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Have sailing Youtubers jumped the shark?

31K views 139 replies 33 participants last post by  Jeff_H 
#1 ·
It seems that most all of them that started out on a bit of a shoestring budget are now either moving up or are planning on getting the next bigger boat - going from a fixer-upper to a $100K ( or more) , I guess videos are profitable and are allowing them to think bigger - which is fine - its just I have no interest in following at that point - or maybe just the whole concept is getting overdone - only view a couple of them now -
still on occasion I will watch
The Old Seadog
White Spot Pirates ( the german chica)
Sailing Atticus
 
#2 ·
I agree. Also with them moving up. When they move out of my budget and boat size, I move on. I'm just not too much into following channels that have too much money and do things I wont be able to do. I don't hate them; I'd love to have that income, just not interested.
 
#3 ·
It's not like sailing is all that exciting when you are doing it, but watching others do it? Even during that 1% of the time when it is really exciting (definition of sailing; 99% sheer boredom, 1% sheer terror), I should think one would be way too busy to be making a video. Personally, I just don't find it at all interesting to watch youtube videos of people sailing, looking at boats to buy or doing repairs on their boats. Even the ones made to show the damage after Maria and Irma put me to sleep PDQ. They are all way too verbose. Ten seconds and I'm bored to death. Not one of them will ever make a dime off of me.
 
#5 ·
The only one that I watch is RAN Sailing. While they have recently purchased a more expensive boat to replace RAN, they are a couple that I would like to meet. Their videos are well done and interesting.
 
#31 ·
Hey, I object to your intimation that just because I don't watch sailing blogs I might be a real sailor. Perhaps you should be more careful about slinging about labels like that. After all, it is the 21st century and we should be beyond that sort of thing.
 
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#8 ·
The corollary is who is the audience for sailing vlogs? My guess is that most are not out there sailing... mostly lifestyle voyeurs. Do porn stars watch porn? I would guess no... But I have no clue about this.

Travel vids can be seductive. There are many places I've seen on the flat screen that I will never see up close and personal for any number of reasons. So I appreciate good content in that sense.
 
#9 ·
I doubt if there's any real change. The few very successful boat vloggers are making big bucks. The vast majority of people posting content are making bupkis. It's the standard model of the Internet. Those with big bucks and big power (influence) will be able to command greater rewards. No different here than anywhere in the economy.

As in the past, these vlogs are aimed at the voyeur and dreamer, not the actual doers. No different that the glossy mags of old. Once you graduate to actual cruiser, these vids hold little interest, except for specific research purposes.
 
#10 ·
It seems to me the highwater mark was some time in 2017. When youtube changed monetization rules to a minimum 1000 subscribers + 4000 hours/year of watch time, that seemed to be the start of the decline of small hobby channels that were in many ways the most interesting.

Creators pretty much had to create content that would attract volume subscribers if they wanted to monetise. Volume subscribers I think means you have to create content that appeals to a broader spectrum of viewers.

Also think it's a lot harder to get a channel off the ground now because the genre is so saturated. It used to be a vid with any sailing content got lots of clicks, now not so much, so I think a lot of people just kind of lose interest in making vids.
 
#19 ·
It seems to me the highwater mark was some time in 2017. When youtube changed monetization rules to a minimum 1000 subscribers + 4000 hours/year of watch time, that seemed to be the start of the decline of small hobby channels that were in many ways the most interesting.

Creators pretty much had to create content that would attract volume subscribers if they wanted to monetise. Volume subscribers I think means you have to create content that appeals to a broader spectrum of viewers. ...
This is an interesting point. Given the already smaller market for sailing/cruising content, I wonder if this change had a bigger impact here than other niches. The need to expand the viewership to more a more general audience no doubt would dilute the actual sailing/cruising value.
 
#11 · (Edited)
YouTube can be a great resource. We are watch them now and not cable or broadcast/network programming. Production values are surely not what you see with a professional production but the topics covered are so vast. Vetting information is always an issue. But heck buyer beware should apply to ANYTHING you consumed. The more informed you are the wiser your choices will be.

