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Speaker 1: We'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land

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Speaker 1: on which this podcast was produced, the Gadigall people of

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Speaker 1: the Urination. We pay our respects to elders past and present.

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Speaker 2: Hi, and here I'm taking a short break and we'll

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Speaker 2: be back with more head Game stories in the new year.

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Speaker 2: In the meantime, I wanted to reflect on some of

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Speaker 2: the people we've met this year and the lessons we've learned.

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Speaker 2: In this episode. You're here from two hugely inspirational humans

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Speaker 2: that have been at the mercy of Mother Nature. First up,

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Speaker 2: we're heading across the ditch to New Zealand. Kelsey Waghorn

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Speaker 2: was working as a tour guide on Facadi White Island

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Speaker 2: on the day of the catastrophic eruption in twenty nineteen.

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Speaker 2: She shared how that day unfolded with me.

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Speaker 3: So land on the island. We were the last boat

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Speaker 3: of the day and so yeah, we got there and

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Speaker 3: we were the third, second or third boat at the

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Speaker 3: island and there were already two so helicopters on the island.

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Speaker 3: Did all the usual normal level two procedure additives of

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Speaker 3: the higher level of activity or output of gas. So

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Speaker 3: it is a level two which is higher than normal.

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Speaker 3: But in my five years of being there, it had

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Speaker 3: been level two many times and never erupted, and then

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Speaker 3: it had been at level one and erupted, so, you know,

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Speaker 3: not overly predictable. Continued on with that day. Nothing was

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Speaker 3: unusual when around the island. As I said, we weren't

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Speaker 3: the first on the island, so no one had packed

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Speaker 3: anything up. Nothing alerted us that something was brewing for

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Speaker 3: lack of a better word, So.

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Speaker 2: When do you actually realize that actually something is brewing,

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Speaker 2: and something serious is brewing? The red flags are coming up,

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Speaker 2: and you know, if I don't put something into action now,

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Speaker 2: we're not going to get off this island immediately. Oh immediately, yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. So there's always gas output, always steam output, there's

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Speaker 3: always bubbling water and whatnot around the island. So that's

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Speaker 3: stock standards. So none of them raised the alarm bells.

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Speaker 3: But yeah, I was talking about one of the streams

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Speaker 3: that we were standing in because it was just a

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Speaker 3: little like fresh water stream. I just remember people just

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Speaker 3: started going, well, wow, look at that. I just remember

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Speaker 3: turning around and seeing the island erupting, and it was

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Speaker 3: already bigger than the island, so the island is three

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Speaker 3: hundred and twenty one meters tall, and the stack or

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Speaker 3: the column of material coming out of the island was

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Speaker 3: already bigger than that and growing by the second. So yeah,

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Speaker 3: it was an immediate like the same.

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Speaker 2: Right, and you knew? Did the others know?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? I do believe. I do think that they just

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Speaker 3: thought it was part of the tour because unbeknownst to me,

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Speaker 3: I've only found out since that people were actually taking

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Speaker 3: photos of it. It wasn't until people started saying, we'll

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Speaker 3: look at that that I turned around because it was

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Speaker 3: actually erupting silently behind us, which you'd think it would

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Speaker 3: be like sonic boom material sort of thing, but didn't

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Speaker 3: shake the ground, didn't make a noise.

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Speaker 2: How far away was it from you?

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Speaker 3: Maybe three four hundred meters so not that far? Oh yeah,

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Speaker 3: so yes, too close. Yeah, turned around and it was yeah,

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Speaker 3: full full eruption, and yeah, I immediately just basically just yeah.

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Speaker 3: I just yelled at everyone to just come with me

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Speaker 3: and just started running. And I think maybe that's when

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Speaker 3: they realized that this wasn't part of the tour. We

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Speaker 3: all just took off and head behind this mound. In

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Speaker 3: my head, it was this giant mound, because I've been

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Speaker 3: there so many times that Yeah, I was just like, yeah,

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Speaker 3: we'll get behind this big mound. It'll be great, Like

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Speaker 3: we'll just get behind that. Once it settles down, we'll

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Speaker 3: just we'll just trot off back to the boat and

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Speaker 3: then it'll be a great day.

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Speaker 2: But it sounds of it. You go down there, you're

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Speaker 2: not you know, You're like, this mound, will we'll do this,

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Speaker 2: will this will protect us? When did you suddenly realize

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Speaker 2: that no, it won't. This is this is a lot

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Speaker 2: more serious than than just hiding behind a mound.

