Jan 29, 2016 - 2 min - Uploaded by Women in the WorldFilmmaker Sarah Moshman has documented the journey of the Coxless Crew, who broke three. Apr 3, 2017 - 2 min - Uploaded by Sarah MoshmanFour brave women set out to row across the Pacific Ocean from America to Australia. May 20, 2017. Eventbrite - Coxless Crew presents Losing Sight of Shore Manchester Screening - Saturday, May 20, 2017 at HOME, Manchester, Manchester, England. Find event and ticket information. Apr 13, 2017. Major sailing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk... With a North American focus. The quote goes: “You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” That idea stuck with me throughout pre-production all the way to post on my second feature-length documentary, Losing Sight of Shore. I wasn’t going to row across the Pacific Ocean myself, but I was desperate to tell the story of the Coxless Crew, and I had to figure out how to pull it off. The plan was, in some ways, simple: Four women were going to get in a 29-foot pink ocean rowing boat named Doris and set off from San Francisco on an 8,000-plus mile journey, with two planned stops in Hawaii and Samoa, before finishing in Cairns, Australia. They were aiming to be the first team of four to ever accomplish this phenomenal and dangerous feat—and did I mention that a component of the record they were setting (not breaking) was that they would be unassisted? That means no support boat next to them with extra food and first aid. They would be out there alone for more than nine months with no escape. Since I wasn’t going with them, the Coxless Crew had to shoot the footage for my film on their own. All this presented a unique set of moviemaking challenges. But when I first heard about the impending journey in January 2015, I didn’t have much time to freak out: I knew the crew was leaving in only a few month’s time. I got to work on finding cameras that would be easy to use, lightweight and, if possible, waterproof. We landed on the Sony FDR-AX100 which shoots in 4K, some GoPro Hero 4s with a non-distorted lens, as well as a Zoom audio recorder, and LaCie Rugged 2TB hard drives for the women to download the footage at sea. ![]() The Sony and a small Sennheiser mic were to be used as the interview camera, mostly inside the cabin as it was not waterproof, and then the GoPros would be ideal for time lapses, shots on deck and underwater. They had two hard drives to make two copies of all the footage, and the Zoom was a back-up audio recorder in case all the cameras went down they could still capture their emotion. I knew that if all else failed, when I saw them next in Hawaii I could swap in new cameras, microphones or hard drives and not be completely screwed on footage for the whole endeavor. Our film crew showed up to San Francisco a few days before the big departure in April 2015. We filmed master interviews with all four members of the Coxless Crew (Laura Penhaul, Isabel Burnham, Natalia Cohen and Emma Mitchell) as well as their tearful family members, terrified that their daughters were about to head off into the unknown. I captured them preparing the boat to leave as well as hearing all of the logistics of the row from their shore support, Tony Humphreys. I patiently taught the Coxless Crew how to use the cameras and the workflow of downloading and organizing their footage in the cabin. I encouraged them to think like storytellers and bring us into their experience: the good, the bad and the ugly. Natalia Cohen pull night shift on Doris for Losing Sight of Shore Nothing could prepare me for the feeling of watching Doris row away at 2 a.m. On April 20, 2015. It was so quiet and unceremonious, and I wondered to myself if I would have a movie on the other end of this experience. ![]() ![]() I remember shaking and feeling sick about it. I traveled home to Los Angeles and got to work cutting a sizzle, applying for grants, planning the next shoot (even though I had no idea when it would be) and tracking their progress like a hawk. On the boat, there was a GPS tracker so every four hours or so their would be updated with their positioning, and each day you could see how many miles they had rowed. There were also miles “made good,” meaning some days they would exert themselves for what should have been 50 nautical miles, but only 10 would be in the correct direction due to wind and currents. I have to say it is the ultimate motivator to keep raising money and keep working on your film each day when your subjects are out there in the Pacific rowing 24 hours a day, two hours on, two hours off with no complaints. Laura Penhaul and Natalia Cohen filming in the cabin on their boat Doris Another asset was their blog. Once a day the Coxless Crew would fire up their Iridium GO and use their limited internet access to send their blog entry to their social media manager. That meant that each day, one of the four women would fill everyone in on their progress, their feelings, their musings and their ailments (like salt sores). This blog was my lifeline during their nine-month journey.
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