Yell Sound, The Shetland Bus, Sea Lice, Curlews and Bikinis

[JumbleDuck]

I never said my budget was ordinary

Indeed you did not, but you suggested that £6.5k was the cost of keeping a Centaur up here, which it isn't, or even close.

I sincerely apologisse to you if at some stage I have said something that has upset you in some way

Oh good heavens, my dear chap, not in the least and anyway, I'm remarkably hard to upset. TIINRL (The Internet Is Not Real Life), as we used to say.

 

[Mister E]

I think that there is a very good lesson to be learned from Dylans experience here.

Scotland is generally a very good place to keep a boat. The moorings are very good value both marina pontoons and the other very cheap options.

However Dylans experience of not keeping a boat in one place for any time is different to most of us, thus he has to pay the daily or sometimes the monthly rates. These are obviously higher than the option of a fixed base, but no where near as much there than on the South coast (in general).

Then there is the cost of travelling the distance from the deep south to the far north. The way the cost is worked out will be different for every person. As an example are you using a company car.
The other major factor is the amount of times the journey is made and what costs for the vehicle are added.

So for me Scotland, Wales and the more northern parts of England will cost a lot more in travel if you live in the south. So for me the best solution is in these circumstances is not to travel more than once every 6 months.

 

[JumbleDuck]

However Dylans experience of not keeping a boat in one place for any time is different to most of us, thus he has to pay the daily or sometimes the monthly rates. These are obviously higher than the option of a fixed base, but no where near as much there than on the South coast (in general).

Up to a point. Travelling around is always going to be more expensive than staying in one place, but Dylan has chosen - doubtless for very good reasons - the most expensive options going. Still cheaper than dahn sarf, though.

Travel to the boat can be expensive (I know - I did the 1100 mile return trip to Crinan fourteen times in one summer when I was a PG student) but travelling up 20 times is also a fairly atypical use case.

Dylan may well be right that he cannot afford to do the sort of sailing he now wants to do in Scotland, but that doesn't mean that sailing in Scotland has to be an expensive business.

 

[Minchsailor]

I departed the Hamble (bored with the Channel, and a bit of a bust up with the Crown Estate) in 2001 for points west (initially W Ireland), then NW Scotland. I find I have 5 return trips a summer by public transport, and 2 (lay-up and fit-out) by car. Planning a few days in advance gets cheapish tickets on the overnight train.

As I move around a lot I do not have a mooring in the summer, just turn up and leave the boat somewhere for a few days. Once you get to know the area there are many more affordable options than the main stream marinas, at very little extra inconvenience. Many more anchorages (at zero cost) than in Channel waters. I have gone for 6-7 weeks spending no more than about a £100 on mooring charges.

 

[Mister E]

I think that there is a very good lesson to be learned from Dylans experience here.

Scotland is generally a very good place to keep a boat. The moorings are very good value both marina pontoons and the other very cheap options.

However Dylans experience of not keeping a boat in one place for any time is different to most of us, thus he has to pay the daily or sometimes the monthly rates. These are obviously higher than the option of a fixed base, but no where near as much there than on the South coast (in general).

Then there is the cost of travelling the distance from the deep south to the far north. The way the cost is worked out will be different for every person. As an example are you using a company car.
The other major factor is the amount of times the journey is made and what costs for the vehicle are added.

So for me Scotland, Wales and the more northern parts of England will cost a lot more in travel if you live in the south. So for me the best solution is in these circumstances is not to travel more than once every 6 months.

I hoped that I had made it clear that Scotland is very good value. Sorry if that did not come across.

 

[Kelpie]

As I have posted before, I spend about £500 a year on the boat, excluding discretionary upgrades. There are plenty of well sheltered lochs where you can sling some gear down and nobody will mind. Our mooring is all legit via Crown Estate but it is the only one in the area that is! I stay afloat all year round so my annual costs are £80 to the CE, about £50 on average towards shackles, new strop etc, and the rest on engine oil, antifoul, etc. Major downside is that I can only get 3rd party insurance (but still looking for better cover, if anyone knows of any).

