Finally got a chance to see this over the weekend, so now I can throw in my two cents. Problem is if you’re a sailor, you spend the whole film scratching your head, wondering what the hell is going on. Just how much did this annoy me? O, let me count the ways:
Mystery 1: Who is this guy? Where is he coming from? Where is he going to? Why is he in the middle of the Indian Ocean? Why should we care about him?
Mystery 2: The sea is absolutely flat calm, not a breath of wind, our Mystery Man is sleeping below (up forward, if you can believe it), without his engine running, and is struck amidships by a floating container… hard enough that it knocks a huge hole in the boat right where his nav station is. How could this possibly have happened? Was the container self-propelled?
Mystery 3: Mystery Man must somehow push the evil container away from his boat. He tries with a boathook. No go. Aha! The sea anchor! He attaches this to the container (remember again, we are in absolutely flat calm conditions), and it instantly pulls the container away from the boat. How does that work? Where can I get a sea anchor like that?
Mystery 4: Repairing the hole! Mystery Man does this with some fiberglass cloth, a few sticks, and some West System epoxy (nice product placement there!), while sailing with the boat well heeled over in a flat calm in almost no wind. How is that possible?
Mystery 5: Finally it dawns on us–the container hit in the nav station must be an important plot device. Mystery Man’s electronics have been completely saturated. He opens up his portable satellite phone and his VHF radio, rinses them in fresh water, and leaves them to dry. Once they’re dry, he focusses exclusively on trying to get the VHF (range maybe 30 miles max) to work and ignores the much more useful sat phone (range global) completely. Say what?
Mystery 6: That weird thing hanging on the back of his boat, what the heck is that? A Hollywood version of a windvane? Are those lines we see wrapped around the axle of the steering wheel supposed to be control lines? The bottom of the device, when we see it underwater, presents simply as a big rail that is bolted to underside of the hull. Say what? What did they spend on this film? Couldn’t they afford to buy a real windvane?
You can see the Mystery Object That is Presumably a Windvane, which is bolted vertically to the boat’s transom, off on the right side in this photo
Mystery 7: What’s wrong with the jib??? It never looks like it is even fully hoisted. And whenever it is deployed, it is always luffing and is never trimmed.
Mystery 8: Mystery Man hears a VHF transmission on his radio, but can’t transmit. He climbs the mast to check the antenna, which turns out to be badly broken and disconnected. How could the radio possibly receive a transmission with the antenna like that? How was the antenna broken? Did the self-propelled container somehow fly up there and whack it before shooting back down into the hull amidships?
Mystery 9: While up the mast, Mystery Man sees an enormous storm just a few miles away. It has turned half the sky all black. Why didn’t he notice this while on deck?
Mystery 10: During the two storms he sails through during the film, we notice that Mystery Man has a habit of always closing the companionway completely when he is below, but always leaves it wide open when he is on deck. When his boat is rolled and completely capsized with the companionway wide open, how is it that very little water gets below?
During his first storm, Mystery Man goes forward to bend on the storm jib (before the storm, after he finally noticed it, he spent his time shaving instead of doing this). While on the foredeck he is swept overboard. Fortunately, he is clipped on–to the top lifeline, as you can see here. Amazingly, the lifeline and stanchion post do not break away under the load, and Mystery Man is strong enough to instantly hoist himself back aboard!
Here we see Mystery Man surviving his second capsize. He has no problem staying with the boat, even though he is not tethered to it. Note also the wide open companionway, which evidently did not result in any catastrophic downflooding
Mystery 11: The boat of Mystery Man loses its rig the second time it is rolled, and the broken mast ends up in the water on the boat’s port side. This somehow creates a new hole in the boat, up forward on the starboard side. Where’d that hole come from? If the plot demands there be a hole, why not just use the first one? The repair on that one was so patently flimsy it looks like you could easily poke a finger through it. How could it possibly have survived two violent capsizes?
