The best sailing YouTube channels, and where to start each one
La Vagabonde, Delos, Nahoa, Distant Shores, Uma and more — the sailing channels a racing sailor actually watches, who's behind each one, and the episode to start from.
By Graham Hutchinson, who makes Sail TacticianUpdated 4 min read
We make Sail Tactician, one of the apps in this guide, so we have a stake in the answer. We don't accept free products or payment for placement, and we say where something else is the better buy. Details of other products are from their makers and retailers unless we say we've used them. How we write these
The short version
World cruising
Sailing La Vagabonde, SV Delos and Sailing Nahoa.
Planning a voyage
Distant Shores — 35 years of bluewater experience.
Fixing your own boat
Sailing Uma, and the early seasons of Project Atticus.
Solo ocean sailing
Lauren Landers Sailing.
These are the sailing channels Graham Hutchinson, who makes Sail Tactician, actually watches — all free, mostly cruising rather than racing, and each one a long-running story rather than a string of clips. Pick a channel and start at its first episode; that's where the story begins. Details checked on each channel on 13 October 2026.
The channels
YouTube
Sailing La Vagabonde
Riley Whitelum and Elayna Carausu
An Australian couple who became a family at sea, and one of the most-watched sailing channels there is.
Riley and Elayna have sailed more than 90,000 miles since 2014, through three boats and two children, and their channel is how a lot of people discovered sailing YouTube. Easygoing, beautifully filmed, and still posting.
A Canadian couple with more than 35 years of bluewater cruising, and a TV series to show for it.
The Shards were making sailing television long before YouTube, and it shows: polished, practical travel shows from all over the world, now aboard their aluminium expedition yacht Distant Shores IV. The channel for anyone planning a voyage of their own.
Ben Brehmer, Ashley Stobbart and their two children
A Canadian family that sailed around the world on a catamaran — and then some.
Ben and Ashley sailed around the world and kept going on their Lagoon 410, raising two kids aboard, and are now designing their own aluminium catamaran. Warm, honest family cruising.
One of the longest-running voyages on YouTube, aboard a 53-foot Amel.
Brian set off in 2008 and never really stopped; Delos has sailed around the world since, first with a rotating crew of friends and now as a family. Note the real channel is @svdelos — there are impostor accounts using the name.
A liveaboard couple chasing surf and wind, with plenty of boat projects.
Billy and Sierra live aboard and go where the waves and the breeze are, with an honest look at the work it takes to keep a boat going, now aboard a new Seawind catamaran. Easy, sunny watching.
A 1972 Pearson 36, refitted by hand and converted to electric propulsion.
Dan and Kika rebuilt an old fiberglass boat themselves and sailed it a long way, including to Svalbard, on electric power. The best channel for anyone who likes to fix their own boat — clever, frugal and inspiring.
Two Australians, a 1981 Tayana 42 bought in Florida, and a lot of repairs. No longer posting.
The channel ended in March 2024 after more than 220 episodes, but the whole story is still there to watch, from buying a tired boat to cruising it. Start at the beginning.
A couple who refitted a 1963 sailboat and went cruising. Today the channel is about building a homestead.
The sailing years are the reason to watch: a small, old boat brought back to life and sailed with a sense of humor. The channel has since moved ashore to a homestead in North Carolina, so look for the earlier seasons.
A young woman refitting a 51-foot Beneteau and sailing it solo across oceans.
Lauren bought Soul de La Mar, a 1993 Beneteau Oceanis 510, rebuilt much of it herself, and in 2025 sailed it single-handed from Panama to French Polynesia. Brave, capable and refreshingly unglamorous about the work.
Short videos on new features, and how to use the app on the water.
We make Sail Tactician, so this one isn't a recommendation like the others — it's where we post what's new in the app and quick how-tos: the start timer, the favored end, wind shifts on the watch, and the race debrief. Subscribe if you race with the app, or are thinking about it.
Sailing La Vagabonde, SV Delos and Sailing Nahoa for world cruising, Distant Shores for practical voyaging, Sailing Uma for doing your own boat work, and Lauren Landers Sailing for solo ocean sailing.
What's the best sailing YouTube channel for beginners?
Distant Shores, for clear, practical explanations from a couple with decades of cruising, and Sailing Uma for learning how a boat goes together.
Where should I start watching a sailing channel?
At the first episode. Most of these channels are one long story — buying a boat, learning to sail it, and setting off — and the early episodes are where it begins.
Is Sailing Millennial Falcon still posting?
No. The channel's last episode was in March 2024, but all of its 220-plus episodes are still on YouTube.
Sources
Channel names, addresses and latest uploads from each channel's YouTube page, checked 13 October 2026. Boats and backgrounds from the channels' own descriptions and press coverage, including Wikipedia (SV Delos), Yachting Monthly (Sailing Uma) and Cruising World (Project Atticus).
What changed
First published. Channels and latest uploads checked on YouTube.
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