I never got into sailing vids. I might have watched a few episodes some years ago.. sailing in the tropics I recall. I have done that and it was mildly interesting to see a couple on another boat and what they do / did. I am not a voyeur and the new information was not there for me. I am certainly not going to pay!

I don't know how these YTs are monetised but it is related to how many subscribers, clicks or something. Someone is pay these producers and it doesn't seem like advertisers. Who knows. Wife is largely the one who chooses what to watch. Some of her choices are of no interest to me but they interest her... such as discussions of perfumes and scents... thrifting, DIY..haute couture runway shows, house plants, styling advice (fashion), street views (people on) of cities around the world, art, residential architecture around the world, beauty treatments.... and many other topics I can even recall. Virtually none of these "topics" are available except perhaps in the library, the www or in YT format.

I suppose YT is not a bad way to try to make some coin and sail at the same time. There are not many options to make a living and cruise I suppose. Good for those who can make it work. People are lazy and seeing content on a screen is part of that. Of course the rules of the market place will prevail. Only the strong survive and that means new and better content and production values and at some point it loses the amateur aspect, the candid real world sense and looks like it comes from a studio. If the sailing vids are too instructional their audience will be limited to people wanting to learn. Not so for those who want to fantasize about the dream of sailing in "paradise".

The recent Greta sail drove all this home in spades. It's marketing and money.
 
#12 · (Edited)
I find the business model of personal YT creators to be fascinating. They are directly competing with the large network and cable production studios, with fairly low cost of entry, and succeeding. Content creation is enormous. There are winners and losers on a level playing field.

How sustainable any given channel may be is to be seen. Audiences do tire. As one mentioned above, creatives sometimes make changes that lose one past patron to gain two new. That's good business, otherwise you get stale and die.

Other than the DIY sailing channels, which focus almost entirely on boat projects, most of the more successful sailing channels are a mix of sailing, travel review and reality show. I prefer a tilt toward sailing and travel location review, but don't mind a little personal understanding of the crew. This balance has existed long before YouTube, with public broadcast shows, such as Distant Shores. I don't like when it becomes a modern reality show on a sailboat. But they do sell and, as someone noted, I'll bet most of the audience for the heavily reality show style (drama, sensationalized fear, tears, etc) are not sailors.
 
#13 ·
My understanding is monetization usually comes in one of 3 forms.

Google adsense is where advertisers pay for ad space on videos. Its more or less tied to total views and total view time. Advertisers pay for different types of ads, some require viewer interaction, some don't. Ads are targeted. The plus here for sailing type content is adsense and advertisers assume sailors have some disposable income and therefor will pay a bit of a premium for ad space on vids. I beleive any where from $1-$5 per 1000 views might be expected?

Product sponsorship. Product sponsorship is pretty much what it sounds like. A business gives a product to a creator sometimes at cost or less in exchange for a mention and some screen time in a vid.

Patreon. My understanding with Patreon is private sponsors, usually individuals, give a predertermined amount of money to a creator for each video produced. A little bit like a street busker putting out a hat for change.
 
#14 ·
..... My understanding with Patreon is private sponsors, usually individuals, give a predertermined amount of money to a creator for each video produced. A little bit like a street busker putting out a hat for change.
This is exactly what I thought, when it first hit the scene.

However, the more successful channels have very creatively added value to the Patreon "contribution". Almost all give their Patrons first access to upcoming vids, before they are available free on YouTube. Others make additional material available, more scenes, etc. I've seen where certain levels of contribution get you direct access to the crew, via email. Many even choose among their Patrons for a ride along week or more.

I don't contribute via Patreon, but the business model is maturing and I think most people are paying for what they perceive as value, more than throwing a coin in a hat.

I have, on more than one occasion, purchased a t-shirt or other merch to help compensate for the effort they have put into my entertainment. I assume the channels that offer merch make a few bucks there too.
 
#15 ·
I do like watching a few that allow me to check out areas that I have realistic interest in the next 5 years - especially anything about Colombia ( where we live - part time) the woman from White Spot Pirates is cruising the Pacific Colombian coast - there is very little info on that area - none of the other Youtubers headed there. I have a limited sailing budget - due to too many other hobbies and 5 kids and 2 grandkids - so watching people sail around in 40'+ $200K and over boats has no interest for me - it would be like looking at $2 million homes when your budget is $500K, I am not much of a window shopper I guess.

