Dear readers,

Nils Günter should actually be paying us money for what he does instead of the other way round. Or at least pay a pleasure tax. You might think so. Nils, 50, from Hamburg, is a video journalist and producer of our videos on YACHT-TV, our YouTube channel.

YouTube, you know, that platform where you can watch videos. Don't you know it? There's a very worthwhile link to it below.

Back to Nils: he has been shooting and editing films for us for 15 years, during which time he has travelled to the most beautiful places in the world, sailed the fastest, most exciting boats and met the most interesting people. Anyone who sees his videos can't help but envy him. "I'm doing my dream job," he says. "I can't imagine anything better than being able to combine my passion for sailing with my job." Exactly, pleasure tax.

What many people don't realise is the sometimes immense amount of work behind the beautiful pictures. "I always have to defend myself to friends and family that it's just a job," says Nils. "Everyone thinks I'm on holiday all the time. Because the jobs often take place in places where other people go on holiday."

Nils came to the yacht via an advert. YACHT-TV was launched over 20 years ago by Hamburg video producer Jochen Lueg. Back then, we played the films, which were just films at the beginning, on our own platform and then switched to YouTube. Today they are real films, some up to 30 minutes long.

Nils was immediately thrown into the warm waters of the Mediterranean, symbolically. "One of my first jobs was a video with Boris Herrmann, shortly before the Barcelona World Race 2010," he recalls. "My editor-in-chief at the time, Jochen Rieker, said, 'you're going to Barcelona, a German professional skipper has a big racing yacht there, you're going to sail with him for a few days and accompany him'. I had previously been more involved in cruising and had hardly any idea about the boat, but it turned out to be a really cool few days with Boris, who was still young at the time." What he experienced as a YACHT TV videographer, he tells us in our podcast.

Something special happened for YACHT this week that probably wouldn't have happened without Nils. The 1,000th video was posted on our channel back in January, and Nils has produced around 800 of them (which are the most viewed, you can read here...).

This week, the subscriber count on our YouTube channel jumped to 100,000 - a milestone!

And a recognition of the commitment of the producers behind the camera, like Nils, but also in front of it. Because many editors, some still trained with typewriters and sheets of paper with five carbon copies, have long since become entertainers, if not TV stars. At least when it comes to sailing TV. Many colleagues are approached again and again in harbours like this: "Hey, tell me, aren't you..."

Michael Good, 59, Swiss, knows this only too well. He produced the lion's share of the YACHT tests, which form the core content of our website and are among the most clicked articles. He also went from being a writer to a multimedia journalist, with a steep learning curve.

"Producing videos for YACHT-TV is always a time-consuming process," he says. "You have to prepare, you have to know what you want to say and how you should position yourself. By the time the cameraman says 'running', most of it is already gone and improvisation is required." Which sometimes works more, sometimes less well. "Either you get lost or something doesn't work as it should. Sometimes a jet flying overhead interferes, someone runs through the middle of the picture or the camera gives up the ghost at that very moment due to a lack of battery power."

However, these moments are still on the chip. "I don't know exactly how many 'outtakes' we've already produced," he says, "it feels like there must be hundreds. But it's amazing what Nils is ultimately able to edit together from the available material to create the finished YACHT-TV programme. It's great how he does it!"

Thank you for the segue, Michel. It's a perfect way to point out a special video that will be shown on YACHT-TV from 12.00 noon this Sunday, 13 April. I don't want to spoil anything here, you can probably guess it, but it's worth it, as mentioned above!

It only remains for me to thank our users and viewers, even if it comes at the very end. With your loyalty, you confirm that what we do for you is well received and worthwhile.

100,000 subscribers, wow that sounds really good!

Sincerely

Lars Bolle

Editor-in-chief watersports digital

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