It seems that Dylan's mind is made up, which is a shame; it really is possible to keep a boat up here for next to nothing.

 

[Tam Lin]

The reaction from local TV companies is always the same

1/ we have no money

2/ you are english

People have suggested that I sail with them on their boats as well.

When making films I am a terrible person to sail with.

I get up before dawn to get the sunrise in the right place, I sail right through until dusk because the light is best in the evening, for filming I need to sail close to the edge and that always makes other people rather nervous, I will often turn around and take a second go at filming something and my 30 camera batteries are tough on anyone's charging system. When it rains then the camera never comes out - so during storms I sit below reading a book.

So OPBs is unlikely to work.

I also hate not being in charge of the steering stick.

I am not sure what happens after I have sold the Centaur and finished editing the films that are currently in the can. Maybe I can scrape the money together to have a go at the Outer hebrides and the other scottish islands - maybe not.

My plan, long term, is to buy an old centaur with a buggered engine, cut a hole in it, install an outboard and then film it all on a 4K camera while I am wearing a yellow bikini.

D

I don't think you have quite got the hang of it Dylan, it's not you who should be wearing the bikini!

 

[Oldfellah]

Well, as an old git that found enough inspiration in Dylan's films to fork out for my own boat I think it is a great shame that we will not be looking forward to more of them. Perhaps all of us that took so much pleasure from Dylan's films should have tapped the little PayPal button a little more often. I certainly regret not doing so.
Good luck in whatever you do Dylan and thanks for the great moments you have shared with us.

 

[steveeasy]

Not everyone does Paypal. why not have an preview/trailer to the film, giving a taste with the best bits, sell it like movies are promoted. when you get paid, send out the full length film.

you might find you could increase the price per film. If people had to pay to see the films, then they might well do so in advance. you sure would find out what people really liked the most.

Steveeasy

 

[Cloona]

Not everyone does Paypal. why not have an preview/trailer to the film, giving a taste with the best bits, sell it like movies are promoted. when you get paid, send out the full length film.

you might find you could increase the price per film. If people had to pay to see the films, then they might well do so in advance. you sure would find out what people really liked the most.

Steveeasy

one other thing you have to consider is the opportunity cost .... if Dylan is busy grafting away on KTL (and living simply in Scotland to keep costs down) he is not doing a lot of other things that might be rewarding in other ways ...

e.g. making corporate videos of super yachts in the Caribbean with a large cast of bikinis and business class travel, swanky hotels and too much spare time on the beach ...

you never know whats around the corner..

 

[dylanwinter]

Not everyone does Paypal. why not have an preview/trailer to the film, giving a taste with the best bits, sell it like movies are promoted. when you get paid, send out the full length film.

you might find you could increase the price per film. If people had to pay to see the films, then they might well do so in advance. you sure would find out what people really liked the most.

Steveeasy

Steve,

thanks for your thoughts

the films are not films at all according to google

in modern parlance they are mash ups - they contain music that youtube has the right to exploit. So the adverts that are placed against the films by google earn money for google and the music owners - invariably sony and time warner.

so unless the films are re-cut with plinky plonky free music on them and then hidden behind a paywall they belong to google in "perpetuity and in the known and as yet unknown universe."

as tgings stand everything I have done over the past ten years belongs to google and anything I do over the next ten years will also beklong to them as long as they are on their platform


I did try putting them behing a paywall in the past. That was when people dxpected to pay for dvds

the downloads were an alternative to buying dvds

but then, as more material became available for free they stopped paying for downloads

a few old blokes keopt buying dvds - but it was mostly in the two months before christmas



then it was suggested that I try the buskers cup

it worked for a bit - for a short while maybe 2 per cent of viewers dropped me $5 or two dollars or a £1 and then kept watching knowing that they had made a bigger contribution than 95 per cent of their fellow sailors

