We'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which this podcast was produced, the Gadiger people of the Urination. We pay our respects to Elder's past and present.

We'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which this podcast was produced, the Gadiger people of the Urination. We pay our respects to Elder's past and present.

Hi, and here I'm taking a short break and we'll be back with more head Game stories in the new year. In the meantime, I wanted to reflect on some of the people we've met this year and the lessons we've learned in this episode. You're here from two hugely inspirational humans that have been at the mercy of Mother Nature. First up, we're heading across the ditch to New Zealand. Kelsey Waghorn was working as a tour guide on Facadi White Island on the day of the catastrophic eruption in twenty nineteen. She shared how that day unfolded.

Hi, and here I'm taking a short break and we'll be back with more head Game stories in the new year. In the meantime, I wanted to reflect on some of the people we've met this year and the lessons we've learned in this episode. You're here from two hugely inspirational humans that have been at the mercy of Mother Nature. First up, we're heading across the ditch to New Zealand. Kelsey Waghorn was working as a tour guide on Facadi White Island on the day of the catastrophic eruption in twenty nineteen. She shared how that day unfolded.

With me, so land on the island, we were the last boat of the day and so yeah, we got there and we were the third, second or third boat at the island and they were already two So helicopters on the island did all the usual normal level two procedure additives of the higher level of activity or output of gas. So it is a level two which is higher than normal, But in my five years of being there, it had been level two many times and never erupted. And then it had been at level one and erupted, So, you know, not overly predictable. Continued on with that day. Nothing was unusual when around the island. As I said, we weren't the first on the island, so no one had packed anything up. Nothing alerted us that something was brewing for lack of a better word.

With me, so land on the island, we were the last boat of the day and so yeah, we got there and we were the third, second or third boat at the island and they were already two So helicopters on the island did all the usual normal level two procedure additives of the higher level of activity or output of gas. So it is a level two which is higher than normal, But in my five years of being there, it had been level two many times and never erupted. And then it had been at level one and erupted, So, you know, not overly predictable. Continued on with that day. Nothing was unusual when around the island. As I said, we weren't the first on the island, so no one had packed anything up. Nothing alerted us that something was brewing for lack of a better word.

So when do you actually realize that actually something is brewing, and something serious is brewing. The red flags are coming up, and you know, if I don't put something into action now, we're not going to get off this island immediately. Oh immediately, yeah, yeah.

So when do you actually realize that actually something is brewing, and something serious is brewing. The red flags are coming up, and you know, if I don't put something into action now, we're not going to get off this island immediately. Oh immediately, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So there's always gas output, always steam output, there's always bubbling water and whatnot around the island. So that's stock standard. So none of the raised the alarm bells. But yeah, I was talking about one of the streams that we were standing in because it was a little like fresh water stream. I just remember people just started going, well, wow, look at that. I just remember turning around and seeing the island erupting, and it was already bigger than the island. So the island is three hundred and twenty one meters tall, and the stack or the column of material coming out of the island was already bigger than that and growing by the second. So yeah, it was an immediate like the same.

So there's always gas output, always steam output, there's always bubbling water and whatnot around the island. So that's stock standard. So none of the raised the alarm bells. But yeah, I was talking about one of the streams that we were standing in because it was a little like fresh water stream. I just remember people just started going, well, wow, look at that. I just remember turning around and seeing the island erupting, and it was already bigger than the island. So the island is three hundred and twenty one meters tall, and the stack or the column of material coming out of the island was already bigger than that and growing by the second. So yeah, it was an immediate like the same.

Right, and you knew? Did the others know?

Right, and you knew? Did the others know?

Yeah?

Yeah?

I do believe.

I do believe.

I do think that they just thought it was part of the tour because unbeknownst to me, I've only found out since that people were actually taking photos of it.

I do think that they just thought it was part of the tour because unbeknownst to me, I've only found out since that people were actually taking photos of it.

It wasn't until people started.

It wasn't until people started.

Saying, we'll look at that that I turned around because it was actually erupting silently behind us, which you'd think it would be like sonic boom material sort of thing, but didn't shake the ground, didn't make a noise.

Saying, we'll look at that that I turned around because it was actually erupting silently behind us, which you'd think it would be like sonic boom material sort of thing, but didn't shake the ground, didn't make a noise.

How far away was it from you.

How far away was it from you.

Maybe three four hundred meters so not that far? Oh yeah, so yes, too close.

Maybe three four hundred meters so not that far? Oh yeah, so yes, too close.

