Father & Daughter Thrown Overboard: A Parent's Nightmare

In May 2021, keen yachtsman Glenn Anderson is sailing up the coast of Western Australia with his 11-year-old daughter, Ruby. As they near the halfway point of their adventure, conditions turn brutally rough. And when their yacht is struck by a huge wave, father and daughter will be sent tumbling into the seething, danger-filled waters of the Indian Ocean. But falling overboard is just the beginning. With their vessel disappearing in the storm, Glenn will find himself in a terrible position as a captain... and an even worse one as a father... A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. Written by Joe Viner | Produced by Ed Baranski | Assistant Producer: Luke Lonergan | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Joel Duddell | Sound Supervisor: Matt Peaty | Sound design by Jacob Booth | Assembly edit by Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Ralph Tittley. For ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions If you have an amazing survival story of your own that you’d like to put forward for the show, let us know. Drop us an email at [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:18John Hopkins?

  It's early afternoon, Sunday, May 30, 2021.

• 0:23John Hopkins?

  On the coast of Western Australia, gale-force winds churn the waters of Jurian Bay into a turbid frenzy.

• 0:32John Hopkins?

  The 40 knot gusts are multidirectional, blowing, it seems, from every angle, from all points of the compass.

• 0:40John Hopkins?

  The result is confusion and chaos, an angry, frothing maelstrom.

• 0:46John Hopkins?

  Waves barrel into each other, their foamy crests merging and erupting in vertical blasts of spray.

• 0:55John Hopkins?

  Though we are just two nautical miles from shore, the rocky headland is obscured behind a shroud of sea fog.

• 1:03John Hopkins?

  On one of the small islands that guard the entrance to the bay, the glow of a lighthouse perforates the mist.

• 1:10John Hopkins?

  A faint, white pinprick in the all-consuming gray.

• 1:15John Hopkins?

  On karma days, this stretch of coast is popular with sailors and surfers, but nobody would venture out in conditions like these. And today, there isn't a soul out there. At least, there shouldn't be.

• 1:29John Hopkins?

  But four kilometers out to sea, beyond the reef that skirts the bay's wide mouth, a pair of individuals are visible against the side of a surging five-meter swell.

• 1:42John Hopkins?

  Forty-one-year-old Glenn Anderson and his daughter, Ruby, just 11 years old. Glenn reaches for his daughter and pulls her into him, seconds before a massive wave rolls over their heads, forcing them both under.

• 2:00John Hopkins?

  They emerge, gasping and disoriented, the whites of their eyes gleaming in the murky half-darkness.

• 2:09John Hopkins?

  With one hand gripping his daughter, Glenn scans the debris that floats around them, searching for something buoyant to hold on to.

• 2:17Speaker 02

  I remember I grabbed a wooden oar and kind of tucked that under, and rubbed his arms to help her float while I was still holding her. And then I also grabbed a dive flipper that was floating nearby.

• 2:28John Hopkins?

  Glenn shoves one foot into the flipper, which luckily is the right size. Then he lifts his head and begins frantically looking for their boat amid the rollicking waves.

• 2:41John Hopkins?

  There it is, about ten metres away, lurching up and down on the heavy swell.

• 2:47John Hopkins?

  It's close enough for Glenn to make out what's happening on deck. Their three other crew members emerge from the cabin to find Glenn and Ruby gone. Glenn catches their attention, bellowing for help at the top of his lungs and waving his free arm.

• 3:03John Hopkins?

  The crew, having spotted the two in the water, rush to start the boat's engine so they can turn it around and pick them up. But something's wrong. The boat is totally flooded and the engine won't start. Meanwhile, the vessel is drifting further away. Glenn adjusts his grip around his daughter's chest and starts desperately paddling in the direction of the boat.

• 3:27Speaker 02

  So they kind of drifted towards where there were more breaking waves and we were trying to swim towards them, but the boat was drifting further downwind from us, and it was drifting faster than we could swim.

• 3:44John Hopkins?

  Ever wondered what you would do when disaster strikes? If your life depended on your next decision, could you make the right choice? Welcome to Real Survival Stories. These are the astonishing tales of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations, people suddenly forced to fight for their lives.

• 4:05John Hopkins?

  In this episode, we meet 41-year-old Glenn Anderson. In May 2021, a schoolteacher and keen amateur yachtsman is sailing up the coast of Western Australia with his 11-year-old daughter Ruby. For Glenn, the trip is an opportunity to share his passion with his child, and maybe to pass on his love of sailing to her. But as they near the halfway point of their adventure, things are not going to plan. Conditions are rough, and Ruby, though she puts on a brave face, is struggling. And then things go from bad to worse.

• 4:39Speaker 02

  All of a sudden, I heard a noise, the noise of a wave breaking just off to our port side, and I looked and probably 50 metres away, there was a wave which I would say had been about 15 feet high.

• 4:52John Hopkins?

  When a huge wave slams into the yacht, Glenn and Ruby will be thrown overboard, pitched headlong into the seething waters of the Indian Ocean.

• 5:02Speaker 02

  Ruby was almost asleep at the time, so she had no idea what had happened. She hadn't seen or heard the wave. Next thing she knew, she was waking up in the ocean.

