THIS IS A JEWEL of sailing, low budget videos! If you will survive through the first minute or so with way too much black in editing, you enter an over one hour long story with almost NPR / PBS documentary quality... It reminds me a lot of This American Life and Ira Glass-esque narration.

I will leave to every sailor a chance to make own comments... The narrator points tons of valid points: ...accepting your insignificance to the Ocean... much of sailing is JUST working on your boat... and more. For me this is a VERY good video story about the importance of luck while at sea...

There is no amount of preparedness that can make you 100% safe and comfortable at sea... ALL what you can do to yourself and a boat by training and preparing is just reducing your risk. Some - as video shows - has way lower threshold of accepting a danger than than the others, and some just are ignorant of those dangers...

As long as that type of sailing is done without any way of communicating with Coast Guard in case the shit really hits a fan and endangering the other people I am all for it.

Watch the whole thing... I warn the delicate types: a naked female ass, and brutal bloody murder included in footage and no apparently no happy ending... I sense that there were stories that didn't make it into the narration - those that really made the author to leave...

Nice work Moxie. From a guy who is 1000 nm short from sailing solo from Texas to New Zealand, I'd say you got it right. As close as your video comes, I still don't think one can understand the physical and mental challenges you face at sea until it is experienced first hand. Congrats on a great refit, sail, and vid. Cheers,

Lee
sailingforsos.com

You guys are maniacs alright... THE best kind...
An inspiration to all, sailing the way sailing is meant to be.
A hull, mast, rig and sails...

Fair winds & following seas to you all!

Kit
colonialnavy.org

Marlinspike carries the flame set by Moitessier.
I think this video isn't all that different from sailing stories 100 or even 200 years ago.
Congratulations on a terrific movie. I hope you make more.

Story very well told.
In the same register, read "Sailing with purpose" by Jerome W. Fitzgerald.

Its a beautiful thing to see people grab life by the the balls and yank so hard. Wish you guys all the fun in the world, you are an inspiration.

What you've done here is amazing and important. I admire your self-reliance and resourcefulness. You really lived as ancient mariners did, for a while.

You aptly described the sailor's relationship with the elements. I wish you hadn't sold the boat.

I'm in the middle of my own story, but it won't be half as good as yours.

Thanks Moxie. Awesome documentary.

This is the best video I have seen in ages - you guys rock!!! Thank you!!

Brilliant! Thank you so much for this!

Well done Moxie, you've captured the true essence of adventure - a journey of unknown outcome.

Stripped back, honest observation of the bitter sweet relationship all seafarer's have with the sea and their boats, told so well.

Paradise is not a place, its being a part of something truely cool and sharing it, best documentary I've seen.

This was a really great doc and your adventure looked amazing.

But the mahi mahi scene was horrible....

This is a great treasure.
Thanks for sharing.

Watched the whole thing, and I fucking LOVED it. So intense and so much fun. Loved the story, Loved the video its self.

I never new that a mahi lost its color when it died. This is one of the best films ive scene in a long time SXSW

Such an inspiring adventure! Respect from Venezuela.

Pure awesomesauce! Nothing but respect and maybe a heaping of envy for your adventure. Keep doing your thing, man.

boingboing mention = 5000 views in a day. :-)

Wonderful piece, didn't mind the black voice over sections at all, good simple transitions. And loved the adventure-- from a fellow sailor.

Thank you so much for documenting this experience! If you have other ideas, send me a mail, i would love to go and do a doc. with you!

Right now i´m in China working on a doc. series, and planning to go to the u.s.

Bravo. Thanks so much for sharing.

A very interesting tale with decent pacing and a nice mix of video and photography. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for sharing your story! I loved it!

You guys were totally unprepared. Also the boat didn't look like it could handle much. It's a great feeling to get out on the water, but it's something that takes time.

Loved it! roguesalad.com/headline/hold-fast-pestilence

Great movie. Wish I could download it and watch it without all the pauses (slow connection).

Amazing, Beautiful, Truly what was intended for man.
"Twenty years from now you will be more dissapointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
-Mark Twain

My favorite adventure movie! I loved it because it was real and packed with story. We don't need no steenking big budget. (I just saw "North Face" -- some goodness to it but what pandering with the shocking "injury in your face" trick. Moxie's mahi-mahi was merely gross and even illuminating, if a bit long.) I also really like Moxie's "set & setting" -- with the intro about how fiberglass opened sailing to the middle-class, and in the finale where he gives props to the Haitians who do all their boatwork under homestyle sail. But, ouch!, our pirates sure started with a wretched boat! I was moaning at the screen: "Not that one!" Then in the middle, the raising of the mast story was wonderful, with multiple layers: the davit poaching, the "businessmen are sensible" and the entre' to the world of unused luxury yachts and the social layer of caretakers and guards who are sometimes people, too. Glorious!

It's a "videozine," all right. Forgive the piggybacking, but as a member of an earlier generation, I got inspired to start a *paper* zine (back in the 80's, before I'd ever heard of zines), when I was living with pals on a cheap wood boat in LA. I did it because the story of real boating wasn't being told, so someone had to do it. Here's a link to my report/pics of a Pestilence-like adventure: outyourbackdoor.com/article.php?id=1082. And, beg pardon, here's a link to the only counterculture boat book I've ever seen, which I sell/reprint called "The Captain Nemo Cookbook Papers": outyourbackdoor.com/article.php?id=116. Anyone know of others? Lastly, are there any other movies like "Hold Fast" out there? Whew, what fun!

