Can Four YouTubers Sail an 18th-Century Frigate Back to Port? Three Days Aboard the Shtandart
Michelle Khare
Michelle Khare set out to test whether a group of YouTubers in 2023 could do what sailors routinely did in the 18th century: learn to operate a square-rigged sailing ship and bring it safely back to shore. The motivation is partly personal. Khare says ancestors crossed the Atlantic in the 17th century on a ship "not unlike this," and it baffles Khare that anyone crossed open water without Google Maps. Over roughly 48 hours aboard the frigate Shtandart, Khare and three fellow creators were trained by the ship's captain and crew. At the end they had to navigate the vessel back to La Rochelle themselves.
An Unlikely Crew
Khare calls the group "the most unlikely crew." Max Fosh, a British YouTuber who describes the specialty as "doing incredibly silly things," had met Khare once, for about three hours, before agreeing to spend 48 hours on what Fosh calls a pirate ship. Fosh claims to have "the softest hands in the world" from never doing manual labor. Sam Denby runs Wendover Productions, Half as Interesting and Jet Lag: The Game. Denby suspects the invitation came only because Michael Reeves hadn't answered Khare's Instagram DMs. Reeves, who mainly builds robotics projects "on land," did eventually reply, two weeks late, and joined too.
The group expected a staged experience. Denby says he assumed it would be one of those shoots where "we pull the ropes for the camera." That assumption fell apart on the tour. The capstan used to raise the anchor has no electrical or hydraulic assistance, and the anchor alone weighs 250 kilograms. If the four of them didn't lift it, the ship would stay where it was. The tour also covered hammocks on the quarter deck, the captain's and first officer's cabins, and the toilets. When someone asked whether people had fallen overboard, a crew member said that human life "was not that treasurable as now," and that anyone not brave enough to keep themselves inside the boat was simply out of luck.
The Captain and the Ship
The ship's captain is Vladimir Martus, who also built it. Martus explains that the Shtandart is a true replica built with the same technologies as the 1703 original, and that construction took six years of "learning by doing, making mistakes." He describes it as a three-masted ship with nine sails on three masts and the bowsprit. The cannon challenge later in the trip refers to it as a 28-gun frigate.
Martus is blunt about how the YouTubers look on arrival: "definitely not like a professional sailor," and people who "obviously know nothing about sailing or ships or sails." He still thinks a day and a half is enough for them to learn the ropes and steer the ship back to harbor. "No problem with that," he says, against the crew's tally of 148 ropes and four people. He frames the trip as a philosophy rather than a stunt. He believes people should, from time to time, "put your hands on something real," and face a real challenge instead of the challenge of finding another customer or growing an audience.
Leaving La Rochelle Through a Narrow Bridge
The first challenge was to sail out of the harbor at La Rochelle through a very narrow channel. The way was lined with expensive-looking yachts, and once the bridge opened they had only a few minutes to get through. The crew worked the wheel while the captain called out commands like "hard to port" and "ten to starboard." The steering wheel was smaller than Fosh expected, and Fosh joked about it. Reeves predicted, "We're going to sink this boat, bro." Denby said, repeatedly, that "they shouldn't be giving us responsibility." Fosh chose to stay relaxed on the grounds that "it's Michelle's video, even if it all goes wrong that's on Michelle."
They made it through. Afterward the captain said the dangerous part wasn't where they thought. At the bridge, there had been only half a meter between the end of the yard and the bridge structure, so they nearly clipped the sails.
Swabbing the Deck, and What It's Actually For
Their first task at sea was to swab the deck. Khare had always assumed from movies that this was just cleaning, but learned it serves another purpose. Soaking salt water into the hull's wood prevents fungus and bacteria from growing and helps the ship last. The whole group does it every morning.
It was harder than they expected. After they finished the main deck, they were told it wasn't good enough and had to do it again once the quarter deck was done. Denby couldn't see how anyone could tell it was dirty, since it all looked the same. Then a crew member walked over, pointed out specks, and was right. A job they had pictured as two minutes took a good half hour. Reeves said he'd expected a museum ship where staff yell at visitors for touching things, and preferred this. Khare called it "an interactive museum."
Learning the Ropes
With the deck done, the crew began learning the rigging. In 24 hours they would be responsible for sailing the ship back to land. The captain explained the basic idea: the sails have to be set in the right position, and the yards have to be trimmed. Braces turn the yards left and right to catch the wind, and sheets fill the sail from a given side. One small maneuver, he said, can involve 36 different points where a rope must be released, pulled and secured again. The crew practiced belaying ropes on pins: under the pin, a figure eight, a second turn laid flat against the plank, then a locking turn.
