This week we had the incredible pleasure of having a one-to-one (well, two, as Bri and I were both there) with James, known to many as the captain of S/V Zingaro and seasoned cruiser with an incredibly popular YouTube channel.

As part of a supportive Facebook group for sailors and filmmakers, Brioni discovered a very generous offer from James to host a conversation and answer any questions from newbies like us. A week later we found ourselves sitting at the dining table and dialling into a zoom call to Hawaii. I just love how small this world is.

James was kind enough to share some of his wisdom with us in regards to boat purchasing, YouTube algorithms and all sorts of other things.

INSPIRATIONAL ADVENTURE

James’ adventure has already taken him over 25,000 miles around the world on five different boats and he is currently spending his lockdown in a marina in Hawaii (I can think of worse places to spend the time). Thankfully, James is an expert sailor who is very capable at boat maintenance so he’s able to use his lockdown experience to catch up on those niggling jobs that have been hanging around.

ALL ABOUT THE ALGORITHMS

While Red Seas’ focus is on the inspirational, we are fast realising that social media is going to play a big part in sharing the adventure and we are going to have to build an understanding of how to use this to our advantage. S/V Zingaro have been streaming their travels for over five years and James and his partner Kim have learned that posting videos as frequently as once a week can make a big difference to the chances of videos being seen. So we are going to have to step up our editing game to make sure we can keep up with a busy schedule!

SHARING THE STORY

Possibly the most important secret that James was able to share with us: the story is king. He offered some fantastic advice on building a story to keep our videos interesting and we can’t wait to try these tips out. While we hope the stories of the people we meet will be more than enough to captivate your attention, it’s important that we frame these as best we can to make sure they aren’t lost in distraction as, if anyone knows how to go on a tangent, it’s me. I’ll do my best to keep that to a minimum moving forward.

PATREON

We love sharing stories but that unfortunately comes with overheads and we are so grateful for our patrons who have been vital in getting Red Seas up and running. As we gather momentum and release more content, we hope that some of you will join our clan on Patreon and help us grow the adventure and meet, learn from and share the incredible stories of people around us.

So with only one brief interruption (when our lamp fell over and almost totalled the laptop!), we have learnt so much from one interaction that we hope will set us on the path to sharing even more Red Seas stories with all of you.

Stay safe and we hope that these strange times can become a positive part of your journey rather than a hiatus from your adventures.