What makes you watch YouTube sailing videos?

I'm a bit of a winter YouTube sailing addict. Need to get my fix each week. The same as any entertainment medium, I do go through spells of getting bored of certain channels and then discovering new ones. As an example Delos, I'm getting a little weary of, same with Madz, you can only watch so much sanding. This is a new one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JygWqX6cpRI that I've got in to, quite low viewing figures at present but he certainly knows what he's doing and seems pretty genuine and not in to much faffing around. I used to race, but fell out of favour with it, though I still appreciate the drive that is required.
 
laika said:
I'll also add in "or you know them" (which doesn't preclude any of the above also applying to you Yngmar)

But from the earlier thread it seems that fairly ordinary people doing fairly ordinary things can rack up views in 5 figures.
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Thanks for the link. Despite it we only rack up views in the 2 figures, so don't ask me for the secret ingredient, definitely haven't found it yet :)

laika said:
What ingredients does a youtube sailing channel have to have to keep you coming back?
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We follow a few, although don't religiously watch every minute of it. Reasons vary:

  • Funny and/or hilariously bad at stuff (La Vagabonde, Zingaro)
  • Learning how to do boat work (Sail Life, Britaly) - or sometimes how not to :P
  • Interesting cruising area (Drakeparagon, RAN) - we drop in an out and skip over the boring bits and talking heads, but watch for the scenery
  • People we know/met (although I draw the line at slideshows)
  • Doing unusual/cool stuff, like sailing on a tight budget, fitting DIY electric propulsion or saving animals (Kittiwake, Chuffed. Uma lost us with their pooping in anchorages)
  • Single-handers, because I used to be one (Old Seadog, Whitespotpirates)
  • Boobies help, but only if combined with one of the above (so not Delos)
  • Drama (like that boat with the blown out log transducer - but usually just that one episode)

It's also always interesting to me seeing other people's boats, how they do stuff on them and what equipment they chose (and how it's working out for them). Learning from other people breaking their stuff is much cheaper than breaking your own!
 
I watch several of the Youtube videos that have been mentioned, but yesterday I ran out of new ones to watch. I did notice one in the side column on the Youtube page about a trip from Plymouth (home port) to Falmouth, and ended up spending all afternoon and evening watching about 20 or so of the videos!! Squires Lady Refit is really worth a look-see. Not too long and basically straight to the point: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGUzAsfCNYtuhPosvfb5CAQ/videos

And towards the end of the last video I watched I realised that I actually knew of the boat when it was a wreck on the Tamar!
 
Not everyone's replies make it clear what qualities a series needs to have to make it watchable but there's several more ideas here so thanks. I still wasn't entirely clear why the Lady K sailing videos which prompted the question seem to have thousands of views. I skim-watched a couple more to check the "mayday mayday" wasn't just a viral fluke: they each had more than 5k views and were...very ordinary. Their cruising ground isn't challenging or unusual. There were no admirable displays of craftsmanship. They apparently think that a lack of wind for a 100mile trip is a *good* thing. But maybe the ordinariness is the key: there's hundreds of thousands of folks in the US and canada who aspire to the Jimmy Buffett islands lifestyle and here's a couple of very ordinary people making it happen (with ok production values).

But what do I know. I don't get the appeal of pewdiepie either.

When I start my youtube channel I'm going to take Yngmar's advice and include some shots of perky little fellahs like these:
RFBO%20520x289(1).jpg
 
A lot of it also depends on how well you're marketing the channel. These days you've got to be all over the Instafacetwits or you don't exist. And you've got to put in some work to network there (or hire a teenager to do it for you). And if your boobies don't do the job, maybe a cute ass will:

7e4efjllx1tz.jpg


Good luck! I've decided to stick to blogging for now, but we have a lot of unprocessed footage (some quite exciting) that I'm trying to inspire the first mate to edit some day.
 
Yngmar said:
Thanks for the link. Despite it we only rack up views in the 2 figures, so don't ask me for the secret ingredient, definitely haven't found it yet :)

.....
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One sneaky thing to look out for, in terms of image quality.

I see Youtube have loaded your videos with the avc codec, which is poor and degrades the quality of your work even if loaded in high definition. Fast moving shots at times can be made pixelated and almost unwatchable. They do this to folks who have a low number of hits.

No wonder the "big" sites look good and people say: "gee their photography is so good - what colour, what definition!" :(

Here is a man who knows, telling you about it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfszfVlKyZg&feature=youtu.be

Unfortunately his fix does not work anymore. All you can do is make sure you upload new stuff not in 1080 but 1440 and this, for the moment, forces the vp9 codec which will make the streamed video shiny and brilliant, like the toffs and big shots.
 