Denby estimated they had learned about five of "the 3,000 ropes on this thing," exaggerating for effect. Later, Denby reflected that the pace of learning was unfamiliar and intimidating. There's always something to do, and on the first day Denby was mentally exhausted from wondering, "when does this ever end?" The day closed with preparing and dropping the anchor, all sails taken in. Khare noted that this had only been the training day. The next day they would head out into the Atlantic.
The Anchor Watch and Social Anxiety
The four thought their workday was over, but it wasn't. They were assigned anchor watch: making sure the ship stayed in place overnight while everyone else slept. Martus showed them how to monitor the ship's position on the instruments. If it drifted outside a marked circle, they had to wake the crew right away so the ship wouldn't drag anchor into its surroundings. The group admitted they had half thought he was just showing them something cool. Someone remarked that by now they should know nothing here is for fun.
The ship then drifted outside the circle, and the group started arguing about whether that really counted. Denby suggested it depended on the trend line, whether they were clearly moving away. Another member pointed out that the instructions simply said "outside the circle." Someone concluded that "the fear of us waking someone up is greater than us drifting into an island." Reeves, cast as the engineer, gave the final call: it was outside the circle, so they had to wake someone. The officer they woke checked the screen. Everything was fine and the ship had essentially no speed. But it had been outside the circle for more than half an hour, so they should have come sooner. Their explanation was that they had "social anxiety." (A sponsored segment follows here and is omitted.)
Raising the Anchor by Hand
On the second day, before heading farther into the Atlantic, the crew had to raise the anchor using the capstan. Bars slot into it, and the crew pushes them around. The captain said the anchor is 250 kg and the chain another 200 to 300 kg, that it's somewhat dangerous, and that the whole operation might take an hour. Denby couldn't understand how it could take that long.
Fosh used the moment to reflect: Fosh is "inherently quite a cut corners kind of guy," always trying to make life as easy as possible, and this experience was about "doing things the right way" and "really working for your survival." Partway through, the crew got a five-minute break and learned the last ten meters would be the hardest. By then the anchor hangs free, and in effect the crew had been pulling the ship toward the anchor until that point. They got it in, and someone exclaimed they wanted to "pop a bottle of shipping."
Captain's Log: Doubts About the Team
In a mock captain's log, Khare took stock after 24 hours. Things were more involved than anyone expected. Khare noted that Denby kept questioning the captain's every command, and wondered whether Denby couldn't listen to authority or just didn't trust Khare yet. Reeves, by contrast, seemed in his element, often gazing at the ocean "with a childlike wonder." Khare admitted uncertainty about whether this crew could ever become a real team.
Firing a Cannon
The next challenge was to load, charge and fire one of the frigate's cannons, each weighing about 500 kg. The crew first hauled the gun into position, with the "enemy" designated on the port side. When fishing boats passed, someone asked whether to wait for the "civilians" and refused to fire at "innocent fishermen." After rounds of pushing back and pulling forward on count, a gun captain was chosen. After a five-second countdown and a horn, Reeves lit it. Reeves said it felt "like a million bucks."
Reeves was struck by how much the crew trusted them, saying the hands-on nature of the trip had been a pleasant surprise. Reeves also said he understood the allure of being "where no one is and you just have to make it happen."
Sam Denby and Giving Up Control
Khare observed that Reeves and Fosh were figuring things out while Denby was still struggling to give up control. Denby offered a self-explanation. Becoming a creator at about 18, right out of high school, Denby quickly had to handle taxes and be responsible for other people. That was a fast jump into adulthood, and on land Denby naturally ends up as a leader. On the ship, Denby admitted, the others caught on faster, and Denby was mostly following, especially Khare's lead. Denby also found the work becoming "kind of meditative": go over, pull a rope.
Martus offered a generational observation. Old-school people like him differ from a younger generation that spends a lot of time on their phones and doesn't pay attention to others at the table. Still, he said, as they got to know each other better, he found them "nice and clever guys."
Climbing the 100-Foot Mast
Khare decided the crew's camaraderie was "off to a pretty good start" but still had "a way to go." To strengthen it before the final challenge, Khare chose a task real sailors performed to repair sails, untangle lines, and help raise or lower sails: climbing the roughly 100-foot mast. Khare noted that their harnesses were useless for 85% of the climb.
The climb was crowded and frightening. One person warned that if they vomited, it would land on Denby. Another commented that the ladder was "not very safe," and Fosh climbed in "absolutely enormous boots." Denby, though, called it "awesome," and wondered aloud how a first YouTube video had led here. Martus explained that climbing is also how the crew assesses trainees psychologically, to see whether they are brave and mentally strong or weak. He judged this team "very strong." When Khare asked whether they were closer as a team, someone called it "trauma bonding." That night, someone improvised a bedtime story about four intrepid explorers on a rocking sea.