Yeah, turned around and it was full full eruption, and yeah, I immediately just basically just yeah. I just yelled at everyone to just come with me and just started running. And I think maybe that's when they realized that this wasn't part of the tour. We all just took off and head behind this mound, and my head, it was this giant mound because I've been there so many times that yeah, I was just like, yeah, we'll get behind this big mound. It'll be great, Like we'll just get behind that. Once it settles down, we'll just we'll just trot off back to the boat and then it'll be a great day.

Yeah, turned around and it was full full eruption, and yeah, I immediately just basically just yeah. I just yelled at everyone to just come with me and just started running. And I think maybe that's when they realized that this wasn't part of the tour. We all just took off and head behind this mound, and my head, it was this giant mound because I've been there so many times that yeah, I was just like, yeah, we'll get behind this big mound. It'll be great, Like we'll just get behind that. Once it settles down, we'll just we'll just trot off back to the boat and then it'll be a great day.

But it sounds of it. You go down there, you're not you know, You're like, this mound, will we'll do this, Will this will protect us? When did you suddenly realize that no, it won't. This is this is a lot more serious than than just hiding behind a mound.

But it sounds of it. You go down there, you're not you know, You're like, this mound, will we'll do this, Will this will protect us? When did you suddenly realize that no, it won't. This is this is a lot more serious than than just hiding behind a mound.

I mean, initially when there was kind of a big vertical column, it was like, well, that's not good, but as long as it stays where it is, that's the best we can hope for. Because we were three four and a meters away, so it was one of those things where we'll just we'll get shelter, assess it, and then make moves from there. But I guess in my mind it was like, well, this is just like our drills, so we'll just take shelter and then take take stock of things there. Got behind this mound, and the worst possible case scenario in this was that we had a pyroclastic surge. And if you do any research into those, which I have done a little bit of research into these, because there wasn't much to research other than you don't survive them.

I mean, initially when there was kind of a big vertical column, it was like, well, that's not good, but as long as it stays where it is, that's the best we can hope for. Because we were three four and a meters away, so it was one of those things where we'll just we'll get shelter, assess it, and then make moves from there. But I guess in my mind it was like, well, this is just like our drills, so we'll just take shelter and then take take stock of things there. Got behind this mound, and the worst possible case scenario in this was that we had a pyroclastic surge. And if you do any research into those, which I have done a little bit of research into these, because there wasn't much to research other than you don't survive them.

What is that? Can you just break that down for me? What's a prior classic.

What is that? Can you just break that down for me? What's a prior classic.

Search pyroclastic surch So, and I guess Layman's terms. It's so the column came up, you have the big ejection of acid, gases, material sort of ash, rock, all that business go shooting up with all that force behind it. Then obviously you've got all this heavy which just can't keep shooting up because we have gravity, and so the column basically starts to collapse. And if you've seen the video of the eruption or any of these sorts of things, you get that massive plume at the bottom, that big wave, that big wave that comes out at the bottom. That is what got us. And so that was always worst case scenario. I think I've heard the stats of surviving that are basically they're less than ten percent, even less than five percent. So it was always like if you saw one of them, it was like a white flake moment. You were just like, well, I can't do anything. I can't fight this like you know what it is, took shelter turn around groups still running in keep in mind that this is less than a minute that we've done this in I remember my other guy coming up next to me and I just said, it'll be okay. And then I looked up and I saw the surge coming towards us, and it was like this is how we go.

Search pyroclastic surch So, and I guess Layman's terms. It's so the column came up, you have the big ejection of acid, gases, material sort of ash, rock, all that business go shooting up with all that force behind it. Then obviously you've got all this heavy which just can't keep shooting up because we have gravity, and so the column basically starts to collapse. And if you've seen the video of the eruption or any of these sorts of things, you get that massive plume at the bottom, that big wave, that big wave that comes out at the bottom. That is what got us. And so that was always worst case scenario. I think I've heard the stats of surviving that are basically they're less than ten percent, even less than five percent. So it was always like if you saw one of them, it was like a white flake moment. You were just like, well, I can't do anything. I can't fight this like you know what it is, took shelter turn around groups still running in keep in mind that this is less than a minute that we've done this in I remember my other guy coming up next to me and I just said, it'll be okay. And then I looked up and I saw the surge coming towards us, and it was like this is how we go.

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

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

Yeah, And this is like it's it's not a slow moving thing. But in my mind, because everything was going so fast, it did look slower than it actually was, and so for a split second, I did think, maybe we can make it further down the island, but looking at the group, not knowing everyone's fitness levels, their agility levels, because it's not a flat, paved terrain. It's all rock and everything underneath your feet. So it was like, it's not going to be an easy run, and I have no idea if for one I can do it, let alone these people that I've met for the last two hours. So it was basically just like, well, we'll just wait it out that there's nothing else to do here. We'll just white flag it and hope for the best.

