Revelations at sea are crazy hard to reach

There may surely be more than one “world’s toughest race,” but the Atlantic Challenge, a two-person rowing championship across the Atlantic, has to be the toughest race of its kind. Annually, intrepid sportsmen set out onto the sea to propel homemade boats from the Canary Islands to Barbados with no outside help and a support yacht that could be anywhere from a day to a week’s travel away from them. In this row-or-die race, quitters are required to burn their boat. The prize for this race, which has a $19,000 entry fee and a supplies fee of around $150,000, is a trophy.

Poetic and well paced, Luke Wolbach’s travelogue follows John Zeigler and Tom Mailhot, from their homes in Essex, Mass., to their reappearance on dry land after their journey at sea. Trying to find themselves in lives that have somehow not met the scope of their dreams, both John and Tom train for this journey, seeing it as a path to personal discovery. The physical hardship of being in this boat, alone, literally at sea, suffering skin rashes, winds, soreness, exhaustion, rain and the possible bitchiness of your partner, is more harrowing than anyone could anticipate.

Using animations reminiscent of cave paintings, Wolbach diagrams the movement of the boats, the effect of the winds, and the changing mood of the rowers. It’s an effective tool that quietly supports the film’s larger theme of personal discovery and communion with nature, which Wolbach seems to assert, is the way the “world’s toughest race” meets the world’s oldest one. While easy to romanticize, this race is beset with life-threatening hardships.

A pair of newlyweds who face the race as one last adventure before childrearing end up separating when the husband is paralyzed with fear and abandons the race. The wife, who has found herself a home at sea, stays and finishes alone. Before the midway point of the race, a all-male team of Brits have a heart-to-heart with the camera. “I’m shattered. I have nothing else to give.” And really, after a month at sea, only one-third through the journey, who among us would feel otherwise?

Though John and Tom are less vocal about their revelations, speaking more of the moments they seek prayer when times are darkest, the other racers each share what one calls “rebirth” with the camera. The Spanish team says the meaning of life is to admire creation, the Norwegian team refers to the “biological miracles” that surround their boat, and the all-female British team meets a family of sharks with joyous laughter. The rowers themselves become part of this larger body of treasures at sea, not buried but struggling, exhausted, tireless, on the surface, seeking the gold lights of the Barbados coast at night, which they reach, in one condition or another.

Distributor: TBD
Cast: Tom Mailhot and John Zeigler
Director/Screenwriter: Luke Wolbach
Producers: Bill Wolbach and Luke Wolbach
Rating: Unrated
Genre: Documentary
Running time: 88 min.
Release date: TBD