Three Absolute Gems From Fairline

Over recent years there has been an explosion of new YouTube channels dedicated to yachts and yachting. Nick Burnham of Aquaholic, Jack Haines on YachtBuyer, and David Seal on Yachts For Sale. Even the delightfully effervescent James Barke, CEO of the family-owned Boats Co UK, has joined the party. And of course, with this new website Yachts and Yachting, I too have climbed aboard.

Each of the above has cornered themselves a unique niche in the market which has seen them skyrocket to over a million subscribers combined. It is all down to their engaging personalities.

Nick is a very knowledgeable and endearingly gaff-prone presenter who has turned the concept of turning a fault into a feature. Whenever he knocks over a vase or misses an onboard cabin ensuite, he brushes it off with an “I’ll edit that out later,” which of course he never does. His tours however are seamless. He is the master of yacht tour continuity.

Jack Haines, is also highly knowledgable but comes across as a tad more serious and deadpan. However, I like Jack’s videos very much as he test drives the yachts he presents and has become a bit of a whizz with some awesome drone video footage.

David Seal is a presenter par excellence who tends to deal with the higher end of the yacht market. And just as Nick offers a seamless tour, David offers a seamless commentary. He can wax lyrical with the best of them. He is, for me at least, an archetypal charmingly endearing English gentleman who knows very well indeed how to present a yacht costing many millions of pounds.

James Barke, like Nick, has his own unique catchphrase with his helm side ‘Shouting Window', that he likes to stick his head out of and shout “Hoy, get the fenders in.” He also has the hilarious ‘Floss test’ to assess whether or not the bathroom has enough space to swing an imaginary towel to dry between his legs. And a James video would not be the same without James’s quirky socks, just as it is mandatory to see Nick’s ‘Maggie The Bag,’ sitting in the aft cockpit.

Three months ago I enjoyed the visual serendipity of watching a video featuring all three presenters reviewing and having a drag race with two and a half million pounds worth of Fairline’s finest fleet of affordable luxury yachts The only one missing was David Seal, who was no doubt in some other part of the world making a new video of some multi-million-pound superyacht. Still, three out of four is not bad.

The comments below this video were full of delightful praise and demands that the three get together regularly to form a Top Gear-like Yach Racing Team. I for one would not disagree. The chemistry was certainly there between the three salty sailors. We can but hope. As for the Fairlines, stunningly beautiful, practical and fast. What more could you ask for?