IT was a guy who was a sailor of some kind I believe, and he had witnesses attest to his hard work that allowed him to challenge the audit result successfully.

The filthy rich do that in remote areas and go through a company that is very experienced in doing that because it is also one of the most audited things by the IRS.

Many do not qualify and having a PM does not help your case.You may want to read up on IRC 469 and review the IRS's Audit Technique guide. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-mssp/pal.pdf

Under audit, if you don't have the time log for you and everyone else you will not be able to claim these losses. 

I was recently flagged for tax audit, and one of the asks was to show all hours spent on real estate.

All you would need to say really is that you materially participated in the business during the tax year and just be prepared in the case of an audit/IRS notice.

Education and research hours, "managing the property manager" all have failed under audit historically.There is a lot more nuance here I could go into, but I would strongly advice you talk with a real estate-focused tax professional.

Education and research hours, "managing the property manager" all have failed under audit historically. 

Do they provide audit protection?

If you get audited good luckNot a cpa or tax professional just telling you what has been relayed to me by several CPA’s