Mystery 12: The new hole is sinking Mystery Man’s boat, so he takes to his liferaft. He leaves the raft tethered to the boat and falls asleep. Shouldn’t he be worried that the boat will drag the raft down with it?
Mystery 13: After his nap, Mystery Man has plenty of time to reboard his boat and gather supplies. How long was that nap? Why does the boat take so long to sink? Did the ballast keel fall off or something?
Mystery 14: Just how does Mystery Man stay so dry all the time?
Mystery 15: Mystery Man, since losing his electronics, has been brushing up on his celestial navigation. Once adrift in his raft he displays uncanny ability. He takes a sun sight, looks in a book, stares at his (perfectly dry) chart for a few seconds, and makes a mark at his location–no timepiece, no parallel rules, no dividers, no math, no worksheet required. Where can I learn to do this?
Mystery 16: Why does Mystery Man have no EPIRB?
Mystery 17: Why is Mystery Man’s liferaft moving so quickly? Judging from those marks he makes on his chart, he’s covering about 100 miles a day.
ANYWAY… I think you get the point. I could go on and on like this. Pretty much everything that happens to Mystery Man, and everything he does, is inexplicable to anyone who knows anything about ocean sailing.
I asked my wife, who doesn’t know much about sailing, if any of this bothered her, and she said she did wonder about Mystery Man’s ability to stay dry and the rapidly drifting liferaft. Otherwise she thought Robert Redford gave a great performance as the Mystery Man.
Frankly, I didn’t see that. All I saw was a man who looked confused, aggravated, and worried for over an hour and a half. I had exactly the same expression on my face the entire time.
The Biggest Mystery, of course, is why didn’t the filmmakers hire someone to advise them on what ocean sailing is really like? Reading through this very detailed precis on the film, I find only references to liferaft and marine electronics consultants. I know you can’t expect Hollywood’s version of reality to be much like real reality, but they could have done much better than this.
If you haven’t seen the film, I say give it a pass. Watch this trailer instead:
VHF radios have been known to cover wide areas under certain conditions. However, the chance of that being the case here is slim indeed.
Could go on a bit about the incessant idiocies of this film garnering the Oscar buzz of an all time epic, and extolling the greatest acting of Redford’s storied career. It’s a mystery that this film is so bad. How is a film made and marketed to portray sailing a sailboat as realistic this shitty? What a second rate unwatchable, un-enjoyable farce. Even if you try overlooking the endlessly stupid complete lack of attention to detail and realism, the plot isn’t much of a plot at all. No back story, no credible ending, and not a credible body of a film built as a vehicle for Redford in a fashion that in this sailor’s estimation takes away from his great career in film much more than it adds to it. Try bailing Bob and not sleeping in the hammock above the rising waters for three days, nor sailing on the wrong tack to increase the water getting into the BIG HOLE, nor using a boat hook in the first place nor sailing your holed boat back into the container- smack. worst sailing movie ever.
All is lost, indeed! I had such high hopes for this film, but after reading the above critique from a knowledgeable source, all my desire to see the film is lost.
In all fairness, I should note some other sailors have said positive things about the movie, e.g,, at this Sailing Anarchy forum discussion: forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=152309
Although the discussion does quickly degenerate from movie criticism into jokes about naked women and arguments about politics, as tends to happen over there.
A shame. I had such high hopes for this movie!
Charlie
It’s very much like that annoying Viagra commercial where the tag line is something along the lines of ‘you’ve reached the age of knowing how to get things done’ and then the guy sails on with the genoa tight against the windward shrouds.
@Mark: I haven’t seen that commercial. What a hoot!
Charlie, with such a stringent true to life standard we never would have had a “Whomper”.
It’s a movie.
@Keith: Ah, yes. The Whomper! There were sailors involved in the creation of that movie (in fact I know one of them). Maybe I should watch it again and slap myself a few times and just get over it.
Heh heh, this is the best & most entertaining movie review I’ve ever seen. What a silly movie. Keep em coming Charlie!!
