Academy, The (2025)

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(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)

(THEME MUSIC CONCLUDES)

LINDANI: It's so easy

to be born in an environment

and believe there's no way out.

(WAVES RUMBLING)

LINDANI: But there is a place that

is free, where you can find healing,

and you can believe in yourself again.

And that's the ocean.

(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)

Sailing has traditionally

been a White male sport

for many, many years.

I've been a member

of this club since 1957

and I've seen a lot.

South Africa had its first

democratic elections in 1994.

So, we were excited, but it was also clear

that our club was not representative

of the population

of South Africa.

You look around, all you see is White.

You look left, you see White.

But it's difficult because there

isn't a tradition of sailing

amongst the previously disenfranchised.

I'm the only that actually has represented

South Africa twice in the Olympics.

But not only one, but being Black.

My name is Lindani Spes Mchunu.

I am the academy manager

of the Royal Cape Yacht Club.

And my role here at the club is to...

is to take us to a new... a new place.

(WAVES RUMBLING)

(MID-TEMPO MUSIC PLAYING)

(MUSIC CONCLUDES)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

(DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE)

AZILE: I joined the academy in 2016.

I knew nothing about sailing

but as time went on,

I loved sailing.

I always loved water.

LINDANI: I lived in the township,

and I have family in the township.

So, I know the issues

that go on there for young people.

I'm giving them an opportunity to say,

"There is some sort of escape."

And that escape is for them to come

to the water, get on a boat, and sail.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

This upcoming weekend,

we got a Round Robben Island Race.

It's about 12 nautical miles.

Uh. It's six nautical miles,

going there and back.

AZILE: I am going to be a skipper

for the first time in my entire life.

I'm gonna be responsible for, like,

seven, eight people on board.

She's normally at the front,

which is the bow.

And then now, she's gonna helm.

She's gonna get the feel

of what the boat wants.

As you know, before racing,

we need to stretch out.

Got to relax our muscles.

You can give me five laps.

Go five laps.

AZILE: Robben Island is where

Nelson Mandela was locked up.

And for me to go around that island...

I feel like it's one of the most

powerful things that I can ever do.

SIBUSISO: You're only gonna stop

when you start sweating.

If you're not sweating,

you're not gonna stop.

That's the first lap. Keep going.

That's number two.

I do the counting, you do the running.

LINDANI: There is so much symbolism

for this Robben Island Race.

I always think,

like, I try and put myself...

I've actually been to Mandela's prison,

and I put myself in his shoes,

and I think they always looked at land.

And their barrier

wasn't necessarily the island.

Their barrier was the ocean.

SIBUSISO: That's good. Let's all come in.

Okay, let's grab a rope.

So, we use our feet to move around,

so we need to be active all the time.

And then years later, there's, like,

Black kids from the township who are, like

playing, where they were like...

there was fear for them in there,

and they're just playing there.

So it's such a symbolic thing,

of like complete emancipation.

(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING)

(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

LINDANI: No way.

(UPBEAT MUSIC CONCLUDES)

I live with my aunt, Nomanesi.

I call her my mother.

(NOMANESI SINGING)

NOMANESI:

After my grandmother died,

that's when I understood

that I'm not living

with my biological mother.

NOMANESI:

Port Control, this is Archangel,

requesting permission to leave the harbor.

LINDANI:

SIBUSISO:

LINDANI:

(LAUGHING)

SIBUSISO: Where's the wind coming from?

- There's your Windex. Use your Windex.

- No, but the Windex keeps moving.

Okay, now, if it keeps moving,

now look at the sea.

You see where there's shiny big waves

that sprinkles on the water?

- Yes.

- Where it's a bit dark, that's wind, okay?

So where it is clear,

there's no wind there.

So, you wanna go

towards where the wind is.

- Okay?

- Okay.

SIBUSISO: So as a skipper,

you need to know where

you need to position yourself

in a race.

Okay, let's catch this breeze, yeah?

- I can smell the southeaster coming.

- LINDANI: It's coming, yeah.

SIBUSISO: I can smell the southeaster.

- (GROANS)

- SIBUSISO: Okay, now come across.

Come across.

SIBUSISO: Okay, we're gonna go

for easy tide here. Coming down slowly.

- Tides are coming. They're coming.

- (LINDANI SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

- Get the boom.

- LINDANI: Get down. They're coming!

(METAL CLANKING)

Okay, now where are you going?

LINDANI: Okay, you need

to have control of the boat.

- Hold. Hold.

- AZILE: Yeah.

LINDANI: So, now you're going up. Yeah!

SIBUSISO: You're going back home.

Where are you going?

- (AZILE SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

- No. In strong winds, you take it slow.

So, if you move like this,

turn the boat around like this,

and you turn the boat around like this,

then the boat won't have control.

You also won't have control, okay?

Take it slow. Move slowly, okay?

