Favorite Sailing Films?

The "sailing" films that really got my imagination going at a young age was Kon-Tiki and Ra I & II with Thor Heyerdahl. Now that is adventure and sailing taken back to basics! No GPS, no electrics, just sailing rafts and warm waters.

It got me interested in sailing and made me go to Tahiti where Bengt Danielsson, one of the Kon-Tiki lunatics, settled.

Thinking about it, it is maybe no coincidence that my boat was named Tiki when I bought her! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
For me, it was the film "Windjammer", a stunning (for a 10-year-old boy) documentary about the Christian Radich, which I saw in 1958 or 59 in the movie theatre, on 3 slightly overlapping screens. I have to admit, this was my first contact with being seasick...
 
'Riddle of the Sands' - Michael York, Simon MacCorkindale, Jenny Agutter and Alan Badel. IIRC 'Dulcibella' was especially built for the movie though I don't know what happened to her afterwards. Well worth a watch as the film captured well the atmosphere of the shallow waters of the Frisian Islands. It was done the old-fashioned way. If they made the film nowadays they'd use all that crappy CGI stuff-Urrgghh!
 
"Dulcibella" was bought up by the manufacturers of AWBs and scrapped, in order to ensure that the revelutionary technology, which allowed the internal volume of a Bavaria whilst maintaining the external appearance of a beautiful traditional craft, didn't fall into the wrong hands. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
You mean they faked it? /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

'Knife in the water' - early polanski

'the cruel sea'

'Open Water' - more a divers' film, but scary.

'Jaws'

'Dead Calm'

'Master and Commander'

'Flushed Away'

and my favorite 'bad' bit of boat film is the bit in the recent King Kong when they're headed towards the rocks in a storm, and the capatin orders the engines to stop, and the ship just stops, and stays there! Didn't anyone during the making of that have the nerve to speak up?

Just ordered Riddle of the Sands on Amazon. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Eric Hiscock's 'Beyond the West Horizon'. I got the video some years ago and have watched it many times. Trouble is whenever I mention it to sailing friends they all want to borrow it! OK, it's documentary rather than movie but it's got some great sailing shots.

Without meaning to thread-drift-for anyone interested in shipping nostalgia I recommend www.snowbow.co.uk , they have some great videos and DVDs. Being an ex tanker-man, I bought the vid about tankers and had a thoroughly good wallow. For ex cargoship-men there is a wealth of material to amuse you. Another outfit that do some marine stuff is www.ddhe.co.uk
For the afficionado of old sailing craft (we're talking small fishing/cargo craft - not tall ships) from around the world I can recommend a DVD called 'The Last Sailors'. I got mine from Amazon.

A request. A good many years ago I saw a prog on TV about some people who went as passengers on a banana boat (Ffyfes(sp?) - I think) to the Carib and back. I wish I'd recorded it - does anyone know if it's available anywhere.
Also -- what gave me the bug to get into the anchor-handling/towing 'game' was seeing a movie about anchorhandling which was shot on the Wimpy Seadog (I think) I saw it in about 1980. IIRC it was called 'Waiting on Weather'.I'd love to get hold of a copy but have Googled without success. Anyone help? Thanks.
 
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I had a look around the "Christian Radich" in the dock in Madiera last week. She looked good and my wife tells me the crew looked pretty good too....
Ken

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We had the finish (well ... the festivities anyway) of the Tall Ship's race here in Antwerp in July, so we visited her too.
The young men are always tops with the ladies !

One poignant moment I vividly remember was toward the end of the "Windjammer" film, when the crew listens to the radio broadcast announcing the sinking of the 4-mast bark "PAMIR".
That story too has been made into a docudrama, which actually was on German TV this week. Acting was a bit over the top, methinks... , but still worth seeing.
BTW. Most B-movies about sailboats have bad to blood stained ending. How come? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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