Jesse & Charlie
Obviously you’ve never worked on an ad photo shoot or anything Hollywood! One of the unwavering requirements is that the creative director know nothing about the subject he is filming and have an ego too large to permit him to ask somebody who does. I learned that fact of life working a winter SUV national adv photo shoot in Jackson Hole where they flew in a photographer @$15,000 per day who had never seen snow before.
The phenomenon isn’t limited to film directors. How many architects do you know who have actually ever built a house?
You know what drove me crazy. The boat clearly has a roller furling head sail in the beginning of the movie and then doesn’t in the middle? That and every thing else mentioned in this post. I was disappointed because of the wasted potential. They could’ve done something really interesting and, I think, they had the man to do it with, but obviously squandered that opportunity. A real shame.
As soon as this film started I thought who is this old guy? why is he barely able to move around his yacht or capable of doing even the most basic of tasks? and why is he always caught napping and takes hours to do anything?
This film is utterly ridiculous, like trying to watch your grandma become an acrobat. Even if you do not come from a sailing background you can appreciate that this guy seems to know nothing about how to sail a yacht and is totally unprepared for pretty much every situation he finds himself in.
If you want to structure a film on this basis start with castaway and work from there. I have just seen this guy nearly run down by two container ships.
For your consideration I recommend you never watch this film if you have any sense.?
We have only just seen this movie for the first time on cable. Although we have very little sailing experience, my husband and I certainly picked up on many of the errors outlined. Yes its was annoying…but now here’s the thing. The movie for us was a wonderful metaphor. Life is absolutely like this story…(we have just had 12 years of it). Especially as one becomes older, you can suddenly get caught napping and find yourself in all sorts of strife… and if you are NOT highly prepared, very aware of your surroundings and hone your skills, then the smallest errors can sink you. As we know the wide world is full of sharks, full of those who ignore you, despite being desperate, full of silly mistakes, and you can be left with only very deep loss. Thank goodness for Hollywood endings to help keep us believing in the good fairy.
As an Amateur Radio operator, I can tell you that marine VHF FM radios operate in a line-of-sight range. Considering he’s sailing a Cal 39, we’ll figure about 65 feet above sea level, and give his radio range as approximately a 10 miles radius, perhaps a bit further if we count the height above sea level of the antenna of a receiving ship.
While it is theoretically possible for a radio in that frequency range to make contacts at a distance of up to a couple of hundred miles under ideal conditions, that is in no way going to happen with a Marconi (vertical) antenna with 25W transmit power (the radio in question being easily identifiable as an Icom IC-M127) operating in FM mode, rather than, say, Single Sideband Mode with a high-gain directional antenna.
It stretches the suspension of disbelief to ask the audience to accept that anyone with sufficient sailing skills (not to mention the money for a Cal 39 and its requisite outfitting) to get to where he is in the movie (the middle of the Indian Ocean, where only fools and sailors would ever travel) would not know the difference between VHF and SSB, much less not carry at least two EPRIBs—and the fact that he actually has a sat phone is just the final nail in the coffin.
I’ve seen many guys like that in our marine trying to take out and/or land their 1/2 million dollar new 40fter and don’t even know what SB or Port is. They are out there.
I thought it was a great movie, with the caveat that I knew I would have to “suspend disbelief” at times – Hollywood will ALWAYS have this problem. The big item was obviously; no EPIRB (in this day and age?) – Ridiculous. When the credits rolled, I laughed and told my wife that there is probably a blog somewhere on the internet, blasting the movie with inconsistencies… Maybe just enjoy the movie. I have found most “experts” on marine and sailing issues are usually just blowhards that never get fifty clicks northeast of Eleuthera….
I am NOT a sailor! I love the sea and I scuba dive. So my knowledge of boats is very limited.
Firstly I assume fitting the ‘Storm Jib?’ is important, so why shave before doing this important task?
Why try and fix a radio when you have a sat phone? Try and fix that first, surly
Why stay attached to a sinking boat?