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Speaker 3: I mean initially when there was kind of a big

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Speaker 3: vertical column, it was like, well, that's not good, but

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Speaker 3: as long as it stays where it is, that's the

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Speaker 3: best we can hope for. Because we were three four

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Speaker 3: and a meters away, so it was one of those

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Speaker 3: things where we'll just get shelter, assess it, and then

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Speaker 3: make moves from there. But I guess in my mind

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Speaker 3: it was like, well, this is just like our drills,

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Speaker 3: so we'll just take shelter and then take take stock

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Speaker 3: of things there. Got behind this mound, and the worst

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Speaker 3: possible case scenario in this was that we had a

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Speaker 3: pyroclastic surge. And if you do any research into those,

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Speaker 3: which I've done a little bit of research into these,

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Speaker 3: because there wasn't much to research other than you don't

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Speaker 3: survive them.

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Speaker 4: What is that?

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Speaker 2: Can you just break that down for me? What's a

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Speaker 2: prior classic search?

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Speaker 3: Pyroclastic serve? So and I guess Layman's terms. It's so

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Speaker 3: the column came up, you have the big ejection of acid, gases,

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Speaker 3: material sort of ash, rock, all that business go shooting

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Speaker 3: up with all that force behind it. Then obviously you've

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Speaker 3: got all this heavy matter which just can't keep shooting

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Speaker 3: up because we have gravity, and so the column basically

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Speaker 3: starts to collapse. And if you've seen a video of

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Speaker 3: the eruption or any of these sorts of things, you

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Speaker 3: get that massive plume at the bottom, that big wave,

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Speaker 3: that big wave that comes out at the bottom. That

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Speaker 3: is what got us. And so that was always worst

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Speaker 3: case scenario. I think I've heard the stats of surviving

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Speaker 3: there are basically they're less than ten percent, even less

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Speaker 3: than five percent. So it was always like if you

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Speaker 3: saw one of them, it was like a white flake moment.

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Speaker 3: You were just like, well, I can't do anything. I

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Speaker 3: can't fight this, like you know what it is, took

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Speaker 3: shelter turn around groups still running in keep in mind

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Speaker 3: that this is less than a minute that we've done

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Speaker 3: this in I remember my other guy coming up next

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Speaker 3: to me and I just said it'll be okay. And

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Speaker 3: then I looked up and I saw the surge coming

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Speaker 3: towards us, and it was like this is how we go.

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Speaker 2: Wow, your worst nightmare is now descending upon you, right.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And this is like it's it's not a slow

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Speaker 3: moving thing. But in my mind, because everything was going

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Speaker 3: so fast, it did look slower than it actually was.

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Speaker 3: And so for a split second, I did think, maybe

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Speaker 3: we can make it further down the island, but looking

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Speaker 3: at the group, not knowing everyone's fitness levels, their agility levels,

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Speaker 3: because it's not a flat, paved terrain. It's all rock

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Speaker 3: and everything underneath your feet. So it was like, it's

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Speaker 3: not going to be an easy run, and I have

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Speaker 3: no idea if for one I can do it, let

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Speaker 3: alone these people that I've met for the last two hours.

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Speaker 3: So it was basically just like, well, we'll just wait

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Speaker 3: it out, like there's nothing else to do here. We'll

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Speaker 3: just white flag it and hope for the best.

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Speaker 2: How was your command and controlled at this stage, obviously

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Speaker 2: knowing what you know and them being naive to volcanoes,

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Speaker 2: what's your strategy to keep them calm?

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Speaker 3: Unfortunately, there was like seconds, so there wasn't actually a

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Speaker 3: lot of time to have this conversation delegate this sort

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Speaker 3: of situation. So it was kind of a more we're

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Speaker 3: taking cover, and by the time I basically spotted this

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Speaker 3: and quickly run the analysis of whether we could run

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Speaker 3: it or not, decided no, it was like gas mask

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Speaker 3: on and it was heading us. So the whole eruption

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Speaker 3: lasted less than two minutes, and we probably lost maybe

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Speaker 3: twenty thirty seconds at the start before I even knew

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Speaker 3: it was happening. So it was basically just yeah, there

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Speaker 3: was no time to explain what was happening, and I

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Speaker 3: don't know if that would have helped or hindered the

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Speaker 3: situation anywhere.

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Speaker 2: Just straight into your safety drills.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so it was basically just follow the drill, and

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Speaker 3: it was basically just get down, gas mask on, I

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Speaker 3: feed or positioned. I was like, well, at least I'll

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Speaker 3: just that's all I can do. It was just like

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Speaker 3: I have my sunglasses on I have my gas mask on.

