Classic Sailing Documentaries
Take a look back in time. A collection of classic sailing films shot in 16mm film and early video formats that open a window on sailing’s past. These previously hard to find classic sailing films have been restored and open a window into sailing's past.
These titles were created from the 1960s through the 1990s by pioneers in transoceanic cruising and sailing history. Sailors include Eric & Susan Hiscock, Lin & Larry Pardey, Hal & Margaret Roth, Gene & Josie Evans, Ellen & Ed Zacko, Don Street, Yves Gelinas, and Erol Flynn. Where possible, titles shot in 16mm color film have been professionally digitized from surviving film prints to full 1920x1080 HD. Titles shot in early video formats have been color corrected and digitally remastered. If you are still attached to your DVD player, most titles are also available on disc at our flagship website, TheSailingChannel.TV.
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Movie + 3 extrasBeyond the West Horizon
Movie + 3 extras
A film by Eric and Susan Hiscock.
In the late 1950's, very few "middle class" sailors had taken small sailing craft on long voyages. British Sailors, Eric and Susan Hiscock became pioneers in making long trans-oceanic passages in a small sailboat to what was then quite remote destinations. Their... -
Movie + 3 extras600 Days to Cocos & the Galapagos Islands HD
Movie + 3 extras
Theater Edition Restoration in HD with added special features.
A film by Gene and Josie Evans
Completed in 1976, this two part sailing documentary was shot in 16mm color film by noted Hollywood cinematographer, Gene Evans, cameraman for "Roots" the miniseries, and many feature films.Gene and h...
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Movie + 1 extraCruising Has No Limits - Pardey Sailing Adventures
Movie + 1 extra
Join Lin and Larry Pardey at their New Zealand home base as they recount some of their most memorable adventures during more than 30 years of cruising. Adventures include a "Champagne Safari on a beer budget" in southern Africa, a Brazilian island encounter, and an Irish summer of music and class...
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Tahiti and Bora Bora with Hal and Margaret Roth
TAHITI AND BORA BORA with Hal and Margaret Roth.
Twenty years on in the late 1980s, sailor authors and filmmakers, Hal and Margaret Roth reprise their 1960s cruise to Tahiti and the Leewards for Sailing Quarterly Video Magazine. Their sixties cruise was part of a circumnavigation of the Pacific ... -
Movie + 3 extrasWith Jean-du-Sud Around the World
Movie + 3 extras
A film by Yves Gélinas
NOW IN HD. TheSailingChannel is honored to offer what many consider to be the finest sailing film ever made.A professional, color-corrected 2K scan from a pristine 16mm print to 1920x1080 full HD.
In attempting to sail non–stop between Saint-Malo and Gaspé through ...
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Movie + 2 extrasVoyage of Entr'acte: The San Blas Islands and the Panama Canal
Movie + 2 extras
A Film by Ellen & Ed Zacko
Join the crew of Entr'acte for a journey between two oceans. "The San Blas and Panama Canal" begins in Grenada and crosses the Caribbean Sea to the enchanting San Blas Islands. There Ellen and Ed Zacko re-unite with old friends Paula and John on Mr. John VI to explore ... -
Movie + 1 extraVoyages of Entr'acte: The Partnership
Movie + 1 extra
A film by Ed and Ellen Zako.
The Partnership is a story of love and friendship, discovery and improbability. Ellen and Ed Zacko met while playing in the orchestra of a Broadway musical and hatched a scheme to take a temporary brake from the hectic New York scene and explore the world together. T... -
Transatlantic with Street
Movie
A film by Gavin Shaw
One of the first sailing documentaries shot on video.
Classic Atlantic ocean 5,000 mile tradewind passage shot in 1986 aboard noted sailor/author Don Street's 1905 engineless 44 foot yawl, Iolaire. Documents Iolair's ninth Atlantic crossing from Ireland, with eleven ocean i... -
Don Street Antigua Race Week 1985
Movie
A film by Charles Croft with Don Street
A one hour award-winning documentary which lets you share the intense sailing action aboard Don Street's 80 year old, 44 foot, engineless yawl, "Iolaire" during Antigua Sailing Week 1985, Iolarie's final appearance in one of the world's top sailing events.... -
Movie + 3 extrasIn the Wake of the Zaca
Movie + 3 extras
A film by Luther Greene
TheSailingChannel.TV is proud to bring you "In the Wake of the Zaca," the remarkable adventures of a California schooner. This award-winning documentary captures a lost age of adventure, romance, and Hollywood glamour told through the history of a 75 year-old, 118 foot ga... -
The Last Sailors: The Final Days of Working Sail
1 season
The Last Sailors chronicles the working sailing craft still in use in third world countries during the last decades of the twentieth century. Orson Welles' narration gives the script the gravitas this subject deserves, as most of these sailors and their craft have now vanished forever.
To make...
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Zaca: 1933 Templeton Crocker Scientific Expedition
A short film by Luther Greene.
In the spring of 1933, Templeton Crocker and a team of scientists sailed his schooner, Zaca across the Pacific from San Francisco, California to the Solomon islands. There, they visited two outlying isolated islands: Rennell and Bellona. Basically untouched by wes... -
Errol Flynn: Crucero en el Zaca (Cruise of the Zaca)
A short film by Errol Flynn.
Flynn purchased the Zaca after WWII and restored her as his private party yacht. Flynn directed and narrated this documentary filmed along the east coast of Mexico in 1952. His father was marine scientist and is along on this voyage to do some ocean research. Prior ... -
Movie + 3 extrasKon-Tiki
Movie + 3 extras
Kon-Tiki - A film by Thor Heyerdahl (B&W)
1951 Academy-Award for Best Documentary.
This classic 16mm documentary captures both a sea adventure and a scientific test of ancient sailing techniques. It changed views on where the peoples of polynesia originated.Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 adventure v...