How the hell did he manage to stay with the boat when it turned upside down?!
Did you even watch the movie? Are you really a sailor? Was this article written by a child? Just to answer one of your questions pretty much every Marine band radio has a send and as well as a receiver and
@Dave: I did watch the movie, unfortunately. I believe I mentioned that. And no, I am not a child, unfortunately. Ah, to be 12 yo and know what I know now! Not sure what you’re saying about the radio, but yes, I understand they both receive and transmit, Both functions involve the antenna.
Fascinating reading this blog. I had feelings of vague uneasiness about the movie but did not know much about sailing, so I just shrugged it off. On the other hand, I am a rocket scientist (really. Not joking.) and had feelings similar to Mr. Doane’s while watching “Gravity.” What astonishes me about this, however, is that apparently Hollywood has an unlimited capability to make egregious technical errors, even when it DOESN’T involve … wait for it … rocket science.
My friend watch this movie once in a while. We concider it a comedy There are so many issues with it that it makes us laugh every time we see it. Obviously the director knows nothing about boats or sailing. One you may have missed. Did the self propelled container hit with such force that it mangled the steel on the containor’s corner (even though it collided with a fiberglass / wood hull sailboat)? ?
Okay,… Here are some more inconsistencies I saw:
When the container punches a hole in his boat, why does he react sooo slowly to move or cover the radio(s)? – he just lets the water rush in, over and over.
No life jacket, or inflatable collar vest ever worn.
He sails his boat straight into the steel container – hard!
Did he lose his rudder? wtf?
Why did he get off his boat to retrieve the sea anchor? He could have just sailed/ pulled his boat up to the end and untied the line.
Why no Epirb, strobe, or flashligh – were they lost on the cutting room floor?
Could a boat like this roll over, (even if the hatch & companionway were closed) and not fill up with water?,… (I don’t think so) – they are not “watertight” hatches/covers.
He forgot to screw on the smaller fresh water jug end cap, or notice such?!,… Seriously!
The fire he lit in the plastic tub- really? Burns up his raft?
Just throw it in the water.
He attaches the antenna lead with an adjustable wrench? Mine has a knurled fitting that just screws on. At worst he’d use a plier, or adjustable vise grip.
He doesn’t even put the adjustable wrenches tether/loop around his wrist.
oops,… There goes my wrench into the ocean,… Or worse, thru a plexiglass deck hatch.
How did he get a hole in the floor of the front berth – that supposedly finally sink the boat? Did he hit something during the storm?
Why didn’t he ever jump to fix/cover/plug any of the holes that he had.
He looked so feeble.
Motor? Did he have one? Why wasn’t he steering the boat during the storm(s) to minimize the risk of roll-over.
That’s enough!,… I could go on and on.
Thank you all for these insightful and hilarious comments! I am halfway through the movie as I write this, and all the painfully stupid writing was driving me crazy- I have had some sailing experience (more than Mystery Man it seems) and I kept thinking why is he so daft and unprepared. So, I went looking for what those who are experienced would say. Glad to see so many who found this as infuriating as I did.
I don’t know much about sailing and have very little experience on sailboats but, I am glad that I am not the only one that this film just didn’t make sense to although, there are a handful of parts that does make sense to me. Does anyone have any clue why he would make the time to shave before facing a storm?
ABSOLUTE RUBBISH I COULD WRITE A BETTER STORY
Man goes out to sail around the world, rolls his boat in every storm.. leaves his companionway open whilst it raining like a motherfucker, then spends like 3 days hand pumping his draining pump? and why didn’t his draining pump work? there was power in the battery, and if it didn’t work wouldn’t it be easier to just bypass the panel of doom? and why the hell does he go shave when he sees the storm, and then when the storm is right above him he goes out to put up the storm sail?. who even does that? and i don’t know but isn’t it possible to steer a sailboat against the waves instead of taking them from the sides? i guess thats why the boat rolled? or was it because the sails flipped it over? i don’t know my boat has 1hp per 9kg when loaded with 2x 70kg people so i don’t really try to understand sailing that much.
only person i know with a sailboat have a 7.5m sailboat with a 30hp outboard haha, does 12 knots in fine conditions, and he haven’t even put up the mast.
