In the movies

I was in Boston all week so naturally didn't get any sailing in. I did see some sailboats on a river that I can only assume was the Charles. But whatever.

Luckily United Airlines afforded me the opportunity to see "Failure to Launch" not once but twice. And each time I got to see some incredible sailing scenes. Not for the actual sailing but for the continuity mistakes.

Everybody who has a hobby enjoys seeing their hobby portrayed in movies and really really enjoys nitpicking the movie. Whenever there's a movie set in San Francisco, people point out that you can't go from Chinatown to Ocean Beach taking that road. Or you get to whine when a vespa is shown in a print ad with the foot brake on the left (port for you salty types) side.

For this particular movie, it was Matthew McConawhatever describing the two ways to turn "coming about or gybing" then proceeding to explain how he was going to gybe. The problem was he was sailing a close hauled course at the time. When he finished his supposed gybe, he was hove to even though you saw him doing something or another with the jib sheets. I know it all has to do with proper camera angles and lighting trying to make Sarah Jessica Parker actually look attractive, but they could at least try.

The next time they gybed, Matthew McConawhozit got hit on the head with the boom and was knocked into the water. SJP dropped the mizzen (I think it was the mizzen, I was too busy thinking that Matthew McC should have been wearing a helmet), left the other sails trimmed fully and the boat stopped completely. Must have been no wind I guess but that doesn't explain how they were sailing a few minutes before.

At least the boats were pretty. And the movie took 90+ minutes out of my flight.