The Final Challenge: Finding La Rochelle
On the last morning, after a final task hoisting a flag (Khare's first attempt was too tight and needed a second take), Martus gave the challenge: return the Shtandart to La Rochelle, about 20 to 25 miles away. Asked which direction, he answered, "That's what you have to find out." After 24 hours of sailing, they had no clear idea where they were, and when asked, everyone pointed somewhere different.
They started with the compass, which showed them heading between north and northwest. On a large chart (one person found their own home on it), the group reasoned that they had left the bay from the south and followed the coast north. That meant they could come back in from the top, assuming the land in question was an island. The wind was also shifting.
To turn around, Fosh explained that they should watch the ropes on the port side of each sail. As the ship came about, the yards had to be flipped so the wind would catch the other side. They called the crew over the intercom. The crew had been instructed to follow their commands "even if what we say is completely wrong," and Fosh found himself, somewhat suddenly, giving orders. Someone remarked that the crew was "trusting us way too much." The ship came around. The compass showed they weren't yet fully south because they were still turning, but land was on their left, as they wanted. Martus said he was seriously impressed: nothing broken and the ship heading roughly in the right direction.
Next they had to work out how to use the available wind. They debated which side to haul given the wind direction, and someone asked Fosh whether he was a secret sailor. Their plan was to turn the wheel to starboard, set the main three sails top first, and then return the rudder to midships. When they asked whether they could start with the mainsail, Martus told them they could do whatever they liked: "the ship is yours." Each sail opened on a countdown, and the mainsail was declared "as open as it's ever been."
Then came the corrections. The ship turned very slowly. They read the flag to judge the wind and squared the yards perpendicular to it. When a sail wouldn't set properly, they traced the problem to a line that needed loosening far below. Finally they went around tightening slack lines. Martus told Khare that everything was "really well done," and to take the wheel and steer for La Rochelle. When land came into view, Fosh confirmed it was the city.
Reflections on Land
Back in port, the YouTubers reflected on the experience. One of them said they liked simply being told which rope to pull and stepping away from decision-making for a while. Denby, who had struggled most with giving up control, found that appealing. Another found it impossible to be on the water and not feel somewhat relaxed. Fosh said the silliness was still part of Fosh, but was surprised at how much Fosh knew and at being able to say confidently, "yes, this is the right thing to be doing." The group praised Martus for building the ship "so that he can learn about the world."
Martus described what the Shtandart has done since it started sailing in 2000: bringing on young people "of all nations" to teach them not just sailing but "the skill of being together," and a sense of hard work. He described it as doing what he likes in life.
Khare came back to the opening question. At the start, Khare couldn't understand how anyone spent months living on a ship like this. After only a few days, Khare said, it began to make sense: true adventure requires trust in yourself, in the people around you, and in living in the moment. Standing on solid ground again felt strange to the group, and some said they wouldn't have minded staying aboard a little longer.
A portion of this video is sponsored by Google Pixel.
Enemy is there on the port side. Ready for action. One, two, three, fire! Should we wait for these civilians to pass? No, they're innocent fishermen. I'm not going to fire at them.
In the 18th century, crossing the Atlantic Ocean entailed a perilous multi-month journey. But could a group of YouTubers in the year 2023 do the same? To test this, we'll have to learn how to operate an 18th-century ship and successfully sail it back to shore. For this adventure, I've assembled the most unlikely crew.
Max Fosh. I've been told I have the softest hands in the world because I've done no manual labor in my life, and I'm just here along for the ride.
Sam Denby. They shouldn't be giving us responsibility. We don't have experience. We're YouTubers.
And Michael Reeves. We're going to sink this boat, bro. They look definitely not like a professional sailor. Can this motley crew come together to get the ship back in one piece? Challenge accepted.
There it is. Jesus Christ. I feel like I look like a divorced dad who's trying new things.
That's it for real? Yeah. Are we going to have to climb that mast? Yeah, we're climbing it. Oh boy. Yard. Oh wow, the captain looks like a captain. Oh, boat coming. Boat. Okay, here we go.
The reason I wanted to do this was because in the 17th century, my ancestors crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a ship not unlike this. It completely baffles me how anyone successfully crossed a body of water without Google Maps, and so I'm here to find out how and why, because it makes absolutely no sense.
So this is called gun deck or main deck. This is a capstan to lift an anchor up. We are going to lift an anchor, 250 kilos. Going to do that? Yeah. These four people? It's okay. Those are the biggest. No electrical, hydraulic, so that's all real. So if we don't do it, we're stuck out there. Okay.
I thought it would be one of these things where we pull the ropes for the camera, but no, turns out that we're the actual crew.
I'm Sam. I make YouTube videos. I run Wendover Productions, Half as Interesting, and Jet Lag: The Game. Why am I here? I'm pretty sure that Michael Reeves hadn't answered his Instagram DMs, and Michelle was like, "Oh, we need more crew," so I got a text.
