Hurricane at Sea: Out of the Depths…

A former special forces soldier embraces a nomadic existence, sailing the seas aboard his catamaran. But Micha Moeller’s plans for the future come crashing to a halt when, during a single-handed crossing of the Atlantic, he is thrust into the grip of a deadly hurricane. Shipwrecked a thousand miles from shore, Micha’s immediate survival depends on a makeshift life raft, a few key pieces of kit and his own innate drive to live. And even if he can make it through the tempest, the ocean has plenty more nasty surprises in store, lurking in the depths… A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. Written by Heléna Lewis | 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 Carla Flores, Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Ralph Tittley. For more on this story read Micha’s book Seven Days of Salt. 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.

• 0:02John Hopkins?

  It's April the 18th, 2019.

• 0:06John Hopkins?

  About 1,000 miles east of the Caribbean, a hurricane tears its way across the North Atlantic. Dark, swirling storm clouds ride across the sky, driven by merciless winds of over 70 miles an hour. Squalls of rain explode like shattering glass. The icy droplets spin in through the air before being swallowed by the seething ocean below.

• 0:31John Hopkins?

  Waves twice the height of houses heave themselves up from the swell, obliterating the horizon.

• 0:39John Hopkins?

  And there, in the very heart of the hurricane, is a boat. A 40-foot catamaran named Samsara.

• 0:48John Hopkins?

  The half-submersed vessel rolls and pitches, struggling desperately to stay afloat as the waves throw themselves against her.

• 0:57John Hopkins?

  But it's a losing battle. There is a jagged hole in her side, and dirty, gray seawater is pouring in with frightening speed.

• 1:06John Hopkins?

  In the cockpit, a 47-year-old German named Micha Moeller staggers about, thrown off balance by the violent movements of the vessel.

• 1:16John Hopkins?

  In his arms, he holds a makeshift life raft formed of eight plastic fenders, cushioned bumpers used to protect a boat's hull when docking.

• 1:27John Hopkins?

  Micha tugs on the rope connecting the fenders, the cord cutting into his hands as he ensures all the knots are tight. His only hope of survival now rests on the buoyancy and durability of this small, flimsy-looking rectangle.

• 1:43Speaker 01

  As I was finished with that, the Samsara was already sunk in up to the windows in the saloon. So it was pretty much only the roof of the boat was out of the water. The rest was already under water.

• 2:02John Hopkins?

  With the water now circling his waist, Micha secures a small survival pack to the middle of his ramshackle raft and takes one final look around the flooded Samsara.

• 2:13John Hopkins?

  A split second later, another huge wave smashes into the boat, and Micha lurches, the impact vibrating through him. It's time to go.

• 2:24John Hopkins?

  Clutching his raft, Micha struggles onto the roof of the boat, eyes narrowed against the spray and the spin drift. He looks down into the heaving, roaring swell below. And then, he takes a leap of faith.

• 2:40Speaker 01

  The point came where it was not safe on the boat. So then I threw my fender raft in the water and jumped overboard.

• 2:57John 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.

• 3:18John Hopkins?

  In this episode, we meet Micha Moeller. In 2019, the former Special Forces soldier has embraced a nomadic existence aboard his catamaran. But all his plans for the future come crashing to a halt when, during a single-handed crossing of the Atlantic, the weather suddenly deteriorates, thrusting Micha into the grip of a deadly hurricane.

• 3:40Speaker 01

  The water comes out of all directions. It is a noise like you're sitting in the intake from a jet engine. It is like you get permanently shot with millions of needles. It is unbelievable. I was 100% sure I would never make it out there.

• 4:04John Hopkins?

  Shipwrecked 1,000 miles from the nearest shore, and with no prospect of quick rescue, Micha's survival depends entirely on his hastily-constructed life raft, a few pieces of kit, and his own innate drive to live. And even if he can make it through the worst of the storm, he'll soon discover that the ocean has plenty of other nasty surprises in store for him.

• 4:25Speaker 01

  I realized pretty quick that nobody can come here. Nobody will find you here. I tried then to get my legs and everything out of the water because I was scared that you'll start bleeding, then the sharks will come.

• 4:41John Hopkins?

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

• 5:14John Hopkins?

  It's 10 days earlier, in the sun-drenched splendor of the Bahamas, a dazzling archipelago on the northwestern edge of the Caribbean.

• 5:24John Hopkins?

  On the pristine shores of one of these small islands, a gleaming 40-foot catamaran, the Samsara, bobs gently in the turquoise waters.

• 5:35John Hopkins?

