“They Went to Sea in a Sieve, They Did”

>The 1986 Soviet film Race of the Century ("Гонка века") gave a dramatic presentation of the events of the Golden Globe Race and the fate of Donald Crowhurst. The movie focused on the idea of competition in a capitalist society as a soul-consuming "rat race", where all community members including children are under constant pressure, and failure and poverty are not tolerated. It portrayed Crowhurst as a deeply honest man being forced into a dangerous unwinnable enterprise by his disastrous financial situation and the greed of his entrepreneur Best. The screenplay took some liberties with the facts, such as downplaying Crowhurst's role in his own destruction, and reporting Tetley as having been killed in a wreckage instead of committing suicide many years later (probably to increase the tension). Crowhurst's suicide is ascribed chiefly to the inability of a moral person to survive in an immoral society.

It's a fantastic race that happens every four years: all participants have the same type of boat, although newer generation boats are much faster than those a couple of years old, and they have to sail around the world solo and without any external help - so that if something breaks they cant stop somewhere to get a replacement part. Each sailor has a camera and is required to send videos of their journey, which are fantastic to watch if you enjoy this kind of things:

http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/

Videos: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/web-tv/playlist/104

Real time gps tracking: http://tracking2016.vendeeglobe.org/hp5ip0/

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/deepwater/

Short tv doc on Crowhurst, how he fabricated his position to try and fake success:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNpaP8TmGkU

Moitessier, who just decided to quit the race and stay at sea:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Moitessier

It's easy to write off Crowhurst as a nut job, but the movie does a great job of showing him as just a human in a tight spot.

I can see why the poem struck such a chord with Donald Crowhurst, though. The regret of those that didn't go and experience "the hills of the Chankly Bore" is what frames the ending.

I'm sure he read the poem to his son, too, and I could understand why the journey would have scared them both.

I thoroughly recommend Samuel West's reading from CBeebies if you are able to find it.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/05/donald-crowhurst-...