Yeah, And this is like it's it's not a slow moving thing. But in my mind, because everything was going so fast, it did look slower than it actually was, and so for a split second, I did think, maybe we can make it further down the island, but looking at the group, not knowing everyone's fitness levels, their agility levels, because it's not a flat, paved terrain. It's all rock and everything underneath your feet. So it was like, it's not going to be an easy run, and I have no idea if for one I can do it, let alone these people that I've met for the last two hours. So it was basically just like, well, we'll just wait it out that there's nothing else to do here. We'll just white flag it and hope for the best.

How was your command and controlled at this stage obviously knowing what you know and them being naive to volcanoes, what's your strategy to keep them calm?

How was your command and controlled at this stage obviously knowing what you know and them being naive to volcanoes, what's your strategy to keep them calm?

Unfortunately, there was like seconds, so there wasn't actually a lot of time to have this conversation delegate this sort of situation, So it was kind of a more we're taking cover, and by the time I basically spotted this and quickly run the analysis of whether we could run it or not, decided no, it was like gas mask on and it was heading us. So the whole eruption lasted less than two minutes, and we probably lost maybe twenty thirty seconds at the start before I even knew it was happening. So it was basically just yeah, there was no time to explain what was happening, and I don't know if that would have helped or hindered the situation anyway.

Unfortunately, there was like seconds, so there wasn't actually a lot of time to have this conversation delegate this sort of situation, So it was kind of a more we're taking cover, and by the time I basically spotted this and quickly run the analysis of whether we could run it or not, decided no, it was like gas mask on and it was heading us. So the whole eruption lasted less than two minutes, and we probably lost maybe twenty thirty seconds at the start before I even knew it was happening. So it was basically just yeah, there was no time to explain what was happening, and I don't know if that would have helped or hindered the situation anyway.

Just straight into your safety drills.

Just straight into your safety drills.

Yeah, so it was basically just follow the drill, and it was basically just get down, gas mask on, I feed or positioned. I was like, well, at least I'll just that's all I can do. It was just like I had my sunglasses on, I have my gas mask on and I thought, well, if there's any hope, which was.

Yeah, so it was basically just follow the drill, and it was basically just get down, gas mask on, I feed or positioned. I was like, well, at least I'll just that's all I can do. It was just like I had my sunglasses on, I have my gas mask on and I thought, well, if there's any hope, which was.

Very, very minimal.

Very, very minimal.

It was like, well, I need to be able to see any better breathe. So I had my sunglasses on, I have my gas mask on, and I just basically held it to my face. You try to breathe slow in those situations because you know that keep your heart rate down, try and stay calm. But it was just like my body was just like you're about to die, dude. So it was full panic breathing, and then the paraclast that flow hit us and it all went dark, and I want to say it was quiet, but it wasn't. It was like being on a beach on a really hot day, on a really hot, windy day, and so you could feel things or swirling around, and it basically just keep getting hotter and hotter and hotter. It got to the point where started hearing everyone else around me screaming, and I thought I was on fire. And I basically just started vibrating because I was trying so hard to keep my hands to my face. But it got to the point where I just had to start swatting my arms because I was just like I need to put this fire out and then basically the paraclastic surge stopped, so we made it out the other side, and so it slowly just went calm and it just went quiet. You could just hear sort of some whimpering from people around us, and yeah, just sort of stay still for a few seconds, thought is there a second wave, or like just kind of waited it out for a second, slowly took my sunglasses off to have a look around see what was going on, and yeah, basically decided on the second it was like, we've got to move now, or we're not going anywhere.

It was like, well, I need to be able to see any better breathe. So I had my sunglasses on, I have my gas mask on, and I just basically held it to my face. You try to breathe slow in those situations because you know that keep your heart rate down, try and stay calm. But it was just like my body was just like you're about to die, dude. So it was full panic breathing, and then the paraclast that flow hit us and it all went dark, and I want to say it was quiet, but it wasn't. It was like being on a beach on a really hot day, on a really hot, windy day, and so you could feel things or swirling around, and it basically just keep getting hotter and hotter and hotter. It got to the point where started hearing everyone else around me screaming, and I thought I was on fire. And I basically just started vibrating because I was trying so hard to keep my hands to my face. But it got to the point where I just had to start swatting my arms because I was just like I need to put this fire out and then basically the paraclastic surge stopped, so we made it out the other side, and so it slowly just went calm and it just went quiet. You could just hear sort of some whimpering from people around us, and yeah, just sort of stay still for a few seconds, thought is there a second wave, or like just kind of waited it out for a second, slowly took my sunglasses off to have a look around see what was going on, and yeah, basically decided on the second it was like, we've got to move now, or we're not going anywhere.