  Onboard, 47-year-old Micha Moeller checks equipment and supplies, finishing preparations for the voyage ahead of him. He has been waiting for a window of decent weather to make the Atlantic crossing back to Spain, where he's been living in an RV camper van for the past couple of years.

• 5:53John Hopkins?

  With conditions looking clear for the foreseeable future, Micha's departure is now imminent.

• 5:59Speaker 01

  The weather forecast looked pretty good. But crossing the Atlantic Ocean takes you two to three weeks. So you can't really get a weather forecast where you say, okay, that weather is perfect for that trip. You know, maybe the next two, three days where you can count on the forecast. So when there shows something up like that, you have to take it.

• 6:31John Hopkins?

  Micha's upcoming voyage is the culmination of months of hard work.

• 6:36John Hopkins?

  He first learned of the Samsara when he was still in Spain, searching for a boat to give him the same freedom on water his RV did on land.

• 6:46John Hopkins?

  The vessel, based in Antigua, was in bad shape, having been severely damaged by recent hurricanes. Despite that, Micha saw the potential. With two parallel hulls connected by a bridge, catamarans are fast, spacious, and comfortable, making them ideal for someone seeking to spend prolonged periods of time at sea.

• 7:07John Hopkins?

  Their advantages, however, mean they don't tend to come cheap.

• 7:11Speaker 01

  If you see a catamaran, a 40-foot catamaran, even if you buy a used one, will cost you around about a half-million euros. So money I didn't have. So I had to buy something that needs some work.

• 7:30John Hopkins?

  With her comparatively low price tag, the Samsara was too good an opportunity to resist.

• 7:37John Hopkins?

  After securing the catamaran at auction, Micha flew to Antigua, where he set eyes on the damaged vessel for the first time. Under the blazing Caribbean sun, he repaired her bows and hulls, rebuilt her engines, and replaced her entire electrical system.

• 7:55John Hopkins?

  This labor of love took four exhausting months to complete. But by the time he was finished, the Samsara had been reborn. Finally, the only remaining task was to restore the boat's missing mast.

• 8:11John Hopkins?

  But the recent hurricanes meant Micha wasn't the only person in the area with a damaged boat. Plenty of other sailors were seeking replacement parts, creating a major backlog.

• 8:22Speaker 01

  Even the manufacturer from the mast was not able to give you a mast because they had so much orders. You had to wait over a year to get a new mast. But there was also a lot of masts lying around in the Caribbean. So I strolled through the Caribbean looking for a mast.

• 8:47John Hopkins?

  Eventually, in the Dominican Republic, Micha's search brought success, and he had a local workman install the mast he had found. Keen to take the newly restored Samsara back to Spain, Micha settled in the Bahamas to wait for favorable sailing weather.

• 9:05John Hopkins?

  Having the ability to roam freely has been a long-held dream for Mika, one which lies in complete contrast with his previous existence.

• 9:16John Hopkins?

  Raised in northwest Germany, he undertook an apprenticeship to become an energy systems electronics technician before he was drafted into the German army. Here, he joined the 314th parachute battalion and began basic training. Shortly afterwards, he was selected to become part of the KSK, the German army's special forces command similar to the UK's SAS.

• 9:40Speaker 01

  We were mentally and physically completely broken. All what you were saying was yes, and no thinking anymore or anything. And then they created you new. So it was pretty much a brainwash. Everything what you know about the military, about life, about yourself was deleted. And then the training was over when you collapsed or threw up. They train you to become someone who can adapt to every situation you can imagine.

• 10:25John Hopkins?

  In these conditions, Mika quickly developed an icy core of resilience and an ability to persevere in the toughest of circumstances, the seeds of which had already been sown by his father.

• 10:36Speaker 01

  He always taught us, me and my brother, that it's over when you say it's over and not when any other one says it's over. We are not people that giving up, however hard it comes. So that was a good preparation for that part of my life.

• 10:59John Hopkins?

  Alongside developing impressive physical strength and fitness levels, Mika's KSK training also ingrained one key lesson within him.

• 11:09Speaker 01

  When you think you are done, you have just reached the half of that what you are able to do. That is really something I learned in the military. When your body, your brain, your mind says, "I'm done", no, you're far away from that. You have maybe reached forty, maybe fifty percent. You survive in your head, not what your body is doing. Your body can take way more than you think. It is your mind that gives up. If your mind survives, you survive.

• 11:45John Hopkins?

  This proved invaluable when, in autumn 1993, Mika was deployed to Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

• 11:52Speaker 01

  I think there are not many people that don't know the movie Black Hawk Down. This is based on that battle where I was involved in that time. Many things happened there. I was captured there, was tortured there, came back, pretty damaged.