The movie “All is Lost” documents a torturous litany of appallingly bad decision making and lack of survival instincts on the part of a rather inept single handed sailor played by Robert Redford. The only redeeming value of this entire film is as a cautionary tale of what not to do in an emergency. Screen it at your local yacht club to spur outraged, thought provoking debate.
WARNING MAJOR SPOILER TO FOLLOW.
Sadly the encounter that initially damaged Redford’s yacht is very plausible. It is well documented and not such a rare occurrence that cargo containers do become dislodged from container ships in severe weather. Due to air and buoyant items of cargo they do not sink, but may float in a semi-submerged state for quite some time. However, running into one at speed under sail in a collision sufficient to hole the boat is not something any sailor I know would calmly sleep right through!
The very first instinct, even for a child beyond the age of seven, would be to stuff something into that hole. I was nauseated as, in complete contrast to such a normal reaction, Redford wandered aimlessly past the gaping aperture watching as bucket loads of water poured into his boat. Once he went on deck, ignoring the fact that his sails were still diving the boat onto the container he launched a bizarre attempt to use a sea anchor to drag the container away from his yacht.
Once the yacht was separated from the container, Redford prioritised the retrieval of his sea anchor at further risk to his badly stricken yacht. He manoeuvred the boat in such an irresponsibly way that sent even more water gushing into the damaged starboard side of his yacht. This reckless endeavour culminated in a second, entirely avoidable, collision with the container. Decent boat handling skills could have accomplished his goal without risking holing the boat a second time. Far more importantly, why stress over the sea anchor when your hull is damaged and your boat is still taking on water? By this time I was certain the poor man had a death wish.
During a lengthy sailing career, I was unfortunate enough to endure capsize offshore so I can say from experience that the hero’s instincts are truly unfathomable. For me, after the most obvious breaches in the deck and coach-roof integrity were temporarily plugged, “get the water out of the boat” became a single-minded obsession. Once water is well over the floor boards for the length of the vessel it is hard to determine if that water is still coming in, but paranoia convinces you that there might be further damage to the hull. As a scared sailor with a large bucket it takes a lot of serious bailing before you start to feel that you are really getting the situation under control.
Large quantities of water ranging freely inside a boat represent unstable, uncontrolled ballast which poses a serious threat to the stability of the vessel. A small wave hitting the hull can tip the boat enough to send gallons of water hurtling to one side where yet more water pours in to complete the roll. Even the sailor’s movements to either side of the centre line can be enough to precipitate this critical shift in water ballast. From overcrowded life rafts to large ships there is ample evidence of sinking due to the shifting ballast of people and/or water; capsize is usually rapid and irrevocable. However, oblivious to the danger, at one point Redford suspended a hammock above all that water so he could drift peacefully off to sleep! I was gob smacked.
This single handed sailor was very poorly prepared before disaster struck, but he continued to compound the crisis with poor decision making. A temporary plug, such as a pillow, could have blocked the hole enough to stem the flow of water into the boat before focusing on a more robust repair. However, even when Redford finally gets around to patching the hole, his repair looks incredibly flimsy. At a point where the integrity of hull, deck or coach roof has been seriously breached it is important to consider that the situation might get a whole lot worse. Normal precautionary measures would compel you to have the life raft at least ready just in case, plus prepare the items you might need to take with you if it did become necessary to abandon ship.
Aside from his sluggish recourse to clearing dangerous quantities of water from the interior of his boat Redford failed to prepare for a further deterioration in his circumstances. Without bothering to ascertain his position for days on end he sailed on aimlessly. Focused on getting his radio going he failed to consider that assistance or rescue might require an accurate latitude and longitude.