• 5:11John Hopkins?

  Falling overboard will be just the beginning. With his terrified daughter being pushed by the waves in one direction and his boat rapidly drifting away in the other, Glenn will find himself in a terrible position as a captain, and an even worse one as a father.

• 5:25Speaker 02

  Ruby and I were separated from the rest of the crew, without a beacon, without any way of anyone knowing exactly where we were.

• 5:33John Hopkins?

  I'm John Hopkins. From the Noiser Podcast Network, this is Real Survival Stories.

• 6:04John Hopkins?

  It's Saturday, the 29th of May 2021, just off Rottenest Island near Perth, Western Australia.

• 6:12John Hopkins?

  41-year-old Glenn Anderson stands on the deck of his anchored yacht, surveying the sky above the Indian Ocean. White cumulus clouds mass overhead, bruised with dark pockets of rain.

• 6:26John Hopkins?

  May can be a tricky month here in the southern hemisphere. A transitional period when balmy autumns give way to wet, blustery winters.

• 6:36John Hopkins?

  Glenn scours the horizon, stroking his bearded chin.

• 6:41John Hopkins?

  A stiff breeze is blowing, dappling the sea with jagged whitecaps. Weather reports predict this wind to get stronger, with forecasted gusts of twenty-five to thirty knots. Those are rough conditions, sporty, as Glenn likes to refer to them, with perhaps a touch of understatement.

• 7:00John Hopkins?

  Maybe it would be best to stay where they are, anchored to windward off the coast of Rottenest Island, and wait for the bad weather to pass.

• 7:07Speaker 02

  The option was to either stay at Rottenest, on the protected side of the island, or push on and try and get to the next kind of waypoint, which was just north of Durian Bay. The decision was, like the crew, that we would leave and take on the weather, rather than waiting a few days and, you know, kind of running out of time or having less time to spend elsewhere because we'd waited.

• 7:31John Hopkins?

  The decision is made democratically as a crew. But as captain, the buck stops with Glenn. When all is said and done, it is he who must weigh the risks against the rewards. And on this particular voyage, Glenn has good reason to be more vigilant. His eleven-year-old daughter, Ruby, is one of the crew.

• 7:52John Hopkins?

  Glenn has to carefully consider the situation. For the last few days sailing have shown that Ruby is learning fast. It appears she can handle herself at sea. And so Glenn fires up the engine and steers the yacht out of the harbour.

• 8:09John Hopkins?

  As a dad, he tries to strike a balance between emboldening Ruby to be adventurous and providing a voice of caution. It's a line that he's had to learn to walk in his own life.

• 8:20Speaker 02

  I guess I have what you'd probably describe as an adventurous spirit, and it's someone that really wants to live their life and take risks and have adventures. And, you know, sometimes those risks pay off and sometimes they don't.

• 8:32John Hopkins?

  Glenn grew up in a suburb of Perth in Western Australia, where he spent a happy childhood surfing and sailing.

• 8:39John Hopkins?

  At eighteen, he went to university to study sports science with ambitions of becoming a PE teacher. But his social life quickly took precedence over his academics, and he dropped out of university after a couple of years.

• 8:51Speaker 02

  I kind of fell into a bit of a social pattern, let's say, and my university studies weren't exactly going well because I was kind of out partying and enjoying being eighteen and nineteen. And yeah, probably when I reflect back, I probably wasn't ready for more study at that time.

• 9:06John Hopkins?

  After dropping out of university, Glenn decided to join the Western Australian Police Academy and graduated as an officer at the age of twenty. There were aspects of the job that suited Glenn, but after a few years in the force, the cons began to outweigh the pros.

• 9:23Speaker 02

  It was taking a toll on me psychologically because it was a very negative atmosphere in the job. Like, you can imagine, you're dealing with a lot of people in difficult situations and at low points in their life, and it's often a very thankless job. I saw more so it in other older officers that had been around and that were jaded and angry and sick of the job, and I was like, I do not want to kind of end up like that down the track.

• 9:48John Hopkins?

  Glenn quit the police force, went back to university, and retrained as a teacher, only to go on to start a landscaping business. Around this time, Glenn met and married Ruby's mum. They moved to the town of Margaret River, a beach resort three hours south of Perth. The marriage didn't last, but the pair remained on good terms. After the divorce, Glenn settled in the nearby town of Busselton, where, after yet another pivot, he took a teaching job at the local high school. Throughout Glenn's various life and career changes, one thing has remained constant: his passion for being on the ocean. He goes sailing as often as he can, usually gliding around Busselton Harbour in his eleven-metre

• 10:33John Hopkins?

  yacht, Impala Two.

• 10:36John Hopkins?

  But what he loves more than anything is taking his boat up the coast to Ningaloo, a stretch of shoreline in Australia's far northwest, famed for its clear tropical waters and dazzling marine life.

• 10:48Speaker 02

  You're on the Ningaloo Reef, which is one of the most amazing reef systems in the world. And there's whale sharks, humpback whales, dugong turtles, manta rays, beautiful coral. And you could possibly want to be around as an ocean person is up there. So it's a really special place for me and that's where we're going to go again in 21.

