Deep Water

Documentarians Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell recount the incredible story of Donald Crowhurst, the English yachtsman who entered a 1968 race to be the first to sail solo and nonstop around the world. But Crowhurst was ill-prepared, his craft was unready, and his adventure degenerated inexorably into desperation, deception, madness and death. It’s a tale of almost unbearable tragedy, and Osmond and Rothwell spare us none of the drama. They are aided immeasurably by the participation of key figures in the story, including Crowhurst’s widow Clare and son Simon—both of them clearly pained by the memories even after all these years. Most horrifying of all, there are audio tapes that Crowhurst made during the voyage, where his mental disintegration, hundreds of miles from nowhere, is all too clear.