Righto chaps. I am about to revamp the stuff on youtube.
I am re-uploading all the films from the 8 DVD sets in a format that makes google happy - that means uploading them in order starting from 2008 and moving through to KTL 8 15 which you guys have just watched.
I also need to get rid of what the boss calls clutter. So all the other films will be set to unlisted and will not turn up in a youtube search and they will not be visible on my keepturningleft youtube space
Thanks for the appreciation you have shown for the films - it is odd looking back at the old ones - The first year on sd looks bloody horrible. I look a lot younger - obviously sailing is hard on a man.
I would harvest your favourites using a ripper. I will eventually re-upload the good ones to a youtube space to be called MOBs re-united.
The dull ones about fettling will bite the dust forever.
The good news is that the vimeo stuff is going to remain unscathed.
On the bright side it will make it so much easier of the youtubists to find their way around and eventually accidentally bump into a paypal button
I have a few questions about the last film - I would like your thoughts on the last films
There was a lot of sailing in it - I let that opening shot run - maybe a minute was that too long?
and the boat self steering - I let that run for ages.
there were also those two tacks filmed in that narrow sound with the wind coming at us from lots of directions - pretty long bits.
the music - too much? not enough?
the balance between boat noise and the music - how was that - the balance changes for the worse when using a tablet which spits audio at you from speakers the size of a grain of rice. Bigger speakers move more air - the sound is better - ditto headphones - they do weird stuff too
Audio levels - what were they like?
there was a lot of script in that one
six pages I think - probably 21800 words
tIt was a shame it did not end on some good sailing but that was the way the day went
Drone - better off without one or should I buy one..
going through the gap might have looked good on a drone - on the other hand a drone might make it look like a it was 100 yards wide.
I think without it you are in the cockpit with me - the drone would take the viewer somewhere else - more an observer rather than a participant.
Thanks chaps
I am very pleased that you guys have found the films to be rewarding in some way
Dylan
PS - Jill is a Saint
Really enjoyed the opening sequence and poetic language. Fluffy tacks act as a reminder that not all our sailing needs to be super slick and perfect (just as well in my case). Sorry, I watched on a phone (but with Beats headphones for this first time), sounded great and held it close to my eyes for a large screen effect. I do not subscribe to the commonly held media belief that the clips need to change every 5 seconds! Really relaxing after another bonkers day.
I have only had the chance to view the first 5 mins so far and looked good, yes you can do more cut away shots,Ariel Shots, but need another Cameraman for this as you can’t do all of it and sail a Boat at the same time.
Hope to down load it over the weekend and view it on my Home Cinema Screen.
I sincerely hope you are not going to get rid of the ‘brothers in arm’s video?…..it is a real favourite of mine.
Just my two cents here but I would say no to the drone. They are expensive and noisy and when you drop it in the water you will be very upset. Every channel seems to be using drones but I think your films offer so much more. Would the odd drone shot be nice, yes, but not necessary.
Ken
Enjoyed 8/15. I would not change anything, and I like the long sailing sequences. I’m not sure I would agree with you that the fettling clips are dull, the conversations, comments and sharing of your take on boats is part of the enjoyment.
I agree with Andrew. Bits on fettling are all part of the boating journey.
Dylan if you do decide to go for a drone don’t feel that you need to jump in right at the deep end with a high end DJI product like a phantom google selfie drones, yes not as flexible and really only for flying in calm weather but not a heart breaker if you lose it. Experiment with something like a JJrC ELFIE is very inexpensive and fits in your pocket. It will also let you know if a drone is useful for you. Sorry for the garbled answer the dog wants his walk.
Where is the brothers in arms video please? I came across it once and now I can’t find it again – Thanks
Your films are a cut-above the amateur TV on the internet available on the majority of the Youtube sailing channels, both in quality and intelligent content. It was great to see all that sailing, including the self-steering. This is what’s missing from the soap bubble channels for the most part. Not that keen on the fettling though — very dull. There are only so many times I can watch someone sand, scrape varnish or paint various bits of boat. Freeing a fouled prop or jury-rigging some broken bit of sail gear is fair game though as they’re dramatic beats in the ongoing story.
Enough music for me. Continuous backing tracks are annoying and take away from the creaks and shifts of air, boat and water which is all part of the sailing experience, so I’d rather not hear music on the “pure sailing” passages. Of course, the right bit of mood music here-and-there works too, as you are well adept at accomplishing. You have the balance right. Audio levels seemed fine to me listening on a desktop computer’s half-decent speakers and my mid-priced flat-screen TV’s speakers.
I loved the fact that there was so much script. Your intelligent, witty and informative commentary about place and situation are the real strengths of the films, so the more the merrier as far as I’m concerned.