• 12:17John Hopkins?

  Due to the injuries he sustained in this brutal conflict, Mika was no longer able to serve in his military unit.

• 12:25John Hopkins?

  After he healed physically, he tried several different career paths, including working as a commercial pilot for a number of years. But in time, he found that the lure of the open road was calling.

• 12:37Speaker 01

  I want to see the world, want to be free, want to be really free. So I sold everything I had and bought a RV and start traveling with the RV through Europe. That worked great. I had a lot of fun, a very good time for a little over a year. And then I stucked in Spain.

• 13:05John Hopkins?

  Parked on the coast of Spain, staring out at the vast ocean before him, Mika resolved to take his adventure to the next level.

• 13:12Speaker 01

  Everywhere water, nowhere where I can go with my RV. And so I said, "Okay, I need a boat."

• 13:26Speaker 02

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• 13:52John 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.

• 14:35John Hopkins?

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

• 14:44John Hopkins?

  It's morning, one week after Mika set off from the Bahamas.

• 14:49John Hopkins?

  The enormity of the Atlantic stretches out in a never-ending expanse around the Samsara, the horizon, an unbroken line of sea and sky.

• 15:00John Hopkins?

  So far, sailing has been smooth, and Mika has made good progress. But recently, the wind has picked up, and the sea is getting rougher. Conditions are still manageable for now, but there has been a clear shift in the weather. And as the morning progresses, it continues to deteriorate.

• 15:20John Hopkins?

  With a steady hand, Mika guides his vessel over the cresting waves, eyes locked on the way ahead. Above, ominous clouds are starting to mass, and a chill wind whips through the Samsara's sail.

• 15:35John Hopkins?

  And then, out of nowhere, Mika suddenly spies a huge wave approaching, surging forwards with unstoppable speed. He braces as the wave crashes down upon the vessel.

• 15:48John Hopkins?

  The Samsara reverberates, but holds her own, her twin hulls providing reassuring stability despite the choppy conditions. Mika steadies himself, surprised but undeterred by the rogue wave. Little does he know, this is just the beginning. Because shortly afterwards, another massive wave looms out of the sea, racing towards the Samsara. Mika has little time to react before it slams against the vessel, swamping her beneath a deluge of seawater.

• 16:22John Hopkins?

  At the same moment, there is a sickening crack, followed by the horrifying sight of the catamaran's mast tumbling through the air.

• 16:31Speaker 01

  What happened was that where the connectors are pressed on the steel wires, one of them slipped out. Shouldn't happen. When one of the steel wires breaks, the mast fall.

• 16:48John Hopkins?

  A second later comes the sound of splintering wood as the Samsara's mast crashes into one of the hulls, punching a jagged hole in the boat's side.

• 16:58Speaker 01

  It was above the waterline. It was bad, but not that bad at the moment that you say, "Okay, now we are immediately in danger." So first thing is I had to cut loose the mast. So it was hanging on the side, still attached by the other steel wires. So with an angle grinder, I cut it that all off, cut it all the lines, and sunk my mast with sails and everything into the ocean. And from that moment on, I was a powerboat.

• 17:36John Hopkins?

  Mika watches as the mast he struggled so hard to find is swallowed by the Atlantic. Then he turns his attention to repairing the damaged hull as best he can.

• 17:48John Hopkins?

  Hundreds of miles from the nearest shore, he is unable to carry out any serious fix and must instead settle for taping over the hole.

• 17:57John Hopkins?

  All he can do now is hope that it will see him through to his destination.

• 18:04John Hopkins?

  It's three days later, April the 18th. The sullen skies above the Atlantic have grown increasingly stormy since the rogue wave claimed Mika's mast, and the sea is becoming more turbulent every hour.

• 18:19John Hopkins?

  In these conditions, it's only a matter of time before Mika's tape fix fails.

• 18:26John Hopkins?

  After discussing the situation with the US Coast Guard via satellite phone, he has decided to turn back towards the Caribbean, where he should be able to repair his boat properly.

• 18:36John Hopkins?

  But with 1,000 miles to cover before he hits land, Mika has now entered a race against time to escape the approaching storm front.

• 18:46John Hopkins?

  He urges the Samsara to move as fast as possible, pushing the engines to their limit in a desperate attempt to reach safety.

• 18:54John Hopkins?

  But it's no use.

• 18:56Speaker 01

  The weather approached me from the side and it catched up with me before I was even close to safe waters. And so what happened then as the waves came bigger and bigger and bigger, my tape fix came loose and with each waves, water came into the hull.

