Row St Kilda

Role: Director, Camera Operator, Editor

Duration: 3’24

Probably my favourite adventure to date, this is an extract from a documentary film which followed novice rowers as they left the remote isles of St Kilda and rowed back to Skye.

Under the tutelage of ex-marine Donnie Nicolson, the crew practised for months before reaching the perfect weather window in May. Filming began a few months before, on the understanding that we could drop everything and be prepared to leave at 48 hours notice. We reached the islands on a cabin cruiser, one of the support vessels, had a couple of hours sleep on St Kilda and then filmed from the fishing boat on the return leg, working through the night.

We made a number of short films to help raise awareness before the row as well as the video above which is an extract from the final film. We also shot photos for the press and relayed them from the defence base at St Kilda and from the lifeboat station on Harris to reach the media before the rowers got back to Skye. All-in-all an epic adventure and coming back down the Sound of Raasay at dawn is something I’ll always remember.

The initiative was a hugely successful fundraiser for a number of local charities.