Who are Sailing Zatara? About The Family and Net Worth
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While many leave their dreams of roaming the sea forgetting to take care of their everyday lives on land, Sailing Zatara proved to be different by saying goodbye to everything they ever owned to go to the high seas.
Despite the many risks that the Whitaker family took, their path to exploring the world on board a catamaran has been so rewarding and exciting that their adventure has extended for several years, all of which they’ve documented on their YouTube channel Sailing Zatara.
The high sea escapades of the Whitakers don’t seem to have any possible end just yet, but that also makes us wonder who the family are, what led them to leave everything behind for a life on the ocean, and how they afford everything.
Stay here to find out everything about the people behind Sailing Zatara!
What Is Sailing Zatara?
Sailing Zatara is actually a YouTube channel started in June 2016 by Renee and Keith Whitaker. Back then, the family had been living in Texas for several years, had a stable situation and the kids were homeschooled.
However, the Whitakers realized that a simple, ordinary life wasn’t what they wanted. As they wrote on their website, ‘corporate America’ had exhausted them enough at that point, even causing problems in their family and for their kids.
Seeing that the life they had always wanted was too far away, the Whitakers simply sold their house and airplane, and went to Florida to buy a Beneteau Oceanis 55, despite having no previous sailing experience to back them. On board that yacht, Renee, Keith, and their four young kids roamed the seas for several months, before getting to Australia in 2017 for a quick taste of land life.
They eventually sold their monohull and purchased a Privilège Signature 580 catamaran, with which they resumed their family adventure on the high seas. All those learning experiences were shown by the Whitakers through their Sailing Zatara, inspiring countless people in the process.
These days, the Whitakers have visited dozens of countries, have half a million subscribers on their Sailing Zatara channel, and thousands of followers on Facebook and Instagram.
The Crew
Although Sailing Zatara has been joined and left by several crew members over the years, the members of the Whitaker family have remained a constant presence on the channel for as long as their adventure has lasted.
Keith and Renee
Keith and Renee are the ones responsible for making Sailing Zatara a reality. As they confessed on Sailing Zatara’s website, their exhaustion regarding their previously common lives had also affected their marriage, leaving them no option but to change things somehow, choosing a new and unexpected path in life for their entire family.
Before embarking on the adventure of their lives, Renee was a stay-at-home mother who was in charge of their four kids’ education, while Keith was a contractor for a company in the gas and oil sector until 2017, according to his LinkedIn profile. He’s currently an associate of a helicopter service business, and also co-founded Bluewater Cruising, a company focused on teaching people to sail and cruise the world.
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Anna
As the oldest Whitaker child, Anna’s personality and smartness left an indelible mark on the audience of Sailing Zatara. The three years she spent on the high seas with her family were surely unforgettable, but Anna had other plans in life which didn’t involve boats and beaches.
That’s why in 2020 she left the Zatara crew to go study psychology at the Texas Woman’s University. Though not much is known about Anna’s path in university except for the rare appearances she makes on her family’s social media, her Instagram bio lets us see that her graduation is set to happen in 2024. This means that the return of Anna to the Zatara crew is possible, though still unconfirmed.
Jack
Unlike his older sister, Jack Whitaker is still on board the Zatara and going on as strongly as ever. Jack currently has a YouTube channel with over 70,000 subscribers on which he shares more personal insights about his travels, experiences, and all the great things he sees while on the high seas and sometimes on land. His popularity has also extended to Instagram, on which he has 140,000 followers and counting.
By sharing cinematic views of the ocean in his videos, and a more raw and youthful look at his adventures in his photos, Jack has mastered the art of creating interesting and enthralling content for everyone to see. On top of that, he’s described as having a ‘soft heart and sweet smile’ by his family, so it’s not a wonder that Jack is such a fan-favorite member of the Zatara crew.
Finn
No member of the Whitaker family goes unnoticed, especially not Finn. As Renee and Keith’s youngest son, Finn was still very young when he became part of the Zatara crew, and grew up right before the eyes of the channel’s viewers.
The freedom of having such a different and out-of-the-box life has allowed Finn to explore his creative talents, such as in music and short films, gaining him 230,000 subscribers on his personal YouTube channel. By the age of 17, Finn had already visited dozens of countries and met many different people, though he’s far from over when it comes to experiencing everything he wants to.
Kate
Last but not least is Kate, the youngest Whitaker child. Similar to Finn, the audience of Sailing Zatara has seen Kate growing up as her family roamed the seas around the world.
Unlike her brothers, Kate doesn’t have a personal YouTube channel, yet she’s still conquered the hearts of people on the internet with some videos such as episode 261 of Sailing Zatara, in which she showed in detail what it’s like to be a 16 years old girl living on a sailboat.
Kate is an aspiring illustrator, who shares her creations on an Instagram side account in which she calls herself ‘anemone’. It’s unclear whether Kate wants to study art professionally, but there are no doubts about her creativity and talent.
How Rich Are Sailing Zatara?
According to reports, Renee and Keith from Sailing Zatara have an estimated net worth of $1.9 million, resulting largely from their careers as YouTube content creators and the companies owned by them.
The Whitakers are no strangers to questions about their finances and how they afford to leave everything behind to make their sailing dreams come true, leading Keith to take to Facebook in 2021 to clear up the misconceptions about their adventure. As he affirmed, both his wife Renee and he came from middle-class families and didn’t enjoy high financial privileges during their lives. Instead, Keith stated that he worked throughout his 20s and 30s and was careful not to spend much on luxuries or unnecessary things, all the while keeping in mind the future he wanted to give his family.
The efforts were worth it when in 2016 Renee and he sold their belongings to buy their first monohull, starting their dream life from there.