• 19:24John Hopkins?

  With the waves now surging in through the damaged hull, the Samsara's bilge pumps, mechanisms designed to remove excess water from the boat, begin working overtime.

• 19:35John Hopkins?

  Mika watches as the electrical pumps siphon out the briny contents of the hull, spewing it back into the ocean. The water level teeters, but remains just about manageable. It's a brief relief. But then, Mika feels the vessel rock beneath him as towering waves throw themselves against the catamaran, whipped into a fury by winds gusting up to 80 knots.

• 20:01John Hopkins?

  With every barrage, more and more water forces its way into the hull, and eventually, the pumps are overwhelmed.

• 20:09Speaker 01

  The next thing was that the batteries got short-cutted, and then there was no power, even not for the pumps. So then, the electric died. Short after that, the first engine died. Then, a while later, the second engine died, and from there on, I was drifting.

• 20:33John Hopkins?

  Now unable to move under his own steam, and with the Samsara already half-flooded, Mika's situation is dire.

• 20:42John Hopkins?

  He shouts into his radio, trying to make himself heard above the storm as he liaises with the Coast Guard. Their response is far from hopeful. Mika is too far away for them to reach him by helicopter, and there are no boats close enough to rescue him. For now, he's on his own.

• 21:00Speaker 01

  The boat trailed up first the one hull, then the water was so high that it runs over the bridge deck to the other hull. And so I started to prepare.

• 21:18John Hopkins?

  With the Samsara going down, Mika's priority now is sorting out his lifeboat.

• 21:24John Hopkins?

  Pummeled by the wind, he scrambles towards the large plastic locker where he is kept, stowed inside a bench seat towards the rear of the boat.

• 21:34John Hopkins?

  Mika grasps the heavy fiberglass cover of the locker and manages to lift the lid.

• 21:40John Hopkins?

  Using all his strength, he attempts to hold it open with one hand and heave up the 60-kilo box containing the lifeboat with the other.

• 21:49Speaker 01

  Imagine you're sitting in a spinning carousel that goes up and down, and every 10, 15 seconds, someone splash a pool over you. You have no chance to get this life raft out there. That was a design flaw from the manufacturer. If you're in a storm where it's already almost impossible to stand there, then trying to get a 50, 60-kilo package out of a locker, there's no way.

• 22:32John Hopkins?

  The Samsara rolls and lurches beneath Mika's feet as massive waves crash over the boat, every gust of wind threatening to slam the fiberglass lid shut. In vain, Mika tries to wrestle the lifeboat free, his whole life seeming to hinge on this success.

• 22:50Speaker 01

  I tried there everything for, I don't know, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, up to I realized I will never get that thing out. Then I decided, okay, this thing is dead ballast, so I can't use it, I don't get it out there. But if I end up in the water without any kind of float, I have no chance.

• 23:20John Hopkins?

  Forced to concede defeat, Mika scans his boat, searching desperately for anything he might be able to use. And then, inspiration strikes. The plastic fenders, the cylindrical objects used to protect boats during docking, are buoyant. But they are stored in a locker towards the front of the boat.

• 23:42John Hopkins?

  With no other choice, Mika starts to crawl across the deck, the slippery surface pitching and shifting beneath him. Panting with effort, he finally reaches the locker and opens the latch with stiff, shaking fingers. The lid is instantly yanked open by the wind so hard it nearly snaps Mika's wrist. Muscles burning, he grabs two fenders and drags them to the cockpit, where he has some protection from the ferocity of the storm.

• 24:11John Hopkins?

  He makes this exhausting journey a further three times, until he has eight fenders in the cockpit. Then he lashes them together and secures a survival backpack in the center.

• 24:23John Hopkins?

  By the time he's finished, the water is up to his waist.

• 24:27John Hopkins?

  A large wave suddenly slams into the boat, almost knocking Mika straight off his feet. It's his cue to leave.

• 24:36John Hopkins?

  He struggles up to the roof, his raft clutched to his chest. And then, he abandons ship.

• 24:44Speaker 01

  The point came where it was not safe on the boat. So then I threw my fender raft in the water and jumped overboard.

• 24:56John Hopkins?

  Upon hitting the water, Mika is immediately forced beneath the swell by another large wave. He tumbles through the ocean, shocked and disorientated, the storm a muffled howl above him.

• 25:10John Hopkins?

  Within seconds, his life jacket fires up and pulls him towards the surface. Coughing up saltwater, Mika's eyes lock on his makeshift life raft about 20 meters away. It hasn't instantly fallen apart, that's something.

• 25:27John Hopkins?

