Is it just me, or are the YT videos discouraging to beginners?

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Matt300ZXT

Assuming Canada lets me in, I'm going to take some sailing lessons over the next few weeks from a friendly sailor up there and try to find some racers or some other people that'll teach me what I need to know that requires a hands-on approach that I can't learn from books, but with all these tons of YouTube videos I've been watching from some popular channels, they almost all seem to be subtly discouraging to anyone wanting to get into it; unless of course they spend $40,000 or more on a 25-35' boat with everything replaced or updated in the last 5 years. I hear stories of people spending $10-15k, or even less, on a sailboat and hopping in and cruising down the coastline to the tropics, or even across the ocean over into Europe somewhere but I can't seem to find many, or any videos from those people.

Are there channels that are actually geared towards people buying an affordable toy to go get wet, or are most of the popular YouTubers slightly elitist?

stop watching videos and just go sailing!!

[SailFastTri]

Some good advice above. Looking beyond the boat at the prospect of a sustainable lifestyle - how are you going to fund food, marinas/haulouts/repairs, fuel and trash disposal/pumpouts? (Yes these things cost money, and outside the US it’s also common to have to pay for water.)
I’ve met some under-funded cruisers with various sob stories where something went wrong with their plan and they had inadequate financial reserves to get themselves and their boat out of trouble in a far away place. It’s a sad thing but I had to ask “What were they thinking when they set out with no Plan B?” You’ve probably heard the worn out phrase “cruising is fixing boats in exotic places”? It’s true.

[shrspeedblade]

A great book for budget cruising I just finished is Get Real, Get Gone. Mostly just reinforced what I've learned from others but really helps you understand what you can accomplish if you keep it simple and keep it (relatively) small.

For YT channels Atom Voyages, it may inspire you to read James Baldwin's books and you'll be the better for it to understand how you can REALLY cruise on a budget.

As some have mentioned, Sam Holmes and Sailing Triteia are good, especially for illustrating the kind of boat to look for.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by shrspeedblade

A great book for budget cruising I just finished is Get Real, Get Gone. Mostly just reinforced what I've learned from others but really helps you understand what you can accomplish if you keep it simple and keep it (relatively) small.

Yeah in the 7+ years of full time cruising I came across a LOT more falling apart, never moving, boats in anchorages using those practices than I came across acturally cruising. I know of cruisers who have a a boat a hair from sinking and have not moved in years, but are still "cruising".

It is easy to live on a boat for cheap and you can see it all over the waters. But is a lot different to cruise (defined by regularly moving hundreds of miles).

There are only a few key things to cruise "cheap:
- marinas
- dining and drinking out
- maintaining the boat or allowing it to slowly, or quickly, fall apart

[Rackman]

The sailors you're talking about are not the youtube type. The youtube people are just trying to make money. My last boat was a Caliber 28 that I bought for $4,000 and it was a great coastal cruiser! There were times when there would be five of us on that boat and all was well. Happy boat hunting!!!

[NorthCoastJoe]

I have reached the time when I need to fish or cut bait. I will be putting my Pearson 30 up for sale soon. I set it up to run the California coast from San Francisco to the Channel Islands.
I put in a new Yanmar 3GM30F and entire drive line including the prop. It is a bit overpowered but great bashing into the current. New offshore sails everything on a 1976 hull. So its a bomb proof ready to go boat if you are interested. I have put a good chunk of cash into it to get it to this state. Looking for offers. It is a turn key and I would take it anywhere.

The new big boat is now my time suck, but it will be home for a time in the future.

[Kd9truck]

Yea, it can be hard work, the sailing is just a small (but important) part of it. “Discouraging” “elitist “ sounds about right at a glance. Dig deeper and you will find most will fall over their helms to help. Most are extroverted introverts and the others are introverted extraverts. Few sailboat owners partially cruise and even fewer can do it full time. Get a good starter and see where it takes you.

[Merrypup]

What's your channel? I watch Sam Holmes and a few others. I much prefer the smaller guys and the rawness of their vids.

[CMH]

We’ve been living full time on our sailing ketch in the sea of Cortez for two years now ( except for the holidays) and document all of it - good, bad, ugly, beautiful, heaven, and hell. We are NOT a T and A channel like many channels on YT, and we are not into this for the money. In fact, we’re likely one of the few non-Patron channels.
We can be found on utube.com/sailingbluepearl of you want an idea of what it takes to bing a 40 year old boat back to life.
Chris
PS. To the OP: we’ve found the cruising community to be like a family. If anyone needs help, everyone comes. Yes, get going, get gone!

[Matt300ZXT]

Originally Posted by CMH

We’ve been living full time on our sailing ketch in the sea of Cortez for two years now ( except for the holidays) and document all of it - good, bad, ugly, beautiful, heaven, and hell. We are NOT a T and A channel like many channels on YT, and we are not into this for the money. In fact, we’re likely one of the few non-Patron channels.
We can be found on utube.com/sailingbluepearl of you want an idea of what it takes to bing a 40 year old boat back to life.
Chris
PS. To the OP: we’ve found the cruising community to be like a family. If anyone needs help, everyone comes. Yes, get going, get gone!

A 65 footer?! My God that's a GIANT boat lol I Googled your make/model to see some pictures and that is massive. I wouldn't know what to do with that much. I'm by myself, and unless I just have some friends with me when I'm staying local to Maine, I'll be driving the thing 100% solo, unless I can train my dog to help with the anchor or trimming sails. Maybe I'll meet the woman of my dreams in some port somewhere and then I'll have someone to help and can upgrade I'll check out some of your videos and subscribe. Thanks for chiming in.

