Top 10 Practical Sailor YouTube Videos of 2025

Views: 88,701 (April 21, 2025, through January, 21, 2026)
Runtime: 13:35 Click here to watch
Why it’s popular: When it comes to bluewater sailing, Hallberg Rassy is a legendary boatbuilder with a stellar reputation, but owning one will cost you a pretty penny. This video details the thoughtful design of an “effortless to sail” 44 footer, but you’ll also hear about the long list of extra-cost features that can easily raise the costs from the $620,000 base price to well over $1 million.
Highlights: The short list of extra-cost items includes $22,800 for in-mast furling, $22,300 for a hardtop dodger, and $40,000 for a teak deck.
Notable subscriber comment: “The build quality on catamarans are all Ikea and plastic garden furniture compared to premium monohull yachts like HR, Oyster, Amel, Contest, etc.,” notes @gerhardreinecke3945. “A speced-up Balance 442 [catamaran] gets you close to $1.8 million from a base price of $1.2 million.”

Views: 88,786 views (Apr 7, 2025, through January 21, 2026)
Runtime: 10:08 Click here to watch
Why it’s popular: If you’re looking for massive dining and sunning space behind twin helms, a well-protected-but-above-deck salon, and private cabins for three couples, step aboard this modern 55-footer that is “ignoring the trends” and “taking shots at cats.”
Highlights: The owner’s stateroom is massive while gullwing doors up on deck lead to private port and starboard cabins for the kids or guests.
Notable subscriber comment: “Yes, this is an amazing boat for the Caribbean/Med/Bahamas, but don’t describe it as fit for the open sea,” comments @rolandstockham1905. “It is a luxury floating home for inshore and short coastal passages in fair weather and tropical areas… but this boat would not be safe in true offshore conditions.” 

Views: 92,955 (May 24, 2025, through January 21, 2026)
Runtime: 44:20 Click here to watch
Why it’s popular: Hear from solo ocean sailing expert and ex-Marine, John Stone, who embraces the keep-it-simple principle. He chose a Carl Alberg-designed Cape Dory 36 for his transoceanic passages. Practical Sailor shares an extended interview so you can hear Stone’s advice on preparing for solo offshore voyages, safety gear and emergency procedures, navigation and route planning, sleep management, and handling storms and rough seas.
Highlights: What equipment does John recommend? “A good wind vane, a sextant, and a hand-held GPS” head the list. Sophisticated electronics? Not so much.
Notable subscriber comment: “Thank you for interviewing John and giving his channel some well-deserved exposure,” writes @SailingKaruna. “I’m inspired by his pragmatic approach to seamanship skills and how to refit the vessel that will carry you safely to the other shore, without all the bells and whistles.”

Views: 98,052 (June 21, 2025, through January 21, 2026)
Runtime: 9:32 Click here to watch
Why it’s popular: Why buy a new boat with a dated design when there are plenty of used boats to choose from? Pure Yachts presents a modern, lightweight “sailing first, comfort second” alternative with a focus on strength and precision.
Highlights: Despite the cutting-edge design, “everything is designed to be serviceable anywhere,” Tim Labute notes, with components from well-known suppliers including Antal, Harken, Lewmar and Yanmar.
Notable subscriber comment: “With that [forward projecting] keel, the Eastern seaboard is off limits,” notes @carlthor91. “You’d have every lobster pot line hooked on the bulb. No thank you, I don’t want a hit put out on me by the lobstermen!”

Views: 100,006 (February 3, 2025 through January 21, 2026)
Runtime: 9:07 Click here to watch
Why it’s popular: They weren’t sinking, they didn’t even have a water leak and the engine was still working, so why did the captain of a Beneteau Oceanis 523 decide to abandon ship? Practical Sailor presents the facts, in context, and let’s you be the judge.
Highlights: We hear about the discrepancy between the captain’s account of the weather and that of the US Coast Guard, a naval architect and an expert on trans-Atlantic cruising.
Notable subscriber comment: @skippertips comments, “Heaving-to should be standard ops on all vessels sailing offshore. Learn what it takes to get your boat (emphasis ‘your boat’) into the hove-to position. I recommend Lin and Larry Pardey’s ‘Storm Tactics’ to discover different ways to get your boat into a hove-to position in storm conditions.