At the moment I can see no possible way of raising enough cash flow to avoid selling the Centaur

i have about 12 more films to put up and then the cupboard will be bare

beleive me I will try to find another revenue source because I really want to make films about the outer hebrides, Isla, Jura, Collonsay, the outside of ireland and the north sea but we now live in a culture where anything digital is free. If I can find a way of monetizing the films then I will and will carry on

Right now the only people making money from the films are google and the music publishers



It is no different from a sailing magazine getting thinner and thinner and then disappearing

One bloke says he likes my films because the Centaur is always the shittest boat in the anchorage

- he can now watch and endless stream of bikini clad wenches sailing 50 footers around warm places

Dylan

 

[JumbleDuck]

In modern parlance they are mash ups - they contain music that youtube has the right to exploit. So the adverts that are placed against the films by google earn money for google and the music owners - invariably sony and time warner.

Presumably you have cleared using the music with the copyright holders to be able to use it on Vimeo - won't Google/YouTube accept the same clearances?

 

[steve yates]

If i had 5k cash in my acct right now i might be temted to buy your centaur and move it to maryport instead of tenting a cottage in keswick or cocjermouth for my summer wedding season.
But like you im self employed, taxman and quarterly studio rent have just gone and my work is seasonal, cash doesnt start flowing till march.

Given the google restrictions, can you not focus on your website, configure it for ecommerce, seo the shit out of it and market it digitally, facebook and instagram to build an audience, use you tube films or trailers to drive people there, where they can download for 1.50 a pop or subscribe for £20 a year or whatever numbers help subsidise your trips?
Market your sailing talks to yacht clubs up and down the uk?
Though i appreciate thats becoming more and more like work

 

[steveeasy]

well your probably right, but many years ago markets were much smaller for almost all businesses. you almost now have to know your niche and focus on it and make the best of the situation. lots of busineses like,( I have a dislike for the modern day farm enterprises), but many smaller farms have had to focus on schemes that require a lot of work to earn a living,
now the rant,
Our own business oh we had two up till 2 years ago is being destroyed by free handouts from the taxpayer to wealthy farm enterprises. we operate now with every single competitor funded by defra with grants rangeing from £144,000 to £750,000. the latest one yes 750,000 given to them to stimulate the local economy actually took the money in full(your money) then bankrupted a subsidiary company,then did not pay anyone(contractors owed 600,000) . now is taking our prime income from us. under the noses of the government.(they don't like exposing farmers for crimes) and then we have competitors who pay o rates. we have busineses surrounding us who have turnovers of 5 million and 20 staff 0 rates. from April 2017 with a turnover of £140,000 and 1 employee we will be liable to a monthly rates charge of 1150 per month.

In your situation id focus on the old blokes, not go for max exposure with freebies, don't think you need to and actually increase your price. anyone who watches your films from start to finish appreciates them for what they are. there will be people wanting to pay you for promoting products its not all bad news. keepturningleft has had more exposure than any other business on here on its own.

Steveeasy

 

[dylanwinter]

well your probably right, but many years ago markets were much smaller for almost all businesses. you almost now have to know your niche and focus on it and make the best of the situation. lots of busineses like,( I have a dislike for the modern day farm enterprises), but many smaller farms have had to focus on schemes that require a lot of work to earn a living,
now the rant,
Our own business oh we had two up till 2 years ago is being destroyed by free handouts from the taxpayer to wealthy farm enterprises. we operate now with every single competitor funded by defra with grants rangeing from £144,000 to £750,000. the latest one yes 750,000 given to them to stimulate the local economy actually took the money in full(your money) then bankrupted a subsidiary company,then did not pay anyone(contractors owed 600,000) . now is taking our prime income from us. under the noses of the government.(they don't like exposing farmers for crimes) and then we have competitors who pay o rates. we have busineses surrounding us who have turnovers of 5 million and 20 staff 0 rates. from April 2017 with a turnover of £140,000 and 1 employee we will be liable to a monthly rates charge of 1150 per month.

