Sailing La Vagabonde Vlogs

Sailing La Vagabonde vlogs is an unusual but an inspirational story. A story about Riley Whitelum and Elayna Carausu.

It’s also about people from our neck of the woods. Two young Australians making a life on their own terms. As well as the exciting part played by a social media platform to carve out a career. And an alternate lifestyle. A noticeable trend of the younger generation.

Riley and Elayna met for the first time not in Australia but on the Greek Island of Ios. The island is known for its touristy nightlife. The Greek Islands and the Croatian coast is a popular holiday destination for young Australians.

Elayna was working as a musician and singer at Greek Island bars and restaurants with a travel company. Riley had sailed to the Island after purchasing a yacht at nearby Italy, a year earlier in 2013. As he states, with 10hrs of sailing background. And we are talking about an ocean going craft. The word ”unusual” is taking form.

Greek Islands and the mention of a yacht might conjure a sense of affluence, decadence or trust fund kids. It actually is the opposite for these two. It’s more about frugality, discipline and hardwork. And all done with a purpose. To see the World and start an alternate lifestyle. The latter unplanned. .

Riley and Elayna

When they met, she was all of 21. A spirited life, leaving home to become a qualified dive instructor at 18. He was 30 years old, having worked for 8 years, squirrelling away his earnings to buy a yacht.

Riley comes from the small town on Cowell, on the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. For high school, in 2000, he headed to Sacred Heart College, a boarding school in Adelaide. He attends University but decides to drops out.

Eventually moving onto offshore oil rigs, mines and construction of Western Australia, primarily as a rigger. To many Australians, the El Dorado.

Elayna grew up in Geraldton (affectionately called Gero), Western Australia. Like Cowell it is a small coastal town and far way from the capital cities. Elayna is of Austrian / Romanian descent and born in Australia.

She completes school and become a PADI certified dive master. A natural progression having spent her teen years in the sea, diving and snorkelling. A pursuit of passion. She leaves Gero and heads to the Great Barrier Reef to lead tourists to see one of Australia’s underwater riches.

Riley with his savings heads to Europe on the basis that yachts are half the price than in Australia. He buys a 2007 Beneteau Cyclades 43.5 ft in a small town called Monopoli on Italy’s Adriatic coast. He pays AUD 100,000 for it and renames it La Vagabonde. The name says it all.

The plan is to sail out of the Mediterranean, cross the Atlantic, go thru the Panama Canal to the Pacific with little or no experience in sailing.

Social media and content creation

Without discounting the courage and resolve to buy a 43ft Yacht and cross the oceans, one factor made the difference in what they have become. Arguably the most popular sailors on YouTube. And that crucial factor is content creation.

Sailing La Vagabonde Vlogs content from the very start had an immediate pull. Composition, engaging conversations, down to earth outlook and meticulous editing. What I thought was amazing was the crisp presentation from the very first blog.

Elayna prior to meeting Riley had done vlogs of her travels for family and friends. She also did a video audition of her singing and playing the guitar to secure the gig in Greece.

If Riley takes the credit for his boldness and sailing vision plus the hard work to acquire an ocean going vessel. Then Elayna’s creative vlogging skills has to be recognised for what it achieved. It is evident from the very first YouTube vlog of their 7 year running series, Sailing La Vagabonde.

The vlogging numbers

As of this post, their vlogs have received 340m views, approaching 1.66m YouTube subscribers, 208K followers in Facebook. 299K followers for Riley’s Instagram and 406K followers for Elayna’s Instagram. And 3,600 paying patrons.

These are impressive numbers by any standards and more so for 2 young Australians from 2 relatively small towns.

If you took away the cost of the boat, media production wise it was lean. Just the laptop, the camera and some hard drives. The rest is hard work and desire to produce quality vlogs.

By the end of year one, their complimentary and overlapping skills and goals are in sync. It also struck me that both were challenging each other in making business and commercial decisions. And on occasions their audience were brought into these discussions.

The shaping of their business savviness became more apparent as the years rolled by but with Riley making the first moves on boats, equipment, destination and planning the passages.

Elayna takes care of content, editing, cooking and looking after the kids. But still taking turns in navigating the seas. Anyone who has done video editing will tell you it’s takes hours to pull together a 15 minute clip of decent presentation.

The financials – estimated

So what are we looking at in terms of returns?