Views: 109,138 (August 23, 2025 through January 21, 2026)
Runtime: 8:50 Click here to watch
Why it’s popular: Many monohullers like the sound of spreading out in a comfortable cat, attaining double-digit speeds with minimal healing, and extending daily cruising range well beyond 100 miles. Then there’s the reality of the cost of a catamaran, the cost of dockage, and the dreaded phenomenon of bridge deck slamming. Practical Sailor breaks down the pros and cons of cat ownership.
Highlights: Tim Labute advises would-be buyers to think more about sailability and bridge deck clearance before considering the creature comforts.
Notable subscriber comment: Looking beyond bridge deck clearance, @julesmoto9092 notes that “another critical measurement [is] the distance of the front of the bridge deck back from the waterline at the bow as well as other factors, like how much weight the owner has put in the ends of the boat. It’s essential to avoid weight in the ends of the boat to avoid pitching… Obviously, shaft-drive catamarans are the best for keeping weight centralized and out of the ends.”

Views: 148,562 (September 6, 2025, through January 21, 2026)
Runtime: 9:18 Click here to watch
Why it’s popular: Every sailor tunes, tweaks and repeatedly checks the knot meter, so who can resist an invite to investigate the world’s fastest monohulls? Even full-keel cruisers will get a kick out of gawking at this “carbon fiber bullet” capable of reaching 40-plus knots. “It’s the closest thing to a Formula One car for the Ocean.”
Highlights: Likening these boats to “alien sea creatures with carbon fiber wings,” Tim explains the physics, construction and sail plans of IMOCAs compared with ordinary sailboats.
Notable subscriber comment: @tincoffin comments: “Another interesting thought is how much more efficient these [IMOCAs] and multihulls are, nonstop, than powerboats with unlimited power. The weight of fuel they need to carry nullifies their advantage. Round the world it is no contest—sail wins—but I suspect it happens at half that distance.”

Views: 237,612 (Aug 30, 2025 through January 21, 2026)
Runtime: 8:14 Click here to watch
Why it’s popular: Sailors can be cantankerous contrarians, so this “glass half empty” look at living aboard will have many grizzled old salts nodding in agreement with the five reasons you should think twice before living aboard. No doubt they’re chuckling from the comfort of their on-land easy chairs.
Highlights: We get a peek at a few of Tim Labute’s own rain-soaked, “awful moments that will make you want to scream and move back in with mom and dad.”
Notable subscriber comment: “We lived on a 29 foot sailboat for 14 years,” recalls @BobAliBall. “I wouldn’t trade that time for anything. When we finally moved ashore, I kept dreaming that we had run aground because the bed wasn’t moving. As a friend of ours said, “houses don’t tack worth a damn.”

Views: 337,695 (April 19, 2025, through January 21, 2026)
Runtime: 9:55 Click here to watch
Why it’s popular: After a lifetime of transoceanic sailing, Kraken Yachts Founder and Chairman, Dick Beaumont, decided to start a company offering 50- and 58-foot bluewater sailboats built to the same exacting specifications as his custom-built 66-foot ocean cruiser. The two crucial features the boats have in common are a completely encapsulated “Zero Keel” and an “Alpha Rudder” hung from an encapsulated stainless steel girder.
Highlights: The video recounts Beaumont’s sailing exploits and offers an inside look at how these stout, seaworthy boats are built.
Notable subscriber comment: @BobbyArrow notes, “Encapsulated keels were the norm for full-length or nearly full-length keels 40-50 years ago. Kraken might be the only company doing this with a fin keel today. To say that it is “always” better and safer is up for question. Oyster and Hallberg Rassy, for example, have been using keel bolts for decades without any issues.”

Views: 574,000 (February 1, 2025 through January 2026)
Runtime: 10:08 Click here to watch
Why it’s popular: It didn’t hurt that this video debuted on 1 February 2025 and had timely appeal to snowbound sailors with cabin fever and a need to fantasize about warm-weather living and sailing. The video recaps “the closest thing to living in the Bahamas while still residing in the US.” The video also has crossover appeal to non-boaters (and retired boaters) who just want to live on the water while avoiding the high cost of condos and real estate taxes.
Highlights: Tim Labute hops in his inflatable and shares his dos-and-don’t advice about sailing, anchoring, mooring, and living in the Keys, along with details on what you can expect to pay.
Notable subscriber comment: While getting high praise and more than 470 comments, subscribers including @SonnyConger warn, “…there is NOT a $1000.00 slip here that you can live at. It simply does not exist. Finding a mooring ball in Boot Key will run about $500 a month, give or take [depending on] the size of the vessel. One may get lucky and find a private slip, but the live aboard life [in the Keys] is starting to get a bit more difficult. As you stated, laws are changing and insurance is getting more expensive.”