These are entertaining, as usual. I love that a sailing channel would present what it was like to show someone how to set a preventer for the first time, along with the tribulations of point of sail, vs VMG.
The pace seems to be about one weekly or bi-weekly episode, per day of sailing, on this leg. Most of the top viewed sailing channels seem to be making an effort to get close to real time. One did it by making a couple of hour long episodes that covered massive amounts of time. Another essentially skipped about 8 months of time ashore. I think there are different emotional ties to a vicarious reality type channel and a history type channel. Only something to think about, if the Patreon counts are important.
All the best.
Hi Minnewaska,
Editing our episodes takes a lot of time and work to achieve the level of production quality that we strive for. Monique and I usually spend at least 40 hours each to produce each 20 minute episode. Anything less would sacrifice production quality which is something that I'm not interested in doing. The pace of the telling of our story is set by how much time we can spend editing.
For the past 3 years, during the 6 months of Summer we have voyaged and filmed non stop. During the winter seasons we have always tried to find a place to settle down in one place and then we edit around the clock all winter to produce as many episodes as we possibly can.
In our first year of voyaging we sailed from North Carolina up the coast to Greenland and Iceland, a gigantic voyage during which time we filmed non stop and stored all of the footage onto hard drives.
During that first year of voyaging we rarely had an opportunity to spend a full week editing an episode and, even if we could, it was next to impossible to find internet that was fast enough (or cheap enough) to upload a file that large!
We spent that winter in Iceland, working around the clock to produce the 15 episodes Season 1, the 15 episodes of Don and D's Southern Cross interview and boat tour series, and the 14 episodes of Mark Lucas' A Conversation with a Rigger interview series. That winter of editing was also particularly challenging because we had to learn a new video editor called Final Cut Pro X.
Then in the Spring we sailed from Iceland to the Faroe Islands and, after few months of exploring and filming, we sailed on to Scotland, down the Caledonian Canal, and down the east coast of Ireland...a massive 6 month season of voyaging! (Iceland->Faroe->Scotland->Ireland.) During that entire season we were always on the move, and always filming, and never had the opportunity to work a full week to edit a full length 20 minute story episode, let alone find a place with fast enough wifi to upload videos that large.
We spent the next winter on the south coast of Ireland in Kinsale, where we edited the 54 episodes of Season 2, a massive undertaking for us. We didn't get out much that entire winter because we were editing video 12 hours a day.
In the Spring we sailed up the west coast of Ireland (completing a full circumnavigation of Ireland) and then sailed extensively through Scotland where we were joined by Adam (from Season 1) and his wife Kristi for several weeks. Again, always voyaging to new places we had never seen before, filming non stop, and storing all of the video onto hard drives. Never having time for a full week of editing to produce a 20 minute story episode or having fast enough internet access to upload videos of the size. We sailed with Adam and Kristi back to the Faroe Islands, and then sailed back to Scotland just in time to settle down for our 3rd winter in a safe marina.
We spent that winter working incredibly hard to produce the 43 episodes of Season 3, and the 7 lengthy episodes of our Mads Bo Falk interview and boat tour series.
It's almost hard to believe, but we currently have well over 1000 hours of unedited video footage which was filmed from our past voyaging through Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
The story that this footage contains is the most incredible adventure that I've ever imagined. Sometimes I still can't believe that we actually did it all, and that we were able to capture it all on film. Now with the support of our patrons, we're devoting ourselves to the monumental task of editing all of that footage into 20 minute episodes to tell that incredible story. That's our goal really. To tell this story and, most importantly, to tell it well.
As far as Patreon counts, our patrons do mean the world to us, as they make it possible for us to produce our full length episodes. As a way of saying thanks we stay in touch with up constantly with real time update videos, sharing our latest current news, answering all of their questions in video, and showing them sneak peeks of our latest real time footage which will be used to make full length episodes later on. These update videos enable us to interact with our patreon community in real time, and as often as possible.
In real time, Spring is here and our next big voyage has begun. After being hunkered down editing all winter, we're now back into full time voyaging and filming mode. Our plan from here is in many ways one of the biggest undertakings we've ever attempted. A week ago we pushed off from the Isle of Lewis in Scotland, and sailed offshore in a northerly direction for about 250 nautical miles until we reached the Faroe Islands.
We plan to explore the Faroe islands until mid July when the weather will change to make our next leg possible. We will then sail north for over eleven hundred nautical miles on the high seas from the Faroe Islands all the way to the archipelago of Svalbard at seventy nine degrees north latitude. Svalbard is one of the most northern areas on earth that is inhabited by humans (along with 2000 walruses and 2500 polar bears), and is located between Norway and the north pole.
During the Summer, even with the sun shining on Svalbard 24 hours a day, the average temperature is only 5˚C. The planning and preparations we've made for voyaging to Svalbard have been enormous, as have the requirements that we've had to meet to be granted permission by the Norwegian government to land there. We'll have around a month and a half to explore before sailing back to Norway.
On Patreon, every pledge that we receive, no matter how large or small, helps to make it possible for us to produce the best videos that we can, and we are enormously grateful. These real time updates are available for all of our patrons at
www.patreon.com/DrakeParagon.
In addition, we're hoping that during this season of voyage we will be able to publish some great interviews, boat tours, and product reviews that we've filmed previously when we have enough internet access.
When we hunker down for next winter, hopefully in Northern Norway, we will continue to work on our 20 minute story episodes, Season 4.
All the best,
Drake