Dylan Winter, where he at?

[Max Campbell]

I've just re-found Dylan, and trying to understand the Fisher situation, then searched out this thread, and there's no apology for bumping it.

I've read the whole thread, and it's good to understand the history.

I'd just like to go on the record giving Dylan a positive vote of thanks for all the effort he went in to, both doing the sailing and the thankless task (almost literally) of editing and publishing videos. I bought a set of DVD's, but haven't contributed enough, over the years, to allow Dylan to spend the necessary amount of time making content.

I hope I bump into him somewhere between the Deben, and my home port of Brightlingsea - at Morgan Marine next year, on the pontoons.

I had the honour of being filmed by him twice - second time at Shotley, here

 

[Sunny265]

If you don't pay for something then surely you are freeloading by definition?

Last time I checked YouTube was free or is that freeloading?

 

[Sunny265]

The 24-page epic thread about the copyrighted photo that Dylan used without permission: I have just been Alan Mackie'd

I think I honestly must conclude that Mr Winter is some kind of black hole of unrealised irony.

He's a content creator who relies on copyright for his own livelihood, who gets annoyed with people, calling them freeloaders, who view for free the videos he published openly on a public platform. Then he freeloads someone else's creative content and gets annoyed when they send him a demand to be paid for their work!

Nothing against the bloke personally, but I have to laugh!

He seemed to have quite a bit of support in the Alan Mackie thread - plenty of people agreeing with him that "it's only a photo" - so not like he was bullied away.

Totally agree, a very clever and talented man and his KTL videos were outstanding, DW was one of the YouTube contributors who influenced me to buy a boat, does that mean that I owe him money?
I got fed up with his moaning about money all the time…

 

[ghostlymoron2]

If you don't pay for something then surely you are freeloading by definition?

I can't understand why Dylan has such a problem with YouTube. I follow several sailing /restoration Youtubers who seem to make a reasonable living from their videos. Maybe Dylan expects too much or doesn't have enough interesting content.

 

[Lucky Duck]

I can't understand why Dylan has such a problem with YouTube. I follow several sailing /restoration Youtubers who seem to make a reasonable living from their videos. Maybe Dylan expects too much or doesn't have enough interesting content.

My recollection was he got into difficulties in the early days by encouraging viewers to click on adverts even if they had no interest whatsoever in what was being advertised.

Currently can be found on Sailing Anarchy of all places

 

[Blueboatman]

Time for a keep turning the other way surely ?

In winter in a Fisher.

Or, Winter in a Fisher

Or sommat

He did say if he was forced to chug up and down the Deben for ever that would be a challenge to his mental acuities iirc

 

[Refueler]

When KTL first appeared online ... myself and a pals Video Production Company offered to market for him ... but at that time he said he was not so interested commercially - that it was a passion to do the KTL and post for all to watch ...

Our offer was offered totally for him to control and help fund the whole ... to provide regular DVD's at set intervals etc ... and final Disc Sets ...

Seems that our thoughts of his needing funding came true ... but by then of course it was too late.

I still have quite a sequence of his videos .. and they are superb ... well he is a professional Cameraman etc. His video of the Thames barges is a classic.

I agree that once he ventured round Scotland - it seemed the sequencial videos took a hit - it became disjointed. The narration and content had lost its crisp appeal ... probably because of the often travel to and fro ... to try and maintain the series.
Very sad that circumnav has not been completed in same vein as it started .... I am sure that with his skill with a camera and narration - with a video producer - could have created a valuable Movie covering it ... who knows what rewards could have been.

I watch various sailing series on YT - but none have come close to KTL's first videos ....

 

[Mark-1]

When KTL first appeared online ... myself and a pals Video Production Company offered to market for him ... but at that time he said he was not so interested commercially - that it was a passion to do the KTL and post for all to watch ...

Our offer was offered totally for him to control and help fund the whole ... to provide regular DVD's at set intervals etc ... and final Disc Sets ...

Seems that our thoughts of his needing funding came true ... but by then of course it was too late.

I still have quite a sequence of his videos .. and they are superb ... well he is a professional Cameraman etc. His video of the Thames barges is a classic.