  He starts swimming towards it, terrified it might be carried away by the storm.

• 25:32John Hopkins?

  He kicks and struggles through the waves, adrenaline surging through his veins. Finally, his fingers find the plastic of the raft. He tries to scramble onto it, but is immediately thrown off again by the force of the waves. No matter what he tries, he cannot haul his body fully onto the craft.

• 25:53John Hopkins?

  The best he can do is rest his chest on top of it, letting his legs dangle in the water, gripping on with all he's got.

• 26:02John Hopkins?

  Then he glances back at the Samsara, just in time to see the catamaran be capsized by a huge wave.

• 26:09John Hopkins?

  Moments later, she's vanished, dragged into the depths.

• 26:14John Hopkins?

  Mika is now entirely adrift.

• 26:18Speaker 01

  Floating there and hoping that in the meantime, something will happen, that maybe some help is coming, but I realized pretty quick that nobody can come here. I was already in category one hurricane. And at the first, I was not afraid, but I was pretty sure that was it. That is from now on only question of time, but nobody will find you here.

• 26:57Speaker 03

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• 27:23John 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.

• 27:54John 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.

• 28:17John Hopkins?

  In the grip of the hurricane, Mika Muller's life now rests on eight pieces of cylindrical plastic and the contents of his survival backpack. He clings to his raft in a half-on, half-off position as mountains of water rise around him, throwing him about in the maelstrom. Deafening peals of thunder fill the sky, and jagged shards of lightning seem to split the world apart.

• 28:43John Hopkins?

  All that exists in this moment is the storm.

• 28:49Speaker 01

  You don't really see the water. You have visibility for maybe two or three meters, so the wind is so strong, the breaking waves, it's like you get permanently shot with millions of needles. The water comes out of all directions. It is a noise like you're sitting in the intake from a jet engine. I have problems to describe that. There is nothing what I can say what comes close to that.

• 29:24John Hopkins?

  In these conditions, Mika can't risk getting his satellite phone out of his bag to contact the coastguard in case the hurricane snatches it from his grasp. And even if he could, nobody would be able to reach him right now.

• 29:37John Hopkins?

  Time and time again, he is forced underwater by the 20-meter-high waves, and time and time again, he claws his way back to the surface, lungs screaming, his throat raw.

• 29:49John Hopkins?

  Hours pass in this way, as the hurricane howls around him.

• 29:55John Hopkins?

  Until, finally, the might of the storm begins to die down.

• 30:03John Hopkins?

  Though the swell is still strong, conditions slowly grow somewhat calmer, and eventually, Mika is able to haul his whole body onto his life raft.

• 30:14John Hopkins?

  With exhaustion weighing down his limbs, he gazes up at the sky. The clouds have parted for the first time in days, revealing a scattering of stars.

• 30:25Speaker 01

  I was pretty beaten up. The wind was gone, completely no wind at all anymore. And the sea was still big, but it was not breaking anymore. So it lifts you up, and you go down and up and down, pretty relaxed. And that was the point where I was able to lie on my raft.

• 30:53John Hopkins?

  Though the calm is a welcome break, it is only a temporary respite. Mika is in fact in the eye of the hurricane, an area of deceptive peace and stillness in the center of the spiraling storm. At some point soon, he will have to go back through the chaos again, beginning with the eye wall, a ring encircling the eye, which is notorious for being the most violent part of a hurricane.

• 31:20John Hopkins?

  Needing to regain some strength, Mika eats a few energy bars, takes some glugs of water, and activates his eperb, a type of emergency locator beacon.

• 31:32John Hopkins?

  He also sends a message to the coastguard on his satellite phone, explaining that he has been wrecked but doesn't expect any help, given the weather conditions.

• 31:42John Hopkins?

  And then he prepares himself for round two.

• 31:46John Hopkins?

  As dawn begins to seep into the horizon, Mika's eyes fix on a series of dark, dreadful shapes in the distance.

• 31:54Speaker 01

  You see it coming, pretty clear. It is really like, like a wall, a wall of spinning clouds, they're coming closer and closer. And when you hit the eye wall, it is really like someone's switch on a switch. And it comes from zero to 100% in a second. One moment it's there, okay, and then, whoa, fall in.

• 32:28John Hopkins?

  The eye wall slams into Mika with a lethal force. The first gust of wind is so strong, it knocks him straight off his raft.

• 32:38John Hopkins?

  Fortunately, he has attached himself to the vessel by a safety line, and it snaps taut with a hard jerk.

• 32:45John Hopkins?

  He remains tethered, just. But now, the waves seem to be coming from everywhere all at once, and the horizon disappears behind them.

