SV Midnight Sun II on YouTube

Greetings - BLOG and VLOG Fans!

Please let me know your opinion - are "Blogs" old hat and out of date?...Well I know some of my kids think so!  and here I am thinking that I am keeping up with the times!

So, in inquiring as to what I should be doing, I was told "VLOGS" or video blogs.  Hmm, well maybe someone might get inspired watching our stories about the adventures of Midnight Sun II, or maybe they are just boring holiday videos.  Anyone care to comment?  Do you remember the days of being dragged to your parent's friend's house to see their latest "Super 8 Movie" of their trip to Majorca?  Well I do, but perhaps I am just showing my age.  I doubt that my son knows what a Super 8 Movie is....I do remember him asking me "What's a record?"

I have been dabbling with videos for several years now.  Taking the footage is one thing, but editing into something that you would care to watch again is a whole other ball of very time-consuming wax.  I decided to start making movies when we did our 2014 trip on S/V Midnight Sun II.  This trip took us down the FL East Coast to the Bahamas, the Keys, FL West Coast and up to Pensacola.  This trip was also the motivation for starting this blog.  My real motivation for starting this blog was to try to capture something, relatively "real time" where friends and family could follow along with our trip, but as it has developed, I find that it has motivated a few people to think about getting out there on the water. 

After completing the first significant sailing  trip on Midnight Sun II, it took me a long time to find the time and also the motivation to put a video together.  Organizing video clips, finding the photos, picking music.  Even to make a half-ass attempt at 30 minutes can easily take a day! And longer to do it half-right. With interruptions and daily life.....a week or more!

But again, my motivation and intended audience was, and still is, "friends and family".  Having said that, I have discovered largely through this blog that there is a whole other set of "unseen friends" that vicariously follow our travels and experiences through our blog posts and more recently through some of our videos.  Frankly, I am flattered and humbled that anyone would give up their time to watch the videos and read my posts.  But it is very motivating to hear feedback from people, and to hear about your experiences and adventures on the water!

Until recently, I have had the videos on a private Google drive but have been happy to share the link with anyone interested.  A couple of years ago, I tried posting short videos to YouTube....but the YouTube gods or administrators didn't like me and stripped my creations of any copyrighted music, or simply blocked the video from being played in the US and UK.  Well that's silly!  I can listen to anyone's music on the radio, Pandora, etc.and I am not making any money from the videos.  Anyway, something seems to have changed with YouTube's policy.  They now seem to tell me that I have some copyrighted content, but seemingly are not blocking me.  I also tried to get around this by either: (i) finding non-copyrighted music online or (ii) simply playing/creating music myself on keyboards to use as background music.  While this sounds like simple solution........it again adds to the time it takes to produce something that is even slightly interesting and watchable!

But anyway, I am giving it a try and for anyone interested, please visit the SV Midnight Sun II YouTube channel at:

SV Midnight Sun II on YouTube

I know the videos are a bit long....but it is what it is! I am personally a big fan of YouTube Sailing videos, adn have been personally motivated by many of the excellent choices listed below.  So here are some of my personal favorites - check them out by searching YouTube:

• SV Delos (of course everyone knows this one)
• Drake Paragon
• Trio Travels
• Monday Never
• LaVagabonde
• Rick Moore
• Distant Shores.......etc

I think most of these successful video makers target 15-30 minutes, whereas mine are typically more like 45 minutes.  Why? because this is about the limit of a DVD and that was how I started making them!  .....and please don't get me wrong - I am not claiming to have a video product that is as good as any of the above.  They are my heroes!

I also see that many if not all of the above (except Distant Shores) have now jumped on the Patreon or GoFundme bandwagon.  Yes, I have mixed feelings about that - even though I do support a couple on a very modest level.  It is not my plan to try to make money or fund my adventures in such a way......errr..well I do reserve the right to change my mind on this when my funding starts to deplete!

Anyway, please take a look at the videos if you are interested.  Again the link to the YouTube Channel is  

SV Midnight Sun II on YouTube

.....and one last thing.  if you would like to watch a really well made and touching sailing video, please take a look at this one (not one of mine).  An excellent job by Monday Never!  - Really great job guys - I hope you guys have ditched the motorcycle and bought another boat by now!!