As to the drone, David has some great suggestions. For the odd establishing shot on a calm day using a “throw away” machine, why not if the footage is of sufficient quality. But it takes a lot of skill, time and expensive equipment to get good results — just ask Erik the Viking!
The whole KTL project like so many other things is ‘the sum of it’s parts’ .Of course we all enjoy the sailing but the town wandering, the boatyard tours, the bits of history and yes, the fettling…….. are ALL part of the overall appeal. I regularly go back to the late films of Series 5 just to watch the wonderful Alan and Stewie fettling The Slug’s engine mounts, for me it’s one of the entertaining highlights of the KTL adventure.. Please keep the variety in the content. We want it all in. Latest film ? Another belter. Well done Dylan. P.
What make the videos worth watching for me are the parts about how and what you sail not where. Like the bungee self-steering, using a hand held GPS as a speed and position indicator and things like that.
Whilst I am an avid sailor and have been all my life, sometime you can get too much sailing if you’re watching someone else do it. Personally, I’d say that 40-60 minutes of nothing but sailing would be a pretty boring video. I like the commentary although I quite often don’t agree with your opinions and, as I said, I like the other bits about the boat and around the sailing. What’s the point of sailing around Britain if you don’t see the bits you’re sailing round? You can, I’m told, get all the way round comfortably in seven weeks. That would be plenty of videos of you sailing around the coast, but what a boring set of videos that would be.
It’s the “that’s a good idea” moments or “what a great place, I’ll think I’ll take a visit” that make the series really worth watching.
Of course, I find the current videos of Western Scotland a tad boring as it’s not the type of sailing I like, I’m never likely to go there sailing and not being of an artistic bend, once you’ve seen one magnificent cliff, you’ve pretty much seen them all. But that’s just me.
Drone?
You have to be kidding!
If you think losing your professional camera equipment to the ravages of the salt water atmosphere, just wait till you get a professional drone near it for any length of time.
Yes, a drone shot or two of the boat sailing once in a while would be a nice change but not regularly. How about taking a young keen drone camera-person out for a day’s sail with their drone? Make sure they have good insurance for their equipment, though.
My favourites as still the East Coast videos. That’s the sailing I like, you did it in a boat that I can relate to and there was a great deal more than just sailing shots. Mind you, in those days KTL was just a hobby.
All sailing and no fettling results in a shit boat. You can’t have it both ways :)
I’d agree Mark – the pottering about on the east coast going to places just cause you can (like up to York etc) were my favourite. West coast is dramatic but having grown up there and sailed a lot I find it a bit too familiar.
Still think you should filter out the blogs and fettling and pop them on a separate YouTube channel and use for less polished/shorter clips. Some of the wee clips you’ve posted over the years of drifting up rivers etc are great :)
A drone is expensive, hard to operate without ditching in the sea, especially while also sailing a boat..
There are also legal issues for many places you might want to use it.
I think you do a great job on the ground as it is, but if you feel you need more variety, a long telescopic pole and a gopro is surprisingly useful. (and they’re waterproof)
– Everyone is doing drones now. No need for you to follow that pack.I like being in the cockpit with you. (Maybe one or two establishing shots would work, but why bother spending the money for that? — and then you start to look like every other 20-something in a bikini YouTuber — and your establishing shots using Google Earth work well and are quite helpful.). Going through the gap is much more exciting (to a sailor) from cockpit level than from 100 feet in the air.
– LOVE that one of the musical themes from several years ago has made an appearance. Your musical choices have always been right on the money (and would love to hear some more of the early choices).
– I like your commentary — the more the better.
– Mix of audio is fine.
– Can’t have too much sailing footage; it’s even better when you are talking over it, telling us how things are going, why you’re set the way your are, why you’ve made the navigational choices you’re making, the history or local lore of the area, etc.
– I suppose you have to have a lot of quick cuts to keep the attention of the young ones, but most of us MOBs can handle a minute of you tacking back and forth in a channel. I think you hit a mix of both techniques just right.
Hurrah – I absolutely agree with Mark… no interest in birds, lots of interest in cooking tins in a saucepan, bungee steering, Christmas tree light navigation lights, and etcetc
You have those skills indeed, but even so, 40-60 minutes of even brilliantly filmed and edited videos of just sailing gets really boring. And let’s be honest here, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell the different between brilliantly made videos and adequately made ones because I’m not an expert.
Besides, the hints and tips are also brilliantly filmed and edited, are they not?
And perhaps all the bloggers are doing it because that’s what the punters want.
I’ll shortly be putting my boat in the river complete with a single burner spirit stove. I’ve spend the last two months researching how to get a good meal in a galley that is only slightly larger than an A2 piece of paper. Baking bread, pizza, omelettes you name it, trying it out at home to see if it works. So, yes, I’d love to see more of how you cook on your travels. It’s all part of the whole.