The example I would use is Sailing Uma - found it interesting at first , especially when they were in Haiti - where the girl is from, but then they started bringing on newer gadgets that were supplied gratis by the vendors - just too much product placement - I don't blame them - just not interested in the channel anymore - but then even Seinfeld ran its course - so I assume all of these have a shelf-life
 
#16 ·
To each their own. That's how the economics of these channels works. As it should be.

Personally, I don't understand the affinity or lack of, for watching channels whose vessel doesn't mimic one's own. They're still sailing, they're still going places I'd like to see, they're still dealing with the same boat issues. Comfort and scale are different, but I'll bet only in the eye of a sailor. The general population would view the most tricked out cruiser to be camping.

Interesting thought...... do those that find more expensive boats to be out of touch with their interest, feel the same way about much less expensive? Is the relativity only one way or both? Just find it a fascinating issue as it relates to the demand for these channels.
 
#17 ·
To each their own.
.....

Interesting thought...... do those that find more expensive boats to be out of touch with their interest, feel the same way about much less expensive? Is the relativity only one way or both? Just find it a fascinating issue as it relates to the demand for these channels.
Although I don't follow sailing vlogs... were I to... I would definitely be interested in those with boats of similar size to mine (mid 30s)... sailing to / in places that interest me even if they are beyond my reach.

I did follow Katie & Jessie's blog for a while and it was interesting to see how essentially totally noobs and their dog on a Cal27 (moved up to a Pearson Invicta) learned and so on. They were good writers and excellent photographers. I think they had a major mechanical problem at one point on America's Great Loop and needed money to get it fixed or replaced. They did not ask for money. I sent them a few bucks. Smart and self sufficient and it was interesting to watch them develop as sailors and adventurers.
 
#18 ·
If you want gritty, suspense, and sympathetic fear (if thats a thing) then you need to check out

If you dont like to watch guys with boats bigger and more expensive than yours- check
If you like to watch new sailors "develop"- check
If you want to see if they live to the next episode- check

They seem nice, and I hope for the best for them. But jeez. I havnt watched it in awhile. Not sure if they polished their turd to a high gloss yet or not.
 
#21 ·
I do like to watch few sailing vlogs mostly during the winter before my head hits the pillow at night. I'll occasionally give a few bucks to one or two I like but, would never become a Pateron. My reasons for viewing vary.

1) I like Old Sea Dog and How to Sail Oceans because they are single handed sailors like me.

2) I also like S/V Delos because they sometimes head to out of the way places I may not get to and others I would not want to. Though the nose ringed gal who calls herself "Blue" can get a little too new age preachy for my tastes. Most of the rest of crews personalities and their cruise planning and maintenance issues and solutions can be interesting.

3) There were some who just seemed like cruising Potheads/partiers and I found them too goofy but, expected them at some point end up in losing the boat at some point. Some did. One recently had one of their Catamaran hulls separate in rough seas forty miles from Hawaii. They called the Coast Guard thinking they were going to abandoned ship. But, they managed to limp into port but, he is getting rid of the boat because of the repair needed and he no longer trusts it.

4) Drake Paragon is another I look at because they are sailing places I never want to go to like Greenland and Iceland. But, keep it interesting by spending a little time making friends with the locals.

5) I am recently thinking about installing a Hydrovane on the boat and have come across a few Saling Vlogs that have devoted some time to it's installation and operation that I find informative.
 
#28 ·
This is what happens when a YT saiing vlog jumps the shark. The comments are pretty brutal.


While I'm not a Patreon supporter of any sailing vlogs I do support the humble boat builders like svtapatya and 'Salt and Tar' with a small monthly contribution and have tipped the larger builing channels like Acorn to Arabella and Sampson Boat Co. I've also tipped and still regularly follow Delos and How to Sail Oceans.