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

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

Lisa Blair was attempting to become the fastest person to sail solo, NonStop and unassisted around Antarctica when she had what she calls a bad day at the office. On day seventy two of our record attempt, the sea state was as big as a two to three story building, and Lisa found herself in serious trouble.

Lisa Blair was attempting to become the fastest person to sail solo, NonStop and unassisted around Antarctica when she had what she calls a bad day at the office. On day seventy two of our record attempt, the sea state was as big as a two to three story building, and Lisa found herself in serious trouble.

I was napping in my bunk and I just heard this super loud bang, Like it sounded like I've never actually heard a real gunshot. You'd probably be able to tell me this, but sounded like a gunshot going off, where there was like this metallic kind of after ringing in my ear drum, and I launched out of my bunk and onto my engine box, and I have this little perspex clear dome on the top of the engine box I can look out without physically having to kind of climb out of the boat. And I jumped up on there, and I initially thought it was something at the back of the boat that had broken, so I like looked to the back of the boat. It's just that sort of blue tinge of sunset, like you know where you're just about to lose the last bit of daylight so you can see enough, but you're not. It's not daylight still. And I looked back and everything looked normal. And then I looked to the front of the boat and all I could see was my twenty two meter Like, Alamin, your mass just flexing and bending like a hula girl shaking her hips, and it really was just like warbling around like this crazy movement that a mass should absolutely not have. And I initially thought tack the boat, like change the direction of the boat and put the pressure of the wind on the non broken side, because I realized I've broken a piece of rigging, And before I even had a chance to do that, the mask came crashing down, And honestly, like being so remote location and understanding how remote I was, and knowing that this was one of those worst case scenarios happening, listening to the sounds of the boat as it's that twisting like metal or metal grinding and shaking, and all the forces on the boat have changed, so the whole boat shuddering around you, and I didn't like I kind of knew that it was the mask, but I didn't know what other damage was taking place because the shear's noise, like the volume of it was like just definitely loud, and like if you've ever seen like one of those car yards where they crushed the cars and it's got that real high pitched metal grinding like nails down the chalkboard kind of sound. It was that like amplify the thousand times inside the boat. And I ran out on deck like I had my life jacket on and my safety tether, So I clipped onto the boat and I climbed out and I looked forward and where my mast used to be was just air. There was just nothing there and the like in a traditional kind of dismassing. And for those listening who don't know what a mask is, it's the sticky bit that goes up on a sailboat that your sails fly on. It's the tall part. And so it had snapped at deck level like there was nothing standing out of the boat anymore, and it's highly unlikely that it would normally do that. But what happens now is I've got a twenty two meter long spear tangled to the boat with all the other rigging and the ropes and everything in eight meter breaking seas, about to go into a new storm the size of a hurricane or a cyclone, and I'm alone one thousand miles from land in crap conditions. And what can happen is one of those waves can drive the mass through the hull of the boat and start sinking new And at the initial time of the emergency, the bottom sort of two meters of the mast was trapped on the deck by all those ropes. But these waves, because I'm technically like now anchored in the middle of a storm, so the boat drifted one hundred and eighty degrees around because I was anchored on the sails and the debris in the ocean, the volume of debris and the ocean and the waves, these six to eight meter waves were smashing into the mast and rigging first and then driving it up onto the deck of the boat and like forcing it forward, and then the whitewater would hit the whole of the boat and shove the boat out from kind of underneath the mast. And it became so violent that it was basically starting to cut the boat in half. And so it started to sow the boat in half with the force behind this happening.

