The brave new world of sailing
Olivia Owens Wyatt and the dream of the Pacific
The brave new world of sailing sounds like this, for example: "Hello everyone, my name is Olivia. I have 11,000 nautical miles of Pacific Ocean in my wake, 8,000 miles of which I have sailed solo. I didn't grow up sailing. I grew up on land, in Little Rock, Arkansas."
Olivia Owens Wyatt continues: "After college, she moved to the East Coast, where she discovered sailing. There she sailed whenever she could. She obtained her U.S. Coast Guard Captain's Licence and soon bought her own yacht: the 34-foot "Juniper", a cutter-rigged long keeler of the Ta Shing Panda type.
Olivia has been travelling for four years. She started in San Diego, sailed first to Hawaii, then on to French Polynesia, Fiji and Vanuatu in the South Pacific. Before her journey, she had only spent six hours alone on a yacht. A sailing dream, you could say: from zero to one hundred.
Olivia Owens Wyatt loves life at sea. And as she reports, she doesn't want to stop until the winds have blown her around the world.
Life as paradise in clip format
And this is what the brave new sailing world can look like. Olivia wears a floral swimming costume and rose-tinted sunglasses, hangs on the handrails in the saloon and rocks in the swell. It looks cosy on board: Basque hat, fruit net, flowers in the galley.
The clips continue: Olivia with dolphins, Olivia with grapes. How she sets the sails, tugs at the winches, anchors in lonely bays. How she sails down a drop into the blue sea and dives with tropical fish. The soundtrack: indie rock. Follow the Dreamer.
Marvelling at a woman in bliss. A person sailing, surfing, swimming, bathing, riding on the beach, sipping coconuts. An earthling of the 3rd millennium in a continuous roundelay of elysian images and feather-light impressions. Life as paradise.
From on-board life to the brand
This is what modern online life can be like. And without a big bank account, as Wyatt claims in one of her videos. According to her profile, she is now not only a single-handed sailor, but also a filmmaker, TV producer and author. Her performance is called "Wilderness of Waves", subtitled: Sailing in search of the endless sunrise.
Wyatt, probably in her thirties, has her own website, does a podcast and runs a blog. To date, she has posted 613 posts on Instagram and has over 57,000 followers. She is not yet a star, but with more than 10,000 fans, she is already far beyond the nano- and micro-influencer stage. From 500 to 1,000 followers, the first money can be earned on Instagram, especially with high-quality content that generates as many likes, comments and shares as possible in a niche and offers brands an attractive environment.
Sailing as a longing machine in the feed
Why sailors follow other sailors
The ocean, the wind. Beautiful images, great adventures. Sailing seems to be made for the endless loops of social media. Travelling across the sea can be enchanting. Vastness, freedom, nature. You can hardly dream more. Even landlubbers are mesmerised.
But sailors in particular follow other sailors online. Where is the yacht of the disembarked IT consultant currently moored? Did the funny crew from Kiel get through the Panama Canal safely? And has the crazy guy from Norway already sewn up his sail after getting caught in a storm 200 miles off the Azores?
The topics are varied. It's about equipment, material, all kinds of tips and tricks. Others share their knowledge of the area and pass on their experiences with orcas.
But there is one question in particular: How do they do it? How do all these sailors manage to cruise the world so happily? Where do they find the time, the money? Yes, how does this alternative lifestyle work? And what could I learn from them?
The journey continues, as does the feed
In the meantime, Olivia Owens Wyatt has also sailed on: via Indonesia and Thailand to Madagascar. This year she wants to take part in the Golden Globe Race, 30,000 nautical miles around all the major capes, single-handed and non-stop around the world. She still needs support, which will also be publicised online.
Her last post shows her flying six metres above the sea in a pink swimming costume, clipped under the spinnaker. Caption: "This is my life at 8.30 in the morning."
Millions of results, no end
Understanding the phenomenon, let alone narrowing it down, is not easy. Anyone who enters "sailing adventure" into the search fields on Instagram, Tiktok, YouTube, Facebook and the like immediately loses track of what's going on. Users are now bombarded with millions of results within seconds. The number of images and films showing private sailors speeding across the seven seas in their yachts is indeed incalculable. Algorithms, ever new posts and feeds ensure that there is literally no end to the scrolling down.