I agree that once he ventured round Scotland - it seemed the sequencial videos took a hit - it became disjointed. The narration and content had lost its crisp appeal ... probably because of the often travel to and fro ... to try and maintain the series.
Very sad that circumnav has not been completed in same vein as it started .... I am sure that with his skill with a camera and narration - with a video producer - could have created a valuable Movie covering it ... who knows what rewards could have been.

I watch various sailing series on YT - but none have come close to KTL's first videos ....

I loved his work but he was at his very best on the East Coast with he knew and loved. I think in 100 years times his work on the East Coast will be the 2125 equivalent of Cowper.

He didn't put a foot wrong AFAIC. He was entitled to grumble about money, and we were entitled to ignore it and enjoy his excellent work. Also a really, really nice guy IRL.

 

[Mister E]

I had a short discussion with him about how he made his films, it was not just simply filming while going for an enjoyable sail.
He told me that sometimes he would sail past the same headland, rock or something else even up to around 12 times. This was because when viewed back something would not be correct.
Then there would be hours of editing the videos.

When he got to Scotland the travelling time and his old vw golf getting beyond its reliability was another problem.
The costs of these journeys started to add up so as not to be really affordable.

 

[fredrussell]

Apols if it’s already been referred to, but his Sailing Anarchy threads are ‘quite well’ responded to. One of them currently has eighteen THOUSAND posts! Always liked his stuff and agree with Refueler - only YouTube sailing stuff I’ve ever followed. Wish he’d do more.

 

[Ceirwan]

I think people saying that he arrived a little too early on the scene are kind of missing the point a bit.
I've followed youtubers since the early early days, 2009ish and they have done and still do very well from the platform.

Unfortunately for Dylan the content that he produces is quite niche. it might have a broader appeal on a forum like this of people who sail small boats in the UK and some Americans that feel the same.

But its not got that mass appeal that it really needed to make a lot of money.
I know some people like to sneer at 'mass appeal' and popularity, but ultimately if you want to be paid to do something, you need to have a market.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I think people saying that he arrived a little too early on the scene are kind of missing the point a bit.
I've followed youtubers since the early early days, 2009ish and they have done and still do very well from the platform.

Unfortunately for Dylan the content that he produces is quite niche. it might have a broader appeal on a forum like this of people who sail small boats in the UK and some Americans that feel the same.

But its not got that mass appeal that it really needed to make a lot of money.
I know some people like to sneer at 'mass appeal' and popularity, but ultimately if you want to be paid to do something, you need to have a market.

@dylanwinter often said that his videos of big trucks were more remunerative than his sailing videos.

 

[KompetentKrew]

He screwed himself by losing his monetisation on YouTube.

He had these random little travelogues (the big trucks, but also I think canadian steam trains or something?) which had millions of views, generating steady revenue many years after he posted them.

If he'd had the income from that then (if I recollect it was in the order of 5-figures annually) then I bet he could've made the Scotland videos better.

As it was he just ended up bitter about it, and always moaning about how "unfair" this demonetisation was and how nobody bought his DVDs. Well, why would they? It's the 21st century and people watch this kind of content on YouTube these days.

 

[Ceirwan]

@AntarcticPilot Makes sense. Trucks seems to have a broad audience, especially in America.

Lesson learned is to keep channels separate if starting a side project. I'm surprised that the monetisation ban was permanent and something that couldn't be fought. But then again, giants like Google can pretty much do what they want.

 

[Refueler]

I think people saying that he arrived a little too early on the scene are kind of missing the point a bit.
I've followed youtubers since the early early days, 2009ish and they have done and still do very well from the platform.

Unfortunately for Dylan the content that he produces is quite niche. it might have a broader appeal on a forum like this of people who sail small boats in the UK and some Americans that feel the same.

But its not got that mass appeal that it really needed to make a lot of money.
I know some people like to sneer at 'mass appeal' and popularity, but ultimately if you want to be paid to do something, you need to have a market.

mmmmm I know a few people and also follow various YT 'rs for other disciplines ... all of them have complaints about YT monetisation having changed. Most have lost significant part of the revenue - some to an extent that they have stopped reviewing gear ... unless sent to them free.

