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Surf Sail
Short Film (Full Length) – 1978
A 1978 documentary that follows the attempt by three young people to be the first windsurfers to cross Cook Strait. Directed and narrated by Sam Neill (soon to be famous as an actor) for the National Film Unit. The skeptical Cook Strait pilot John Cataldo asks them: "do you wanna have a crack?" "Yeah, bloody oath" one of the surfers replies. They face the Strait's infamous winds, tides, swells, sharks and exhaustion. Some stunning helicopter shots include a windsurfer clipping through whitecaps with a pod of dolphins in its wake.
John Cataldo's greatest fear on Cook Strait is sharks. If the weather gets too cold, or the wind too strong, he can take them out of the water. He can control these things, but he can't control the sharks.– Narrator Sam Neil introduces John Cataldo
Key Cast & Crew
See all 12 credits
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