Social networks have pulverised old patterns of reporting, degrading regulatory structures such as sailing associations and clubs to confused concepts. Online communities may be more volatile and anonymous, but they are also much bigger, faster, hipper, lighter, more colourful and happier - and can be accessed 24/7 on a smartphone whenever divertissement is required.
New clubs, new longing
Sailing clubs are forming on the net according to completely new patterns. Reel creator Max Campbell, for example, has founded the Untide Sailing Club, which brings together young people from all over the world with little money. Motto: "Turn your sailing dream into reality - how to sail around the world in your 20s and 30s without a trust fund."
The articles read like a fairytale. "At 21, I sailed solo across the Atlantic on a small boat that cost me less than an iPhone." The next person writes: "At 23, I restored a yacht from the 1970s and am now sailing it around the world." This post sums it up: "Starlink has changed everything, you have internet in the middle of the ocean and can work remotely wherever you are on earth".
Two young people in shorts can be seen anchoring off a desert island and sitting in front of a laptop in the cockpit. Pink Floyd is playing off-screen. Title: "Breathe".
Starlink changes life on board
High-speed Internet on the high seas
Elon Musk and his company SpaceX have made the flood of maritime images possible. Around 10,000 Starlink satellites are to float in orbit in order to provide as many people on the planet as possible with fast and affordable internet. The slogan: "Connectivity everywhere".
Starlink now covers almost the entire world - since then, people can even access the Internet conveniently in Antarctica and on the high seas. Special tariffs have long been available for sailors and other globetrotters. "High-speed Internet for travelling" is the name of one of the packages, which can be booked at the "Travel" mini tariff from 28 euros for the first six months. The provider's promise: "Work and play in remote locations."
Technology moves on board
More and more yachts have the appropriate equipment on board. Antenna, router, weatherproof cables. Sailing outfitters offer the right accessories. Inverters, cable ducts, brackets made of marine-grade aluminium - you're ready to go.
"We used to sell large quantities of TV antennas for yachts," says Julian Knauer from SVB. "This business has declined dramatically." The reason: internet antennas, especially Starlink, have virtually taken over. Knauer: "Sailors stream everything these days, even at sea."
Old technologies such as long wave, Navtex or creaking world receivers have also reached museum maturity. The result of this progress can be summarised as follows: It doesn't matter where I am, I'm online.
Social media becomes an on-board medium
Everyone knows that social media in particular has swollen into a hyper-productive platform for infotainment. Hardly anyone can escape the pull. There are currently over 5.6 billion users worldwide - 69 per cent of the world's population - surfing through the social galaxies. And the trend is rising.
The content is as varied as life itself. Cat videos, political news, DIY jokes or the summit attempt on Everest. There's nothing that isn't posted - and increasingly so by sailors too. One wonders how many skippers have now become content creators, how many trips are now being transformed into media presentations. It is impossible to keep track of the number of sailor profiles on the relevant channels.
Sailing Supernova, Sailing Magic Carpet, Adventure Crew, Old Seadog, Hippie Sailor, Saling Nakama, The Good Pirate, Groovy Sailors, Salty Brothers or simply Lauren Landers, who glides through the Internet under the motto: "Boat trip on my 30-year-old 50-foot sailboat, I sail alone!"
You can follow pretty much anything on the digital oceans. From naturist sailing off the Algarve to round-the-world trips with dog and cat. Hashtags: #emigrate, #round-the-world sailing. Subtitle: "Really chaotic, full of heart, dolphins on the bow and a dose of madness on board."
Being away becomes a mission
Offline used to be
On the one hand, it is not surprising that sailors are increasingly getting involved in times of limitless data output. However, in view of some of the sport's inherent idiosyncrasies, a number of questions do arise at some point: aren't sailors on the water always looking for distance - even by nature? Wasn't the sea recently a space for self-awareness rather than a stage for self-expression? And wasn't there always a dose of escapism in blue water sailing in particular? Offline instead of online? The "gone fishing" attitude to life has been turned on its head. Fishing for likes has also become the order of the day in sailing.
