La Vagabonde's crossing

[jzk]

Originally Posted by funjohnson

They've said before that it was discounted from Outremer. Regardless, they are in the category of over a million a year from their videos (speculation is closer to 2 million with sponsorships). So financed or not, they can afford it.

Matt

It is really hard to tell how much a youtube channel makes, but there are sites out there that will try to analyze a channel. The one I tried estimates that LV generates about $1373 per video. They put much work into their videos and they have seriously improved since the beginning. They are living the American dream, capitalism at its finest. And more power to them. Guy gets sailboat. Gets hot girl to sail with him. Makes youtube channel showing off hot girl on sailing adventure and gets a million subscribers. Now he hooks up with politically charged Greta and gets the whole world to watch.

There is one fishing channel out there with tons of subscribers and views, and 90% of it is just showing his hot gf off in her different assorted thong bathing suits. And, the fishing content is excellent. She pulls in one fish after another, or catches one lobster after another with her spear gun. Viewers want to view, advertisers pay to advertise, and money is made from great sailing/fishing adventures. And they sell the fishing gear in their Amazon store. It is the ultimate win-win-win.

[jzk]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Either way it’s Social media, they are selling a product, it’s not real, none of any of that stuff is.
Surely you don’t think “reality” shows are real either?
https://www.boredpanda.com/instagram...mpaign=organic

The product that they are selling is you, the viewer. The customer is the advertiser.

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by jzk

The product that they are selling is you, the viewer. The customer is the advertiser.

Exactly!..... but I think nowadays they are called "Social Influencers", whereas before that power was in the hands of journalists and traditional media outlets, controlled very closely by the advertisers.

I like the LV crew and don't begrudge them their successes. They are nice people, continually pinching themselves over their amazing good fortune and growing list of opportunities.
Yet I believe they are smart enough to navigate the more treacherous forms of temptations while staying true to themselves.

I didn't know much about Greta before following this thread but saw one interview where she confessed that "she didn't really like people"

I think this trip has been good for her and I bet she has a crush on Riley![emoji4]

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Terje Vigen

I stand corrected once more: I don't know whether the boat is leased, or whether they have a loan on it.

https://www.multihullcentral.com/aus...outube-videos/


"YouTube sensation Riley and Elayna of ‘Sailing La Vagabonde’ have just landed a wonderful deal with legendary French catamaran manufacturer, Outremer Yachting, to extend their cruising adventures onboard a new Outremer 45 involving a historic sponsorship deal confirming the power of social media."
...
“ They had issues finding a loan for their boat, so we stepped in helping them getting a lease” explain Xavier Desmarest, CEO of Outremer.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

I didn't know much about Greta before following this thread but saw one interview where she confessed that "she didn't really like people"

That would be classic Aspergers, and it comes from not understanding people and not being able to pick up on social cues to know when they are being made fun of or not.

[OldKetch]

Back to sailing (boooring )

12 hours ago they changed course briefly to ESE, and then abruptly to NE. Slowed down first to 5-6kn then to 3-4kn. Wondering if they ran out of wind and now they are trying to catch the Southern flank of the low expected to develop along 45N over Thursday. Models show calming conditions in their present location, but not so much as to explain this slowdown. Also, the developing low with 30kn sustained on the flank looks somewhat risky.

Screenshot from the excellent https://www.oceanshepherd.co.uk/
One may have to enlarge to see the blue dots are visible on the black background. Maybe a higher contrast black dots on white background would work better.

[jmh2002]

For those speculating about how they got the Outremer (and posting incorrect info) the details are all in videos on their channel:

- Riley saw an Outremer in Venezuela, spent Christmas with the owners, and fell in love with the boat
- Riley contacted the Outremer CEO and said "have I got a deal for you..."
- Outremer's Marketing Manager was already a follower and a fan of their YouTube channel
- They went to France for a boatyard tour, meetings, and eventually a deal
- They participated in the Outremer Cup on different boats while they were there
- Outremer gave them "a reduced price on the boat"
- Because of the channel they were also able to get "a big discount on sails and navigational gear"
- Outremer helped them with getting finance (borrowing money is cheap in France these last years)
- They are paying off the loan using the income from the YouTube channel
- The initial proposal may have been for 1 year but that may have changed during negotiations (in any case it's been a success, and has been extended)

So no free boat. A reduced price, discounts on other gear, and some assistance finding finance in a foreign country.