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Speaker 3: I thought, well, if there's any hope, which was very,

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Speaker 3: very minimal. It was like, well, I need to be

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Speaker 3: able to see any better breathe, so I have my

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Speaker 3: sunglasses on, I have my gas mask on, and I

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Speaker 3: just basically held it to my face. You try to

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Speaker 3: breathe slow in those situations because you know that keep

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Speaker 3: your heart rate down, try and stay calm. But it

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Speaker 3: was just like my body was just like you're about

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Speaker 3: to die, dude. So it was full panic breathing, and

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Speaker 3: then the paraklast that flow hit us and it all

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Speaker 3: went dark, and I want to say it was quiet,

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Speaker 3: but it wasn't. It was like being on a beach

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Speaker 3: on a really hot day, on a really hot, windy day,

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Speaker 3: and so you could feel things or swirling around, and

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Speaker 3: it basically just keep getting hotter and hotter and hotter.

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Speaker 3: It got to the point where started hearing everyone else

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Speaker 3: around me screaming, and I thought I was on fire.

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Speaker 3: And I basically just started vibrating because I was trying

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Speaker 3: so hard to keep my hands to my face. But

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Speaker 3: it got to the point where I just had to

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Speaker 3: cut start swatting my arms because I was just like,

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Speaker 3: I need to put this fire out, and then basically

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Speaker 3: the parakastic surge stopped, so we made it out the

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Speaker 3: other side, and so it slowly just went calm, and

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Speaker 3: it just went quiet. You could just hear sort of

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Speaker 3: some whimpering from people around us, and yeah, just sort

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Speaker 3: of stay still for a few seconds, or is there

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Speaker 3: a second wave or like just kind of waited it

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Speaker 3: out for a second. Slowly took my sunglasses off to

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Speaker 3: have a look around and see what was going on,

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Speaker 3: and yeah, basically decided on that second it was like,

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Speaker 3: we've got to move now, or we're not going anywhere.

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Speaker 3: We've survived the unsurvivable, so let's go.

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Speaker 2: Lisa Blair was attempting to become the fastest person to

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Speaker 2: sail solo, NonStop and unassisted around Antarctica when she had

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Speaker 2: what she calls a bad day at the office. On

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Speaker 2: day seventy two of our record attempt, the sea state

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Speaker 2: was as big as a two to three story building,

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Speaker 2: and Lisa found herself in serious trouble.

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Speaker 4: I was napping in my bunk and I just heard

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Speaker 4: this super loud bang, Like it sounded like I've never

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Speaker 4: actually heard a real gunshot. You'd probably be able to

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Speaker 4: tell me this but sounded like a gunshot going off,

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Speaker 4: where there was like this metallic kind of after ringing in.

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Speaker 3: My ear drum.

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Speaker 4: And I launched out of my bunk and onto my

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Speaker 4: engine box. And I have this little perspex clear dome

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Speaker 4: on the top of the engine box so I can

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Speaker 4: look out without physically having to kind of climb out

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Speaker 4: of the boat. And I jumped up on there, and

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Speaker 4: I initially thought it was something at the back of

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Speaker 4: the boat that had broken, so I like looked to

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Speaker 4: the back of the boat. It's just that sort of

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Speaker 4: blue tinge of sunset, like you know where you're just

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Speaker 4: about to lose the last bit of daylight so you

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Speaker 4: can see enough, but you're not. It's not daylight still.

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Speaker 4: And I looked back and everything looked normal. And then

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Speaker 4: I looked to the front of the boat and all

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Speaker 4: I could see was my twenty two meter Like, Alamin,

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Speaker 4: your mass just flexing and bending like a hula girl

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Speaker 4: shaking her hips, and it really was just like warbling

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Speaker 4: around like this crazy movement that a mass should absolutely

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Speaker 4: not have. And I initially thought tack the boat, like

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Speaker 4: change the direction of the boat and put the pressure

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Speaker 4: of the wind on the non broken side because I

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Speaker 4: realized I've broken a piece of rigging. And before I

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Speaker 4: even had a chance to do that, the mask came

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Speaker 4: crashing down, and honestly, like being so remote location and

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Speaker 4: understanding how remote I was, and knowing that this was

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Speaker 4: one of those worst case scenarios happening, listening to the

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Speaker 4: sounds of the boat as it's that twisting like metal

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Speaker 4: or metal grinding and shaking, and all the forces on

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Speaker 4: the boat have changed, so the whole boat shuddering around you,

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Speaker 4: and I didn't like I kind of knew that it

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Speaker 4: was the mask, but I didn't know what other damage

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Speaker 4: was taking place, because the shear's noise, like the volume

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Speaker 4: of it was like just definitely loud and like if

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Speaker 4: you've ever seen like one of those car yards where

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Speaker 4: they crushed the cars and it's got that real high

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Speaker 4: pitched metal grinding like nails down the chalkboard kind of sound.