What is particularly astonishing is that the media's frenzy of communication is no longer limited to harbours and close to land - people are now also posting what they can from the high seas. And this is no longer just the case for professionals, who were able to rely on expensive technologies such as iridium mobile phones and satellite phones early on. With Musk's Starlink, ordinary sailors beam their posts to the world - often while they are hundreds of nautical miles away from land.
The appeal of reporting from the sea
The temptation to communicate from far out at sea is great, the appeal understandable. Just to say: Hey, I'm fine! Just show me: Look what a crazy sunset! And just to announce: By the way, the main halyard is working again, folks - four more days to Barbados!
The sheer volume with which such images and messages reach us reveals a phenomenon. After all, sailing occupies a special position in the world of social media. After all, a photo in the nail salon can be taken quickly, the frolicking dog on holiday in Italy posted without further ado. But the sunset over Tahiti, the inflated spinnaker in the Caribbean or albatrosses in the Southern Ocean - you have to get there first!
But even such impressions have almost lost their exotic status. The social networks are full of them. If you get stuck on certain pictures, you'll watch the anchor manoeuvre off Bora Bora for longer than two seconds - more is guaranteed! Famous sailing scenes, tropical nights on board, leaps from the pulpit into turquoise lagoons at the end of all longings: What was once the stuff of evening-long dreams is now served to us in endless mode while we stand at the checkout at Aldi.
Sailing as a discount experience? The sea and the wind as constant noise, while we as recipients are hardly astonished any more, but swipe from one shot to the next?
When the extraordinary becomes commonplace
What social media does to us has been researched for some time. Some effects are known. In addition to FOMO (fear of missing out), there is also JOMO (joy of missing out).
There are also various other side effects: Concentration disorders, distorted self-perception, social pressure, fake news, sensory overload, idealised realities. In the end, even thought patterns can allegedly change.
The extraordinary is becoming the norm. Extreme journeys and even special experiences such as sailing are becoming commonplace due to new viewing habits. This has long since led to an addiction to constant exaggeration.
Sailing's entry into the digital parallel worlds has led to astonishing paradoxes. Wind, waves and the sea actually stand for elementary experiences par excellence - ultimately the sailor's goal and elixir. In the meantime, however, even many a well-travelled skipper is likely to stare at the colourful images of nature more often and for longer than at the real horizon.
Your own life as advertising space
The world is glued to its mobile phones. The sailing world too, of course. Describing the modern leisure and adventure industry, the German intellectual Hans Magnus Enzensberger once said: "The journey from the world of commodities has itself become a commodity."
Today, almost everything can be bought and booked. Cruises to the Arctic, berth charters in Thailand, singles holidays on traditional ships - you name it, you get it.
What is new is that it is no longer just tour operators and professional travel agencies that are selling adventurous experiences as a profitable commodity. Consumers are now turning themselves into players and transforming original experiences such as sailing into new consumer spheres.
This is where the cat bites its own tail. Typically, people want to escape the beautiful illusory worlds through the elementary life on board, but quite a few sailors end up doing the exact opposite. With their social media profiles, they reinterpret their own lives as advertising space.
In the past, Bounty and Bacardi had to go to Jamaica themselves to capture film-ready pirate bays for their products. Today, these environments are supplied to them by millions of others. And the target groups too.
The advantages and disadvantages of this new media self-exhibition can be debated at length. However, sailing is in danger of losing one of its beautiful and quiet qualities. Ever since people have been setting the sails, they have been gone once they have cast off. This is now a thing of the past.
When YouTube enables a new life
Luke Hartley learns to sail on the net
On the other hand, the internet and social media can also help. They can motivate, inform and inspire. Many sailors get ideas and network with like-minded people. They look at other boats, find out what's going on in other harbours and discover new sailing areas.
For someone like US-American Luke Hartley, the internet even opened up a new life. The young music teacher from Seattle discovered sailing on YouTube. He was a complete novice. But Hartley thought he was clever and learnt to sail virtually online. He then bought an old 27-foot yacht and set off at the age of 25: across the Pacific, then around the world. Along the way, he posted his adventure: "Hey guys, I'm off sailing!"
He had actually only set up his Instagram account for family and friends. Or so he thought. But the number of clicks shot up. People followed, liked and sent hearts in droves. The trained young opera singer - moustache and headband, good-looking, friendly, open, smart, not rich, not ostentatious, but full of energy - hit a nerve. Today, two years later, he has almost two million followers.
