Hold Fast: The Tale of SV Pestilence

[Richard Jordan]

I am simultaneously disgusted and in awe of the story that plays out in this video. What nerve and recklessness but also what toughness and persistence.

Hold Fast on Vimeo

[Target9000]

Its a perennial here on cruisersforum. Popping up every couple of months or so. If you do a search you'll find no small amount of discussion about it.

[SabreKai]

Yeah, you have to love the exuberance of youth. We get older and supposedly smarter. I think we just become scared. We learn we are not invincible.

[River Cruiser]

Originally Posted by SabreKai

Yeah, you have to love the exuberance of youth. We get older and supposedly smarter. I think we just become scared. We learn we are not invincible.

Ahhh to be "ten foot tall and bullet proof" again.

[ohdrinkboy]

I admire their drive to get out there and enjoy life. However, their practice of thievery lessens credibility. It seems so holier than thou....rich are bad, corporations are bad, but it is OK for us to steal, trespass, have non-functioning head, etc.

[captain58sailin]

Considering it was the rich guy that appropriated the other rich guy's yacht to step the mast.

[Rustic Charm]

I have searched but I can't find any other articles on this movie. It's very interesting. They are keen. Just as Richard Jordan said I'm between their tenacity and their selfishness.

[jasonkd]

Can someone repost the link? I am not seeing it.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Camo]

Here ya go.


Hold Fast on Vimeo

[VinnyVincent]

Man I probably watched this about five times. Can't get enough of it.

I think they had more money than he led us to believe though.
How did they do all that work to the boat with zero dollars? They could have borrowed tools, stole lumbar for the bulkheads, ect...but what about things like anchors? He mentions putting up to 4 out at once.
Once scene shows him using a higher end fishing rod/reel.
That engine looks pretty nice. How did they afford it?
I didn't see any sails in the initial pics of their boat.
Surely the boat needed more than just bulkheads and all that little stuff adds up!

Are there any other videos like this that are even close to being as entertaining?
The hollywood sailing movies leave a lot to be desired.

[UNCIVILIZED]

On their gear, meaning sails, anchors, etc. Trust me when I say that you can find a LOT of S**t by dumpster diving, & or just plain old asking middle aged - older folks for their cast offs & small boat gear. That & small boat gear is exponentially cheaper, especially if you're not overly fussy about cosmetics.

Between those methods (combined), I scored probably $5k+ worth of good stuff for my boat when I was in my early 20's (1990's dollars).
Solar panels, anchors, a stove & galley gear, MOB Pole, hundreds of feet of stiff but servicable line, charts, lumber & teak, paint, varnish, composites of ALL types (even CF), a wind generator & small Honda generator, & other power + hand tools, etc., etc.
- So it IS possible.

On the gripe about their non-functioning head, come on, be real. Do you know what gets washed into the ocean daily, in terms of non-biodegradable/chemical wastes & trash? On top of toxins, chemicals, drainage outflow (much of it raw sewage or worse). And the big corporations, for whom it only makes fiscal sense, to pay the daily fines while dumping till their heart's content? Geez!

Living aboard, on the hook, my weekly trash production was not quite enough to fill up a disposable plastic grocery bag. And I try & keep to standards not too far from that on land, with the exception of recyclables. Unless there's a major refurbishment/construction project going on.
But how many households operate within even 5x or 10x of that? Let alone industrial producers.

As to their living in "grey areas" often enough, yes, some of it's questionable. But in my experience, a lot of those "rules" out there, were created by people seeking to further their own careers, NOT with doing good or protecting things as the Core of their actions. Something with which we're ALL familiar, AND guilty of.
So then, what does that make a young Robin Hoods, albeit, not so altruistic ones?


PS: Who amongst us, in our youth, didn't both bend & break the rules routinely? I'm not saying that I'm advocating stealing, far from it. But many of the other things (which they did) are simply normal @ that age... And should be.
Young rule breakers, & dreamers ARE the ones who change the world, period.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by SabreKai

Yeah, you have to love the exuberance of youth. We get older and supposedly smarter. I think we just become scared. We learn we are not invincible.

Yep, I look back on how I did some sailing things when young.... it's a fine line between being on the water and in the water! Would never do some of it today....

[VinnyVincent]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

On the gripe about their non-functioning head, come on, be real. Do you know what gets washed into the ocean daily, in terms of non-biodegradable/chemical wastes & trash? On top of toxins, chemicals, drainage outflow (much of it raw sewage or worse). And the big corporations, for whom it only makes fiscal sense, to pay the daily fines while dumping till their heart's content? Geez!

Living aboard, on the hook, my weekly trash production was not quite enough to fill up a disposable plastic grocery bag. And I try & keep to standards not too far from that on land, with the exception of recyclables. Unless there's a major refurbishment/construction project going on.
But how many households operate within even 5x or 10x of that? Let alone industrial producers.

As to their living in "grey areas" often enough, yes, some of it's questionable. But in my experience, a lot of those "rules" out there, were created by people seeking to further their own careers, NOT with doing good or protecting things as the Core of their actions. Something with which we're ALL familiar, AND guilty of.
So then, what does that make a young Robin Hoods, albeit, not so altruistic ones?

I totally agree
Furthermore, compare their trash/sewage/toxin output to that of your average household. They didn't even buy packaged food! Surely that offsets a few turds being plopped into the water.(where a lot of sewage ends up anyways)

Lets also not forget that they did not use their engine for ANY reason AND they collected the exhaust from the first time they started it. Clearly they care about the environment.

[Arthur Garfield]

Growing up on L.I. Sound we did same with various sailboats but with a difference of maritime training and without the grunge these young characters exhibit.
I give'em credit though for doing what gennerlly is unacceptable in today society.



All the Best

[UNCIVILIZED]

A generation or two ago, it used to be that sailing, & sailing adventures much akin to theirs were common, & or the only way that folks did anything more on the water than daysailing.
I mean how many of the reknowned sailing adventurers of the 50's, 60's, & 70's had any more gear than they did? Or for that matter, the Pardey's sailed with little more, when you get right down to it - as far as equipment, & sophistication goes.

To borrow a phrase & thought... from another famous adventurer from the past...

A QUOTE FROM STERLING HAYDEN’S BOOK, WANDERER

To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea… “cruising” it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.

“I’ve always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can’t afford it.” What these men can’t afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of “security.” And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine – and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a man need – really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in – and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That’s all – in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by, The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.

Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?

Sterling Hayden