This handbook is for skippers and crew who are participating in the NARC rally and are interested in documenting their voyage on video.

Lone Wolf Documentary Group and SeaArcher Productions, two television documentary production companies, are interested in seeing your trip. We are gathering stories from sailors who have recorded their off-shore voyages on video.  With this material, we will create a pilot to pitch a reality series to television executives. This series would be of similar genre to Dirty Jobs, Deadliest Catch, and the Whale Wars series. 

Content -  What We Need

We need video and audio of the drama and key events of your voyage. We want to observe and listen to the crew; in a gale;, changing the sails; listening in on the VHF and SSB as other boats and crews experience the voyage. We want to experience the dramatic and the sublime. These scenes might include the following

1. •Crews sharing their fears over the impending departure
   

2. •Hank’s morning briefing before leaving Newport, and conversations that ensue about routes, waypoints, strategy, and any arguments about go-no-go.
   

3. •Getting underway, and crew members’ private thoughts about what lies ahead
   

4. •Radio conversations with Herb and other boats about any events while underway.
   

5. •People getting sick; voices telling how bad the individual feels.
   

6. •Images of the instruments and GPS showing wind and boat speed, at key moments.
   

7. • Close-up images of hands raising sails, cranking winches, steering, doing chart work, cooking, trying to eat in a sea-way.
   

8. •Action on deck, as sail changes are made
   

9. •Catching, landing, gutting a fish, and eating it
   

10. •Crossing the Gulf Stream: sea state, wind and boat speed, instruments showing water temperature
    

11. •Conversations over dinner.
    

12. •Arguments, tension on board, dramatic moments
    

13. •Arrival in Bermuda: entering Town Gut, docking up at Ordinance Island, party time.
    

14. •Comments from other crews who have just made the voyage.
    

15. •Walking the docks and gathering images of the boats and their crews.
    

16. •Finding someone who has a story to tell.
    

17. •Weather briefing on departure from Bermuda
    

18. •Getting under way out of Bermuda
    

19. •Fair weather sailing, fishing, bucket baths on deck, idyllic days at sea, sun raises and sunsets
    

20. •Arrival in St. Martin, going through the draw bridge
    

21. •Comments from various crew members on the voyage
    

Tips on Video and Audio Recording

1. • Watch some reality television before you go. You can get these streamed on Netflix. Look at shows like Dirty Jobs, Whale Wars, Deadliest Catch. 
   

2. •Audio is more important than the video. People’s voices, reflecting their fear and joy are more valuable than the images, or the image quality. We can always find an image to put with the voices, but the reality of how people sound when in the moment cannot be re-created.
   

3. •Hold the camera still; don’t pan; let the action happen in the frame
   

4. •Move the camera only when there is a reason to do so, mostly to follow someone moving along the deck 
   

5. •Find interesting camera angles
   

6. •Pass the camera around, have others show what they are seeing
   

7. •Let crew members take the camera into the cockpit on their solo watches, and urge them to make a video journal entry.  They can use the video camera as an audio recored. We are more interested in their inner thoughts than the images.
   

8. •it's not just the drama of Mother Nature we are after, but the inevitable drama of life on board. The highs and lows' are what will make this  a dramatic program. 
   

Technical Issues

1. •The quality of your camera is not an issue. You could shoot your video on an iPhone, and use the audio note app to record sound effects and voices.
   

2. •If possible, use good quality earphones to check the audio quality. Get the microphone as close as possible to the person speaking. Remember,  what the person is saying is more important than the image the camera is recording. 
   

3. •Protect your gear, and your data. Back up your content as soon as you can. Make two copies if possible. 
   

4. •Use portable hard drives to download your data. They are cheap and small. Try this out before you go.  You will also need a small 300 AC watt inverter with which to charge your camera and run the back-up hard drives.
   

5. •Keep your camera dry. Put it in a Ziploc Bag or specialty waterproof housing. Keep your hands dry. If they get wet with salt water, rinse them in fresh water before handling a camera or media.
   

6. •The GoPro cameras are now a standard in personal reality television recording. These are bullet proof, waterproof HD cameras. They sell for $260 to $300! Buy two of them! Fix one to the back stay for an overall view, use the second camera to run around the deck when the spray is flying. Not to worry, they are good to 30 feet underwater; ideal for wet-weather sailing. You can watch a video at www.GoPro.com
   

What To Do When You Reach Land

1. •Download your content onto your laptop each day while underway. When you get to Bermuda, transfer your files to a portable hard drive, and mail it to us. When you get home send us all your content on a portable hard drive. We cannot use material on a DVD. We need a copy of your original camera material. Most any format will do, even that recorded on an iPhone.
   

2. •We’ll return your media as soon as we’ve downloaded it here in Maine. We will also send a copy of the pilot to everyone who contributed.
   

Contact

Capt. David Lyman

SeaArcher Productions

DHLyman@mac.com

207-841-4139

SKYPE: DHLyman, or 617.849.8564

Mailing Address USPO

Off-Shore Video

SeaArcher

PO Box 660, Rockport, Maine (ME) 04856

FedEx or UPS

Off-Shore Video

SeaArcher

201 Chestnut Street, Camden, Maine (ME) 04843

This is a pilot project, one we feel has the dramatic hook that will interest television executives; but this is purely speculative. We are not being paid to create this pilot, and have no funds to compensate contributors. If we get a green light on project and move into production, we will pay for segments used at the standard per-minute rate.

Your Copyright

You retain the copyright to your material, but give us a release for a one-time use license to incorporate your content into a pilot. If we wish to use your content in a subsequent commercial project, we will pay you a  standard licensing fee, based on the minutes used.

Lone Wolf Documentary Group is a major producer of programing for Discovery,  The History Channel, NOVA, and National Geographic Television. Lone Wolf is located in Portland, Maine Visit  their website at http://lonewolfdg.com/.

SeaArcher’s Creative Director is David Lyman, a photographer, filmmaker, writer-producer and world-class sailor. He has made ten off-shore voyages to the Caribbean from Maine, 20 crossing of the Gulf Stream. He was the SSB Net  Controller on the 2009 NARC rally. You can see photographs, video and read his extensive report on that year’s Rally at www.KidsOnBoats.net/. SeaArcher is located in Camden, Maine.