Sailors I Follow

Like adventure? You should follow these sailors too.

My YouTube subscriptions page lists at least a hundred sailing channels. Many were added more than six years ago when the trend of posting vlogs about adventure travel and sailing began to explode. I occasionally prune my list after a sailing channel switches to homesteading, endless boat maintenance, or, more recently, the trend of posting vlogs about building a new custom sailboat, which can last for years.

I visit YouTube to follow the daily news while ingesting coffee every morning. I subscribe to a few other sites, but not as many as those who post about their sailing adventures.

I’ve compiled a list of six boats I follow regularly, whose captains post online in one form or another as they travel the world.

SV Prinses Mia

April and I met Martijn and Stephanie in Oriental, NC, when their eye-catching dinghy came by Avemar after we anchored in the small harbor. Earlier that morning, we had sailed through the narrow inlet past Prinses Mia, their equally unique sailboat.

We were invited over to visit and thoroughly enjoyed the boat tour and getting to know both of them. Many full-time sailors will recognize the boat, even if they haven’t met the couple in person. She’s hard to miss!

After a few days together earlier this year, Avemar followed in the wake of Prinses Mia up the East Coast, meeting again in Annapolis.

Last week, Martijn completed his 15th year of sailing the ‘Atlantic Loop’ from Europe to the Caribbean up the US coastline and back to Europe. Prinses Mia just sailed to Spain from New York City. Martijn likes to spend his birthday in New York.

After sailing across the Atlantic for a month while dodging two hurricanes and then making landfall a few days ago, Martijn messaged me, saying something along the lines of, “We made it but wished we had a few more days at sea.”

You can follow Prinses Mia’s travels on Facebook and Instagram.

SV Validated

Looking back through our messages, Sput (aka Fred, or maybe the other way around) and I connected online two years ago this month. He was retiring after a distinguished US Army career and had just purchased an Island Packet 44, hull #1, which he renamed Validated. He was learning the lines and systems while filming his journey towards moving aboard and sailing away.

One morning several months later, in Stuart, FL, I woke up, walked the deck of Avemar for my daily checks, and saw Validated no more than 30 feet away on the mooring next to me. We met later that day, and it felt like we had been sailing friends for years.

We’ve since crossed paths in North Carolina and Maryland and will again meet in Virginia a few weeks before we get our schedules in sync to sail south together for the winter season.

Sput and I began messaging each other about our boat projects, and he has become my go-to first call when I have a technical question. Likewise, I’m probably to blame for a few long days and nights spent over the past month on projects underway aboard Validated before the 2024 Fall trip south!

You can follow the adventures aboard Validated on YouTube and find links to his other social media channels there. I’m sure upcoming videos will fill in the blanks you might have after reading this recommendation. Everyone knows sailing YouTubers prefer to yarn their own sea adventures on camera.

SV Gecko

On more than a few occasions, April has asked me, “Is it Wind Hippie Sunday?”

If you know, you know. Holly is solo sailing her Grinde 27, Gecko, around the world. I’ve watched every YouTube video about her journey from their start in Maine five years ago to Kupang, Indonesia. Holly’s biweekly videos combine singlehanded sailing adventures with exciting history, comic enthusiasm, and terrific storytelling about the places and cultures where “the Geck” drops the hook.

She grew up sailing as a daughter to parents who circumnavigated, so you can probably already appreciate that she is a competent authority on the cruising life and what it takes to sail around the world. I highly recommend following Gecko on YouTube as they sail the other half of the globe. Holly is also on Instagram.

SV Triteia

I first learned of James through someone in the Alberg 30 Class Association. Although I sold my 1966 Alberg 30, Sabrina, over twenty years ago, I still love those boats and keep up with many current owners. Like anyone who buys a boat, particularly a 50+ year old classic, if you are going to sail around the world, that journey will start with boat projects—major boat projects! That’s where James began seven years ago with Triteia, his 1965 Alberg 30.

Like Sam Holmes, who created the Prinses Mia tour video I linked above and whom I assume you already follow if you are into sailing personalities, James singlehandedly sailed his Alberg 30 across the Pacific Ocean. Sam sailed solo to Hawaii, then came back and sailed to Europe. James just kept on sailing West, where he found his partner Rhonda, who joined him onboard to share even more sailing adventures. They are currently in Australia and are very active on social media. You’ll be entertained and educated if you follow the adventures of Triteia on YouTube or James or Rhonda on Instagram.

