"Hi guys, welcome back to the channel" is how eSysman greets the steadily growing number of viewers of his YouTube videos. The Electro-Technical Officer (ETO) is a successful vlogger, against his will, as he says himself. He of all people, who spends most of his time working below deck and, unlike the captain or the service crew, hardly ever makes an appearance, regularly publishes videos from the inside of superyachts. The Brit is a multi-talent: "I service and repair satellite and radio communication systems, integrated bridges and pretty much anything with a plug or battery. When you're 3,000 miles from land, there are no other people to ask." But in addition to technical topics such as bunker or satcom costs, he also sheds light on owner quirks or things that are otherwise hidden, such as unethical offers from guests to the crew. Sometimes he takes up yachting news or films scenes that take place during harbour stays. His videos have been viewed a total of 60 million times, and the eSysman channel has 170000 subscribers.
The YouTuber prefers to remain anonymous. "In the early days, I was so worried that I would deny being eSysman if I was recognised in Monaco!" he tells BOOTE EXCLUSIVE, revealing that he is 50 years old, comes from England, where he has a house, and that he lives half the year in Peru with his fiancée. "I don't want to reveal my identity, especially now, with my reports on Russian billionaires - even if I think I'm reporting neutrally." Due to confidentiality clauses (NDAs), he is not allowed to say which yachts he has already worked on. "Even the stories I mention in my Q&A videos relate to some of them. I would never want to attribute the stories to the real people," says eSysman, who lets it be known that he was employed on well-known yachts from Lürssen, Blohm+Voss or Feadship, some of them in the 140-metre-plus sector.
At the time of the interview, he had signed on to a large yacht in Genoa, from where he produced his daily videos on the events surrounding the confiscated or fleeing yachts of Russian oligarchs. In general, this usually involves a great deal of research, whereby eSysman can draw on a large network of crew members who provide him with first-hand information. Some of the videos deal with complex political entanglements involving the secret service that would look good in a James Bond film.
eSysman on oligarchs, owners and the creation of his vlogs
What is your professional background and how did you get into the superyacht industry?
I served in the military for ten years, where I was responsible for the maintenance of electronic devices and satellite dishes, among other things. I later switched to technical IT support when this segment became increasingly important in daily life in the nineties. After leaving the military, I worked for an aerospace company and after a short period in publishing, I moved into the maritime industry. I started working on cruise ships and eventually moved onto superyachts. That wasn't so easy, many people wanted to gain experience on yachts. But then I got a job on an old cruise ship that an owner from the Middle East was having converted into a yacht. So they were specifically looking for someone who knew about cruisers. As soon as I had that on my CV, the door to the yachting industry opened for me.
How did you start with the vlogs?
I had a YouTube channel, but it was just a hobby. My channel was all about my Porsches as I'm a big car nut; just funny videos about my vehicles. Then one day I posted a short video on Instagram of my work on board in Monaco. It showed a tender from "A" leaving the harbour and I wrote a hashtag like "Is this the supercar of tenders?" There was so much interest that I started posting more and thought about making a video of the yacht I was working on. It's funny now, but I always assumed my job was just a job, I never thought people outside the industry would be interested in it.
Ship name and interior must not be shown
When you launched the channel five years ago, you also vlogged from on board. What did the owners say about this and what happened next?
When I shot a few videos on a yacht, the captain thought it was OK as long as I didn't show the ship's name or film from the interior. But there are many clever people who watch the videos and have identified the yacht after a few videos. The videos were viewed thousands of times within a few days. Until then, my hobby car videos had 300 views, suddenly I had 10000 views! I soon realised that there was a huge demand for this type of content. I received (mostly) great feedback, which inspired me to do more. I've been interested in creating videos since the early nineties, but there was never a platform where I could publish them. The internet didn't even exist back then. Now I had this platform and all this knowledge, so I started just walking around the harbours I visited and talking about what I saw.
However, I had a problem - I was camera-shy. I wanted to film, but I didn't want to be seen. I also thought that I worked in such a secretive industry that showing my face could damage my career. However, I quickly realised that the channel needed a face if it was to grow. So I reluctantly started appearing in the posts, even though you can see that I'm quite uncomfortable in front of the camera. That only changed about two years ago when I started engaging with my community through Q&A videos.
Management denies ownership
During the Russian war against Ukraine, you upload videos every day. How do you manage to always be so well informed?
When the invasion started and I saw the reaction of the governments, I thought it needed to be documented. Up until that point, I had focused almost exclusively on the ships and hadn't really talked much about the owners. But every now and then I would mention who owned a ship. And that often led to emails from management companies telling me that this person didn't own a yacht and even threatening me with pseudo-legal action.
One of the ships I had reported on in the past and mentioned the owner was "Ragnar". The management vehemently denied in a nasty letter that he was the owner, although I knew with great certainty that he owned the yacht. As good as it gets in this industry. Then I saw "Ragnar" in the press when the war started, and everyone was reporting on the same owner. And the more I read, the more interesting I found the story. So I made a follow-up video, but before that I contacted the same person and asked for a statement. She still denied that he owned the yacht, and still does. I read out the statement in a video.
In general, I noticed that the press reports were quite inaccurate, as many journalists seem to have no idea about this industry. I wanted to correct the inaccuracies. After the "Ragnar" story, the French detained a Russian ship and I started to report on it video by video. I made these posts a little more colourful with my knowledge of the industry by simply talking about what I saw. I "translated" and explained what the details meant that the reader might otherwise have missed.
Vladivostok as a haven for superyachts
Do you believe that yachts could actually be expropriated as the next stage of confiscation and auctioned off as a last resort?
That depends on how long this goes on. At the moment, the idea of "Dilbar" or "Crescent" being auctioned off seems crazy, but if you had told me a fortnight ago that Mr Usmanov's fantastic superyacht would be seized, I wouldn't have believed it either. The way I see things, the ships will be returned after this conflict is (hopefully) settled. The longer the war goes on, the more I see the governments that held these ships having to raise huge amounts of money to store them. These costs will most likely be passed on to the owners once they agree to return them. But I can also imagine that some yachts will be sold if the owner is charged with a crime. But that's just a guess at the moment.
In which harbour will the yachts land on the run?
The longer this war goes on, the more yachts I see looking for long-term berths. Some independent sources told me that the eastern Russian harbour of Vladivostok has been opened for them to store their valuable possessions there. This is also where the Russian Navy's Pacific fleet is based. I believe that two ships are currently on their way there, the 141 metre long "Nord", which should feel right at home there as it resembles an aircraft carrier, and "Amadea".
- Click here for the Youtube-Channel from eSysman