In your situation id focus on the old blokes, not go for max exposure with freebies, don't think you need to and actually increase your price. anyone who watches your films from start to finish appreciates them for what they are. there will be people wanting to pay you for promoting products its not all bad news. keepturningleft has had more exposure than any other business on here on its own.

Steveeasy

what you say is interesting

the website is sponsored by visit my harbour for £50 a month

gawdblessum

some sailing clubs pay £400 for me to speak to them

Sponsors are okay but one of the problems with sponsors is that they want their logo on the front of the films - even if all they have done is to hand out two anoraks

then you end up with raymarine, helly hansom, dubs

all with their logos on the front

then that lets people off the hook of paying for the entertainment value of the films.

They go - ahh, patagonia are paying for all this.

One of the other bloggers took the kings shilling in stuff and then had his income going down because the audience thought he was raking it in.

I am an old hack - I have earned my living from selling my journalism

Right now in sailing terms we are in a golden age of narratives told through the lens of a video - delivered in HD to a screen near you

there are some beautifully made films out there. There is money to be made from sailing films - mine have had 3 million hits which is good for google

the market for sailing films has developed pretty nicely

but

the main market leaders are basically girls in bikinis


Now, let us assume that you are a young film maker who thinks that there could be a market for nicely made sailing films

he would look at the market and go - brilliant tits and bums is way to make money from sailors.

There are about 4,000 people who watch most of my films most of the way through to the end in the first two weeks they are up

- this is a tiny audience

98.5 per cent of them have never chipped in.



but when people send me a paypal tap I always send a I always send an email back to people saying thanks

and I have recently been asking what tipped them over the edge to becoming patrons of the arts

in this astonishing act of altruism - to pay for something you get for free.

The responses are interesting - some say they paid because I had asked them

some said that they had never chipped in because they thought I was a rich bloke having fun - until the realised that I was an ordinary old bloke spending real money on diesel.

I reckon that once the centaur is gone I will need to accumulate about £14 K to be in a sposition to take centaur 3 to the outer hebrides.

I have about 12 more nice fillms to put up and to persuade people that I need to earn £1200 a film otherwise the thing stops.

can I do that?

is it possible to give a film away for free and then some-how persuade slightly more than 1.5 per cent of them to chip in

One of the snags with this plan is that itmeans that I have to stop spending money on sailing and spend more time trying to peresuade a fairly small number of men aged between 50 and 70 that they should make three clicks to ensure that in a few months time the films will not stop appearing magically on their desktops

I shall give it my best shot using at first gentle nagverts inserted in the middle of the next 12 films that go up on youtube. As there will be no boat on the water I hope to persuade them that they are not paying for some old bloke to keep hsi boat afloat in scotland but for the pleasure they got from watching the films

thanks for your thoughts on this chaps.

just painted the forecabin - off to get some white masonry paint for the inside the lockers

D

 

[Kelpie]

What about a crowdfunder approach?
"Only £750 more to go until I release next film'"
Tap into people's impatience.

 

[dylanwinter]

What about a crowdfunder approach?
"Only £750 more to go until I release next film'"
Tap into people's impatience.

that is an excellent idea


I will tell people how much film has earned

until it reaches the £1500 I will not start working on editing the next one

I shall do just that

sounds like a plan

any more chaps

D

 

[lpdsn]

sounds like a plan

any more chaps

D

Write the book. Perhaps as a tale of your trip around Britain. Perhaps as a sort of pilot book. Your films are halfway to being a pilotage guide anyway. You could may also write a Lonely Planet style series entitled Lonely Anchorage or Lonely Creek or something like that.

 

[dylanwinter]

Write the book. Perhaps as a tale of your trip around Britain. Perhaps as a sort of pilot book. Your films are halfway to being a pilotage guide anyway. You could may also write a Lonely Planet style series entitled Lonely Anchorage or Lonely Creek or something like that.

I have written two books

they both got about 12,000 sales

I earned £1 a copy

non fiction books do not make any money

D

 

[steve yates]

So perhaps a book would get enough for the Hebrides trip?