• 11:12Speaker 03

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• 11:21Speaker 04

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• 11:27John Hopkins?

  This October on the Noiser Podcast Network. Real Dictators Returns. We're in the Dominican Republic for the story of Rafael Trujillo. On Short History of, we'll uncover the secrets of the Hoover Dam and follow Mary Shelley, the creator of Frankenstein and his monster. On Real Survival Stories, a modern Viking adventure as a replica Norse vessel embarks on a daring voyage across the North Sea and a man is struck blind all alone at the very top of the world. In Jane Austen Stories, Emma continues with Dame Julie Andrews. And in Sherlock Holmes Short Stories, Holmes and Watson unpick an epic mystery of hidden treasure and murder in the Sign of Four.

• 12:10John Hopkins?

  Get all of these shows and more early and ad-free on Noiser Plus.

• 12:18John Hopkins?

  A few months ago, Glenn asked Ruby if she fancied making the 750-mile voyage up the coast with him to Ningaloo. The father-daughter pair have made several shorter trips in the past, and Ruby has shown enough desire and aptitude to suggest that she is ready for something a bit more ambitious.

• 12:35Speaker 02

  I was obviously going to take Ruby with me this time. She was 11 years old and I'd gotten a hesitant approval from her mother. Her mother and I had previously separated, but we were, you know, still on really good terms and she was supportive of, you know, letting the kids have holidays and adventures and wasn't looking to deny them experiences.

• 12:57John Hopkins?

  After getting approval from his ex-wife, Glenn welcomed Ruby into the crew. Alongside father and daughter is a guy called Dane, a 32-year-old sailor friend of Glenn's.

• 13:09John Hopkins?

  A few days ago, the three of them set sail from Busselton, before picking up two additional experienced crew members in Perth.

• 13:18John Hopkins?

  Last, but not least, there is Banja, Ruby's nine-month-old puppy, who's come along for the ride. It's a varied crew, spanning a broad spectrum of age and experience. And nothing can be taken for granted at sea. Glenn himself has experienced accidents and dangerous incidents in the past. But for this voyage, they won't be straying too far from the coastline. If all goes smoothly, they'll be at Ningaloo in a couple of weeks' time, diving the beautiful coral reef.

• 13:54John Hopkins?

  It's the middle of the night, about six hours after the Impala II left Rottnest Island. As forecasted, the wind has increased throughout the night. All around the 40-foot yacht, the dark ocean rises and falls. The vessel splashes through the blackness, salty air swirls around on deck. The crew take it in turns to go on watch, while the others grab what sleep they can. But, as so often on a boat, the incessant movement is making it hard for some to get decent rest. Seasickness is gripping crew members. Young Ruby, less experienced at sea, is struggling with the nausea. But so is Glenn.

• 14:36Speaker 02

  I tried to eat something and then vomited it back up again. Ruby hadn't eaten anything. And I was trying to encourage her to drink water, but she was just kind of saying, "If I drink it, I'm gonna throw it up." So yeah, we were all kind of low on food and low on energy by the time the morning came around.

• 14:54John Hopkins?

  At one stage during the night, Glenn notices that the dinghy, which had been attached to the stern, has disappeared, presumably ripped off by the force of the waves.

• 15:04Speaker 02

  I came up for my watch rotation and it was dawn and the person that was on watch hadn't seen it go. So we weren't quite sure how long it had been gone for. I turned the boat around and went back to try and see if we could find it at night with swell and darkness. It's pretty hard to find a like a 10 foot dinghy bobbing around in the ocean.

• 15:28John Hopkins?

  The Impala 2 slogs on. Eventually dawn appears through cracks in the night sky.

• 15:36John Hopkins?

  The darkness lifts around the yacht, heralding a welcome end to a long night. Glenn looks around at his crew.

• 15:43Speaker 02

  As we approached Jurian Bay, given regard to the seasickness that was on board, trying to increase the comfort of the crew basically, I decided that we could pull into Jurian Bay and sail through the bay rather than outside the reef and then kind of sail around the bay to the other side, round to Sandy Cape. It just meant that we'd be out of the swell a bit more and hopefully we'd be even more comfortable.

• 16:06John Hopkins?

  Ruby, in particular, looks like she needs a break. After a night without any food or water, the 11-year-old's face is pallid and drawn. Glenn plans a change of course. He decides to head into Jurian Bay, a wide curved inlet just beyond a scattering of islands to the east of their current course. He turns the wheel and steers the yacht through a passage between two of the small islands.

• 16:37John Hopkins?

  It's about 20 minutes later. Glenn grips the wheel as the yacht forges on through the passage. The ocean remains a confusion of waves charging in different directions. Some sweep towards land while others careen westward, borne along by the powerful undertow. The result is messy, foamy, and jagged. Waves smashing into each other, sending up plumes of whitewater. These are dicey conditions, and Glenn must remain focused.

• 17:10Speaker 02

  There'd been nothing ahead of where we were sailing that had caused me any concern. I'd been, you know, looking for a good 10, 15 minutes down this passage and hadn't seen any waves or anything that had really kind of made me think, oh, this is not the right place to be.