The sailing adventure becomes media work
With his yacht "Songbird", he sailed not only to the South Seas, New Zealand and Micronesia, but also into an age of completely new perspectives. Hartley has landed in a world whose globalisation is currently being rewritten, whose connection structures are being redefined and whose underlying patterns of action no one can fully comprehend.
"When I saw that over 10,000 people were following me, I was shocked. I was suddenly speaking to a lot of people and had to think about what I was saying. You suddenly have a responsibility," says Hartley.
At first, he only photographed, filmed and posted with his mobile phone. He now uses various action cams and 360
degree optics to create immersive tours of his boat. He has laptops on board, professional headphones and software for cutting and editing the material.
The situation is probably similar on the other yachts, where the transition from private pleasure to publicly exhibited existence is fluid. Cabins like film studios, cupboards crammed with cameras, drones, aerials, batteries and charging cables.
The pressure to keep sending
Sooner or later, this can lead to stress. There is pressure to film, post and comment - even on the high seas.
At some point, Hartley fell into a hole when posting and streaming from the board. He struggled with constantly having to deliver something new. Nobody forced him to stay on air. But the digital snowball syndrome had started.
Hartley suffered a "mental block" one day, an "editor's block" as he calls it. "I didn't publish a single video for two months while sailing through the South Pacific, although I continued to film everything."
In his content, Luke Hartley talks a lot about foreign countries, about sailing, about details and solutions on board. He meets new friends and discovers distant worlds: Coral reefs, volcanic islands, tropical shores. He is invited to dinner, plays music with Polynesians and eventually sails away again.
Without ever having studied or planned it, sailing has turned him into a new type of media professional. Publicist, protagonist and producer in one person, saltbucket and super-influencer all rolled into one. A late-modern Jacques Cousteau, exploring the seas of the 3rd millennium in his own way.
The inflation of adventure
Storytelling is part of travelling
Many say that social media is tantamount to a paradigm shift. But perhaps - especially in sailing - not so much has changed in the end. Travelling and reporting have always had a close relationship. Anyone who sees the world wants to tell about it and is looking for an audience.
Charles Darwin did it after he set off on the "Beagle" in 1831 and sailed around the world. The records of his five-year voyage are among the most famous travelogues in history.
James Cook also published diaries after his voyages, and Ernest Shackleton wrote the famous report entitled "South. The 'Endurance' Expedition". Almost all the great explorers recorded what they experienced - and wrote about it.
And so it went on. The early single-handed sailor Joshua Slocum wrote the book "Sailing Alone Around the World" after sailing around the world in 1899. A Moitessier also sailed - and wrote about it. A Wilfried Erdmann sailed - and wrote about it. Today, sailors race around the world in the Vendée Globe - and broadcast live.
Stone Age people probably did something similar around the campfire. They came back from the hunt - and told stories. Humans want to tell stories. They invented language and photography. Humans are made to transmit. A communication animal.
Anyone can publish, almost everyone does
I n the meantime, however, the situation has shifted. The internet and social media have led to a democratisation of reporting. It is no longer just well-known adventurers, top athletes or deserving authors who are allowed to talk about themselves and their escapades in selected media.
In an editorial society, anyone can publish - pretty much whatever they want. And yes: almost everyone does. Even when sailing on a wide ocean - but what does that do to us?
A quote from the contemporary historian Michael Richter is able to capture one effect. He once said: "Duplication means the end of diversity." Consumption of social media could therefore give the impression of arbitrariness. The inflation of adventure, the devaluation of what is special. In the end, perhaps even the banalisation of something as beautiful as sailing?
Others warn of psychological problems: Anxiety, depression, collapsing self-esteem due to constant comparison.
Sleep disorders, obesity and headaches caused by constant posting and staring at your mobile phone are probably not quite as bad.
Around 5.3 billion people worldwide own a smartphone, over two thirds of the world's population. And anyone can press a button and go online. Whenever and wherever they want.
Fortunately, you can count on variety when sailing. After all, you have to pull on a sheet at least once in a while.
Marc Bielefeld
Freier Autor