• 32:56Speaker 01

  The waves coming from all directions. Sometimes you have it, you are between two waves and really get smashed from them, from both sides. There I was a few times thrown off my raft and was sucked down. A few times when it took like minutes where I was underwater. When I came up, I was throwing up salt water. I think I drank more salt water than most fishes do. I wanted to give up, but I say, okay, I'm done, but you can't give up.

• 33:39John Hopkins?

  Pulverized by the storm, Mika clings to his raft as he is lifted high into the air by the enormous waves, then thrown down into the newly-created valleys.

• 33:50John Hopkins?

  He grips the fender so hard that his fingers begin to bleed.

• 33:54John Hopkins?

  But already drained of energy, it becomes more and more difficult for Mika to keep his hold on reality. And at some point in the mayhem, as salt water stings his face and the wind howls in his ears, he loses consciousness.

• 34:14John Hopkins?

  Several hours later, something drags him from oblivion. An engine. He peels his salt-caked eyelids open and coughs up a mouthful of water and bile.

• 34:28John Hopkins?

  The sea seems calmer, the winds and waves a little less ferocious. The worst, it seems, is finally over. Searching for the source of the sound, Mika squints into the cloud-strewn sky and spots a plane flying low overhead. It cannot simply swoop down and rescue Mika. It isn't designed for that, but it can provide some help. He watches as something is thrown from the plane's hatch. It's a lifeboat.

• 35:01John Hopkins?

  It lands about 150 meters away, inflating as soon as it hits the water.

• 35:07John Hopkins?

  For a second, Mika's hope surges, but a heartbeat later, the lifeboat is snatched away by the wind.

• 35:16Speaker 01

  It was too far away, and the wind was already picking up, so it drifted away faster than I can swim. And I may was able to reach it if I left my raft. But I was tied up to my raft by a line. If I lose that line to try to get the life raft, and I don't make it, then I have nothing anymore. Then I don't have the life raft, and I don't have my self-built fender raft. And if that happened, it would be over.

• 35:57John Hopkins?

  Mika watches helplessly as the inflatable raft vanishes and the plane disappears into the gray skies.

• 36:05John Hopkins?

  It's a devastating blow. Worse still, his satellite phone is now out of credit, and his eperb only has a 72-hour battery life. When it eventually dies, nobody will have any way of knowing his location.

• 36:23John Hopkins?

  Mika can do nothing but lie there, drained and despairing. Before long, his exhaustion begins to get the better of him again.

• 36:31Speaker 01

  It was a few times where I found myself in the water beside my raft. So I must have collapsed, fall off, woke up, and climbed back on my raft. I was always telling me, don't sleep, don't sleep, stay awake. But I fall asleep a few times because I was still too exhausted to stay awake.

• 37:01John Hopkins?

  Time warps and bends, the only constant, the vast, ever-shifting seascape and the empty, infinite horizon.

• 37:11John Hopkins?

  Mika has no way of knowing how long has passed before he's pulled back to reality by a strange, unsettling sensation.

• 37:22John Hopkins?

  With his legs dangling in the water, he feels something tugging on his dry suit.

• 37:28Speaker 01

  There was something like picking on my legs. And as I realized that that was fishes, around fifty, sixty centimeters long fishes, they were nipping on my dry suit. I tried then to get my legs and everything out of the water on there because I was scared that they pick a hole in my dry suit. And when that thing fills up with water, then it pulls you down. The weight in the dry suit pulls you down. And the other thing is where if they maybe get a little piece of your leg that you start bleeding, then the sharks will come.

• 38:15John Hopkins?

  Though there is no sign of sharks yet, the mere possibility of this new threat is enough to give Mika a shot in the arm.

• 38:23John Hopkins?

  Suddenly more alert, he balances precariously on his raft, trying to keep his limbs out of the water. Eyes peeled, he focuses on his immediate surroundings. But this energy boost doesn't last long. It can't. After enduring days of stormy conditions with minimal food and water, he is running on empty and is eventually overcome by sleep once more.

• 38:48John Hopkins?

  Sometime later, Mika is woken by the bleep of his satellite phone.

• 38:54John Hopkins?

  Weakly, he pulls it from his backpack and discovers a message from the coastguard. Though he is without credit and cannot contact them, it seems he can still receive texts. The message informs Mika that a cargo ship, the Orinoco, is on its way to his location.

• 39:11John Hopkins?

  The estimated arrival time is eighteen hours. Mika will have to make it through another day, maybe two, and pray that the battery on his locator beacon lasts long enough for the ship to reach him.

