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Dear readers,

When the yacht is in winter storage and the owner's longing is at its greatest, many sailors wish for an escape from the dreary winter in the form of a sailing film. Today, YouTube is the place to find such films. But time and again, yachts sail across cinema screens. Time and again, a protagonist is seen sailing towards the horizon in a boat to visualise his desire for great freedom. And if there are already big and expensive film productions that feature boats, then the sailor is naturally excited.

However, sailing and Hollywood have rarely been an instant hit combination. Because no matter which blockbuster or "chick-flick" the film-makers have produced in the past decades - hardly any of them have ever satisfied the critical eyes of sailors. There was always something to criticise. Whether it's sails sticking out at full speed ("the engine is running along"), idyllic trips into the sunset ("the sea is rarely this calm") or even huge waves that look animated ("completely unrealistic").

I remember "All Is Lost" with Robert Redford, which we even watched together as an editorial team at the premiere in Hamburg cinema in 2013. The announcement was promising and we were hoping for an authentic film for sailors. But after the first few minutes, the film became a farce when Redford's sailing boat was hit by a container. I deliberately write "was hit", because there is no question of "sailing into it": The container was stuck in the boat from aft on the starboard side. So either Redford must have been sailing backwards - or the container had a drive. When, after many, many misrepresented scenes of life on board, Redford finally ignited the life raft in the middle of the storm to crawl in and finally get a good night's sleep - I was on the verge of running out of the cinema screaming. Rarely have I seen such rubbish.

One inevitably wonders whether there is no one on the payroll of multi-million (nine million!) film productions who is familiar with sailing and can advise on how to avoid such obvious film mistakes. I think you could find a suitable candidate for this in any sailing club.

And yet we have to watch them again and again: films in which sailing boats play some kind of role. They are usually just supporting roles, such as the beautiful Spirit 54 in the James Bond film "Casino Royale" or Kevin Costner's famous trimaran in "Waterworld". Short appearances that somehow get us through the winter.

That's why the sailing world took notice when Netflix announced the film adaptation of Jessica Watson's story a few months ago. The 16-year-old Australian who sailed non-stop around the world on her S&S 34 "Ella's Pink Lady" in 2009. Back then, the eyes of the whole (sailing) world were on Australia as the young girl single-mindedly put her ambitious plan into action - and was immediately shipwrecked on her first shakedown cruise along the Australian coast. A freighter collided with her ten-metre boat and took the rig with it. But that was no reason for Jessica's indomitable will not to give it a go.

When the real Jessica Watson presented her book "True Spirit" in Germany in 2011, I had the opportunity to meet and get to know her for an afternoon together with Wilfried Erdmann. So naturally I approached the film with somewhat mixed expectations. After all, for anyone who has met the real Jessica, a film adaptation with an actress can only seem somewhat artificial.

But I was surprised because Teagan Croft, who was 17 at the start of filming, managed to put herself in the shoes of the young Jessica extremely well. Even her film mother Anna Paquin - who really has nothing at all in common with the real Mummy Watson - is easy to believe in the role. The ensemble was complemented by the artificially created role of her mentor and three-time circumnavigator Ben Bryant, who takes film Jessica by the hand and coaches her to sail the high seas. This person does not exist in real life, but he is presumably made up of the real people Don McIntyre, who provided Jessica with his S&S 34, and Jon Sanders, who is also Australian and has sailed around the world a total of eleven times.

The film was shot at the original locations in Australia, which makes the setting of the film seem quite realistic. Anyone who has ever been on a blue water or long-distance voyage will even recognise some of the situations. For example, the vastness of the ocean, dolphins accompanying the boat - and even the calm at night, when the ship lies completely still in an incredible sea of stars. Stars from above and below as they are reflected on the smooth surface of the sea. This is somehow realistic in its approach, even if it is completely exaggerated. "Exaggeration visualises", as the saying goes.

For most of the film, however, you get the impression that the boat is rocking outside on deck, but is completely still below deck. Most of the time, the sailing weather is ideal anyway, and a non-stop circumnavigation like this is obviously all about killing time. And having a good time. In one scene, teenager Jessica sits with her hair freshly washed and combed and paints her toenails, then lies comfortably in the navigation corner and chats for hours with her school friends via satellite. In the next scene, she cleans the boat, bakes a cake and then lolls around in the cockpit in fashionable (and above all: always sparkling white and clean) clothes. When I myself sailed single-handed across the Atlantic at the age of 19 ... well, I looked a bit different then. Just what you look like when there's no shower within reach for 3,000 nautical miles. And cleaning the house and tidying up was only possible to a limited extent. How are you supposed to do that when everything is constantly rocking?

When the film gets down to the nitty-gritty of sailing, the ship gets caught in a heavy storm and finally capsizes, even the most critical sailor claws his fingernails into the back of the sofa. Although the waves are depicted in a completely unrealistic way, the tension curve of the story works. Jessica is below deck at the time, and you can guess that the film crew are throwing numerous objects through the frame while the cameraman is shaking his camera vigorously. As the ship goes overhead, your breath catches. At the same time, however, it is noticeable that some objects in the background simply stick to the ceiling (against gravity). But surely only sailors notice such film errors.

But the most important thing: the emotions of what it means to be alone at sea for 210 days and then to reach the port of departure after a successful voyage come across well in the film. Above all, the role of the parents is portrayed in a comprehensible way, the dichotomy between the worry that one's child is sailing to its doom and the will to let it go its own way. The film even makes you feel a little sorry for the parents when Jessica is caught in a heavy storm on the home straight.

Conclusion: a sailing film suitable for families that you can definitely watch. But please don't make any notes about what is technically incorrect.

By the way: In the end credits, the film is enriched with original scenes of the real Jessica and what it was really like on board. In one scene, Jessica sits on spiky cushions with felty hair - and the sailing world is all right again.

Johannes Erdmann, YACHT editor

Jessica Watson was also a guest on the Delius Klasing podcast "Miles and Lines". here you can listen to the episode!

Click on it to click through

The week in pictures:

Recommended reading from the editorial team:

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• here you can find all previous "YACHT Week" columns