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Speaker 4: It was that like amplified a thousand times inside the boat.

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Speaker 4: And I ran out on deck, like I had my

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Speaker 4: life jacket on and my safety tether, so I clipped

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Speaker 4: onto the boat and I climbed out and I looked

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Speaker 4: forward and where my mast.

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Speaker 3: Used to be was just air.

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Speaker 4: There was just nothing there and the like in a

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Speaker 4: traditional kind of dismassing. And for those listening who don't

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Speaker 4: know what a mast is, it's the sticky bit that

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Speaker 4: goes up on a sailboat that your sails fly on.

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Speaker 4: It's the tall part. And so it had snapped at

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Speaker 4: deck level like there was nothing standing out of the

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Speaker 4: boat anymore, and it's highly unlikely that it would normally

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Speaker 4: do that. But what happens now is I've got a

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Speaker 4: twenty two meter long spear tangled to the boat with

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Speaker 4: all the other rigging and the ropes and everything in

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Speaker 4: eight meter breaking seas, about to go into a new

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Speaker 4: storm the size of a hurricane or a cyclone, and

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Speaker 4: I'm alone one thousand miles from land in crap conditions.

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Speaker 4: And what can happen is one of those waves can

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Speaker 4: drive the mass through the hull of the boat and

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Speaker 4: start sinking new And at the initial time of the emergency,

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Speaker 4: the bottom sort of two meters of the mast was

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Speaker 4: trapped on the deck by all those ropes. But these waves,

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Speaker 4: because I'm technically like now anchored in the middle of

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Speaker 4: a storm, so the boat drifted one hundred and eighty

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Speaker 4: degrees around because I was anchored on the sails and

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Speaker 4: the debris in the ocean, the volume of debris and

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Speaker 4: the ocean and the waves, these six to eight meter

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Speaker 4: waves were smashing into the mast and rigging first and

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Speaker 4: then driving it up onto the deck of the boat

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Speaker 4: and like forcing it forward, and then the white water

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Speaker 4: would hit the whole of the boat and shove the

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Speaker 4: boat out from kind of underneath the mast. And it

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Speaker 4: became so violent that it was basically starting to cut

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Speaker 4: the boat in half. And so it started to sow

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Speaker 4: the boat in half with the force behind this happening.

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Speaker 2: What is going through your mind, Lisa, when you're seeing this,

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Speaker 2: because you are now at the mercy of Mother nature.

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Speaker 2: You can't do anything. What do you do? What's going

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Speaker 2: through your head?

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Speaker 4: Initially it was on a loop going this is so

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Speaker 4: not good, This is so not good, This is so

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Speaker 4: not good. This is so not good. And it was

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Speaker 4: really like the panic stations. Like I had I had

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Speaker 4: planned for a dismastering. I had planned for an emergency

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Speaker 4: like this, but I hadn't planned for the emotional response

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Speaker 4: of an emergency like that, and I hadn't really considered

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Speaker 4: like I guess I had tried to puzzle through how

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Speaker 4: I thought I would react and I'd apply logic, and

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Speaker 4: I would save the boat and it would all be

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Speaker 4: wonderful and there's rainbows and like pretty clouds and it's

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Speaker 4: all perfect. But real world doesn't happen that way, and

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Speaker 4: so I panicked. The first sort of ten to fifteen minutes.

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Speaker 4: I just blindly was like, I've got to cut it free.

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Speaker 4: I've got to cut it free before it sinks the boat,

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Speaker 4: before one of those waves rips the mast off and

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Speaker 4: throws it through the hull. And I was extremely conscious

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Speaker 4: of the fact that if I had to abandon my

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Speaker 4: life raft, the sea state was going to build to

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Speaker 4: ten meters that night, and this inflatable rubber life raft,

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Speaker 4: it's not going to survive, like it would be a

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Speaker 4: death sentence to abandon the boat. So my only way

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Speaker 4: of surviving was going to be to keep that boat floating.

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Speaker 2: If you'd like to hear the full interviews with both

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Speaker 2: Lisa Blair and Kelsey Waghorn, check out the in the

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Speaker 2: show notes, I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did,

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Speaker 2: feel free to leave me a review. I'm at Middleton.

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Speaker 2: Catch you again next time.