• 17:28John Hopkins?

  The yacht plows forward, jerkily pitching and swaying through the muddled seas. Glenn keeps his eyes fixed ahead. Visibility is poor. The spray off the ocean mingles with a low-lying mist, creating an opaque screen of grey. He has to use all his senses to navigate, hearing and feeling his way through the passage. Ruby sits behind him in the cockpit, shuddering with intense nausea, struggling. Glenn glances down to make sure she's all right. Which is when he hears it.

• 18:04Speaker 02

  All of a sudden, I heard a noise, just a noise of a wave breaking just off to our port side. And I looked and probably fifty meters away, there was a wave which I would say would have been about fifteen feet high.

• 18:17John Hopkins?

  A massive wave hurtles towards them. In the seconds before impact, Glenn has time to take in the size of this immense wall of water hurtling from the mist.

• 18:29Speaker 02

  I turned the boat to go with the wave, which in hindsight probably wasn't the best call. I don't like to spend a lot of time to think about it.

• 18:37John Hopkins?

  As Glenn turns the wheel, the yacht is swept up like a scrap of flotsam, lifted and tossed sideways as it's broadsided by the behemoth. In the cockpit, the wave hits with the impact of a detonating bomb. Glenn and Ruby are engulfed by the blast.

• 18:57Speaker 02

  This wave just kind of picked up the boat and whitewater filled the entire cockpit. And the boat was slammed down onto its side, mast into the water. And Ruby and I were thrown out of the cockpit into the water by that wave.

• 19:14John Hopkins?

  For a moment, Glenn is helpless. Like a ragdoll, the force of the water pulls his limbs in different directions, tumbling him in the agitated surf. Water thunders in his ears as his mouth and nose fill with brine.

• 19:30John Hopkins?

  A second later, the chaos of the initial impact subsides enough for him to push his head above the surface, gasping and spluttering.

• 19:39John Hopkins?

  Looking around for Ruby in the furious, frothing waves, he suddenly spots his daughter's face, her eyes wide with terror.

• 19:47John Hopkins?

  Glenn grabs her and pulls her into it. Then he turns his head in the direction of the boat. It's already some distance away, toppled on its side, rising and falling with the swell. Glenn grits his teeth and starts to kick.

• 20:01Speaker 02

  We were trying to swim towards them, but the boat was drifting further downwind from us, and it was drifting farther than we could swim.

• 20:14John Hopkins?

  It's about midday on Sunday, May 30, 2021. In the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia, Glenn Anderson and his 11-year-old daughter Ruby are two tiny heads bobbing in the granite-gray swell.

• 20:31John Hopkins?

  With frantic, labored strokes, father and daughter pull themselves through the water, back in the direction of their boat. But the distance between them and the vessel is getting wider every second. Glenn lifts his head above the churning surf.

• 20:46John Hopkins?

  Through the spray, he can just make out the shapes of the other three on board, all of whom were below deck when the wave hit. The yacht must have righted itself after the knockdown, and surely the crew must have realised by now that Glenn and Ruby are in the water. They'll soon come back for them.

• 21:04John Hopkins?

  But as Glenn watches his yacht rise and fall with the motion of the sea, he spots another monstrous wave roll in.

• 21:14Speaker 02

  And then, yeah, I saw the next wave hit the boat. The crew was all up on deck by this point. A similar-sized wave to what had hit us first came through, knocked the boat down again. They all managed to hold on to the boat somehow. And then the boat righted itself again, but by that point it had taken on too much water and it just started sinking.

• 21:35John Hopkins?

  Glenn watches in dismay as the boat disappears below the waterline.

• 21:41John Hopkins?

  The three crew members on board act fast. They grab what vital kit they can, including life jackets, before hurling themselves into the ocean.

• 21:51John Hopkins?

  Within seconds, all that remains of the Impala II is the tip of her forty-foot mast, and then she's gone, swallowed by the sea.

• 22:02John Hopkins?

  Glenn and Ruby struggle over to where the other three are bobbing amid the debris of the sunk boat.

• 22:08John Hopkins?

  But there is one member of the crew, missing.

• 22:11Speaker 02

  So we come together, and I can't remember who asked it, but someone said, "Where's Banjo?" And we kind of called his name out a couple of times.

• 22:20John Hopkins?

  They scour the murky, debris-filled water, praying to catch sight of the little dog, but there is no sign.

• 22:27Speaker 02

  And I just said, "Look, he's gone. He's not gonna make this. We just have to let that go." And that's the only time that Ruby cried, I think, during the whole, the whole day, through everything that happened. Yeah, when she realized Banjo was gone, she, she burst into tears, and I said, "There's, there's nothing we can do about that right now, and we need to just focus on getting ourselves through this."

• 22:53Speaker 02

  And that was the last we ever saw of him.

• 22:57John Hopkins?

  However painful, now is not the time to mourn. The remaining crew members find themselves in an incredibly dangerous position. One, they must start taking immediate steps to resolve.