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What tends to draw me in is the search for a boat, and the repair and upgrade projects.

Ultimately though, it's about the sailing action and cross ocean passages - absolutely love it when the videographer catches the elements and the sea states well.

I do like to see different ports of call, but when it becomes all about the land travels, I kind of get a bit frustrated that I'd like to see these things with my own eyes and don't want it spoiling for when/if I ever do.

Have been searching for a decent bunch of UK home sailing exploits in this format, but not really stumbled across anything as gripping as the circumnavigation exploits of UK sailors/couples.
 
Interesting that people like quite different things from their Youtube videos.

For me, endless videos about finding and doing up the boat get pretty tedious. Sailing Uma were quite good to start with as they kept the pace up and took on some huge jobs, hats off to them. But once they hit the water I found watching somebody do a day sail pretty boring tbh.
This is where Delos wins every time for me- proper voyaging to far off places. I've yet to find another channel that continues to produce videos of that quality and interest

(Teleport were great, just a shame that they stopped).
 
- Videos that actually show sailing
- Videos where people aren’t constantly asking for “support”

I feel platforms like Patreon and PayPal have ruined the spirit of Youtube as videos are now a commercial venture for most rather than a hobby. Instead of showing genuinely interesting and engaging material it’s all about views, likes, subscriptions and patrons for financial gain, and to be seen as an “influencer” to attract sponsors and freebies. This results in click bait titles, thumbnails of half naked ladies and endless snorkelling videos to exploit their “assets”.

With that in mind, some i’ve enjoyed:

- Pandorak
- Erik Aanderaa
- co256ra
- junkming
- mjcooke2
- Patrick Laine

I feel those videos are genuine people following their passions and bringing you along, rather than tailoring videos for the market.
 
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Simon__ said:
- Videos that actually show sailing
- Videos where people aren’t constantly asking for “support”

I feel platforms like Patreon and PayPal have ruined the spirit of Youtube as videos are now a commercial venture for most rather than a hobby. Instead of showing genuinely interesting and engaging material it’s all about views, likes, subscriptions and patrons for financial gain, and to be seen as an “influencer” to attract sponsors and freebies. This results in click bait titles, thumbnails of half naked ladies and endless snorkelling videos to exploit their “assets”.

With that in mind, some i’ve enjoyed:

- Pandorak
- Erik Aanderaa
- co256ra
- junkming
- mjcooke2
- Patrick Laine

I feel those videos are genuine people following their passions and bringing you along, rather than tailoring videos for the market.
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Absolutely. Spot on.

I have been half heartedly following one channel and the bloke has just given a heart rending plea for money. He obviously has more real estate assets than me, his boat is worth more, he dresses well and has no obvious cash problems even his missus is very pretty.
Why in God's creation should I sponsor his sailing in the West Indies whilst I scratch about in the rain? :D
 
essexsj said:
Ultimately though, it's about the sailing action and cross ocean passages - absolutely love it when the videographer catches the elements and the sea states well.
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(my bold)

This fascinates me as well and I've been thinking a lot about how to accomplish it.

I don't think anything I've seen has been able to capture the essence of it (according to my feeling), so I wonder if it's even possible. One thought is that creating video/audio is worse than actually being able to write about it really well (as in good books). When reading stuff you are allowed to create your own vivid reality/perceptions surrounding the text, and that's harder when all the answers are put there right in your face with video and audio.
 
Why do people watch what they do on TV ?
Why does it matter ?
As far as sailing channels on You Tube - they are just not significant or popular, apart from DELOS and La VAGABONDE.
Make up channels get millions of subscribers whereas most sailing channels get a few thousand.
 
I also watch a few channels so I don’t have to sit through the drivel SWMBO watches. I like to get an idea about kit in use and how well it stands up to life aboard. Some of those “kids” are swanning about in cruisers that are worth the price of a very decent house. Makes me wonder where I went wrong... ;)

Bikini clad eye candy is one reason I won’t watch a channel, if that’s the hook, they usually have nothing else to offer.
 
Bru said:
I can't summon up any interest in a bunch of irritatingly attractive twenty something's in bikinis and speedos swanning around the Crabibean on a quarter million dollar yacht.

I can when there's nothing better to do pass the time watching a genuine couple on a boat I could aspire to doing stuff I'd quite to do myself
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Perhaps you might if you were 20 something with a wad of cash & a £250K yacht on the Caribean.


Although on second thoughts you probably would not have to watch vids at all then
 
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