Small Boats in Movies

Posted by: admin on Feb 12, 2009  

Tagged in: Untagged 

One doesn't see too many movies centered on or around small boats and sailing, but there are a few.

Maybe the best family movies related to small boats are the Swallows and Amazons classics Coot Club and Big Six. Plenty of little boats and adventure. 

The most visually stunning sailing sequences I've seen are in Polanski's Knife in the Water. You can freeze the movie at any time and it will look like a carefully planned still photo.

It's not totally about sailing, per se, but the new movie Canvas was entertaining and it featured our own friend and subscriber Frank Debesa's Nimble 20. (See SCA issue #45)

And there's always the movie Riddle of the Sands based on the marvelous book by Erskine Childers. Problem is I can't find it on DVD domestically. Still holding on to my VHS even though I've ditched the VCR.

 Let us know if you have any favorites.—Eds

 

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written by marilyn, February 13, 2009
"The Big Six" is a continuation of "The Coot Club", more adventures for the Death and Glories and Tom, Dick, and Dot. A very fun family movie. Lots of great scenery and small boat sailing. I have a VHS copy, but don't know if it is on DVD. Also, believe you can order a DVD copy of "Riddle of the Sands", but it costs about $80.00, so I have hung onto my VHS copy of that. "Deep Water" is an intriguing movie about the first round the world sailing race in 1968. There is a lot of information in it about Donald Crowherst. You can order that from blockbuster and I paid about $20 for it.
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written by Mike Higgins, February 13, 2009
The Old Man and the Sea is a movie that shaped my image of small boat sailing for many years.
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written by jenku, February 13, 2009
The Riddle of the Sands is available from the UK as region 2 DVD. It is very easy and not illegal (not even in the US I guess?) to convert it into a region-free version on your computer as far as it is only for your own use. What you do is basically to create a backup copy of the DVD on your computer (using a suitable free program, like DVD Decrypter). This removes the region protection and you can then watch it on the computer or burn it into a region-free DVD. However you cannot then sell the original DVD, that would make it an illegal copy. :)
Of course there are region free DVD players as well.
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written by jenku, February 13, 2009
Oh and thanks for the tip, I just ordered the Polanski DVD :)
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written by Joshua Colvin, February 13, 2009
Marilyn, glad you mentioned Deep Water. Not exactly small boats, but one of the most intriguing sailing movies ever. I loved the book on Crowhurst and was surprised that the documentary held up so well.

Thanks for the tip on altering a region DVD for personal use, Jens. Great idea!
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written by Rich, February 18, 2009
One of my fave sailing movies is "Wind". Despite the somewhat dorky storyline, the small boat and big boat sailing are always good for me. Jennifer Grey, Stellan Skaarsgard, Cliff Robertson, Matt Modine.

This may be a bit off the topic but I liked Jennifer Grey's physiognomy before she had the face work done. Showed more character.
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written by Marilyn, March 02, 2009
Swallows and Amazons is also on VHS. It is a fun movie made from the book sold in SCA book store. If it was available on DVD, it would make a good item for the book store, too.
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written by Bill Wickett, March 10, 2009
Knife in the Water looks great. Thanks for putting it on the blog. Will have to get a copy.
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written by Air Jordans, April 13, 2010
What a great blog! It is a pity that I can not find RRS address. If RRS offers a subscription service, I can easily follow your blog!
By Air Jordans

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