Behind the scenes: Nico Prien and Lars Wichmann - the YouTube star and his cameraman

If you're looking for windsurfing content on YouTube, you can't go past Nico Prien. Over 70,000 fans from all over the world now follow him digitally - we met him and his videographer Lars Wichmann for an interview during the World Cup Sylt.

Nico, you've long been pretty successful with your windsurfing videos on YouTube. Do you remember when you made your first video?

Nico: I was making clips long before I uploaded them to YouTube, simply because I always wanted to do it. Recently, I was looking through old recordings for NDR and stumbled across old videos of me filming as a ten-year-old. The first video I made for YouTube was in 2017.

Don't worry about me, just hold on! Only when I'm floating face down should you help me."

A lot has happened in the last ten years, the clips have become more professional and your community now has over 72,000 subscribers. In the course of this, Lars came on board as a reinforcement. How did your collaboration come about?

Lars: I didn't know Nico before. But because I had started windsurfing a year earlier, I stumbled across his videos and in one of them Nico said that he was looking for a videographer. So I wrote Nico an email and here I am (laughs). Before that, I had a little professional odyssey behind me: I worked as a plumber after school, then in a management consultancy.

Nico: The classic videographer career (laughs).

Lars: The new beginning suited me quite well at the time and of course I had already been making video and film for many years.

In order to employ a videographer full-time, the project has to have a certain speed, right? How difficult was it to reach this minimum size?

Nico: I'm afraid it still hasn't (laughs). I think we both make certain sacrifices. A lot of it is passion, not business. Lars has really got into the windsurfing world, accompanying me to the World Cups and travelling to great places. When I brought Lars on board back then, I was pretty busy at Starboard and simply didn't have enough time to take care of video productions and all the editing myself. But I didn't want to let the YouTube project die. That's why I cross-financed Lars with other sources of income.

You spend a lot of time travelling together. Do you get on well together as people or do you sometimes get on each other's nerves?

Lars: The interpersonal relationships were actually right straight away. But it took us a while to get used to each other during the video productions. We now spend about 60 per cent of the year travelling together, I would say.

Nico: Our first project was in Tenerife, so I invited Lars to come with me to see if we could work together. Lars had never flown before and had no idea how to do it (laughs). During the production in Tenerife, it became clear that we could work together. So I asked Lars when he could start. I knew that he still had a job at a management consultancy at the time. And guess what Lars said (laughs) ...

Lars: I said that I had already given my notice and could start tomorrow (laughs). Looking back, that was perhaps a bit naïve, but of course I had hoped that we would get along well and that Nico would hire me.

Do you mostly just start filming or do you have a real plan in mind beforehand?

Nico: Every few months, we make a plan of what we want to do in terms of topics. In it, we determine where the journey should basically go: Do we want to do more tutorials or would we prefer more entertainment formats? We often only think in terms of video titles at first, not yet in terms of specific content. Once the titles are finalised, we think about how this can be implemented. We actually develop the scripts together for the most part. If you want to make a tutorial, you need a good script - so that everything works and you don't forget anything. But with event reports and behind-the-scenes videos, you never know what's going to happen beforehand, everything is much more spontaneous.

Do you sometimes find it a double burden to also have to perform in front of the camera at events, while others can only concentrate on sport?

Nico: At the events, we have such a silent agreement that I rely on Lars and concentrate on the competition. But of course I have that in the back of my mind. When I crash at the barrel, the first thing I think is: "F..k!!!" But then I remember that at least we now have something good for the video (laughs).

Do you have the absolution to always be allowed to shoot, even if Nico comes off the water bleeding and frustrated?

Lars: Nico once said to me: "Don't worry about me, just hold on! Only when I'm floating face down should you help me" (laughs). The only thing I'm not allowed to do is film the back of Nico's head (laughs). But when it comes to content, Nico is good at putting his ego aside.

Nico: I cut my foot badly on a shoot in Sweden in the autumn. Lars filmed it first before he got the first aid kit. That's just part of the story we tell. We understand each other without words. And ultimately, people also want to see the downsides, the failures and all the things that go wrong. That makes such videos much more human than clips about the supposedly perfect profile life.

What's it like for the other pros? You also film other competitors and sometimes get up close and personal with them.

Lars: I was first sent away and asked not to film. People now know each other and I can judge quite well who I can talk to and who is having a bad moment and would rather have their peace and quiet.

Nico: When we started, there was a certain amount of scepticism. But now people have realised that the videos have a wide reach and are happy to be part of it.

What makes a good video? Professionalism or authenticity?

Nico: We often ask ourselves the same question. We always want to improve in terms of video quality, that's clear. But I don't think "better" has to mean "more professional"; it can also mean capturing emotions and experiences even more directly. And you have to accept that you won't always be popular everywhere, but also risk causing controversy. If I think that certain things are going wrong, for example in connection with regatta formats or competitions, then I address this in my clips. Not everyone likes that, of course. The most important thing is to show what happens and not what should happen.

I accept that I won't be popular everywhere."

Who has the more strenuous job in your film projects - Nico or Lars?

Nico: Mostly Lars!

Lars: I always hope that there isn't too much wind at the events. Because every windy day means that I have to put in an after-shift afterwards (laughs). At the World Cups, we do daily reports, which means that I spend the whole day running around looking for suitable shots to film or doing interviews with the participants. In the evening, I then sift through all the material and start editing a clip so that it's ready the next morning. This can sometimes take all night and means that I hardly get any sleep.

Which event is the worst?

Lars: Definitely the Fuerteventura World Cup. Unfortunately there's always wind. The last two times I've had six to eight hours of sleep - added up over five days. I celebrate every day without racing, but I don't want to grumble because this job is just so much fun.

Do you sometimes come surfing yourself?

Lars: When we go out filming, I usually don't take my gear with me. Sometimes it happens that I can get out on the water with Nico's equipment. I always have beads of sweat on my forehead, because of course I don't want to ruin any of his competition stuff (laughs).

Is there anything that you particularly remember from the many projects?

Nico: Definitely our trip to the USA. We had originally planned to film a windsurfing video in front of the Statue of Liberty. Lars was already there in the morning because he was on another flight. I didn't arrive until late in the evening and the car hire office was already closed. We were at the airport with five large board bags. There were no taxis that could or wanted to transport our stuff. The next problem was that the airport closes at night, and in our distress we spent the night on the bags outside the airport - in November (laughs). Because we were afraid for our expensive video equipment, we slept in shifts, kept watch and also had to convince the security men that we weren't up to any mischief. That was a bad night (laughs).

Our plan to visit the Statue of Liberty fell through the next morning because there was no wind, so we ended up taking a spontaneous road trip down to North Carolina. There we were surprised with an amazing session, with perfect light and a sunset that neither of us had probably ever experienced before. The video is still one of the most clicked on my channel today - so although nothing went according to plan on this trip, it all ended well.

I always hope that there isn't too much wind at the events. Because every windy day means that I have to put in a night shift afterwards."

Where else do you want your videos to take you?

Nico: I realise that the growth potential is now limited, simply because we already serve a large part of the community. But of course it would be nice to crack the 100,000 subscriber mark. The only way to reach even more people would be to motivate even more people to windsurf. Sometimes people write under the videos that they started windsurfing because of our videos. That makes us particularly happy.

Thank you for the interview!