• 39:24Speaker 01

  It was a kind of new hope. Okay, they're coming. Two days more, you will make that. But if you're in this situation, it never gets better. We're still speaking about fifty to sixty knots of wind and not fifteen to twenty meters of waves, but still ten to fifteen meters.

• 39:46John Hopkins?

  But at least now, he has an end goal in sight. It's distant, but there.

• 39:56John Hopkins?

  And then, the Atlantic throws a whole new horror Mika's way.

• 40:02John Hopkins?

  As dawn breaks on yet another day at sea, he gazes out at the gold-tinged water. And that's when he sees them. Finns.

• 40:13John Hopkins?

  The thing he has dreaded has come to pass. Mika watches in horror as the fins quickly multiply until forty or fifty sleek, dark shapes are circling his raft.

• 40:26John Hopkins?

  He is in the middle of a school of blue sharks.

• 40:30Speaker 01

  I took the knife out of my survival bag. I had a big knife there. It was only more to calm myself as I was thinking that will really matter here.

• 40:43John Hopkins?

  With a maximum length of just under four meters, blue sharks tend to feed on modest-sized prey, such as smaller fish and squid. But they're also opportunists, and hunting groups have been known to tackle larger creatures together.

• 40:59John Hopkins?

  For a while, the animals circle Mika's raft, watchful but keeping a wary distance.

• 41:06John Hopkins?

  As time passes, however, they grow bolder.

• 41:10John Hopkins?

  Cautiously, they begin ramming Mika's raft with their noses, then start slapping the fenders with their strong, swishing tails. Mika wobbles on the small inflatable, stomach rolling as he tries to keep his balance. He holds his knife in a white-knuckled grip, determined to put up a fight no matter how futile it might be.

• 41:32John Hopkins?

  The siege continues for hours, every minute exhausting and terrifying in equal measure as the sharks continue their slow, deadly dance around the raft.

• 41:43John Hopkins?

  And then, in a flash, everything changes.

• 41:47Speaker 01

  They're starting to hit the raft more and more and more serious. And after a while, one of the sharks tried to get on that raft.

• 42:04John Hopkins?

  There is a blur of movement as the shark lunges for Mika, its open mouth revealing ranks of pointed, serrated teeth.

• 42:13John Hopkins?

  In the blink of an eye, its head is upon the raft, its jaws closing on the empty air just a few inches away from Mika's leg.

• 42:22John Hopkins?

  His old military training and instincts kick in, and he thrusts his knife towards the shark, pouring his final ounces of strength into the strike.

• 42:34Speaker 01

  He was maybe thirty centimeters away from me, and it was kind of lucky shot that I really hit with the knife towards him and got him right into the eye. And he immediately fall back in the water, and then the other sharks took over, and they massacred it.

• 42:58John Hopkins?

  Suddenly, the ocean is a frenzy of fins and snapping teeth. Blood darkens the water as the sharks tear their injured companion apart.

• 43:08John Hopkins?

  Mika watches on in sickened horror as the fate he has narrowly avoided plays out before him.

• 43:15John Hopkins?

  Within mere moments, there is nothing left of the wounded shark. For a while, the remaining sharks keep a careful distance from Mika. But then the ramming starts again.

• 43:27John Hopkins?

  He huddles on his raft as darkness falls, occasionally launching a stab at one of the sharks if they get too close, trying to stay focused despite his exhaustion.

• 43:37Speaker 01

  It was a constant battle against the waves, against the cold, against the wind, against the sharks. So I was constantly very, very exhausted. It's like a daydream where you start to see things that are not there.

• 43:59John Hopkins?

  Mika frowns as he stares at the fins flashing occasionally in the darkness. Is he hallucinating, or are there fewer of them than before?

• 44:09John Hopkins?

  Then suddenly, he hears something. A low, sonorous whoosh and the splash of falling water.

• 44:18John Hopkins?

  The sound is unmistakable. There must be whales and dolphins nearby, though it's impossible to see them in the blackness.

• 44:27John Hopkins?

  Not long after that, the sharks begin to disperse, no doubt about it. Two leave, then two more, until eventually they've all disappeared. Perhaps they've lost interest, or maybe the presence of the dolphins and whales has scared them away. Whatever the case, the threat is gone, for now.

• 44:51John Hopkins?

  It's a few hours later. Light has once again trickled across the Atlantic, and Mika is wrestled from sleep by the rumble of another plane engine.

• 45:02John Hopkins?

  Bleary-eyed, he gazes into the sky, unsure if it's real. Then he sees a long, dark shape bursting through the clouds. The plane roars as it drops towards him, flying so low that Mika is forced to cover his ears with his hands.