KTL in the early seasons had a professional look that literally no others have today ... I start watching other boating sites and soon get tired of the poor dailogue ... video content can be good .. subject can be good ... but if the 'voice-over' is annoying ... its dead. It seems that the video is made without decent pre=planning of verbal script. KTL was good on both visual and dialogue. You felt you caould be watching a BBC documentary.

Niche ? Given the quality of the early seasons - I disagree ... yes of course you'd need to apprecaite boating - but his content was wide appeal stuff because it was professional standards.

Sadly later it lost its 'edge' ......

 

[lustyd]

It seems that the video is made without decent pre=planning of verbal script.

Most are made that way. Releasing weekly videos and planning and scripting them is extremely hard. Most of us just film what we can and make it up as we go along. Unfortunately that leads to some boring videos occasionally, or some that are unpopular. We made a video about Youghal, and not only is it not a place that people search for information on, but nothing really happened there since Walter Raleigh. Vlogging is the story of the people and their journey though, and often lives are boring.

 

[Refueler]

Most are made that way. Releasing weekly videos and planning and scripting them is extremely hard. Most of us just film what we can and make it up as we go along. Unfortunately that leads to some boring videos occasionally, or some that are unpopular. We made a video about Youghal, and not only is it not a place that people search for information on, but nothing really happened there since Walter Raleigh. Vlogging is the story of the people and their journey though, and often lives are boring.

I agree that its a skill that many do not have ... scripting ...

I have a few 'rant' videos on my channel ... basically I sat down with a scratch pad and noted key points I wanted to make ... about 10 - 20 mins ... then made the video .. deleting and remaking a couple of times. But that's option when sitting at desk at home.

Sitting on the boat making the video - obviously is not so easy to delete and remake ... things change all the time on board ... but a few mins with a pad and pencil could make a world of difference before starting the camera.

The worst I find are the Husband / Wife - Girlfriend videos of life on board - especially when it comes to repairs / replace etc .... its like watching Coronation Street with two players only !!

 

[lustyd]

I agree that its a skill that many do not have ... scripting ...

That’s not even close to what I said. Having a skill and using a skill are not the same thing. Writing scripts and research is a full time job, as is living life, as is filming, as is editing. There’s no time to achieve all of these even if you have the skills. There are only so many hours in a week, and some of us like to enjoy our lives.
You may not be the target demographic, but many are.

 

[ylop]

KTL in the early seasons had a professional look that literally no others have today ...

I maybe haven’t seen those videos but I don’t recall being blown away by his videos. My recollection was they were “a bit slow” (as sailing often is) and a bit dated looking. Perhaps that is the appeal for older viewers - nostalgia of a time when TV content wasn’t that great either?

I start watching other boating sites and soon get tired of the poor dailogue ... video content can be good .. subject can be good ... but if the 'voice-over' is annoying ... its dead.

I would certainly agree that audio is my number 1 gripe with any YouTube channel. Get the sound quality right, don’t repeat yourself/waffle, my time is too precious for that.

An occasional rant about something is OK, it helps them feel human, but where every episode is a moan it suck the fun out of watching. I honestly think he didn’t understand his audience and didn’t understand the commercial world he is operating in. Now that’s OK if you are “producing art” but you can’t really complain about the economics then.

It’s odd that having fallen out with YouTube that his content is still there… why would you leave it to make your nemesis money without making any yourself? Is it actually still a good shop window for private content?

 

[Refueler]

That’s not even close to what I said. Having a skill and using a skill are not the same thing. Writing scripts and research is a full time job, as is living life, as is filming, as is editing. There’s no time to achieve all of these even if you have the skills. There are only so many hours in a week, and some of us like to enjoy our lives.
You may not be the target demographic, but many are.

When I use the word 'scripting' ... I use the term lossely ...

I am not meaning scripwriter quality ... My point is that a few minutes jotting down main points and forming a dialogue in the head is worth that little bit of time.