The film explores where Bob’s drive to go on expeditions comes from, why he has been willing to forego a stable home life and financial security in order to pursue difficult and often unattainable objectives.

Fifty five years ago the biggest rock band in the world, the Rolling Stones, had a tax problem. Their solution was to flee to the South of France. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor were joined by a young photographer, Dominique Tarlé

Just as interesting were the men, studied at leisure, compelling admiring wonder at the monastic trade of their choice. Principal Keeper George Williams, filling out his log with an old-fashioned dip-pen and inkwell, listening to ‘pop’ in bed. Assistant Keeper Roger Simmons, a romantic, still thrilled at tending a light seen by generations of mariners, and listening to changing voices in the sea

As always with these things, the story that needs to be told is primarily about the people who worked and maintained these craft, and then the appreciation and admiration for the boats will follow. With that in mind here are three beautiful short archival films from around the world, that evocatively remind us that the roots of our passion are labour not leisure.

In May 2021 a boat from Mauritania full of dead men was found adrift off the coast of the Caribbean Island of Tobago. Forensic investigation by local police discovered that the boat came from Mauritania, a West African nation on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Who were these men and why have they been found so far from home?

Five times that great white whale of a mountain tried to kill the first team that sought to reach its summit. Yet in 1964, back they sailed, through the worst seas in the world, to try again, this time with legendary explorer Bill Tilman as their skipper. 

Wangany Mala follows the journey of young Muslim woman Nirmala as she works on the construction of a traditional pinisi boat and learns to sail, all while navigating her faith and family expectations.

The oceans are typically and correctly viewed as a marine habitat. But they are much more than that. They are a workplace, a metaphor, an escape, a prison, a grocery store, a trash can, a cemetery, a bonanza, a tinderbox, an organ, a highway, a depot, a window, an emergency, and, above all, an opportunity

In essence, we’re just a conceited, naked ape. In our minds we’re some sort of “divine legend” We can walk around the earth deciding who will live and who will die and what will be destroyed and what will be saved.

What I do know is that we shouldn’t be dismissing this as an “American” issue. With acute problems of housing affordability, spiralling inflation, and murmurs of recession it’s not beyond the realms of possibility, that this story repeats on Pittwater, Hobsons Bay or Middle Harbour in the near future.