• 23:09Speaker 02

  There's the five of us floating in the, in the middle of the ocean. No boat, debris everywhere. And then it was kind of time to make a plan.

• 23:19John Hopkins?

  Firstly, Glenn and Ruby attach life jackets to themselves that have been salvaged from the boat. Then everyone assesses injuries. Fortunately, it seems there's nothing critical, aside from some nasty cuts and bruises.

• 23:33John Hopkins?

  Dane suspects he might have broken a rib, and Glenn has a bloody gash on his forehead. Then Ruby's voice pipes up, barely audible beneath the waves.

• 23:43Speaker 02

  Ruby had said to me, "Dad, my leg's really sore." And I kind of said, "Can you lift it up so I can see?" And immediately, when she lifted it out of the water, I could tell that she had a broken leg. It was just flopping about.

• 24:00John Hopkins?

  Ruby's shin has cracked in two, splintered by the impact against the side of the boat.

• 24:07John Hopkins?

  Glenn looks at his daughter, who is visibly fighting to ignore the volleys of pain that must surely be firing through her limb.

• 24:15Speaker 02

  I remember saying to her, "You've definitely got a broken leg, but there's nothing I can do about it for you right now. You're just gonna have to hang in there and you need to get us out of this situation first and then we can deal with that." And then she took that on. She went, "Yep, I understand." And, you know, you could tell she was in pain the whole time, but she never once complained about it after that. And I just thought that was really, really brave of her to be able to do that. For an 11-year-old girl, I was just blown away by her staunchness, I guess.

• 24:52Speaker 03

  How many discounts does USAA Auto Insurance offer? Too many to say here. Multi-vehicle discount, safe driver discount, uh, new vehicle discount, storage discount, legacy discount.

• 25:01Speaker 04

  How many discounts will you stack up? Tap the banner or visit usaa.com/autodisc量 Restrictions apply.

• 25:07John Hopkins?

  This October on the Noiser Podcast Network, Real Dictators returns. We're in the Dominican Republic for the story of Rafael Trujillo. On Short History of, we'll uncover the secrets of the Hoover Dam and follow Mary Shelley, the creator of Frankenstein and his monster. On Real Survival Stories, a modern Viking adventure as a replica Norse vessel embarks on a daring voyage across the North Sea and a man is struck blind, all alone, at the very top of the world.

• 25:38John Hopkins?

  In Jane Austen Stories, Emma continues with Dame Julie Andrews. And in Sherlock Holmes Short Stories, Holmes and Watson unpick an epic mystery of hidden treasure and murder in The Sign of Four. Get all of these shows and more early and ad-free on Noiser Plus.

• 25:58John Hopkins?

  Having established the extent of Ruby's injuries, the need to reach safety is even more urgent. Glenn looks around.

• 26:06John Hopkins?

  He reckons they are probably about four kilometers from the mainland, about two and a half miles, but separated from shore by a shallow reef. Swimming over it will risk being dashed against sharp rock. Then, just above the crest of the swell, Glenn catches a glimpse of an island, a flat, rocky protrusion, barely shading the horizon. It is their best hope.

• 26:33John Hopkins?

  Before they set off swimming for the island, the shipwreck sailors activate their eperbe beacon. This essential piece of kit sends out a distress signal via satellite.

• 26:45John Hopkins?

  If it works as it should, it will transmit alerts to all search and rescue authorities in the area. Dane straps the eperbe to his person for safekeeping. Then the five of them start to swim.

• 26:59John Hopkins?

  Given Ruby's condition, Glenn has to hold his daughter with one arm and paddle with the other.

• 27:05John Hopkins?

  From the debris, he has managed to grab a wooden oar, which the eleven-year-old now grips for some extra buoyancy. He's also found a single diving flipper, which helps as he kicks.

• 27:16John Hopkins?

  Even so, in the vicious conditions, it's hard to make progress. It isn't long before Glenn and Ruby have fallen well behind the others.

• 27:26Speaker 02

  With me having to tow Ruby, I couldn't really keep up with the way that the other crew were swimming. So, we kind of came together and spread apart, and came together and spread apart a couple of times just because the sea was so chaotic as well.

• 27:41John Hopkins?

  Glenn lifts his head. The other three are barely visible now, tiny specks of red against the dark ocean. In the mayhem of the sea, the group is continually separated. The currents are too powerful. It's impossible for the five of them to stick together, no matter how hard they'll try. Eventually, isolated from the others, Glenn has to concede he and Ruby need a change of plan.

• 28:08John Hopkins?

  He and Ruby are going to have to swim across the reef and into the bay, where the current will be less strong. From there, they'll have to swim directly for the mainland.

• 28:20John Hopkins?

  Grimacing, Glenn turns his body and with one arm tight around Ruby's chest, begins swimming towards the reef. The sea here is even rougher, as the waves break against the shallow rock, churning the water into a deadly whirlpool.

• 28:33Speaker 02

  There was a couple of times that a big breaking wave was coming over, and I'd say to Ruby, "Okay, ready for a breath hold, right? Hold breath now, and we dunk under the wave, and let it pass over, let it roll us, and then we pop up the other side, and then repeated that a few times, until we were through the part where the waves are breaking on the reef.