SV Wisdom & SV Windpuff

I was in Beaufort, NC, sitting in the captain’s chair on Avemar with a camera in my lap, watching the activity in Taylor Creek. Sailboats came in and went out; catamarans spun wildly in the current and tide, and monohulls dropped anchors and dragged once they thought they were set, many repeating the process repeatedly, leading to even more entertainment. Tour boats were going in every direction. Dock workers washed megayachts. Horses grazed along the shoreline on one side, and on the other were skippers timing the channel over to the dinghy dock, trying to avoid the parade of powerboats.

Then they motored past in a dinghy with two parrots on their shoulders! That got my attention, and it was a shot I couldn’t pass up!

I hailed Herbie and Maddie the next time I saw the dinghy and texted them the photo. We’ve since become friends.

I didn’t know it until later, but I had already followed the adventures of Wisdom on YouTube. Herbie is known as the “Rigging Doctor,” and I had studied his videos on how to splice Dyneema lifelines and another video on all of the places I could replace stainless hardware with soft shackles.

How could I have missed that? I also didn’t put two and two together, and the tanbark sails aboard Wisdom that attracted my attention in Taylor Creek as they sailed in were on the same boat, a Morgan 45 I had been studying that used synthetic rigging. I quickly put all the dots together and learned they had just sailed in after crossing the Atlantic from Africa.

April and I crossed paths again with Wisdom in Annapolis a few months ago. Herbie pulled up in his dinghy, needing duct tape, and at that exact moment, I needed a pair of giant dental pliers to fix a part of my boat and Herbie is a dentist.

April and have just joined a yacht club in their neck of the woods. I’m sure we’ll see those tanbark sails again soon.

There’s a new chapter, too. They are refurbishing (that’s an understatement; wait until you see it!) their Alberg 30 named Windpuff. Their story was already interesting, but it will get even more exciting with everything this family has in the works—they’ve now added a toddler to the mix! You should follow along by subscribing to their YouTube channel. I think you’ll love it.

SV Mischief & SV Calypso

Nica and Jeremy are prepping to sail to the South Pacific soon. They enjoy blue-water boats so much that they bought two identical 28-foot Bristol Channel Cutters, Mischief and Calypso. Which one will they choose? You’ll have to follow them to find out!

Avemar hasn’t yet cruised with Mischief or Calypso, but I’ve met Nica several times, once when she spoke at the SSCA Annapolis GAM in 2022 and a few times in passing at The Boat Galley booth at the Annapolis Boat Show. I met Jeremy once when I paid him for a used spinnaker pole after we broke three during one long bluewater sail on Avemar. April and I will see one or both of them next week at the 2024 SSCA GAM at the Maryland Yacht Club.

Although not YouTubers like the sailors in the list above, this couple has probably sailed more miles than most sailors I know. Jeremy can fix or build just about anything. Without a doubt, Nica has written or recorded a podcast about more details of sailing, cruising, cooking, and living aboard than all of the YouTubers I know combined. She is part of The Boat Galley group with Carolyn Shearlock and a few of their sailing friends.

They have… books. The cookbook and the storing food onboard book are must-haves. They have online classes. They have cheat sheets. The ICW guidebook is excellent. Their pamphlet on VHF basics is helpful, especially when you have guests aboard frequently. They have a website. They have… well, you get the idea. All of their publications are available on Amazon.

Whenever something on Avemar requires us to use a search engine to find an answer, we start with The Boat Galley. Nica or one of the other hosts has answered the question. They have not failed us yet.

To keep up with Mischief or Calypso, follow Nica on Instagram or Jeremy on Instagram because they share a little of everything about travel, boat work, the cruising life and sailing. If you want any boat questions answered, follow The Boat Galley Podcast or search their website.

Here’s a Bonus

April and I read a lot, and we’ve found many good writers on Substack who sail. I will put together my favorites and write a new post soon. If you’re reading this, you most likely subscribe here, but you can also follow April by subscribing to April’s Everyday Adventures.

Until next time, enjoy the social media sailing rabbit hole with the links above!

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