[Foswick]

This guy is a hero: https://youtu.be/ez9Cy3P1H9M

[SV THIRD DAY]

What people think they know vs reality is very hard to get on a Cruising Chat Rooms (where posts are often made to make the poster look good) or on YouTube Videos (which are made to generate the poster money, not to educate you). It's why most people are able to purchase and outfit their SECOND boat smarter and more to their liking than their first boat.

If I would have listened to the Experts I would have never went cruising....and in fact I would have been too afraid to leave my couch.

[Morris Wilson]

Take a serious look at the suggestion by boatman 61 of the Cape Dory 26. I have an Alberg 37 and see a lot of Carl Alberg design in that Cape Dory. It will have a very solid hull and the full keel will introduce you more to the handling of a larger boat. A 26' is a great size for single handing and learning.

[JordanH]

Originally Posted by Matt300ZXT

Are there channels that are actually geared towards people buying an affordable toy to go get wet, or are most of the popular YouTubers slightly elitist?

I mean... if you're going to run a youtube channel that is hitting the tops of the algorithms, the chances are that your camera, audio, computer hardware, data storage and bandwidth that are required will cost more than $15k alone. Especially if you start to include the power equipment (gensets/solar panels, batteries etc) to be out sailing and charging all that digital equipment. So you probably aren't seeing a low-budget sailor with high-budget film production.


There are lots of low budget sailors, everything from pocket cruisers down to dinghy sailing. They may not have the camera equipment available to make a YouTube channel.



And, as for the cost of a boat, I mean, the cost of purchasing a boat isn't the cost of owning a boat. The REAL cost of a boat is how you maintain and store it. You write, "with everything replaced or updated in the last 5 years", well, yeah, things in a marine environment wear-out frequently and routinely. It's harsh environment and you should expect to replace everything on your boat eventually. And as for storing a boat, it can easily add up to the cost of an "inexpensive boat" yearly. Marinas don't charge you by the value of your boat. So a $15k 30' boat costs you the same in slip fees as a $150k 30' boat... Sailing, in Canada, is an expensive endeavour, relative to other countries; We have short sailing seasons and high costs of keeping a boat on land around the Great Lakes. I suspect the coasts do as well.
There are great ways to keep the costs down, you can sail small, you can trailer sail, you can join yacht clubs and sail from a base location for years. But you can't live "Delos style" in Canada for cheap.

Remember, youtubers are trying to appeal to their paying audience. They'll be pushing product that companies want to sell to paying customers Even channels like Sailing Uma took a "cheap" boat to start with, but look at how much they have had to put into it in terms of effort and materials rebuild it. All the way to the core.... that's not a $15k boat.

If you're on a super tight budget, you may like channels like Roger Barnes' channel. Or lookup some other pocket cruiser sailing channels.


No... YouTubers aren't elitist, it's just sailing big is expensive.


Lower budget sailing channels like "WhiteSpotPirates" would be a very different scenarios if they tried to sail like that in Canada. You can check out some older "Nick Jaffe" videos as well, although, you'll see what I mean about trying to produce videos from a Contessa26... how would you keep camera and computer and audio equipment dry and have space and power requirements to work on a daily basis? These channels are definitely not elitist and definitely are/were on a budget.

You write, " I hear stories of people spending $10-15k, or even less, on a sailboat and hopping in and cruising down the coastline to the tropics, or even across the ocean over into Europe.." Well, yeah, I suspect that you only hear stories of them and not see evidence because they're just stories. Some people, like Nick Jaffe, "made it" and are real. But those are really rare cases. If you lookup "Sailing Gently" on youtube, he has some videos about how much it costs to ship or sail a boat from Europe to the Caribbean. He gives a lot of information on costs... generally speaking a $10-15k boat will require a lot of upgrades to handle that type of sailing, and they will cost more than the boat at that price range. People just don't do that on a $10k boat. Even your $40k boat suggestion seems low by the time you've included the costs to be ready to go.

And if you're looking for suggestions for cruising the world on a budget, I highly recommend the Contessa 26. I suspect it's the closest you come to sailing the oceans on a small budget. I may be biased. ;-)

[Kenatsea]

Hi Matt,

Here's our story, add it to all the other good ideas in the replies. I'll try the short version.
1) Wanted a sailboat, have had several powerboats in the past but we were looking for some peace and quiet out there as well. Bought a 34' sloop in decent shape for $11.5K. put about $10K in it over the next couple of years and learned to sail. Boat was in very good condition at this point.
2) Decided that we really liked the lifestyle and needed a bigger one to continue the dream of one day sailing off for more extended trips.
3) bought a much larger boat that we thought would work out. Had it surveyed, came back pretty good (it wasn't ). And sold the 34' to a couple of guys whom have been sailing that boat all over Mexico for about three years now.
4) We on the other hand have been spending the past three years "upgrading" our current boat. Don't get me wrong, we love the boat. But in order to make it safe and reliable we've had to complete some major repair/replacements, doing this part time in another country (Mexico) has been a little bit of a bummer, mostly because we haven't bee able to take it out yet. This is changing as it's "just about done".
5) So I guess what I'm really trying to convey to you is to start cheap and small, make sure it's the right lifestyle for you. The people you will meet with in the community are fantastic, the life style is great just not easy.

All the best,
Ken S/V Azul - Mazatlán Mx.