I was napping in my bunk and I just heard this super loud bang, Like it sounded like I've never actually heard a real gunshot. You'd probably be able to tell me this, but sounded like a gunshot going off, where there was like this metallic kind of after ringing in my ear drum, and I launched out of my bunk and onto my engine box, and I have this little perspex clear dome on the top of the engine box I can look out without physically having to kind of climb out of the boat. And I jumped up on there, and I initially thought it was something at the back of the boat that had broken, so I like looked to the back of the boat. It's just that sort of blue tinge of sunset, like you know where you're just about to lose the last bit of daylight so you can see enough, but you're not. It's not daylight still. And I looked back and everything looked normal. And then I looked to the front of the boat and all I could see was my twenty two meter Like, Alamin, your mass just flexing and bending like a hula girl shaking her hips, and it really was just like warbling around like this crazy movement that a mass should absolutely not have. And I initially thought tack the boat, like change the direction of the boat and put the pressure of the wind on the non broken side, because I realized I've broken a piece of rigging, And before I even had a chance to do that, the mask came crashing down, And honestly, like being so remote location and understanding how remote I was, and knowing that this was one of those worst case scenarios happening, listening to the sounds of the boat as it's that twisting like metal or metal grinding and shaking, and all the forces on the boat have changed, so the whole boat shuddering around you, and I didn't like I kind of knew that it was the mask, but I didn't know what other damage was taking place because the shear's noise, like the volume of it was like just definitely loud, and like if you've ever seen like one of those car yards where they crushed the cars and it's got that real high pitched metal grinding like nails down the chalkboard kind of sound. It was that like amplify the thousand times inside the boat. And I ran out on deck like I had my life jacket on and my safety tether, So I clipped onto the boat and I climbed out and I looked forward and where my mast used to be was just air. There was just nothing there and the like in a traditional kind of dismassing. And for those listening who don't know what a mask is, it's the sticky bit that goes up on a sailboat that your sails fly on. It's the tall part. And so it had snapped at deck level like there was nothing standing out of the boat anymore, and it's highly unlikely that it would normally do that. But what happens now is I've got a twenty two meter long spear tangled to the boat with all the other rigging and the ropes and everything in eight meter breaking seas, about to go into a new storm the size of a hurricane or a cyclone, and I'm alone one thousand miles from land in crap conditions. And what can happen is one of those waves can drive the mass through the hull of the boat and start sinking new And at the initial time of the emergency, the bottom sort of two meters of the mast was trapped on the deck by all those ropes. But these waves, because I'm technically like now anchored in the middle of a storm, so the boat drifted one hundred and eighty degrees around because I was anchored on the sails and the debris in the ocean, the volume of debris and the ocean and the waves, these six to eight meter waves were smashing into the mast and rigging first and then driving it up onto the deck of the boat and like forcing it forward, and then the whitewater would hit the whole of the boat and shove the boat out from kind of underneath the mast. And it became so violent that it was basically starting to cut the boat in half. And so it started to sow the boat in half with the force behind this happening.

What is going through your mind, Lisa, when you're seeing this, because you are now at the mercy of Mother nature, you can't do anything. What do you do? What's going through your head?

What is going through your mind, Lisa, when you're seeing this, because you are now at the mercy of Mother nature, you can't do anything. What do you do? What's going through your head?

Initially it was on a loop going this is so not good, This is so not good, This is so not good.

Initially it was on a loop going this is so not good, This is so not good, This is so not good.

This is so not good. And it was really like the panic stations.

This is so not good. And it was really like the panic stations.

Like I had I had planned for a dismastering, I had planned for an emergency like this, but I hadn't planned for the emotional response of an emergency like that, and I hadn't really considered like I guess I had tried to puzzle through how I thought I would react and I'd apply logic, and I would save the boat, and it would all be wonderful and there's rainbows and like pretty clouds and it's all perfect. But real world doesn't happen that way, and so I panicked. The first sort of ten to fifteen minutes, I just blindly was like, I've got to cut it free. I've got to cut it free before it sinks the boat, before one of those waves rips the mast off and throws.

Like I had I had planned for a dismastering, I had planned for an emergency like this, but I hadn't planned for the emotional response of an emergency like that, and I hadn't really considered like I guess I had tried to puzzle through how I thought I would react and I'd apply logic, and I would save the boat, and it would all be wonderful and there's rainbows and like pretty clouds and it's all perfect. But real world doesn't happen that way, and so I panicked. The first sort of ten to fifteen minutes, I just blindly was like, I've got to cut it free. I've got to cut it free before it sinks the boat, before one of those waves rips the mast off and throws.

It through the hull.

It through the hull.

And I was extremely conscious of the fact that if I had to abandon my life raft, the sea state was going to build to ten meters that night, and this inflatable rubber life raft, it's not going to survive like it would be a death sentence to abandon the boat. So my only way of surviving was going to be to keep that boat floating.

And I was extremely conscious of the fact that if I had to abandon my life raft, the sea state was going to build to ten meters that night, and this inflatable rubber life raft, it's not going to survive like it would be a death sentence to abandon the boat. So my only way of surviving was going to be to keep that boat floating.

If you'd like to hear the full interviews with both Lisa Blair and Kelsey Waghorn, check out then links in the show notes. I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, feel free to leave me a review. I'm at Middleton. Catch you again next time.

If you'd like to hear the full interviews with both Lisa Blair and Kelsey Waghorn, check out then links in the show notes. I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, feel free to leave me a review. I'm at Middleton. Catch you again next time.