Sir you have done a fantastic job at telling your story. The narrative is captivating, the footage is awesome and the brief history of sailing puts it all in context beautifully.

Please let us know if you have any future projects scheduled.

Absolutely worth watching every second of this beautiful Indie Documentary. Respect to your daredevils of breaking away from the everyday trouble and sailing your way into freedom. Truly inspiring.

I can only encourage you to make more videos like this, get yourself a twitter account, I'll be your first follower. (@derbenjamin)
And put a paypal button somewhere, I'll chip in some bucs for the next adventure. Maybe I can see you one day in the harbor of Singapore.

All the best
Benjamin

Very well done. Just took me on an unexpected voyage for the past hour plus. And I love the edited in 14 days detail. Congratulations. More, please.

totally loved this video, nice to know some other pierced, and probably tattooed sailing maniacs are out there. I felt inspired watching you create your boat and setting sail. cheers to the crew of pestilance. bless your bones.

Just a simple "thank you". Thank you!

If you ever want to houseboat the mississippi on video let me know... sorry to hear about the U.S. Customs bullshit, that is another good story

:) thanks -greetings from Iceland -Pétur

Wow... I don't know how express how awesome that was. The adventure itself was amazing. And the movie was just as entertaining. Excellent narration - you have a great way with words!

Plus, as an aspiring "cruising-live-aboard-sailor", it was very eye-opening.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the great adventure tale. A real treat on a snowy Christmas. Just do it!

Thanks for sharing your adventure with us! Can't wait for my first full summer with my own sailboat.

one of the best sailing stories that I ever had!

This piece of novel goes straight to the same case along with Thor Heyerdahl "Kon-Tiki", F. Chichester and naturally J. Caldwell "Desperate Voyage"!

I wish you all a seven feet under the keel!!!

Agur, Estonia
fatuhiva.wordpress.com
Fun For Fools

75 minutes worth of grinning and i still haven't stopped. existential delight. thank you four, letting fly the wind of adventure, showing me to drink the water of the ocean like a hell bent maniac with nowhere to be, and for sharing the storm.

A tail told with a skill to match the beauty and serenity of the surrounding and backdrop to your excellent adventure. Thanks for sharing and keep the adventure real ;0)

Une belle aventure, merci de l'avoir partager.

♥

Great adventure! 99% of people dream of doing this while doing the 9 to 5. You actually did it. Bravo!

Awesome and inspiring adventure. I plan on doing something like that in a few years.

absolutely brilliant! such an uplift.

This was awesome!

Killing animals doesn't make you an anarchist. It's exploitation of those who cannot fight back. shame on you!

Great movie. The simple things make the best subject matter sometimes.

jesus.. you guys really seem to have a hard time trying to kill a simple fish..
you need to cut on the top side of the fish.. not the side
good thing that fish are not surposed to be able to feel pain haha

Hey guys, good job! I really like this...! I'm working hard to do something similar. You're truly inspirational!

(Well, being a nerd, I didn't like the part about the old engine. It's technology, we're humans. I agree that using sails it's a lot cleaner and far more cool, but please, don't blame technology. Sails are technology as well. We're umans, we craft it. We create it. That's what we do, we broaden our limits with it. Think about the old guys, long ago, cursing the youngs because they sailed with new tech like, say, sextant. Or compass. "Ahw, back in the old days, whe just had the damn stars! You guys are spoiled...")

love this video Moxy...Mike.. this is the second time I watched this video since discovering it on october 30th 11.. I've been passing it along to all my old punk rock friends, and new sailing buddies... (my boat is a 23.5 foot, 42 year old weekender type, no luxury, only possibilities)

good on yah mate! there doesn't seem to be ANY sailing Doc's out there that are of worth..yet, what you've done? as I said I've watched it twice already and will probably watch it soon again...

love how you learned to sail, I built my first sail boat to learn in, (I cannot afford a yacht club membership with two new children to feed) my first boat I paid 300.00 to build it (goto pdracer.com)

craving more!!

Scotty

Que buena aventura!!! de las mejores que cualquiera pueda emprender, thanks for sharing!!

Really enjoyed watching.
My boat is a 27 feet Halcyon Clipper build in 1973. Always wonder how much more updating it will "need".

Most reactions are that 27 feet is too small to be safe.
Some have circumnavigated the globe in this type of boat! Without breadmachine and on board shower.
The "Nomad"-story can be found here:
nomadsailors.org

Things have changed since 1973. Especially the last few years. Here in Europe almost regardless of seize it has defacto become mandatory to get certificates and certification. Yes, access to the sea is free but what harbour (marina) will take you in when coming back and not having an ICC (International Certificate of Competence), insurance, CEVNI, separate clean/dirty water tanks, ... ?

The posh people are fighting back.
Please keep us updated.

Ibrahim

What is the song at 9:15 please :)

Looks like some great memories were made, hoping to do something similar soon. Thanks for sharing!