• 28:55John Hopkins?

  Eventually Glenn and Ruby make it across the reef and into the slightly calmer waters of the bay. They're through the most dangerous stretch, but getting past the reef was a sprint. Now they have a marathon ahead of them, a long, arduous swim to shore.

• 29:11John Hopkins?

  Plus, crossing the reef has sealed their separation from the others, and more importantly, from the perp. Without the satellite beacon, the father and daughter are truly on their own.

• 29:24Speaker 02

  So Ruby and I were separated from the rest of the crew, without a beacon, without any way of anyone knowing exactly where we were. So yeah, from that point on, my mindset was just, "I'm just gonna keep swimming."

• 29:46John Hopkins?

  It's about an hour later.

• 29:49John Hopkins?

  Glenn's muscles burn as he toes his daughter's weakened body through the waves, kicking his legs with as much power as he can muster. Ruby shivers violently in his arms, her teeth chattering.

• 30:02John Hopkins?

  Glenn is a strong swimmer, but this awkward way of moving through the water with one arm around Ruby's chest is testing his abilities.

• 30:10John Hopkins?

  No sooner has he found a rhythm than the acid buildup becomes too painful and he has to readjust grip.

• 30:16Speaker 02

  So as if I got tired in one position, I would change to another position, try a different type of kick or a different type of stroke, and just wanted to keep making progress.

• 30:26John Hopkins?

  Every feeble kick, every limp, labored stroke, they gain a modicum of distance. An inch here, an inch there, closing the gap to the shore one minuscule increment at a time.

• 30:40John Hopkins?

  But as time ebbs away, so too does Glenn's energy.

• 30:45John Hopkins?

  And physical exhaustion isn't the only danger here. Blood still oozes from the cuts in Glenn's forehead, slicking the surface of the sea around them. Surely, it's only a matter of time before the blood attracts those hungry predators for which Australia's coastal waters are notorious. But right now, that doesn't bear thinking about.

• 31:07Speaker 02

  I just didn't allow that thought to enter my head because it just wouldn't have been helpful at all. I don't remember ever once thinking, "Oh, what if there are sharks?" Or, "The shark's going to be attracted to my blood?" or anything like that. I was just totally locked in on keeping Ruby's head above water and trying to get us to the shore or get us rescued.

• 31:31John Hopkins?

  On they go. Glenn periodically looks up to see how much further to shore. But there remains a yawning chasm between them and the land.

• 31:42John Hopkins?

  He grits his teeth and keeps going.

• 31:47John Hopkins?

  Another hour passes.

• 31:50John Hopkins?

  At some point, a rescue plane flies low over the bay. It doesn't seem to spot Glenn and Ruby, but its presence lifts morale. It suggests the EPRP has done its job in alerting the authorities to their plight. Maybe the others have already been rescued.

• 32:08Speaker 02

  As soon as we saw the jet coming over, that gave us such a boost, knowing that, "Okay, so they know we're here at least. The people know that we need help, and help is here." And I said to her, "Look, they're here for us. Like, they've come to help us. They'll see us, don't worry. And there'll be a boat come and pick us up soon." So, that was the best-case scenario. So that's what I presented to Ruby at the time.

• 32:31John Hopkins?

  As they swim, Glenn spots boats in the distance, chugging out across the bay. He tries calling for help, but his voice is drowned out by the crashing waves.

• 32:43John Hopkins?

  Judging by the direction the vessels are heading, it seems there would be rescuers think that father and daughter are on the other side of the reef, not here, in the bay. Glenn has no way of alerting them to their mistake.

• 32:57John Hopkins?

  It is an added torment to know that rescue is both close at hand and impossibly out of reach.

• 33:04John Hopkins?

  Meanwhile, Ruby is beginning to feel ice cold in Glenn's arms.

• 33:09Speaker 02

  I just kept saying to her, "Look, either we're gonna get picked up or we're gonna swim to shore. So either way, we're gonna be fine. You just have to hang in there, stay with me."

• 33:20John Hopkins?

  Glenn whispers encouragement into Ruby's ears. But after nearly four hours submerged in cold water, it seems increasingly likely that his daughter is becoming hypothermic.

• 33:31Speaker 02

  Through various trainings and jobs that I've had, I'm well aware of the symptoms of hypothermia as well. So I was kind of watching her progress through that and knowing that she hadn't really eaten or drunk much for the last 24 hours. So I knew she wouldn't have a lot of energy reserves to help get through a situation like that.

• 33:54John Hopkins?

  As Ruby's violent shivers fade to feeble trembles, Glenn digs deep, trying to summon an extra reserve of energy. But even as he does, it isn't clear if this is the right strategy. What if all this struggling is simply wasting his strength and putting both himself and Ruby at even greater risk?

• 34:16Speaker 02

  I was wondering if it was smart of me to keep using my energy to keep kicking or whether I would be better off to just float and try and conserve warmth and conserve energy. But that was only kind of momentary. It was just like a consideration. And then I was always just like, "No, just keep kicking, just keep going."

• 34:35John Hopkins?