Each episode garners around AUD 12,000 based on views which is key to YouTube paying formula. This is high level estimate and there are regional variations. Overall the rough estimate is around AUD 300,000 to 450,000 per year.

I have left out the online sales of merchandise and their Patreon account. Their attention to and clear engagement with their Patreon sponsors tells me that this income source is not insignificant.

Do bear in mind that are there are expenses. Not at the start but as their popularity took hold. Lawyers, accountants, video editors, web administrators and agents. There are also mooring fees, port charges, boat maintenance and living costs.

The audience

So what is appealing about Sailing La Vagabonde Vlogs?

The main theme is travel. Cruising and seeing wonderful places. Such places have amazing sceneries full of colour, of people and places.

The theme draws a world wide audience and is popular as content online and in print media. There is also the exploratory and instructive elements in the content.

People are keen to learn about handling a sailboat, living in one and circumnavigating the World. It’s in many people’s bucket list whether they finally do it or not.

In the couple we were not looking at seasoned sailors but novices in the first year. They came across as sincere and made clear their vulnerabilities and anxieties in their early videos. There was empathy and admiration. Riley and Elayna became strong role models to their audience in view of their background.

They would discuss their challenges as they made their way to each destination. They also brought in their audience into their discussions. There is a connection with their audience because of it and it shows in the comments after each episode. One subscriber said they liked how Riley and Elayna “talked to us”

And finally there are opportunities for their audience to join them in their travels or at meet-ups through various audience participation sessions at port of calls. Which I thought are well planned.

Their content framework

Their content is also unusual in comparison to other cruising YouTubers.

The focus is not into passage making with a strict planned route or timeline. There are no fixed rota of passage making essentials, navigation, boat maintenance, victualling vlogs etc. A common framework in sail cruising content.

So it’s an audience that are into alternate lifestyles with a lean towards sailing. They watch as Riley and Elayna go about their lives with Lenny and now Darwin on board their catamaran as they sail from one destination to another. Typically 20 minutes or less per week with a sit down explanation from both of them about the day, the plans for the week ahead and what their subscribers and patron can expect.

After 7 years, they have yet to complete a circumnavigation albeit they have crossed the Atlantic a few times and the Pacific once. A reflection of their Youtube business model. Their favoured locations are the Bahamas and the Mediterranean. There are however plans to cover Asia and Australia after they get their Trimaran.

It is also not just about sailing. They also brought their followers thru their time off the Yacht. Usually 3 months a year when they fly back to Australia to spend time with family and friends during the hurricane season.

I suspect that the biggest draw is that it does not come across as a commercial venture. They are light on advertisements, do not go overboard in persuading people to subscribe or hard push sponsored products.

The focus is still on their lifestyle, and their love of the sea. There is also their children Lenny and Darwin. All indicative that the original chemistry remains intact. Also reflective of Riley’s philosophical bent and Elayna’s approach to life.

The changes over the years

After sailing the Beneteau monohull they moved on to the French built a 48ft Outremer Catamaran in February 2017. In a discounted deal and on hire purchase and becoming the company’s sailing ambassadors. In mid 2021, they announced they were building a brand new Trimaran in Vietnam and plan to sell the Outremer.

They originally planned to relocate to Vietnam for the Trimaran build, taking part in selection of interior fittings and covering the build. Covid and lockdowns got in the way so a lot of online updates and instructions on the fittings. The build continues in Vietnam.

The Trimaran is based on the newly developed Rapido 60, conceived by Australian Paul Koch and designed by American firm Morelli and Melvin Design and Engineering. Said to be the fastest production multi-hull. Bit of trivia here but the name Rapido is quintessential Australian.

As Riley articulates. The focus is speed with stable ocean crossings using short term weather windows when the seas can be rough. My guess is that the idea came about after Greta’s North Atlantic crossing. And lastly to allow single handed sailing in view of one parent minding the kids.

Coast hugging is now firmly established followed by sprints across oceans predicated on events rather than a plan. Riley’s Dad’s holiday with the Pacific journey as well as ferrying Greta Thundberg are examples.

Greta’s Atlantic crossing in rough weather but in the expert hands of World renown sailor and circumnavigator Nikki Henderson made the news the World around. An amazing story in itself. Here it is. More such events take place as they hug the coast to pick up family, friends as well as their YouTube and Patreon supporters.

They have made Australians proud with what they have done so far. Let’s see what Sailing La Vagabonde vlogs tell or show us as as the next few years roll by.

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