Wind, Tide and Oar
The Worshipful Company of Shipwrights wishes Rose Ravetz and Huw Wahl every success with their exciting project ‘Wind, Tide and Oar’ which has just launched and will explore the artistry of engineless sailing and traditional maritime skills using the medium of 16mm film. The Crowdfunder campaign for the ‘Wind, Tide & Oar’ film project, which has just gone live, will be just 4 weeks long, and aims to raise £10,000. https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/windtideandoar
The Crowdfunder campaign will not only help Rose and Huw to raise the funds, it will also help spread the word about the project and, hopefully engage people who will follow the progress of the filmmaking process, and be a part of the project as it matures. The Crowdfunder video can be found here: https://vimeo.com/703773091
The official Press Release reads:
Wind, Tide and Oar is an artists’ documentary film project that will explore the absorbed attention and artistry of engineless sailing. Working with seafarers, craftspeople, sailing charities, mental health experts and sail-trainees, it will delve into questions of ecology, resilience and wellbeing; looking at how the gravity and grace of sailing engineless can speak to our interaction with, and responsibility, to the natural world around us.
Directed by artist filmmaker Huw Wahl with the production being managed by sailor Rose Ravetz, the film will pursue a poetic approach to the filmmaking process to develop an intimate response to those at sea, their lived environment and material reality.
Huw Wahl commented: “The first time I stepped onto my sister Rose’s boat Defiance in 2019 I knew we had to make a film together about sailing, and when she introduced me to a community of sailors on the east coast dedicated to the possibilities of sailing engineless – the project found its voice.”
The director’s accomplished 16mm practice will add to the ‘out of ordinary time’ qualities of the project, aligning the flow of filmmaking on mechanical cameras with that of traditional seafaring, and developing a unique conversation between the two practices’ characteristics of presence, patience, turbulence and drama.
Shooting will start this spring, with numerous boats taking part, including sailing barge Blue Mermaid, ketch Birubi, lugger Guide Me, gaff-rigged Defiance, smack Helen & Violet and smack Fairy. More boats are expected to join the cast. Once shooting is complete, the physical 16mm film will be processed by Kodak, digitised in high quality scans and then edited.
A premiere onboard the Cutty Sark in Greenwich is set for next year, with accompanying events around lost skills taking place around an ongoing exhibition of the film aboard the iconic ship. From the Cutty Sark the film will then take an inventive sail-powered screening tour onboard the Thames sailing barge Blue Mermaid, courtesy of the Maldon based charity Sea-Change Sailing Trust. Over 10 weeks Sea-Change will train a different crew each week from the local communities they visit whilst screening the film to a diverse set of communities. Afterwards, Blue Mermaid will return for a final screening and celebration to an exciting central London dockland location.
Website: http://www.windtideandoar.com