  Ultimately, something propels Glenn forward. Part, human instinct to have his feet on solid ground. Parts, paternal imperative to get his daughter the medical help she needs.

• 34:46Speaker 02

  It was starting to get to a point where I knew that we needed to be out of the water soon. Sooner rather than later, definitely. But we were getting closer to shore all the time. So that kept me buoyant, that I knew we were making progress. I could tell that we were getting closer, and so I just needed to keep going.

• 35:06Speaker 00

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• 35:21John Hopkins?

  This October on the Noiser Podcast Network. Real Dictators Returns. We're in the Dominican Republic for the story of Rafael Trujillo. On Short History Of, we'll uncover the secrets of the Hoover Dam and follow Mary Shelley, the creator of Frankenstein and his monster. On Real Survival Stories, a modern Viking adventure as a replica Norse vessel embarks on a daring voyage across the North Sea, and a man is struck blind, all alone, at the very top of the world.

• 35:52John Hopkins?

  In Jane Austen Stories, Emma continues with Dame Julie Andrews. And in Sherlock Holmes Short Stories, Holmes and Watson unpick an epic mystery of hidden treasure and murder in The Sign of Four. Get all of these shows and more early and ad-free on Noiser Plus.

• 36:14John Hopkins?

  Another hour has gone by. Glenn concentrates on maintaining temper, corralling his fatigued limbs into a steady rhythm of kicks and strokes.

• 36:25John Hopkins?

  When Ruby slumps in his arms, he hoists her up, keeping her face from slipping under.

• 36:31John Hopkins?

  The salt water stings his eyes and coats the inside of his mouth. He is desperately thirsty. But this is the final strait, one last 200-meter dash to the finish.

• 36:44John Hopkins?

  The sandy beach nears, close enough now for Glenn to make out the scrubby dunes beyond. But his muscles feel like anchors, like sandbags attached to his bones, offering nothing but dead weight.

• 36:58John Hopkins?

  It would be a desperately cruel fate to get this close, only to drown in shallow water.

• 37:05John Hopkins?

  But then Glenn hears the boat.

• 37:09Speaker 02

  The fishery's boat came over straight towards us with the lightning siren going and it was such a moment of relief to see them coming towards us and knowing that they were actually coming to us and not going to go past and not see us like so many boats had done during the day.

• 37:24John Hopkins?

  The boat chugs up to where Glenn and Ruby are treading water, the kindly face of a sea rescue volunteer appearing over the vessel's side.

• 37:33Speaker 02

  The first thing he said to me was, "You almost made it, mate." Like, just classic, like, Aussie humour thing to say, like, after the four and a half hours I'd been in the water. And I said, "Yeah, mate, you're taking away my glory, what are you doing?" And then, uh, yeah, he kind of jokes aside, "Let's get everyone on the boat," and pulled us up.

• 37:54John Hopkins?

  Glenn pushes Ruby up into the rescuer's outstretched arms. Then he climbs up after her and collapses onto the deck of the boat.

• 38:06John Hopkins?

  Almost immediately, the emotion that he's been keeping at bay surges to the surface.

• 38:11Speaker 02

  It wasn't till that point where I'd got on the boat and got to process that we were, we were okay, we were rescuing Ruby, was going to get the medical help she needed, that I had just this emotional release. And, yeah, just, just break down on the boat as we were going back to the harbour. But it was, it was just such a combination of just relief for that, that situation that I'd been over, I knew Ruby was in good hands, and that we were going to be okay.

• 38:47John Hopkins?

  It's a few hours later. After being picked up by Sea Rescue, Glenn and Ruby were promptly airlifted and flown to hospital in Perth. Upon arrival in the emergency room, medical staff checked their vital signs and took blood tests.

• 39:02John Hopkins?

  As well as her broken leg, Ruby was indeed suffering the effects of hypothermia. Fortunately, no lasting damage was done.

• 39:10John Hopkins?

  Doctors inform Glenn that he is displaying symptoms of starvation. Such was the toll that the four-hour swim took on his body.

• 39:20John Hopkins?

  They also learn about the fate of the others. Apparently Dane and the two other crewmates were picked up by sea rescue two hours before Ruby and Glenn were found.

• 39:29Speaker 02

  The rescuers hadn't anticipated that I would try and swim to shore. They were looking in the area where the debris from the boat was floating and kind of near where my other crewmates had been rescued. So they assumed that I'd be in a similar kind of area, whereas I'd been frantically kicking myself mostly towards the shore.

• 39:50John Hopkins?

  Ironically, they might have been rescued sooner, but they stayed put.

• 39:55John Hopkins?

  But then maybe the exertion helped stave off the worst effects of hypothermia. There's ultimately no way of knowing and no point dwelling on what ifs. All that matters is that they're safe.

• 40:09John Hopkins?

  After leaving hospital, Glenn and Ruby return home to Busselton. Life returns to normal, except in many small ways it doesn't.

• 40:19John Hopkins?

  For Glenn, the afterglow of survival casts everything in a new light.

• 40:24Speaker 02

  I remember my partner at the time asked me if I needed anything from the shops. And I was like, no, I think I'm good. And she was like, you're amazing. You've just lost pretty much everything you own and you just don't feel like you don't need anything. And I'm like, I'm alive. Like, at that point in time, that was just, that was enough. That was more than enough. That was amazing.

