Losing Sight of Shore

Four British women set out to row across the Pacific from California to Australia. They have no support boat; over nine months they cover more than eight thousand miles, taking the oars in shifts, with nobody but each other in the middle of the ocean. Sarah Moshman’s documentary is as much about the mental side of the crossing as the physical one: sleep collapsing, months in a tiny boat with the same people, and what it means to consider not going on. There were always four rowers, but three of the women completed every leg while the fourth seat changed between them. The row was done for two charities and set two world records, making them the first all-female team to cross the Pacific unsupported. The title comes from a line attributed to Columbus: you never cross an ocean until you lose sight of shore.