Video: Lionheart: The Jesse Martin Story

[Captain Smollett]

We watched this last night and I wanted to offer a couple of comments.

Jesse Martin is the Australian who at 17 embarked on a solo, non-stop circumnavigation.  This movie, like Yves' trip documentary, includes a lot of footage shot by Jesse on the trip.

And there is some excellent footage.

The boat was a 34 ft S&S, so on the sailfar line.

I liked the way they repeatedly said that Jesse was a regular guy, not some superhuman that accomplished something beyond us mere mortals.  Indeed, the very message of this uplifting video is "follow your dreams."  If you dream big, and don't give up, you can accomplish your goals.

Jesse was shown in near defeat - it was a candid look at his journey (the physical one and the spiritual one).  They did not edit out his down moments to make him more hero-like.

I also liked how the 'naysayers' were presented.  They cut in footage of various yacht club bigwigs commenting on how lucky he's been with the weather in with real onboard footage of Jesse in 55 knot storm - one of five he got slammed by in the Indian Ocean.

(No doubt that was creative editing, as those negative comments were probably taken out of the context in which they were made, but the image is clear - it's easy to criticize from safe ashore).

I say give this one a look - it's inspirational (without being TOO weepy) and has some excellent at-sea footage of a solo circumnavigation around the Capes.