All in all not particularly unusual given the circumstances of the mutually beneficial arrangement between themselves and Outremer.

Either way it's good to stick to the facts though, irrespective of whether you like them or their channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6Peu07J8aY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqTs6Er1Bgg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMYT5E_oeC4

[myocean]

Originally Posted by jmh2002

So no free boat. A reduced price, discounts on other gear, and some assistance finding finance in a foreign country.

Actually I have been told by insiders it is a regular yacht leasing deal. France has good legislation for this.

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by myocean

Actually I have been told by insiders it is a regular yacht leasing deal. France has good legislation for this.

That would also fit in with what has been described.

In either case it's vastly different from some of the nonsense floating around on the internet about their situation.

I don't really want to derail the thread regarding this. Just one post to state the facts as Riley and Elayna have described them.

Back to Weather and Routing now.

[Terje Vigen]

Originally Posted by OldKetch

Back to sailing (boooring )

Fresh update from Nikki Henderson's Facebook.
"Just another day in the office type of thing"
But also revealing how their weather routing plan is: "...heading North to search for the NWesterlies..."

Day 15

After a speedy day averaging 10 knots straight towards Lisbon, it’s been a slow night. The wind is down to around 10 knots - which combined with a sloppy sea state left over from the wind we had today - makes for a relatively sluggish and noisy time - noisy due to the slapping of the sails from side to side in the swell. The sailors among you will I’m sure remember the sound well ... with a shudder perhaps! In fact good news is that it’s just begun to fill in and shift - happy days for me at 1 am on watch!

We are heading north to search out the NWesterlies for the next few days and position ourselves well for the latter part of the trip - where there is a chance of northerlies / NEasterly winds down the coast of Portugal. Ideally we would be downwind or at least taking those on our beam (side) - hence the trip up the map now.

The day was a relaxed one. Lots of reading - sleeping - I think a game of Yatzy snuck in there. In our groove. It was our 14th day too - not quite close enough to the end to start thinking about land plans - so just another day in the office type thing!

(Riley poring over the weather he downloaded, Greta with her audio book and Svante with his page turner.)

[Breaking Waves]

Originally Posted by Terje Vigen

update from Nikki Henderson's Facebook.

"We are heading north to search out the NWesterlies for the next few days and position ourselves well for the latter part of the trip - where there is a chance of northerlies / NEasterly winds down the coast of Portugal. Ideally we would be downwind or at least taking those on our beam (side) - hence the trip up the map now."

yup, sounds about right, rather close to one of my recent posts

Watching their boat speed vs wind speed thru this period I believe they did a bit of motor sailing (probably prudent). Which does explain in part why they were persistently south of the routing recently - light air holes will not cost them as much as I was calculating - the routing programs do have a 'motor sailing' toggle (where you can set parameters about when and how hard the motor will be used). I had left it in 'race mode' (eg zero motor use). They clearly don't want to, and are not, motoring for long periods, but may be willing to use it to bridge occasional gaps.

[Cherod]

Originally Posted by Terje Vigen

Riley just updated their Facebook with a selfie and an interesting shot of their chart plotter:

I don’t think this is any intended long term course , just a temporary one , their long term intended course is also marked

[Cherod]

Perhaps the calm periods may not be so bad as forecast , would appear that the wind gods are being kinder to them than some of the nasties on here

[Terje Vigen]

Originally Posted by Cherod

hopefully unaware ) of all the bullshitters

Most probably they are unaware. And if not, my guess is they would just shrug their shoulders. At least Greta Thunberg is used to MUCH more negative comments from adult males. And also from VERY MUCH more influential adult males (Putin, Trump, etc)

[Cherod]

Yes I expect they are unaware , but frankly for atoll to cast doubt on the parenthood of the child deserves nothing less than swift punch in the nose , I know that in my part of the world that would be the norm ,, I wonder how brave the keyboard warrior would be if they ever do come face to face ( which since Vagy will be in Europe there is a fair chance that they may well pass throo the mud flats that are Southampton )