15 Sailing Movies and Documentaries to Watch
Sailing movies can take very different forms: a documentary recorded during a real voyage, a drama about a solo sailor, a racing story or an adventure aboard a square-rigged ship. This selection brings together 15 films for those different interests, with a note on what each one offers.
The list is an editorial selection, rather than a ranking of sailing realism. Documentary accounts are identified separately from fiction, and the broader maritime films are included for viewers who want more than yacht racing or cruising.
Choose a sailing film for your mood
Real voyages: Chasing Bubbles, Maidentrip, Deep Water and Morning Light. Racing fiction: Wind and Turning Tide. Survival and suspense: All Is Lost and Dead Calm. A lighter evening: Captain Ron or Pirates of the Caribbean. For naval history, exploration and wider travel, consider Master and Commander, The Odyssey, White Squall and 180° South. The Mercy offers a dramatised companion to Deep Water.
1. 180° South (2010)
Documentary · Travel and conservation
Chris Malloy follows Jeff Johnson towards Patagonia, retracing the spirit of Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins’s earlier journey. An ocean passage forms part of a wider story that also involves surfing, climbing and the protection of wild places.
Choose this if you want the sea to be part of a larger expedition, rather than a film devoted entirely to sailing.
2. All Is Lost (2013)
Fiction · Survival drama
Robert Redford plays a sailor whose yacht is damaged by a floating container in the Indian Ocean. J.C. Chandor builds the story around one person, a damaged boat and a succession of practical decisions as the situation deteriorates.
A choice for viewers drawn to isolation and survival. Treat the handling of the emergency as a dramatic story, rather than an offshore safety lesson.
3. Captain Ron (1992)
Fiction · Sailing comedy
A family inherits a yacht in poor condition and hires an unconventional skipper to help bring it back. Kurt Russell and Martin Short lead Thom Eberhardt’s comedy, with Captain Ron’s questionable judgement driving the journey.
The light-hearted option in this selection. It uses the gap between an imagined cruising holiday and a chaotic boat delivery for its comedy.
4. Chasing Bubbles (2016)
Documentary · Cruising and life aboard
Alex Rust leaves his life in Chicago, buys a sailboat and sets out to explore the world. The documentary draws on the people, encounters and mishaps surrounding that voyage, with Rust’s search for a different way of living at its centre.
Choose it for a personal cruising story rather than a polished account of a professional racing campaign. Read more about Alex Rust and his voyage.
5. Dead Calm (1989)
Fiction · Psychological thriller
A couple sailing offshore rescue a stranger from another vessel. His arrival turns their isolated setting into the source of the danger. Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill and Billy Zane star in Phillip Noyce’s thriller.
For suspense rather than a reassuring evening of cruising inspiration: limited space and distance from help are central to the story.
6. Deep Water (2006)
Documentary · Solo racing history
Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell examine Donald Crowhurst’s participation in the 1968–69 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. Archive material, personal recordings and interviews explore the pressure surrounding his attempt and the consequences for his family.
Start here if you want documentary context for the story dramatised in The Mercy. The subject involves deception, isolation and tragedy.
7. Maidentrip (2013)
Documentary · A young solo sailor’s voyage
Jillian Schlesinger’s film follows Laura Dekker, using her own recordings alongside footage from stops along the route. Dekker was 14 when she set out; that was her age at departure, not at the completion of the voyage.
Choose it for the voice of the sailor herself and the experience of growing up during a long journey. Her stopping voyage should be distinguished from non-stop circumnavigation attempts.
8. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Fiction · Historical naval adventure
Peter Weir’s film follows Captain Jack Aubrey and HMS Surprise in pursuit of an enemy warship during the Napoleonic Wars. Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany play Aubrey and the ship’s surgeon, Stephen Maturin.
A choice for square-rigged ships, life within a working crew and the tension between duty and friendship. This is naval fiction, rather than a modern cruising film.
9. Morning Light (2008)
Documentary · Offshore crew racing
A group of young sailors trains for the Transpac Yacht Race. The film follows the selection and preparation of the crew, showing that reaching the start is itself a substantial part of an offshore campaign.
Choose this for teamwork and preparation, in contrast with the single-person stories of All Is Lost and Maidentrip.
10. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Fiction · Maritime fantasy
Jack Sparrow and Will Turner join forces after Barbossa’s crew kidnap Elizabeth Swann. Gore Verbinski’s film combines pirate ships, a cursed crew and an adventure driven by Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley.
Included as a maritime adventure for a different mood. Its supernatural story belongs firmly in fantasy, rather than in a selection of realistic sailing accounts.
11. The Mercy (2018)
Fiction · Biographical sailing drama
James Marsh directs Colin Firth as Donald Crowhurst and Rachel Weisz as his wife Clare. The film dramatises Crowhurst’s attempt to compete in the Golden Globe and the pressures around the voyage.
Pair it with Deep Water to distinguish a performed interpretation from a documentary account. Our article on The Mercy explores the film further.
12. The Odyssey / L’Odyssée (2016)
Fiction · Marine exploration biopic
Jérôme Salle’s film centres on Jacques Cousteau, his family and the relationship with his son Philippe. Calypso provides the setting for a story about exploration, ambition and the changing understanding of the underwater world.
This is the broadest marine-exploration choice here. Calypso is a research vessel; the film should not be mistaken for a sailing-race or yacht-cruising documentary.
13. Turning Tide / En solitaire (2013)
Fiction · Solo ocean-racing drama
François Cluzet plays Yann Kermadec, a replacement skipper given his opportunity to start the Vendée Globe. Finding a young stowaway aboard changes both his race and the decisions he must make. Christophe Offenstein directs.
Choose it for a fictional story set within solo ocean racing, with a moral dilemma alongside the competition.
14. White Squall (1996)
Fiction · Sail-training drama
A group of young men joins a shipboard educational voyage under a captain played by Jeff Bridges. The journey becomes a story of responsibility, relationships within the crew and a devastating storm.
For viewers interested in the human side of sail training. The dramatic treatment of a disaster is different from a technical investigation of its causes.
15. Wind (1992)
Fiction · America’s Cup racing drama
Carroll Ballard’s film follows an American effort to win back the America’s Cup after a defeat. Matthew Modine and Jennifer Grey star in a story that combines yacht design, competition and the relationships within a campaign.
Choose it for racing and the development of a challenger. It draws on the atmosphere of Cup competition while following fictional characters.
Where to watch these sailing movies
Streaming catalogues and rental options vary by country and change over time. The film-information links above identify the titles and their distributors, producers or catalogue pages; they do not guarantee that a film is available to stream in your location. Search using both the title and year, particularly for Deep Water and The Odyssey, which can be confused with other productions.
For real voyages beyond the screen, explore our guide to 15 famous sailors and their achievements. Our account of Drum and Simon Le Bon’s Whitbread adventure provides another route into sailing history.
Maiden Voyage. Round the world race by first all female crew.
What about “Maiden”. Terrific women’s movie, but good for all.