It all began with a quest, a curiosity really — can we find an iceberg?

Simply put, One Simple Question is a film about two sailors (and cat) who set out aboard a small sailboat on a journey to find an iceberg. The small boat of course is the capable Bristol Channel Cutter named Elizabeth.

One important goal of making this film for me is to portray as accurately as possible the day to day life aboard Elizabeth underway. The potential trouble with capturing the real essence of offshore sailing is that it can become rather boring for the viewer. Of course it’s hardly boring when you are out there living it — when you are out there making important sail reduction decisions while half asleep in a warm, cozy (aka smelly) bunk,  plotting another position that’s only 4 miles from your last, or listening to the weather forecast over and over in hopes that it will change the next time through. But watching another  package of raman noodles soften in a bowl of boiling water while the camera lens goes foggy from the steam is hardly the epic adventure modern movie goers are accustomed to.

Read a recent casual interview with Teresa & Ben at Abraham Louis’ site Elusive Horizon.

Here’s the trailer… and a challenge: can you spot the famous sailing author?

I’ve spent a fair amount of my life waiting for the next train at the “procrastination station”  …but my train came in, and I’m full steam ahead. With less than a month to go before we let loose the mooring pennant and point our bow North by East, Elizabeth has been getting alot of attention.

There’s always a bit of varnish to do. I do love it though. It’s one of those things that if you just keep up with, like investing in your 401k, it will serve you well in the future. I’ve done my fair share of “investment coats”, most recently on the cockpit coamings. After some serious sanding to flatten out the sags from my hasty build-up coats, I applied two fresh coats of Bristol Finish.

There’s also some fabricating to do. A new adaptor plate for the radar scanner mast mount. I ordered a simple 12×12″ plate of 1/4″ 5052 H3 aluminum from onlinemetals.com for this project. A few holes to drill, some cutting, and cleaning up the edges and she’ll be ready.

Another project I’ve been meaning to do for months is to move the upper backstay insulator away from the mast. When I initially made the backstay I put the insulator at the very upper end of the stay. I later learned that the RF radiation can damage instruments and lights atop to the mast, and that placing the upper insulator about 3′ from the end of the backstay is safer. So, up the mast I scrambled, unhooked the backstay and brought it down on deck to make a few new Sta-lok fittings. I used the topping lift and main sheet to make a temporary backstay. I love Sta-loks, so easy. Also while making this new upper end of the backstay, I added in 2″ of overall length. This allowed me some room to ease the backstay a bit and take up on the headstay, thereby removing the slight aft bend I had in my mast. This theoretically should help reduce weather helm, but I doubt I’ll notice any difference.

One Simple Question movie updates:

Teresa and I did an interview on WUSB, talking about the challenges of sailing solo and combining onto one boat.

We are teaming up with the  educational outfit SEEDS to provide an outreach program for their students this summer while we are filming for the documentary One Simple Question and searching for an iceberg!

We are coming down the final days of our Kickstarter Campaign, and I want to urge everyone who was waiting until the end to jump in and be part of the action, to do so now! The window of opportunity is closing. The support we have received thus far has been absolutely amazing. Nearly 150 backers, and we reached our bare minimum goal, but let’s not stop there. The money raised is going exclusively towards the production equipment needed to help make this the best film possible.

We launched the One Simple Question Kickstarter Campaign today. Our goal is to raise $8,000—a tall order for a sailing duo setting out to make their first film!

It’s Thoreau meets Shackleton!

This film, at its core, is a sailing documentary. The film chronicles our voyage north to the cold and foggy  waters of Newfoundland & Labrador in search of an iceberg. Unlike glorified reality TV, with its hotels and hot showers between commercials, One Simple Question intends to accurately portray life at sea aboard  a small sailboat. We won’t edit out the dark, cold sail changes at 0300, or the sleepless off-watch hours spent lying wet in our bunks, clad in full foul weather gear.

Why an iceberg? Their beauty and magnificence can only be experienced in person, yet how many people in their lifetime will actually see one? These still and seemingly lifeless objects may not be around forever. As polar ice caps melt, and glaciers retreat, the iceberg population declines.

To see an iceberg is truly a simple quest. Yet that inherent simplicity is what makes it so endearing.  Like Thoreau’s journey to live deliberately, gain understanding, and discover happiness through simplicity, One Simple Question uses the iceberg as its cabin in the woods to explore the virtues of simple living.

These messages are timely. Currently there is much discussion about the “New American Dream”, and the Climate Change controversy  still rages. We think  the discussion of these two engaging issues, wrapped in an exciting sailing adventure will make a great film!

If you agree, please make a pledge to help support this documentary. Of the $8,000 needed, 100% goes towards the purchase of camera and other production equipment needed to get started. We have a filmmaker sailing with us for the majority of the voyage, so good footage is guaranteed, if we have the equipment! BCC Elizabeth thanks you!

Can we find an iceberg? Probably… if we go far enough North. Last year was a very very light year for iceberg flow. In fact Newfoundland tourists were a little miffed at the poor showing. The high season for icebergs off Newfoundland is April and May. We don’t depart until June 7th (mark your calendars!). That is extraordinarily late for iceberg hunting. Looking at the charts below of iceberg frequency, it is highly likely that icebergs will only be present off the South East coast of Labrador by the time we arrive. We are prepared to go as far North as needed to find one. I look forward to the challenge and the necessity to push  Bristol Channel Cutter Elizabeth hard and fast.

Iceberg frequency June and July

If you have not checked out our plan to make a film about our quest to find an iceberg  via sail, and the environmental impacts of  polar icecap meltdown, please pop on over to SimpleQuestionMovie.com to learn more. Join the mailing list and “like” it on facebook.