I was surprised that the director had Redford use the distress call “SOS” rather than the more publically recognized marine distress call “Mayday.” If our hero didn’t think he was in imminent danger of sinking, he should have used the distress call “Pan, Pan, Pan.” Problems with his radio after it was saturated, cleaned up and dried out, prompted him to make a sortie up the mast to fix the antenna. This radio would have been of limited use to him functioning perfectly and I was not sure why the antenna might have come adrift in the first place.
Despite seeing an approaching storm he fails to prepare by shortening sail. With a flimsy repair that might not hold up to strong battering in high seas he does not employ any tactic that might help the yacht weather the storm. He decides he really needs a shave; why? Is he sprucing up for a date or preparing to meet his maker? He waits until the high winds are placing huge strains on his damaged yacht before digging out his storm jib. Our intrepid hero then delves in a locker to fish out an intriguing piece of equipment that looks brand new and unused: his safety harness. If he was using this for the first time I doubt he had jack lines set in place along the deck to clip onto.
With the ornamental wind vane tenaciously guiding the boat possibly with recourse to artificial intelligence, Redford emerges from the hatch after removing all of the washboards. Despite the conditions he never bothers to close the hatch or replace the washboards unless he is down below. In foul weather most sailors just climb over the boards leaving them in place while briefly opening and closing the hatch as little as possible. This man must have an affinity for water!
The drama as Redford is washed overboard trying to get his sails under control, but a lucky reprieve does not scare him into wearing a life jacket and shortly after that stunt he has ditched that brand new safety harness. Even the terrifying experience of rotating the cabin does not compel him to be more cautious with the main hatch, as always, left wide open with all the washboards removed as he goes on deck – without even bothering to don his foul weather jacket or the harness.
How could anyone ignore the danger of a wide open hatch in those conditions after experiencing a capsize? Redford heaves a rope over the side to trail as a drogue, something he should perhaps have considered doing much earlier. He is not tethered to the boat when it is capsized yet again. Unbelievably he makes the highly dramatized journey under water only to miraculously appear in the cockpit as the boat rights itself. A huge volume of water would have swept inside the boat via that gapping hatchway, but Redford still doesn’t think to just close the fxxking hatch.
Seeing that the mast has how snapped, with most of it in the water Redford decides he must cut it loose. A feeble looking tool appears from nowhere to snip that standing rigging like cheese wire. Wow! Who would have thought it was that easy to cut the complex entanglement of a broken mast free from the boat? Not! It takes big bolt cutters, both hands and considerable force to cut standing rigging. It appears there were no technical advisors from the sailing community involved in the making of this film.
Exhausted Redford goes below. Although he does finally close up the main companionway hatch, he ignores water that is steadily streaming in through a large hole. Instead he prioritizes removing the remainder of his foul weather gear. How delusional is that? Most of us would have remained fully kitted up ready to go back up on deck. Redford is knocked unconscious after hitting his head as he is hurled violently across the cabin of the boat. I cut my head when our boat was capsized; such wounds bleed profusely. Although the blood loss drains your strength, the sheer adrenaline rush due to the enormity of the danger you are in keeps you going like the Eveready bunny.
Redford recovers to find the cabin awash again, but he doesn’t feel compelled to bail, instead he decides it is time to launch his life raft. Remembering to leave the main hatch wide open in the catchment position before exiting the boat, he then decides to keep the life raft tethered to his stricken yacht. Despite the possibility that if the boat sank it would drag his raft with it, he drifts into a blissful sleep. The yacht is still afloat when he awakes so he returns to get items he will need in the raft. After retrieving supplies and digging out a well buried sextant he spends time in the dangerously swamped boat at a mirror applying butterfly closures to his head wound. A more logical person would surely postpone this task and take the mirror into the life raft for signalling.
