tremendously, especially the dancing part

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28TAdDu5L6U

[Sailorman Ed]

The formula seems to be: alter 30-second videos of your port visits with 2-minute segments clowning around the boat, have one or two 20-something girls in bikinis narrate your video

I had to go back to watch sv Delos again and sure enough there are girls in bikinis!!!!

It is OK, the wife and I still enjoy their videos but wonder how the manage to get them so slick. I say to them, "good on ya"

Got my first quadcopotor for early Christmas, have landed in 2 trees already - will be a very long time before I can take pics of the boat at some island.