Michelle had messaged me, and then I responded, and I thought it was too late because it was like two weeks after she asked. Hi, I'm Michael Reeves. I'm on this boat here. I mainly do robotics and stuff on land, though. Operate on it. Time to die, buddy. I'm here doing boat stuff. Michael Reeves on the boat.
So now we are coming to the quarterdeck. These are your hammocks. What you do, you take here. Oh my God. Oh damn, you got that core strength. Jesus Christ. Daddy, chill. Okay. Oh, that's not bad. Not so bad. Yes. Hey. Hey.
My name is Max Fosh. I am a YouTuber from the United Kingdom, and I specialize in doing incredibly silly things. I've met Michelle once before for about three hours, and she said, "Hey, let's spend 48 hours on a pirate ship together." I thought, "That's a great plan." Yes, we'll be sailing the Atlantic Ocean. What?
Then there's captain's cabin and first officer cabin. Important part, the toilets and facilities. Open, have a look inside. What did the toilets originally look like? Oh, that guy. That is amazing. Have people fallen off this? Well, human life was not that treasurable as now, so if you are not brave enough to keep yourself inside the boat, okay, well, too bad for you.
Compass and steering. It's very easy. Oh, that compass is so cool. So you would have to steer. I'm steering? Yeah. On leaving through that bridge, I want to put you on a wheel. So teach me how. It's narrow. Yeah, narrow. Wait, that's all we get for steering? Okay. What else?
Hey, Michael, get a picture of me. You know what they say about big fish: big steering wheels.
This young guy is not very well brought up and not very well educated. They're going to go crazy. Go nuts. Those little... So my name is Vladimir Martus. I am a captain of the frigate Shtandart, and I'm also the builder of the ship. It's a lot of things they have to learn here, and I hope they will find the solution for the challenges, because if not, we're going to get stuck here in the middle of the ocean.
So you think in a day and a half we're going to learn all of these ropes, that we can steer this thing back to the harbor? No problem with that. You could do that. 148 ropes, four people. Yeah, one dream. Ready for a challenge? Challenge accepted. That was so weak. Oh, hi. Hi.
Our first challenge is to sail the ship out of the harbor and through a very narrow channel. And to make matters worse, La Rochelle is home to many very expensive-looking yachts that we'll have to navigate around. And once the bridge opens, we only have a few minutes to get through.
What's the value of these other boats we're steering around? Sorry, let me concentrate. Cast off the stern lines.
So this boat looks expensive. Maybe not the most impact-resistant. They shouldn't be giving us responsibility. Yeah, I question the decision-making skills of this captain. I can't even see the front. There's so many ropes in there. Okay, midships. Keep turning. Keep turning.
I'm not nervous because it's Michelle's video. Even if it all goes wrong, that's on Michelle, baby. I'm just here to sit back, relax, get in my Colin Firth linen, and enjoy myself, not to be running this ship.
Guys, you're going to help. Okay, and hard to port. Move it. Yeah, move together as fast as you can. We're going to sink this boat, bro. Keep turning. Keep turning.
I need them to believe that I'm doing something, the people on the shore. I'm a sailor. Don't forget, we're looking forward, and we are driving forward. Ten to starboard. Okay, so far, so good. Up.
How does it feel? Great, now that we're through the very narrow bridge. I need a couple of pints of beer.
Well, the problem was not here. We haven't seen, the problem was there. We were half a meter from the end of the yard to the bridge. That was so... We almost snipped the sails. Is that standard? Is that frigate Shtandart?
Our first task after leaving the harbor is to literally swab the deck. Now, when I have seen this in movies, I thought it was just to clean off the dirt. But what we learned is it is actually to soak salt water into the wood of the ship's hull to prevent the growth of fungus and bacteria over time and to ensure the longevity of the ship. This task is done every morning and requires the entire group.
So guys, main deck is not good enough, so we have to return to the main deck after we wash the quarterdeck. The main deck's not good enough. We swabbed the whole main deck, and apparently it was awful, so we're doing that again, and then we'll see how awful that is.
That was all my hard work. Wait, no, I'm sorry. I'm trying to make it go. I collected all this. Now it's gone. Now it's spread all over the deck. No, I'm sorry. I'm trying to wash it down there. Let's go everywhere, baby.
What does it say? Diamonds are made under pressure. That's this crew. We're going to be diamonds.
Sam, how are you doing? I'm really not. How could he tell that it was dirty? Oh, he knows. It all looks the same. Can't tell any... He literally came up and was like, "Specks, specks," and he was right. And we looked, and there was dirt spots. Yeah. Oh, okay, so this is a good half-an-hour, not two-minutes job.
Have you ever swabbed like this before, Max? No, I've not. Daddy's yacht, someone else has it. Okay, that makes sense.
Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Sometimes that happens. I thought we were going to do this for five minutes, but this is a whole thing. Michelle, whatever you thought we were going to do on this, triple it. Quadruple it. Change your opinion.
Was this more than what you thought you signed up for, hanging out with me, Michael? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, yeah. What I thought would happen is they'd just bring us on a museum ship and we ride around, and they yell at us if you touch anything. I mean, I'd prefer this to that. You prefer squeegeeing the deck? Yeah, to being yelled at for touching things. This is an interactive museum. Exactly. Yeah. Looks pretty clean. Once again, rinse upper deck.
And then, with the deck properly swabbed, it was finally time for us to learn what the heck each of these ropes actually does, because in 24 hours it will be our responsibility to sail the ship back to land.
We are on board a 17th-century three-masted ship. It has nine sails, three masts, and the bowsprit. You have to set the sails in the right position. You have to trim the yards. So these ropes are turning the yard left and right to catch the wind in our sails. So if you want to fill the sail from that side, we pull the sheet there, and then the wind comes into the sail. You have to release the rope, pull it, and attach it again. 36 different points you have to do for one little maneuver.
First, we bring it under the belaying pin. Then there is some space here. We are making a figure eight in that space, and then we're making a second zero, but this time we put the rope straight to the surface of that plank. And then here, it's like a stopper.
We have learned probably, what, five of the 3,000 ropes on this thing. So many ropes. Just ropes all day. There is so much volume of information that is required to run this thing.
Raise the foresail. Okay, make fast, Sasha. This goes to... Oh, this is the mainsail rope for sure. Guys, you stand by on those ropes. Get it off the cleats and be ready. Sam, release your rope. Just release. Start tacking, and the ship starts turning, and they move the mast. Okay. And now, guys, come to the braces. Make fast. You have to look there. There, yes. Yes. What? The main port-side braces, and come to starboard-side braces.
They look definitely not like a professional sailor. They obviously know nothing about sailing or ships or sails.
It's a speed of learning that I'm not used to, and it's intimidating. Here, you're always doing something, and so that was quite interesting, and one at the beginning I wasn't that used to. I think on the first day I was mentally exhausted just from this feeling of, "Okay, when does this ever end?"
Let's go, crew. Next challenge: to prepare the anchor. Oh, yes, yes, yes, of course. Yeah. All the way. Not doing this right. How are you doing, Max? Good. I did one thing.
So the anchor is going down. We took in all the sails. Today was just our training day. Tomorrow we set sail to the Atlantic Ocean. We'll see how our training today fares tomorrow at sea, and we're getting ready for bedtime.
I reckon we're off the clock. I mean, what else is there to do? Anchor's down, right? There's no one... We should keep the anchor watch. What's an anchor watch? The main purpose of the anchor watch is to be sure that the ship is at the same place. Your captain explains to you how to control our position with the instruments.
As it turns out, after a full day of sailing, it was now our responsibility to make sure the ship didn't drift out into the sea in the middle of the night. Captain Martus explained that if at any point the ship moves outside the circle, we need to wake up the crew immediately to avoid the ship dragging anchor and crashing into its surroundings. So as of right now, the fate of the ship is in our hands while everyone else is sleeping.
No worries. Everything will be fine. Oh my God. I'm completely unaware that this was happening. I'm still... Are we sure they were serious? I thought he was just showing us something cool for fun. We should know by now that nothing here is for fun. I'm still expecting them to come back and be like... Should we throw a party? We should do something. I think we should let their insurance company know what they're doing.
And then you guys should change into your pajamas and stuff, and I'll come back. Sounds to me. I'm going to pretend like that didn't hurt. I'm going to pretend like that didn't hurt.
The captain said if we go outside the circle, we should let him know, which we are now outside the circle. Guys, the captain obviously set up the anchor to be wrong on purpose. He's testing us. So we set the sails, we take off, we start the engines. This is his test for us. Should we go? Wait, no, we're not supposed... The captain is the watch officer.
If you take a look here, the ship is... We're outside the circle, but we're debating how far outside the circle we need to be for it's an emergency. The instructions were outside the circle. That is. But your verdict is we don't just... It's fine. I think it's about the trend line. If we're cleanly trending away... That's not what he said. You said.
I think I'm realizing that the fear of us waking someone up is greater than us drifting into an island right now. Absolutely. Michael, you're our engineer. What's your final call? Oh, that's outside the circle. That's outside the... We have to go wake up... We don't know what we're doing.
So the ship is outside the circle. Uh-huh. Okay. And we're supposed to come get you when that... Okay, so let's see that on the screen. No, look, everything is fine. There is no speed on the ship. Actually, it's out of the circle for more than half an hour. What the... So you should have come earlier. Well, we knew we had to come early, but we were having social anxiety. Yeah.
We fucked up because we didn't alert him, but also it was totally fine. We lost the best of...