I go round boatyards and marinas looking at how people have done things looking out for different ways of doing things that could be of use to me. So, yes, I’d love to see more of how you’ve rigged your boat, how you’ve solved the problems you’ve come across. My current research is now to get back on board if I fall over. What is your solution to that problem?
I’ve been sailing about as long as you have and I’m still looking at different ways to do things. So, yes, I am interested in seeing more of what and how you sail as well as where (most of the time).
I loved seeing you set off from the middle of the country in whatever car you had at the time with time lapse photography getting to the place where you were currently berthed, traipsing across the sand at low water with bags full of groceries and wot not. That was all part of the lure of those early videos.
Seriously, find someone who will let you try a good quality camera drone on land, following or piloted, under supervision first. They are not as easy and good as the adverts would have you believe, especially with ropes and sails in close proximity.
Personally, I think some drone shots would look good.
A few. Used sparingly.
And not even video either.
As David C says, cockpit level is more exciting most of the time for most sailors than from 100 feet in the air.
Mind you, I’d have loved to have seen you pilot through that gap from 100 foot up as well as from sea level.
I loved the fettling. Knocking a hole in the mirrors keel and fixing it was interesting. I was looking forward to seeing you taking the cones out of the antediluvian md1. The buying of the outboard. Seeing an expert caulking. To me one cliff looks the same as another on film.
Drone might be ok for showing the boat sailing from the perspective of another boat but no toyboat sailing on a vast sea please…boring.
I always assumed retrieving a drone on a moving boat would be a nightmare but Erik makes it look pretty easy:
Will of course watch on big telly, Southern Norfolk Broads sailor, so used to fluffy tacks.
Drone issue – what about a kite? I heard of a guy attaching one to the back of the boat (flown by air from sail maybe?). Might work better than a drone in higher wind and an interesting perspective?
I’m gonna do a project with a GoPro (sorry again) and will let you know what happens…
Not accusing you of anything Mr Sensitive, but thank you for the rocky insight.
Just sharing the sense that in sailing the elements are in control more than we are and enjoying the fact that you present sailing in its raw form rather than the RYA tutorial style where everything goes super slick. A higher level of understanding about sailing which, perhaps, is less accessible to the masses and might partially explain some of the challenges you find in raising funds, (apart from your disappointing refusal to wear a bikini).
From my perspective, it was in fact intended as a compliment, if one that lacked your literary eloquence, but I understand that in modern times interpretation is 9/10ths of intention and therefore apologise profusely.
As promised in my tap, I will pay more for this argument when I get the (almost as rare as sailing) opportunity to watch it on the big telly owned by me but possessed by the rest of my family.
In my opinion D, you can’t really show how beautiful an area is, without a few birds eye view type sequences thrown in (i’m probably guilty of overdoing the air shots but I’m only really making my videos for me, so that doesnt matter) The Phantom can handle wind very well (I have flown in 25 knots without issue). I was very concerned when I first started flying over water, but I dont even think about it now. I’v been using mine for a year and never crashed it or had any major issues. Proper ones are so much easier to fly than the hundred dollar toys and anyone could teach themselves in a park easily. Any issues, just let go of the sticks and they hover, even in strong wind – GPS makes them simple! I often take sequences of about a 1km or more and speed them up and I highly recommend getting a DJI drone for the superior range they offer. These 300 meter range type drones just dont cut it for boat use. The DJI cameras are pretty good too. I would not buy the Mavic because it has no decent landing skids and you really need them for hand catching on the boat. I also doubt the Mavic could handle the same level of wind as the Phantom.. Heres a couple of vids where I have added a bit of drone footage to give some perspective. A day with the kids in my dinghy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rAbAbBXiwk and this one in the trailer sailer – you just wouldnt know I was in such a beautiful area without that aerial footage thrown in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDOtuXB9Rac
I have one of those little choppers on the computer next to me D, and I can tell you that a DJI Phantom is much easier to fly than that 15 dollar toy!
I think dialog is one of the more important aspects. If you’re trying to get more subscribers and contributors it seems the gift of gab, which you have in spades, will drive your subscriber base to new levels so don’t throttle back on that.
Look at this channel on youtube https://www.youtube.com/user/ChuckE2009
Also I really love when you take the time to film and explain what and why you’re doing something. From boat projects to navigation or whatever even knowledgeable folks will appreciate the information if its presented in an entertaining manner. A Shakespearean pause for good effect has its place, as well as a joyful noise, but an engaging narrative pulls one in. I’m surprised you don’t have a 1M base, really.