The Sailing Family

The Sailing Family YouTube channel is on pause for now as Seth Hynes, who runs the channel, now works in the industry (previously for HH Catamarans as their President). I guess that’s keeping him busy!

There are some great archived videos to watch here though, especially if you are interested in Outremers, and I am betting that channel will start back up again at some point.

Seth helped us with a very insightful Outremer 51 Owner’s Review which is worth a read.

Back in the day they had a Lagoon 380. If you want to see how the 380 handles a storm, check out episode 6: “Lagoon 380 Catamaran bare-poles sailing, 50 knots, 20′ seas”.

The channel covers the adventures of this family of five sailing around the world on their “dream boat,” a Ferrari red Outremer 51 called “Archer”. Seth, Elizabeth, and their 3 boys Hale, Rhys, and Pierce sailed from Cape Cod in the US United States down to the Caribbean and then through the Panama Canal. They crossed the Pacific and sold the boat in Sydney, Australia.

A good family-friendly channel with all the ups and downs of boat life and a great tour of the Outremer 51.

Photo Credit: The Sailing Family, Seth Hynes.

Top Episodes

About Us: The Sailing Family
The channel’s introduction video. Seth lays out the plan: sell everything, buy a 2014 Outremer 51, and head around the world with three kids. Clear, well-presented, and a useful first port of call if you’re new to the channel.
Outremer 51 Boat Tour
A walkthrough of Archer with Seth as guide. Covers the three-cabin owner’s layout, the performance-oriented build philosophy, and what makes the 51 stand out against the mainstream cruising cat market. Well-informed, without the usual showroom gloss.
Epic Panama Canal Crossing
Eight minutes covering the Atlantic-to-Pacific transit, showing the lock process and line-handling from the crew’s perspective. One of the most-shared episodes on the channel.
Top 10 Performance Cruising Cats (Part 1)
Shot around the Annapolis Boat Show, this is Seth’s rundown of the performance cruising cat market as it stood in 2021/22. He covers what questions buyers should be asking and what matters at sea versus at the dock. Grounded in real offshore experience.
Top 10 Performance Cruising Cats (Part 2)
The follow-up narrows the field to his top three picks and explains the reasoning. Seth updates some of the conclusions from Part 1 based on viewer feedback. Useful buying-guide content, particularly for anyone comparing Outremer, HH, or similar builds.
Lady Musgrave Island, Great Barrier Reef
The family anchors at a coral atoll at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef and witnesses a rare flat calm in open water. Seth also takes time here to reflect on the cruising community and what it means to share the same ocean with other liveaboards.
Queensland Sailing: Keppel Islands
Covers a passage across a coastal bar into Yellow Patch anchorage and on to the Keppel Islands. One of several Australian coast episodes that show how well Archer handles shallow bar crossings, with Elizabeth taking a turn at the helm of the vlog.
Finding Our Old Boat in Brisbane
An emotional episode: arriving in Brisbane and tracking down their old Lagoon 380 “Honeymoon,” the boat they sailed for their honeymoon years earlier. The boys explore the boat that is older than them.
Whitsundays and Pierce Turns 8
Covers the approach to the Whitsunday Islands, anchoring by drone, an encounter with stranded stingrays in a resort pool, and a butterfly migration. Also: Pierce’s birthday at sea. A good cross-section of what the channel does well, mixing sailing content with family moments.
Life Update: Archer is For Sale
The final episode, recorded live. Seth announces he has taken a job in the industry, Archer is on the market, and the circumnavigation is ending earlier than planned.