-Hugh
 
#30 ·
This is what happens when a YT saiing vlog jumps the shark. The comments are pretty brutal.
....
I've never heard of this couple, nor seen their channel before. I first watched the linked vid and didn't quite get the problem. It was entirely a travel episode of climbing Mt Fuji. I learned a couple of things about the hike, which I like about episodes like that. It wasn't riveting, nor very well done, but I wasn't sure of the problem. I figured they left their boat in an anchorage and went hiking for the day.

Then I read the comments. It seems they are perceived as a scam of some kind. Raising money via Patreon for a boat they ended up selling, as best I could follow. I guess they posted content, but not much and not much about sailing. Then broke up. Something like that.

Seems a bit different from a popular channel losing it's popularity and trying to do something dramatic to regain attention. ie jumping the shark. This couple seems to have just changed their mind, which is not all that uncommon in the cruising world. Still, interesting to see the breadth of what's out there. This one may have been a scam or not. They published a few dozen videos over the years and have 86k subscribers. I really don't know and didn't look back to see their evolution. Appreciated the peak.
 
#29 ·
before heading off shore last time we watched a bunch of youtube videos for ideas and just to "experience" it vicariously. never gave any money other than watching the adds 'till we could skip. Now we're putting up our videos from that last trip but NOT monetized. Figure its like paying it back and if someone gets a laugh or learns something that that's great.
 
#34 ·
Am I the only one to not know what "jumped the shark" even means? And none of the foregoing 32 posts helps. Grateful a plain English definition
"jumped the shark" has historical origins from the old TV show Happy Days. It pretty much means when something has just gotten to outlandish. I think the episode involved sharks and The Fonz and it was a "what the heck just happened" moment in the series. I always thought it was an odd expression.
 
#37 ·


Happy Days was one of the greatest TV success stories, but they just couldn't let it end on a high note so they bled it dry. The YouTube scene shows what many people believe is the point that the show went from maybe not so good anymore to horrible. Jumping the shark simply means something was good for a period but you can identify that point when takes a solid turn for the worse.

There are some solid Youtube sailing video makers. I enjoy Uma, Nahoa, Delos, Wynns, and a couple others I watch off and on. I watch them as I curse and sweat my fat arse on the treadmill. :)

There is one I was starting to watch, subscribed, great audio narration from both the husband and wife, decent video work. However, they have a dog with breathing problems, they want to do what's best for the dog, The dog loves the beach, the dog is too hot, the dog's name is Sugar, it's a cute dog but Sugar this and Sugar that, they may have to give up sailing, now maybe they won't, the dog was not doing well in the tropics, they went to land, he would do better on land, he was not doing well on land, he liked the Bahamas better, maybe they will go do S. America, I wish they would find Dr. Doolittle or a dog psychic. It's a shame because some of the videos are very good, DIY stuff and meteorological stuff. I'm a solid animal lover but jeezus make up your mind. Then they had the stones to brag about how much money they made while they took a YouTube break, piss off. Unsubscribe.
 
#38 ·
Specifically regarding Abandon Comfort, they did eventually post a blog update about what was going on for them. The Youtube comments about them breaking up, etc. appear to be incorrect speculation. They simply decided to take a break to focus on another area of their lives, and they intend to come back. I think the Youtube commentariat jumped the gun on this one: https://www.abandoncomfort.com/blog/why-we-quit-youtube-and-sold-the-boat
 
#39 ·
There's this weird thing about people who follow sailing channels. I have seen it with a couple of channels that changed direction away from sailing: the subscribers get vicious. It's so strange as the boating community tends to be the exact opposite. But I have seen at least three channels suffer massive attacks when they tried to transition from boating to travelling-attacked to such an intense degree that they ended up erasing every trace of their online presence. One of tehm had kids and the stuff posted was just so totally inappropriate.

Maybe other genres suffer from viewers with such an overinflated sense of entitlement as well, but I don't look at them. But (some) sailing vlog viewers are among the some of the biggest jerks I have seen on the internet.
 
#41 ·
It occurs to me that YouTube appeals to the general public. There is no more reason to think the majority of sailing channel viewers are sailors than to think the majority of folks in the seats at Giants Stadium are football players.

Since most people are not sailors, most people watching these vids won't be either.

Another interesting revelation is that I never read the comments.
 
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