Given the beauty of yachting, you'd think there would be more videos available online for us to immerse ourselves in. There are some, and some very well-produced vids do make it out of the small handful of professional yacht film experts' studios each year.

But here, I've assembled a handful of videos that really struck me as representing yachting life as it actually is, not as we may want to sell it.

1. Zefira racing in Sardinia. Extra guilty pleasure for me, as I was down there with Zefira and the other yachts for The Dubois Cup, and I also happen to think the skipper of Zefira, Federico Biatturi is one of the hands-down coolest guys on the superyacht circuit. Zefira is also one of the most competitive superyachts out there, battling head to head at pretty much every regatta with Salperton and some of the others for the silverware. This video is fantastic because it gives you the full-on, unvarnished reality of working the deck of one of the biggest, most powerful sailboats in the world under race conditions. Check out when the spinnaker hits the water... no polished promo here, this is the reality of what it's like handling enormous sails with a massive crew and plenty of wind. Best superyacht vid of the year in my books.

Zefira Racing - Sardinia 2013 from Jono Walker on Vimeo.

2. Yacht life time-lapse from a crewmember who shot lots of vid over the course of a refit in Marseille and then at their arrival destination in Sint Maarten. the overegged soundtrack gives this a weirdly ominous undertone, but the video still somehow manages to capture something of the reality of a yacht's day to day life; not something many owners get a chance to experience. Worth a watch.

Monaco to Sint Maarten... timelapse thru a porthole from levi wallace on Vimeo.

3. I really love this one: It's the Amels Safety Film 2013. Actually, it's more of an intro to the yard itself, but to me, it really reveals the feeling of the shipyard itself—one of the very best in the world, it must be said. It's nicely produced and very straightforward (in other words, very Dutch!) but the details and HD quality here is really lovely and I think it says a lot about the Amels team that they went through the effort of putting this together for their clients and visitors. They love what they do, and that's clear in this video.

Amels Safety Film 2013 from quanvision on Vimeo.

4. EYOS Expeditions promo video for Antarctica. I'm a sucker for this one, as I sailed to the frozen South myself back in 2001 and I loved the place. EYOS capture the light and the ice and, bonus: the gorgeous superyachts Big Fish and Lone Ranger! Pretty much a trifecta there. More people are making this voyage so we'll see further videos in 2014 I'm sure. But for now, this is the dose you were looking for:

Antarctica & South Georgia from EYOS Expeditions on Vimeo.

5. Galactica Star. What a yacht. Heesen went all out to video the largest yacht they've built to date (though they just announced they've signed a 70m fast displacement). I think this qualifies as simple yachtporn. Great lighting, great subject matter, great setting equal one hell of a sales tool. My favourite new-build promo video of the year.

65m Galactica Star official video from Douglas McFarlane on Vimeo.

6. The launch of YAS. For those of you know know about this project, you'll wonder why it's here. The video was taken in 2011 by the inimitable Dick Holthuis, but was only posted this autumn. Yas remains undelivered, though I'm not clear why. Still, this video gives us a couple treats: One is simply seeing this mysterious yacht in proportion to her surroundings. And the second is for the shiyard geek... watching the yard operations and seeing how they get this big boat into the water is kinda cool.

We couldn't embed the video, but click the link below to watch it directly on Vimeo.

Time-lapse launch of the Swift141 YAS. from Dick Holthuis Photography on Vimeo.

There. That's it. You'll note that all my selections are on Vimeo. Why? Because YouTue is terrible. The interface and the compression quality just ruin the experience for me, and I'm a big supporter of clean, clever design. Vimeo just makes videos look better. 

Have a wonderful holiday break, everyone. See you in 2014!

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Holiday Selection: Best Superyact Videos of 2013

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