Women & the Wind is a project aimed at igniting the flames of curiosity and adventure which lay dormant within so many of us. Photo: Women & the Wind
In 2016, Kiana Weltzien made a decision that would shape the rest of her life. Now, a film created off the back of that decision nearly a decade ago is hitting screens. Women & the Wind, “a project aimed at igniting the flames of curiosity and adventure which lay dormant within so many of us,” follows a group of extraordinary women during a voyage across the North Atlantic on a 50-year-old wooden catamaran.
In 2016, Weltzien was working in real estate in Miami. Feeling unsettled, she decided to spend a year traveling. During that year, she met a sailing mentor and moved onto his boat, a replica Polynesian double-canoe, and realized she loved the seafaring lifestyle. Two years later, she bought her own boat, a wooden catamaran called the Mara Noka.
“Despite her limited sailing knowledge, she navigated challenging passages, often sailing alone to avoid the responsibility of a crew,” Women & the Wind’s website explains. “Her first year included tandem sailing with her mentor, but after her first solo Atlantic crossing in 2019, she sailed independently.”
Soon after, she met Lærke Heilmann, a Danish artist, surfer, and ocean conservationist who was based in the Canary Islands. It was that fortuitous meeting that sparked the idea for the Women & the Wind project.
During their sailing adventures, one thing was impossible to ignore: the plastic-littered ocean they were traveling on. In 2022 they were joined by Dominican filmmaker Alizé Jireh and the trio embarked on a trip across the North Atlantic in an attempt to follow plastic pollution as it floated the Gulf Stream to Europe.
“Throughout the entirety of the voyage,” the filmmakers wrote, “larger floating debris including fishing nets, buckets, bottles, plastic bags, and nylon ropes were constant companions.”
As the journey went on, something happened slowly that changed the film’s direction. “The women were then faced with the reality of life at sea aboard a boat, for 30 days, with no space from each other or themselves,” the film’s description explained. “Calms and tempests reflected their own inner workings, and an entire moon’s cycle on the ocean brought their femininity to the forefront. They experienced their fragility and their strengths with an intensity that is unmatched, transforming this film into an intimate portrayal of women and nature.”
The end result is a beautiful and moving film that focuses on not only the plastic problem, but how we as humans have lost some of our connection to the natural world in our attempt to make our lives as comfortable as possible.
For those in the Southern California area, a free community screening is happening on May 1 at Fox Point Farms in Encinitas sponsored by Repegs and Seau Prima. RSVP here. Visit Womenandthewind.com for info on future screenings and follow Women & the Wind on Instagram here.