Having narrowly avoided disaster on anchor watch, I also noticed something else on the radar. So while the boys were still asleep, I ventured to the nearby island to investigate. And to my surprise, I uncovered something that explorers have been seeking for centuries: the Google Pixel 8 Pro, who have so kindly sponsored this portion of the video.
The Pixel 8 Pro offers advanced camera settings like shutter speed, ISO, and more to help you get the perfect photo of the moment. It also has this awesome feature called Audio Magic Eraser that helps you get clearer sound by filtering out any distracting backgrounds, like the sound of the entire ocean, so you can focus on making memories together instead. Check out the Google Pixel 8 Pro on land at the Google Store, as well as at googlestore.com. Thanks again to Google for sponsoring this portion of the video.
Now, as we sail even further out into the Atlantic for our final challenge, I was told that not only would we be climbing 100-foot-tall masts, but we would also be firing actual cannons. But before we can do all of that, we first have to re-raise the anchor.
Capstan, we have bars you install inside. Anchor is 250 kilos, and anchor chain 200, 300 kilos, so it's a pretty heavy thing. This is kind of dangerous. All together, it might take an hour. What? One hour. Questions? Let's go.
I think I'm inherently quite a cut-corners kind of guy, basically trying to make my life as easy as possible for myself at all times. This experience is doing things the right way, proper way, and really working for your survival. I've been told I have the softest hands in the world because I've done no manual labor in my life, so I want to get some sweet, sweet calluses to impress all those boys. That makes it sound like I'm looking for boys.
I've never seen you make this face before. You look like you're going to cry, Sam. Oh my God. I just don't understand how it takes an hour. Okay, guys, let's try. Bars in. Take a load. Walk forward.
I think it's very important from time to time to put your hands on something real, something serious, face the real challenge. Not just the challenge of how to find another customer or how to enlarge your audience, but something real. So Shtandart is a true replica built by the same technologies in 1703. So it took us six years to complete the ship, learning by doing, making mistakes. It would be nice to bring back to life a sample of what was that. This is real. This is learning by doing.
D... Ding. Keep going. Keep going. Push. Push.
Okay, five minutes. Five minutes break. Is it only going to get harder? Well, the last ten meters is going to be... But that was hard. Very much like... And the last ten meters, the anchor will be hanging down. Oh, so we're pulling the boat to the anchor.
How are we doing? Good. All right, good. Just, we got to bring it in. We got to get amped. Okay, guys, how is your energy? Good. Great. Restored. Okay.
Guys, doing there. Apply the stoppers. Oh my God, I'm so happy. Pop a bottle of champagne.
Captain's log, day two. It's only been 24 hours since we left port, and things are a bit more involved than we all expected. When Max referred to Daddy's yacht earlier, I thought he was kidding, but now I'm not so sure. These hats are more trouble than they're worth. Sam continues to question the captain's every command. Does he actually have an inability to listen to authority, or does
He just doesn't trust me yet. How does he know it's not good enough?
Michael, on the other hand, seems to be in his element. I often catch him gazing out into the ocean with a childlike wonder. He seems to be enjoying the simple pleasures of ship life. As for me, things are feeling a bit uncertain. The farther out we go, the more I find myself questioning if it will ever be possible to turn this motley crew into a real team after all. Also, I heard we get to shoot the cannons now, so that's pretty cool.
Okay, new challenge for us is to load, charge, and fire a cannon. We are on board of a 28-gun frigate. Each cannon about 500 kilos weight. Your first challenge is to put the cannons in the right position. Enemy is there on the port side, so move it ready for action.
Should we wait for these civilians to pass? We don't want to startle innocent fishermen. I'm not going to fire them. Mind your fingers. Okay, keep pulling. Somebody has to be gun captain.
Pushing back. One, two, three. Okay, pull it towards me. One, two, three. One, two. Pushing back. One, two, three. Push forward. One, two, three. Okay, very well. Do it several times. Looks like it has some. Very well. 165 seconds, and then the horn.
Light her up, Mike. Fire the cannon. Fire the cannon! Fire! Life for me. That was sick.
Congratulations. How did it feel to light it, Michael? Like a million bucks. That was sick. That was so awesome. I thought they would trust us less. It's very much like a hands-on experience, which has been very pleasantly surprising. Yeah, it's super fun. I understand the allure of being where no one is, and you just have to make it happen. I get that. I like that a lot.
Let's say the four. I think Michael and Max are finally starting to figure things out, but Sam, on the other hand, seems to still be struggling with giving up control. Oh my God, do not launch yourself off that, Sam. More efforts on the port side. Cheat.
I became a creator at basically 18 years old, as soon as I was finishing high school. Very quickly, I had to figure out how to do taxes and be responsible for other people, which was a fast transition into adulthood. At land, I sort of naturally have to be a sort of leader. Out here, it's clear that others caught up to what we're supposed to be doing here faster than me. Like this? Yeah. Okay. But I was still very much following especially Michelle's lead. Zero. You do it like this. Oh, like that.
