Vanishing Sail

I was at a screening of the film Vanishing Sail at St Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex last night. St Leonards, on the face of it, isn’t the most obvious place in the world to show a film about wooden boat-building on a Caribbean beach.

But on the night, the atmospheric Kino Teatr, with freestanding armchair seats and a bar at the back, was packed. Sailing clubs in Kent and East Sussex, and the army of those who have been following the film’s journey via social media, were clearly not going to miss their opportunity to see Vanishing Sail on a big screen.

Plus, as I said in my introduction to the screening, wooden boat building might not be as strong in the south east as it was a couple of generations ago, but those still building in timber here today are among the most respected names in the wooden boat world.

Read full review by Rob Peake, Editor of Classic Boat Magazine

The Vanishing Sail story continues to resonate with audiences around the world with over 42 public events so far — including Boat Shows, regattas, special historical and cultural venues including 2 Unesco World Heritage sites, film festivals and cinemas from Alaska to Warsaw, cultural events & community centers in the West Indies, US & even a UK premiere in the Outer Hebrides!

An insightful and poignant documentary that is part social history and part Herzogian portrait of resilience and determination in a far-flung locale.  INDIEWIRE

Sharing this story through public screenings is part of our wider goals to keep these important traditions alive for another generation!

Perhaps this film can inspire skills education programs or support coastal community and maritime heritage projects in your area.

Book a Screening Event DVD

We have been very busy taking the film directly to niche audiences in all kinds of cool places around the world. Meeting with awesome people along the way and being introduced to many meaningful projects that resonate very much with our own.

From a small Colombian island in the far Western Caribbean called Old Providence where the Raizul people are descended from Jamaican & Cayman Islanders to the Outer Hebrides in Scotland, the passion of building and restoring simple, beautiful handcrafted traditional boats is far reaching indeed.

meeting john mcaulay

The sun rises, just visible through the autumnal misty morning.  Ahead is a two hour drive with Dave, a volunteer with the film festival, to the Isle of Harris, Flodabay. We are meeting the legendary John McAulay, one of the last traditional wooden boat builders of the Western Isles.

The day before we had a great conversation on the phone.  John told me he had lent a book about Caribbean boat building to a friend of his on South Uist.

“Yes a fine book”, he said. “Have you heard of it? It’s Clean Sweet Wind!”

I arrive in Flodabay and describe the story of Alwyn Enoe and the journey of Vanishing Sail that lead me to his door.  “Well, you better come in, now that you’ve come all this way!”

He points to a photo above the hearth of Flodabay in 1837.  Hundreds of small herring fishing boats with women in the foreground scraping and cleaning the fish ready for market.  “The boats so densely packed you could walk across the bay without getting your feet wet.  This is how it used to be here”, says John.

John’s boat building workshop

We walk to his boat shed and as the doors unlock — there in station frames lay his latest creation: an 18′ motor craft, but with the unmistakable lines of a fife fishing skiff. I notice that there were not many power tools at which point he walks towards his work bench.  The sun appears from behind the clouds and light streams in through the window bathing the workshop in a sawdust, orange glow.

John turns to me — “this is the only tool you really need” and grabs an adze gently swinging it as if preparing to chip away at an invisible ship’s knee.  The same tool that Alwyn used several thousand miles away in Carriacou.

Read more about the UK Premiere of Vanishing Sail and be sure to check our Upcoming Screenings:

UK Premiere — Reconnecting with Scotland

Hebridean festival to premiere film Vanishing Sail
BBC News
Traditional boatbuilding skills a wonder to behold
Roger Cox, The Scotsman

While we have been busy promoting Vanishing Sail at film festivals, the Enoe family have been busy creating the latest Carriacou sloop! This one has been built by Alwyn’s son Cal and is commissioned by our friend Thierry De Badereau from Free in St Barth, a big supporter of The West Indies Regatta. Launching is set for Sunday, 8th November, Windward, Carriacou.

This event was MASSIVE…

With the vessel launched the preparations for the sail north began. The telephone pole mast was rigged in windward and loaded onto the vessel for the tow round the island to Harvey Vale, where a large crane stepped the mast. The ‘test’ sail back around to Windward went great and the following day Free in St. Barth sailed out quietly through the gap in reef, bound for Antigua.

Cal, Alwyn’s son and the builder, couldn’t resist and joined the crew for the historic passage north…

“Reconnecting the Islands with Traditional Sail”