Move slowly.

Because the waves are there to help you

as well. Just move slowly, okay?

I do sometimes doubt myself.

'Cause sometimes you feel like

you're not doing the right thing.

You've been...

taught how to do this,

and then sometimes you make mistakes.

Where's the Windex? Turn.

The Windex is pointing that side.

What did I say about the boom?

Always sit opposite of the boom.

This way, we're not jibing,

but we don't fall.

Always sit opposite the boom.

Where is the boom?

Watch, there it goes.

Hey, watch the Windex.

Hey, watch the Windex.

Watch the Windex. Make sure it's gone up.

Watch, it's gonna tide. It's gonna tide.

I'm telling you, it's gonna tide.

I'm telling you. There it is!

You're not listening to me.

You're not listening to me.

- You're not listening to me.

- LINDANI: There we go.

- Come on, Azile.

- Where is the Windex?

- Come on. Come on.

- Find that Windex.

Focus!

AZILE: I am a bit nervous.

It's gonna be my responsibility.

If any things happen,

I'm gonna be held accountable

for the team.

The water is dangerous.

(MELANCHOLIC MUSIC PLAYING)

(WAVES RUMBLING)

I think my main problem today

is that I didn't trust myself.

- LINDANI: Yeah.

- AZILE: That's all I can say.

LINDANI:

Like the sea, there's so much

it teaches us about life.

So, you don't fall.

You know, when you're on land,

you need balance.

Because there's so many things

happening there.

I mean, I'll tell you something.

I had a problem

with alcohol at some point.

And it was strong.

And it got me strong.

And you know what I did? I remembered.

I can go to sea. I can cross from here

to America. I can...

I've been at sea and I survived.

If I can survive at sea...

what can stop me?

What I want you guys to be able to do

is to have the courage and the self-belief

to be able to come here

in 30 knots of wind and sail.

So if you can get on water, Azile,

and you can be one with it,

you can bounce back

from anything like that.

That's what I want for you guys.

I want you to come here and conquer.

(WAVES RUMBLING)

AZILE: For me to skipper this race

and make it around that island...

I am given a chance

to prove to myself that...

I can conquer anything.

- Hey, good luck for Saturday.

- AZILE: Thank you.

Out at sea, you think of nothing else

besides what you're doing there.

You just think about the boat

and where you're going

and about your safety.

And then, when you come back to land,

that's where you start thinking

about your life.

AZILE:

I think I had hatred back then,

because no one

was explaining anything to me.

(TRAIN BRAKES)

(WATER PLINKING)

(WAVES RUMBLING)

- I see another blowout today.

- Unfortunately, yeah.

- And the wind's like what? Like, 30 today?

- I've got 46.

LINDANI: Oh, my goodness.

That's worrying me a bit.

RECEPTIONIST:

You can make your own decision,

but that's when masts break,

people get injured.

- ANDREW: Hi, guys. How's it?

- Morning.

- Looking breezy.

- Sure, look at that.

I think, ultimately, as with all racing,

it comes down to the skipper of each boat

to make a decision as to whether it's safe

for them to continue racing or not.

I'm your skipper, so I'm gonna be

the one helming today.

For now, the wind is a bit light.

But around 2:00 p.m., it's gonna pick up.

AZILE: The sea can talk to you.

But you have to understand

what it says to you.

I understood by myself

without anyone explaining to me.

I understood that

my mother had to do what she did

to take me to my grandmother.

So now, we got a good relationship now.

Even though she didn't explain

anything to me.

I understood everything by myself.

(MID-TEMPO MUSIC PLAYING)

ANNOUNCER: (OVER PA) Good afternoon,

and welcome to Round Robben Island Race.

AZILE:

ANNOUNCER: (OVER PA)

Four, three, two, one.

(AIR HORN BLOWS)

ANNOUNCER: (OVER PA) All clear. All clear.

LINDANI: The work that I'm doing here

with the academy,

we have to find a way

to say, "How do we change?"

And I think that conversation

is gonna take place out on the water

'cause I have this

really strong feeling that

we're subscribed out, you know,

on land, you know?

There's so many decisions already

that we've made

about ourselves as individuals,

about society, how it should be made,

what girls should do, what boys should do,

what people of color should do.

You know, we're too over-subscribed.

There's hardly any room

for a new conversation.

So, my feeling is, let's go to sea.

Let's start having those conversations

out in the ocean,

where there's no reference.

All there is is water.

Gives us the opportunity to create

new reference points, you know?

To create ourselves anew.

I have no doubt in my mind

that there's a revolution that's coming.

The revolution is going to happen

on the ocean. I've seen it.

AZILE: My name is Azile.

I don't know why they named me Azile.

I don't even know who named me.

(UPLIFTING MUSIC PLAYING)

(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)

(THEME MUSIC CONCLUDES)