It is kind of meditative, just like, okay, go over, pull a rope. It is nice. Listen, direction. Yeah. Your mind is your own greatest enemy.
Well, there is a difference between old-school people like me and the young generation who is spending a lot of time doing this. When they talk about something at the table, nothing really related and not really paying attention to other people at the table. But as long as we know each other a little more, they are nice and clever guys.
Something I want to work on as a captain is our crew's camaraderie. I think we're off to a pretty good start. Mich, the bar, make circle. Just blew me off. But I think we also have a way to go. Yeah, I said it, Max. We have a long way to go. Are you throwing us under the bus? No, I'm just saying we have a lot of bonding to be done.
And in an effort to strengthen our bond before we take on the final challenge, we will be performing a crucial task typically performed by sailors to repair damaged sails, straighten out tangled lines, or assist in the raising or lowering of sails. And that is to climb up the 100-foot mast.
We are also wearing harnesses that are useless for 85% of the climb. This cosplay. Easy. Who's first? Okay, L is first. Push on your leg.
Okay, who's next? Okay, what? There are people below me. Hey, Michelle. No. I guess this is a bit crowded. No, it's okay. It's okay. It's okay. Let's go cross over the platform. Yes. My God. See? Nice, nice weather.
Oh, what's up? Hey. Pretty normal. No panic. That's good. All right. I don't think this could be my job on a real... How do you feel, Sam? This is awesome. I love this. How did my first YouTube video lead to me being up... Okay, check how they psychologically, if they're brave, send them up.
Sorry, that was full thumbnail face. You're doing great. Yeah. Wait, why am I not hunting? Okay. Oh God. Sam, if I vomit, it's going to land on you. That would be really funny. You can do it.
First time, it should be very scary. Let's go. All right, this ladder is not very safe. Sorry. Oh my God. Things like this, those lines. Yeah. Oh my God. Wait, hold on one second. I got absolutely enormous boots on, but we're good.
It's always interesting how well our trainees are prepared. Are they brave mentally? Are they strong? Are they weak? And this team looks very strong.
Max, you made it. We've all made it. How do you guys feel about this team bonding activity? Are we getting closer as a team? Absolutely. Yeah, this is trauma bonding. Thank you guys for doing this team bonding activity with me. I think it was very successful. Well, thank you for having us.
Bedtime. Oh, that was good. That was good. Does anyone have a bedtime story? Years ago, before time began, there were four intrepid explorers searching for a foreign land. While they rocked and while they rolled, they thought about long-lost sleep. And outside, the wind was howling, and amongst the sea was deep. Good night. Good night. Oh, I just made that up. That was fire. Pretty great. That was some Edgar and Seuss over there. Sleep tight, sailors. All right, see you at dawn.
Good morning, Michael. How you doing, Max? It's our last day. Back to land.
Captain's log, day three. Today's the final challenge, and while I don't think we're ready, Captain Martus insists on learning by doing. But before we can set sail, there is just one last thing to take care of.
Going a little slow here. Watch those obstacles. Come here. You pull this line. This one? Yeah. Again. Okay, this one was too tight. Trying again. Second take. Got this, Max. Sam, your turn. Oh, that looks sick.
So I hope you were paying attention to what we were showing you, and now I'm ready to give you a challenge to return Shtandart back to port of La Rochelle. That's about 20 to 25 miles. In which direction? Well, that's what you have to find out. Oh, come on.
Our first objective is to figure out where we even are, because for the last 24 hours we've been blindly sailing further and further out into the ocean. Where do we think La Rochelle is? Good, everyone's pointing in a different direction. 25. I'm going to look at the compass and see which direction we're going right now. We are currently going between north and northwest, so that makes sense.
Okay, here's the map. That is a huge map. That's not very useful. It literally has where I live on it. I think we exited the bay from the south, and we've been following that coast of it north, and therefore we can go back in from the top. So we'll go around this, assuming it's an island. You mean, guys, the bad news is that the wind is shifting.
Let's say if we just 180 it, what happens? We want to be looking at the ropes on the port side of each sail, because as we turn around, we then want to flip it. Flip it, so then the wind will be catching that side. Max was paying attention. Well, we have to get on the intercom and call the crew to help us. Yeah. Would you please come help us on the deck? Yay, merci.
And the crew has been instructed to listen to our every command, even if what we say is completely wrong. Hello, is this everyone? Call in, Max. I've suddenly become the... Yep, okay, fine. We're going to go round to starboard. Yeah, so you want to turn around, turn the wheel, at which point we'd pull the ends of each mast. Okay, we need to go. We need to go. We need to go. We need to go. Brace your stations.