• 40:46John Hopkins?

  But when the immediate glow of relief fades, Glenn must grapple with the negative fallout of the accident.

• 40:54John Hopkins?

  As the months pass, a dark cloud of guilt forms over him.

• 40:59Speaker 02

  It all kind of came back to that accident and anything else that went wrong. I was like, ah, another mistake by me, another mistake by me. And I was getting in a little bit of a, I had days where I was just inconsolable and that. And that's when I kind of had to really struggle to get back to being in what is and, you know, kind of just getting taken moment by moment.

• 41:25John Hopkins?

  But with time, Glenn manages to silence his demons. He buys a new yacht with his insurance money and is soon back out on the water.

• 41:34Speaker 02

  To quit sailing at that point, I think would have been the worst thing that I could possibly have done. And also, I kind of wanted to set an example for my kids. If you come up against a hardship and it's something that you really want, then to, you know, push on and continue and learn the lessons, learn from your mistakes, but you only fail when you quit, kind of mentality.

• 41:55John Hopkins?

  A year after the accident, Glenn assembles another crew and completes the voyage to Ningaloo that he set out on the previous May. As they sail through the Jurian Bay, close to the spot where they capsized the year before, they are greeted by a pod of dolphins leaping from the water.

• 42:14Speaker 02

  I was just felt so blown away. That was my next experience of Jurian Bay after the previous one. And it almost felt like, like I'm not really, I don't know, into science from the universe or anything like that, but it was just such a beautiful moment to have those dolphins come out and, and meet me and they made me feel welcome in a place that had caused me a bit of a pain from the previous year and a bit of suffering. So yeah, I kind of felt like I was really back on the horse after that and I felt a whole lot better and I was, I was so happy that I'd done it. And, and the rest, the rest of the trip was just amazing that year as well. Like I just had the best trip up the coast and just it reaffirmed that, I guess, that carrying on and getting the new boat and carrying on with my adventures was, was the right call.

• 42:59Speaker 02

  Cause I just think if I, if I hadn't, then I would just wallow in that. If that was the last thing I did in sailing, was sink that boat, then I just, just wouldn't have ever kind of got past it. Like it would have just been something that hung in the back of my mind for the rest of my life. So yeah, to get back on the horse, the buck to you kind of thing and, and go and do that trip was super important for me, I think.

• 43:19John Hopkins?

  As for Ruby, her next time on the water came six months after the accident.

• 43:25John Hopkins?

  Undeterred by her frightening ordeal, she enthusiastically agreed to join her dad on a short sailing trip off the coast near Busselton.

• 43:34John Hopkins?

  He made sure to regularly check up on her, to ensure she felt confident enough to carry on. And to Glenn's immense pride, his daughter's reply was always the same.

• 43:43Speaker 02

  Partway through, I said to her, "How are you feeling?" And she was feeling a bit seasick, there was a bit of swell around and a bit of wind. And she said, "Apart from feeling a bit seasick, I feel safe and comfortable." And that, for her to say that she felt safe again, that absolutely blew my mind. And even when I think about that moment now, it brings tears to my eyes because I was so blown away, you know, that she was okay with that. And it just meant so much to me, that she would put her trust in me again after what had happened and didn't hold that against me. And yeah, that just meant the world to hear those words out of her mouth at that point in time.

• 44:37John Hopkins?

  Next time on Real Survival Stories, can someone, quite literally, come back from the dead?

• 44:44John Hopkins?

  On a winter's evening in New Hampshire in 2011, David Dwyer is at home in his study when he notices that his wife Kelly hasn't come back from her walk in the woods. Concerned, he straps on his snowshoes, grabs his torch, and heads out to look for her. But the situation is more terrible than he can know. Because Kelly isn't merely lost, she has been in an awful accident. She has fallen through the ice into freezing cold water, barely clinging on to life, submerged up to her neck. As Kelly slips into a hypothermic stupor and her heart slows to a standstill, David will have to perform heroics to reach her in time. How will he get her out, without risking his own life too?

• 45:28John Hopkins?

  And what will be the consequences of Kelly's hours spent trapped beneath the ice?

• 45:36John Hopkins?

  That's next time on Real Survival Stories. Listen today without waiting and without ads by joining Noiser Plus.

• 45:44John Hopkins?

  This October on the Noiser Podcast Network. Real Dictators returns. We're in the Dominican Republic for the story of Rafael Trujillo. On Short History of We'll uncover the secrets of the Hoover Dam and follow Mary Shelley, the creator of Frankenstein and his monster. On Real Survival Stories, a modern Viking adventure as a replica Norse vessel embarks on a daring voyage across the North Sea and a man is struck blind, all alone, at the very top of the world. In Jane Austen stories, Emma continues with Dame Julie Andrews. And in Sherlock Holmes short stories, Holmes and Watson unpick an epic mystery of hidden treasure and murder in The Sign of Four.

• 46:26John Hopkins?

  Get all of these shows and more early and ad-free on Noiser Plus.