By now Redford should have learned to close the damn hatch, but no. If he had just bailed out his boat and made additional repairs to the damaged hull he could potentially have saved it from sinking. Abandoning a yacht for uncertain survival in a life raft is a drastic step and entering the raft should have been a serious wakeup call for him. It was time to take survival seriously.
He had no clue how to cope, but did he even bother to read the life raft manual? I doubt he read: be prepared and ready to catch water if it rains; cautiously ration all of your food; keep bailing water out of the raft and check for air leaks; set a discipline for keeping a vigilant lookout for ships as you drift into shipping lanes and learn to catch fish to supplement your diet. Apparently he learned a special method of instant position plotting and he did try to fish. Would someone who lacked the basic common sense to catch rain water really have the smarts to devise a solar still?
Who would spend money on expensive electronics and not bother buying a single EPIRB? I took my own EPIRB on yacht deliveries. GPS should be regarded as an aid to navigation not a poor excuse to avoid bothering to learn the most basic skills. A sextant is not something to be taken on passage as a quant old-world talisman. After Redford reads up on how to use his sextant he takes sights without bothering to move filters or even adjust the sextant arm to take his readings. There is no evidence of him taking times, using tables or making any calculations at all before he miraculously puts a mark on his chart. Delivering yachts in the pre GPS era I revelled in star sight navigation but, even with my NC77 calculator, working out a position was far from instantaneous.
Sadly ships really do pass stranded mariners in life rafts without ever seeing them. The life raft is such a tiny speck on that vast expanse of open ocean and no one on watch is expecting to see it. Rescued yachtsmen have told of these devastating close encounters with ships that passed right on by. Unprepared for the need to fire off his flares Redford fumbled with them and his delayed efforts were not enough. Redford could perhaps have maximized his chances of being spotted by directing the signalling mirror right at the ships bridge. If he had bothered to read the life raft manual, which he obviously didn’t, he would have know that that is what the signalling mirror is for.
Redford was his own worst enemy right up to the point of his very lucky rescue. In desperation he started a fire in a combustible container right there inside the life raft. If he had set the container ablaze on the water downwind of the raft it might have looked like a plausible risk to take. Are we expected to believe that he was ready to give up just as the chance of rescue became a viable possibility? That the entire raft was soon engulfed by fames was predictable. By chance it was a large enough conflagration to capture the attention of the ship’s crew and they rescued him.
Trying to make sense of this unbelievable saga I watched as the credits went up searching for an explanation. Was this a poor rendition of a true account told by a hapless rescued mariner? No. I was horrified to read that in the making of this appallingly badly scripted film not just one, but a total of three Cal 39 sailing boats were sacrificed. After a career spanning decades at sea, over 150,000 miles of ocean yacht deliveries, sailing right round Africa, across the Pacific and a total of thirteen Trans-Atlantic crossings including competing in the Whitbread, I would dearly love to have salvaged just one of those boats. I felt absolutely gutted by such a disgusting waste. My advice, only watch this movie to learn lessons from the numerous catastrophic mistakes.
hey guys, take a breath, few of us know enough about sailing to spot what you did. it is a survival epic made for entertainment. did you really expect nautical precision? i am a computer programmer but i allow lots of slack in films featuring cyber tech because movie makers and the general public are not knowledgeable about such.
What the crap did he do with the plastic bag and the jug to be able to drink the water? I couldn’t tell what he put on top of it. That’s driving me nuts. And for the record, this movie should be called “Time is Lost,” cos seriously. ?♀️
This movie is awesome, everything in it is realistic, and you don’t know what EPIRB stands for: Expertly-Played Incredibly-Realistic Boating.
Let me know when you come up with a *real* argument.
Love,
Chris
Hey Chris: To each his own. But I think you’re wrong there about EPIRB. Love back atcha… charlie
I hear you. I was very bothered by the ending, as well. And since he was rescued, all is rescued (not lost). I kept thinking the whole time, “this film should be a 30-minute TV segment”. I also kept thinking of Tom Hanks’ “Cast Away”, which, to me, was a much better film and much better storytelling.