They're trusting us way too much. Oh my God. Well, we're moving in the right direction. Other side. I have to ease this? Yes. No, the other side of the sail needs to be pulled over. Very good. I think we're now in the right direction. Let's check the compass. We're not fully south. Actually, I guess we're still turning. We have the land to our left, which is what we want. Yeah.
So guys, seriously, I'm impressed with what you have done. Nothing broken, and the ship is going roughly in the right direction. So now we have to find exactly the place where we are going to. We turned around, and the captain said he's really impressed. Yes, I will literally take that to my grave.
With the ship now pointed in the right general direction, we now need to figure out how to move the ship using the wind available to us. So we need to go that way. Yeah, which means we need to turn the mast this way. Yeah. So if we turn them this way, do we port haul that one? No, we port haul that one, because the wind is going that way, so we'd get more wind in the sail over here. Max, are you a secret sailor?
Plan of action: turn the rudder, see if that does everything. If we are turning to starboard, then we can turn the masts, drop the sails, and then go back to midship. Let's drop some sails, baby. All right, let's do it. Our plan, we're going to turn the wheel to the right. Stop. I don't like their reaction. No, no, no, they're reacting wrong. Starboard. And then we're going to drop these sails.
Which one first? Yeah, why don't we just do the main one? Can we do the main one? Because that one makes sense to us. You can do whatever. The ship is yours. The main one makes way more sense. Can we drop the main three sails? Yeah. And then turn the wheel all the way to the right. Does that make sense to you? Yeah. It's very enjoyable to watch people learning.
Which sails do we want to open first? Top, middle, or bottom? Top. Let's do it. Go. Is it working, guys? It's working so well. Now moving to these ones, guys. So the middle one now. Three. Max, you ready? Go. Good. I think you just let it go. Oh, oh. Make fast. That looks open to me. Perfect. That's as open as it's ever been.
Okay, so now we need to do the big sail. Let me know when you guys are ready. Ready. Three, two, one, go. Let go. There she goes. Mainsail looks good, guys. Congratulations. Good work. We had to turn the rudder now. Did someone turn the wheel? If some of you will come to the wheel, they will decide. Well, that is better than the wrong direction.
Hey, Michael, are we going the right way? Getting close. Are we going the right way? We are turning very slowly. Yeah, very slowly. Yay, turn to the right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now the flag is going that way, so we should turn our sails. Yeah, now we should. Now we should.
Hey, Hugo, we are going to bring the yards to regular position. Okay. Three, two, one, go. Oh no. Look at the sail. Are you happy with that? Something's holding. Something's not. Is it a sheet? Oh God, we have to loosen the one all the way down there. Okay, it's loosened down here. You found it. You made it. Great. So now, three, two, one. Yay. Oh my God, it's turning. Okay, does that look perpendicular to you guys? Yeah, to the flag. Yeah. Amazing. Okay, make fast.
Very sharp right. Keep an eye on that, and tell your crew what to do. And now we need to find all of the loose things that we need to tighten, which would be all of this stuff. Do you see these two loose? Yeah, that doesn't look right either. I think those need to be tightened for sure, and those are all the way down there. How's that, Michael? This side looks good. This side looks bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That should fix it. Yeah, yeah, that's it.
Michelle, everything is really well done. Yeah, we're going home. Take the wheel and go where we are going. And where are we going? Well, you're going to La Rochelle, as far as I know. La freaking Rochelle. Good job, guys. Good job. Nice job. We're not home yet, but definitely not back.
Is that La Rochelle? What do you think, Max? My God, it is, boys and girl. Well, you know what they say. What? We did it. We got... We did it. We did. And the city, we did it. We got back. And the one that I want to be drinks.
You know, I kind of like the dynamic of just being told which rope to pull. It's kind of nice to detach from all that decision-making for a while. There's no way to be out on the water and not be somewhat relaxed, which is amazing. It's very calming.
The silliness of who I am is definitely still a part of me, but I was very surprised myself with how much I knew and how much I was able to confidently say, yes, this is the right thing to be doing.
Come back to experience the frigate Shtandart again. Captain's awesome. Captain's sick. He's built the ship so that he can learn about the world, which is really cool.
Since 2000, we are sailing. We're happy to bring on board the young people of all nations, give them the sense of life, sense of hard work, trying to teach them not just sailing, but skill of being together. I'm doing something what I like in my life.
When we first embarked on this journey, I couldn't comprehend how anyone could have spent months living on a ship like this. But even after only a few days, I'm starting to understand that true adventure requires trust. Trusting in yourself, trusting in the others around you, and trusting just living in the moment.
We're here. You feel that solid ground? It feels too solid right now. I think we need to go back. Back on the boat. Yeah, we're going back. That is so weird. We're back moving. Kind of thought I could stay on longer. I wouldn't be mad at staying on a little bit longer.
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