THE bizarre and tragic story of amateur yachtsman Donald Crowhurst is given another airing in the new documentary, Deep Water, showing at the Exeter Picturehouse until January 4 Crowhurst set sail from Teignmouth in his boat Teignmouth Electron, in October 1968, to compete in the Sunday Times Golden Globe race, the first solo, non-stop round the world yacht race. Things went wrong from the start. The 40ft trimaran, unproven on such a long voyage and built by Crowhurst himself, proved very slow, making less than half his planned speed. In the rush to get away – he left on the last possible day specified in the rules – equipment and spares got left behind. He even forgot to take his bilge pump. For Crowhurst, the stakes were high. He needed the £5,000 prize money (worth £58,000 today) to save his ailing business. He also hoped to use the voyage to publicise safety devices he had designed. But the pressures of building the boat and finding sponsors meant that all his safety devices were left unfinished. He optimistically planned to complete them while under way. The story of how Crowhurst falsified his position in radio transmissions and fabricated fake log entries to suggest he was in the lead, while in fact hiding in the Southern Atlantic, has inspired plays, books, an opera and even rock songs. This latest documentary uses original archive footage and log entries, which chart his conflicted psychological state, mental breakdown and suicide. Fellow competitor Robin Knox-Johnson was the first to complete the race. Nigel Tetley, thinking that Crowhurst was ahead, pushed his boat (another trimaran) to breaking point and had to abandon ship. This put the world's spotlight on Crowhurst, who because of his late starting time, appeared to be on course to make the fastest time. Crowhurst knew that if he won, his log books would come under intense scrutiny from experiences sailors and his fraud was likely to be uncovered. His sanity gave way and he spent 150 hours in a frenzy of writing. He became obsessed with the number 243. He originally intended to complete the voyage in 243 days. He recorded a false distance of 243 nautical miles in one day (which would have been a record) and appears to have ended his life on the 243rd of the voyage on July 1. Robin Knox-Johnson was declared the winner and he donated his winnings to Crowhurst's widow. Bookings can be made on line at http://www.picturehouses.co.uk">www.picturehouses.co.uk or by calling 08707 551238.
