Movie Review: All is Lost

A colleague at work mentioned that I should watch "All is Lost" as preparation for our sailing trip, as I might learn a few things. I though I was well prepared with my sailing skills, offshore survival training, emergency preparedness training, medical course and risk reviews, but you never know if you can learn a trick or two from an old dog i.e. Robert Redford.

*** Spoiler Alert ***

Clearly Captain Rob is not the most safety conscious sailor and he did not follow the RYA schooling. Here are some observations:
When he detects the leak, the first thing captain Rob does is not calling a mayday on VHF, setting of the EPIRB satellite beacon, stuffing the hole with anything that is at hand, or pulling a sail over the leak, or getting the life raft and ditch bag ready or even starting the bailers. No, the first thing he does, is getting the mainsail down, an action that does not help him whatsoever. Then he manages to collide into the container a second time.

Finally, after some agonizing minutes, where all the good advice I shouted out at captain Rob was ignored, he manages to tack the other way and the hole is safe and clear above the water line. At this point captain Rob is safe, and he could use the time to pull a sail on the outside of the hull, and start stuffing things on the inside.

What is Captain Rob doing, when he is going down into the boat to have a nap when the boat is still half full of water? Captain Rob's safety thinking is highlighted by the fact that:

• He needs to cut a handle for the bailing pump, and does not have one to hand
• He has to connect up his VHF antenna, it was not even connected before the collision.
• What is that about when he call a S.O.S.? Mayday Mayday Mayday is how you start an emergency call?
• Why does captain Rob not keep his sat phone in a waterproof bag?
• Why is he not wearing a life jacket?
• Where are the storm tactics? Captain Rob  does not use his sea, anchor that he earlier used to connect to the container, streaming warps, taking the seas from the behind, running the engine to keep up with the waves, and worst of all, he is still not wearing a life jacket.
• He is finally deploying the life raft, when the boat is floating high up on the water. Man up Captain Rob, and instead of sissily deploying the raft, deploy the bailer!
• Really! Getting into the life raft, when the boat is still high up in the water! Not only are did you just earn the title of coward the size of a blue whale, you just took a very unnecessary risk. BTW, where is the ditch bag? At least stock up with water and supplies before you make the jump.
• Filling up the fresh water canister with the sea water pump from the sink?
• In clear weather, with a boat that is not sinking, you leave the boat again? Man up and start pumping the water out you sissy!
• In the life raft, for the first 24 hours, do not eat or drink, get your body in energy preservation mode
• Where is your hand water maker our solar still?
• Where are you keeping that knife Captain Rob? The correct place in in a bag at the end of the painter line in the water. No wonder you managed to sink your life raft.
• Way to go: Setting of the flare without safety glasses or gloves. This is really the time to use the parachute flares.
• Shooting flares when there are no vessels in sight?
• Setting your only life raft on FIRE!

Katadyn Survivor 35, a hand operated water maker.

Some miscellaneous observations:

• who is steering when he is down below, he clearly does not have an auto pilot...
• It is beyond me, how with so little wind the boat even generated enough speed to create a hole like the one that was created.
• How did the boat turn over? the waves where not even that high....
• Man Over Board by yourself is Game Over..... to get back to the boat is extreme luck! 
• How did he let go of the mast, without even cutting the shrouds or the faulty VHF connection
• Where did the swell go after the big storm?
• How did you manage to sink the life raft!
• The hacked together water maker has little chance of actually working in wave motion.
• Captain Rob can suddenly read the map and writing without his glasses.
• There is land in the background! where is that on the map.
• Where did the glass bottle come from?

Final rating: Too agonizing to watch without writing a blog post with what Captain Rob does wrong and Hollywood gets wrong. No expert sailors consulted in the making of the movie. It turns out that actual courses are a much better preparation than Hollywood...

This would have been on the movie screen, if I was there for the life screening.

Tuxington asks: "Wherrrrrre is the ships cat?" Lunington says: "To be purrrrfectly honest, Captain Rrrrrrrob cannot likely keep his cat alive in even the best of conditions. Miauw!"