Heads up, "Britain by Boat"

It’s a wasted opportunity. Two old blokes talking bxxxxxxs for hours. Dull. What they should have done was asked Dylan to do it.
 
C08 said:
This is an extremely irritatinfg programme full of inacuracies and pretence e.g. talking about how well they were managing the boat whilst sat on the coachroof yarning. However if you just look on it as light entertainement and do not expect much in the way of realistic sailing footage/situation and coverage of the places they visit it is is actuallyquite an enjoyable watch.
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Just realised we missed last nights episode, Oh well never mind
 
I have to say, I am enjoying it. OK its not all about sailing, but it is filmed well and contains enough to give non-sailing people a taste of a few of the joys we experience.

I agree it could be more realistic about boat ownership, although I very much doubt that the audience would be enthralled by watching me scrape and reapply anti-foul, service the engine or sit in the cabin waiting for freezing rain to slow enough to make the trip back form the mooring palatable.
 
PhillM said:
I have to say, I am enjoying it. OK its not all about sailing, but it is filmed well and contains enough to give non-sailing people a taste of a few of the joys we experience.

I agree it could be more realistic about boat ownership, although I very much doubt that the audience would be enthralled by watching me scrape and reapply anti-foul, service the engine or sit in the cabin waiting for freezing rain to slow enough to make the trip back form the mooring palatable.
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Might be more interesting than shopping for Tabasco.
 
However genuine or jestful these two men's sailing knowledge or periodic incompetence, the complicated jargon-laden business of sailing a yacht is surely more accessible to non-sailing viewers if the chaps involved barely know their way around too.

Like the various BBC Three Men in a Boat series...in which keen, teetotal yachtsman Griff Rhys-Jones attempted to describe the route and obstacles on various adventures afloat, but was accompanied by wilfully ignorant humorists Dara Ó Briain and Rory McGrath, who were usually focusing on which pub they might get inside next.

Focusing on minutiae in any subject, turns off everyone who doesn't already understand it. In the case of sailing, that leaves too small a group to make a TV show for. So, cue lots of worn-out salty clichés and don't spend more than a couple of minutes on board before describing the next port of call.

It's more watchable with the volume muted. That also prevents exposure to cringe-making shanty-singing and other embarrassments.

EDIT: On the other hand, I know very little about mountaineering, but I love watching detailed documentaries about it. Maybe those shows have also been dumbed-down for people like me; except that as a subject for TV, mountaineering isn't ingrained with a lot of historical horse-dung which encourages false notions such as all people of an island-nation basically having salt-water in their veins.
 
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dancrane said:
It's more watchable with the volume muted. That also prevents exposure to cringe-making shanty-singing and other embarrassments.
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Which of course applies to a lot of programmes. Plus you get to enjoy the incompetence (and lack of spelling checks or proof-reading) of the subtitle writers...

Mike.
 
dancrane said:
However genuine or jestful these two men's sailing knowledge or periodic incompetence, the complicated jargon-laden business of sailing a yacht is surely more accessible to non-sailing viewers if the chaps involved barely know their way around too.

Like the various BBC Three Men in a Boat series...in which keen, teetotal yachtsman Griff Rhys-Jones attempted to describe the route and obstacles on various adventures afloat, but was accompanied by wilfully ignorant humorists Dara Ó Briain and Rory McGrath, who were usually focusing on which pub they might get inside next.

Focusing on minutiae in any subject, turns off everyone who doesn't already understand it. In the case of sailing, that leaves too small a group to make a TV show for. So, cue lots of worn-out salty clichés and don't spend more than a couple of minutes on board before describing the next port of call.

It's more watchable with the volume muted. That also prevents exposure to cringe-making shanty-singing and other embarrassments.

EDIT: On the other hand, I know very little about mountaineering, but I love watching detailed documentaries about it. Maybe those shows have also been dumbed-down for people like me; except that as a subject for TV, mountaineering isn't ingrained with a lot of historical horse-dung which encourages false notions such as all people of an island-nation basically having salt-water in their veins.
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Mountaineering is probably easier for lay people to relate to, the hazards are obvious, the discomforts known to many. Sailing is much less accessible.
 
awol said:
Are you guys trying to tell me it's not a fly-on-the-wall documentary on the sailing scene and its participants in the south of England?
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The Cowes yacht club bit was the nearest they have got so far, I think. It looked to be pretty typical Solent sailing (they even managed to include a snide comment about a motor boat), though the social side they showed seemed a tad informal for my taste.
 
awol said:
Are you guys trying to tell me it's not a fly-on-the-wall documentary on the sailing scene and its participants in the south of England?
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Very little contact with other participants in the sailing scene so the small number featured can hardly be typical!

Just be grateful the weather was so good this year and the boat photogenic so much of it is visually delightful. Just the rubbish narrative and the characters grating together, even though individually they can be good performers

Suspect though from the way the boat is sailed in the mostly light airs it is a bit of a handful in a decent breeze so drifting along under reduced canvas is the best approach.
 
Tranona said:
Very little contact with other participants in the sailing scene so the small number featured can hardly be typical!

Just be grateful the weather was so good this year and the boat photogenic so much of it is visually delightful. Just the rubbish narrative and the characters grating together, even though individually they can be good performers

Suspect though from the way the boat is sailed in the mostly light airs it is a bit of a handful in a decent breeze so drifting along under reduced canvas is the best approach.
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Looked like industrial strength weather helm to me. In the first episode they had it reefed down in what appeared to be a Force 2 gale!
 
dancrane said:
It's more watchable with the volume muted. That also prevents exposure to cringe-making shanty-singing and other embarrassments.
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I had two friends in the female shanty singers group, who spoke most highly of the berk and his corporal. Because apparently, they were very p*ssed. Went up quite highly in everyone's esteem
 
I saw the final episode last night & enjoyed it:
A beautiful boat, sailing in my local cruising ground with far better weather than I remember experiencing.
Like other posters have said, it is a celebrity series not a sailing series, but good for the pictures.
Continuity was discontinuous.
All that varnish!!! Buerk needed his sunglasses.
 
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