All is lost

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Maatsuyker

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I have just finished watching the 2013 film "All is lost" about a solo yachtsman who hits a container in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Is it realistic? Some of his actions seem a bit far fetched. Opinions, folks?
 
Andrew Tarbath said:
I have just finished watching the 2013 film "All is lost" about a solo yachtsman who hits a container in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Is it realistic? Some of his actions seem a bit far fetched. Opinions, folks?
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Watchhimtiethebowlineatthestart
Watch him tie the bowline at the start. - its back to front - or upside down..... It was so unrealistic I got quite angry and turned it off.
 
There was a long discussion about this when it came out. I suggest you enjoy it for what it is, and bear in mind the target audience is not sailors. I enjoyed it.
 
Great film for non sailors but any sailor will soon wonder why he didn't have a PLB and EPIRB, backup (handheld) VHF, satellite phone etc. The ending might have been a dream/vision/mirage due to sleep deprivation.
 
Of course this is my personal opinion, but it's a really stupid film.
A film I really enjoyed is "Turning tide En Solitaire" (since Vendee Globe is now on too....).
 
It depends. What you mean by realistic?

The concept? In very general terms. I suppose so.
A single handed sailor, hits or is hit by something while asleep. Potentially causing the loss or sinking of his or her vessel.
A period of time where the sailor has to depend on them self, try to find out how badly damaged, the vessel is, try to determine if it can be saved or if they need to call for help?
The vessel sinking and having to abandon to a life raft?
The concept is plausible and possibly realistic.

The actual details and events as depicted? Not so much.
I found it had to many unrealistic details I found it unwatchable.
I hit the fast forward after about 10 or 15 minutes.
 
It was not unrealistic to the point of impossibility. Just that Redford's character makes some unwise choices.
But on the whole it portrays a much more realistic vision of sailing than most big budget films. To most non-sailors, a yacht is about 100ft long, made of glistening teak, and adorned with equally glistening nubile female crew.

If you want a *really* bad sailing/yachty film, try that one where they all go for a swim and can't get back aboard...
 
Kelpie said:
It was not unrealistic to the point of impossibility. Just that Redford's character makes some unwise choices.
But on the whole it portrays a much more realistic vision of sailing than most big budget films. To most non-sailors, a yacht is about 100ft long, made of glistening teak, and adorned with equally glistening nubile female crew.

If you want a *really* bad sailing/yachty film, try that one where they all go for a swim and can't get back aboard...
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This forum is perfect evidence that in the same situation many of us would act in totally different ways. What makes sense to one person watching the film makes little to others - although obviously they had to condense many many different issues and solutions into one film.

One thing that sailors objected to was when he'd tried to patch up the boat, saw squalls coming and decided to have a nice shave. I completely got that - once you've done everything that you can then calming yourself down by having a wash and shave is the kind of thing I do. A lot of sailing is preparing then waiting so no point in make that wait anxious when you can distract yourself.
 
IIRC I turned it off after about 15 mins - it was just wrong on so many levels and, given the money available in film, the level of knowledge, and access to expertise, it just struck me as unprofessional, whoever it was made for.
 
Kelpie said:
If you want a *really* bad sailing/yachty film, try that one where they all go for a swim and can't get back aboard...
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I'm not for one moment suggesting that was a good film.... however unrealistic? I'd suggest that actually that is quite a possible scenario to end up in following a moments thoughtlessness.... and I certainly remember it whenever I decide to go for a dip over the side!
 
I quite liked it. I watched it one evening onboard alone. Made for a pleasant background film while I got tea and washed up etc.

Headline news: Hollywood star in Hollywood film is unrealistic.

But at least they made a film about sailing. Got to be better than yet another superhero show or remake of somthing that wasn't that good in the first place.
 
Triassic said:
I'm not for one moment suggesting that was a good film.... however unrealistic? I'd suggest that actually that is quite a possible scenario to end up in following a moments thoughtlessness.... and I certainly remember it whenever I decide to go for a dip over the side!
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When it came out, a work colleague described a similar experience. Him and one other, ferrying a racing yacht back to its home port with the rest of the crew having flown home. Hot calm day, they decided to stop the engine for a bit and go for a swim. Both dived in, no ladder rigged (and this predates swim platforms and permanent stern ladders), suddenly realised they couldn't get back on board. Obviously they did manage in the end for him to be telling me; can't remember what technique they used. But for a while they were seriously worried that they might end up drowning alongside the yacht, and how stupid that would be.

Pete
 
You are probably right.
I wonder what real detectives or other police officers think about Police stories on TV or the Movies. I enjoy many of them because I have no idea how a real murder investigation and prosecution works.
I have even less of an idea how actual soldiers or pilots or whatever the story is about really do what they do. I enjoyed Steve McQueen in the Great Escape and Bullet realistic.? Well yeah right.
James Bond? The current ones is the best since Connery but still what would a real spy or secret agent think.

Most movies I have no clue. how realistic or believable they are.

Unfortunately some subjects I do have knowledge of. Some times in a good story or film it doesn't matter. EG. There are flaws in
Das Boat, The Perfect Storm. Titanic, The Poseidon Adventure(The Original) But the film was good enough it did not matter.
I Just Watch The Heart Of The Sea. I didn't want to for a long time because I knew the story. As per usual Hollywood takes a few liberties with the truth to improve the story. I still enjoyed it.

All is lost just wasn't anywhere close enough. But It could have been.
 
GHA said:
Wonder if Tim Peake gets all indignant watching star trek?

;)
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I'm not sure who Tim Peak is. Indignant or not.
I enjoyed Star Trek as a kid and was surprised in later life to hear, While a lot of it is pure fiction or even fantasy. Quite a bit is based on actual reputable scientific theories.
I enjoyed Star Wars to but never heard any allegations Star Wars was anything but a fantasy.

There must have been a few Star Trek Fans at NASA. NASA named the first space shuttle The USS Enterprise.

I wonder if NASA ever name anything the Millennium Falcon:)
 
prv said:
When it came out, a work colleague described a similar experience. Him and one other, ferrying a racing yacht back to its home port with the rest of the crew having flown home. Hot calm day, they decided to stop the engine for a bit and go for a swim. Both dived in, no ladder rigged (and this predates swim platforms and permanent stern ladders), suddenly realised they couldn't get back on board. Obviously they did manage in the end for him to be telling me; can't remember what technique they used. But for a while they were seriously worried that they might end up drowning alongside the yacht, and how stupid that would be.

Pete
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The obvious way back on board, especially with two people, would be to climb up the anchor chain. We've done it on a monohull just test the theory but it can also be done on my cat by climbing the snubber bridle.

Of course, in the film (Adrift in the UK / Open Water 2 in the USA) the film makers had to frame all the shots so that the anchor chain is not visible or else the film would fall flat at the first hurdle. Of course, in real life the boat had to be anchored otherwise it would soon drift away and no Skipper would never abandon an unanchored boat unless it was sinking.

The film editor made one mistake in the storm scene when the anchor chain comes clearly into shot as a freeze frame on my recorder soon demonstrated to SWMBO. :)

Richard
 
I assumed in 'Adrift' that the obvious thing to do (given no anchor chain) was to form a human pyramid. OK so the ones on the bottom would have to hold their breath, but it would only have to be for a few seconds while one person got a hand on the rail.
 
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