we've featured this a bunch of times in the videos section and in the blog.
it is a good documentary for what it is... it's inspirational, which is the important part, and this is the main documentary that got me going sailing, but it glosses over a lot of important stuff.
who paid for the engine? how much was it? the rigging? sails? getting the boat in and out of the water? the boat yard fees? what about the dingy? (they are expensive as fuck) no mention of required safety equipment, registration, etc. i know these are all boring things for a documentary, but they're important to know when getting into this. you can't just drop 1,000 bucks on a boat and expect to sail around the world.
my point is that my main criticism of the movie is that it romanticizes the shit out of sailing (not totally a bad thing) and makes it look super easy (bad thing) and makes it looks super cheap (which it is not). of course, doing it diy-punk-style is waaay cheaper than what most people have to spend...
but in reality, if you want to do this (0wn your own sailboat), expect to spend a minimum of $5,000 dollars. That's for a small boat (26 feet+). Check out this breakdown of the costs of the liquid courage when we moved to key west:
1973 26ft Grampian sail boat - 2100 (below items were included--very lucky)
main sail
jib sail x2
long shaft engine (super lucky!)
decent rigging
required by law:
boat registration - 200
safety equipment - 300
toilet - 100-200
required if you want to have a life:
dingy - 700-1200
dingy motor - 400-1200
and that doesn't include the boat yard fees to put it in the water after we bought it, and the time it took to sand and repaint it (350 bucks for time, 225 for paint).
so as you can see, shit get's expensive, and people should know what they're getting into. this list is omitting a lot of stuff, like country entrance fees, the constant gear replacement and maintenance, a decent gps (500+ dollars), etc.
and one last thing. all that bullshit in this movie about not needing a motor on your boat is fucking stupid. if you're going out for your first few months sailing, you need a fucking motor. i don't care how much your stupid hippie ass doesn't like oil or gas getting in the water, if you don't have a motor and aren't a very seasoned sailor, you could very well get yourself into a situation where you could die, if something happens to your boat (broken mast, etc) and you're set adrift for god knows how long until you can anchor and call for help. not to mention, just getting your butt in and out of a port without wrecking the boat you worked so hard for.
I really didn't expect this post to go so long, so i'll end it here. i'm not saying people shouldn't do it, quite the opposite. it's just that your chances of success are much higher when you know what to expect, and as much as I love hold fast and what it inspired me to do (go sailing, learn to swim, etc) I also think there's a lot of romanticized crimethinc bullcrap in it, and folks should do a bit more research into this before jumping in.