• 45:19John Hopkins?

  An orange package falls from its belly. But at the same moment, a large wave crashes over Mika, knocking in from his raft.

• 45:28John Hopkins?

  When he surfaces, he scans the swell and sees the package only meters away. It could contain precious supplies.

• 45:38John Hopkins?

  Deciding to risk it, Mika unclips his safety line with numb fingers and marshals his final scraps of energy to kick his way towards the back. Every sinew in his body screams with exhaustion as he fights his way through the swell.

• 45:54John Hopkins?

  When he finally reaches the package, he clasps it to his chest and somehow struggles back to his raft. Heart drumming in his ears, Mika opens the bag to find food, drink, a new e-purb, and a handheld radio. With shaking hands, he uses the radio to make contact with the plane, still circling overhead. The pilots have news about the Orinoco.

• 46:19Speaker 01

  They told me, okay, you have to survive one more night because they are not so fast as I expected. But from there on, I had a pretty good feeling.

• 46:37John 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.

• 47:19John Hopkins?

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

• 47:27John Hopkins?

  It's the following morning.

• 47:30John Hopkins?

  Slumped upon his life raft, Mika scans the horizon, vision hazy from dehydration and lack of proper sleep.

• 47:39John Hopkins?

  So far, the sea has remained disturbingly empty. Did he imagine the conversation with certain rescue, his help actually coming? And then his eyes find a speck in the distance, the outline of a ship moving towards him.

• 47:55John Hopkins?

  It must be the Orinoco.

• 47:58Speaker 01

  She was maybe two miles away, really like in a movie, over the wave. And I saw her the first time and I was kind of shocked. I saw this incredibly big ship punching through that water. I was thinking, they run over me without even seeing me.

• 48:24John Hopkins?

  Over radio, the captain of the Orinoco informs Mika that they cannot get too close. Instead, they will throw him a life ring, then haul him close enough that he can climb up a net draped over the side of the 10-meter-high ship.

• 48:39John Hopkins?

  Mika watches as the life ring is flung into the waves. Instantly, he leaps towards it and grabs hold. Then finally, a bit of luck. A large wave lifts him high enough that he grasps the net with relative ease.

• 48:54Speaker 01

  I grabbed the net, but I hung there for two seconds and I was not able to climb that. It was two, three seconds and then I fall down.

• 49:09John Hopkins?

  So much for that bit of luck. Arms weak, Mika tumbles through the air and crashes into the water again. Submerged in the swell, he tries to fight his way back to the surface. But instead, something terrifying happens. The current created by the enormous ship drags him beneath her hull. The world around him goes dark, the only sound, the deep, bone-thrumming vibration of the massive engine above him.

• 49:39John Hopkins?

  Mika scrabbles against the darkness, hitting his head on the hull as he struggles to escape. Lungs bursting, he somehow manages to push away from the ship's belly and emerges spluttering and coughing to the surface.

• 49:55Speaker 01

  I was with all what I had, swimming away from that ship. I was thinking, they run me over. And I was thinking of that propeller and everything. I say, the only thing was I need to get away from that.

• 50:11John Hopkins?

  As Mika struggles to escape the shadow of the enormous ship, the crew scramble to throw the life ring to him once more.

• 50:18John Hopkins?

  This time, he slides his arms through the inflatable and locks it against his body to prevent any more unfortunate accidents.

• 50:27John Hopkins?

  The crew haul him up towards the net, where one of the sailors is waiting to help pull him to safety.

• 50:34John Hopkins?

  Eventually, they reach the deck. Mika collapses in exhaustion and relief.

• 50:41Speaker 01

  They pulled the net over the gun wall and then we dropped on the deck of the Orinoco. And that was the first moment as I was lying there where I said, I made it.

• 50:58John Hopkins?

  After surviving for an astonishing four days on his makeshift life raft, Mika is finally safe. More astonishing still, he has no major injuries, though he is beaten up and severely weakened by his ordeal.

• 51:12Speaker 01

  I was pretty much blue and green all over. I think it started already as I was tossed around on my boat. Then from the waves against the float and then from the rescue in the net, I had blue marks everywhere. I was pretty badly bleeding on the head. So that was from as I hit under the boat, from all that barnacle stuff, they are pretty sharp. So nothing really serious, but bleeding.

• 51:50John Hopkins?

  Though he is treated like a hero by the crew of the Orinoco, his own feelings are somewhat more complicated.

• 51:56Speaker 01

  I just lost everything I had because I sold everything I had to buy this boat. I have nothing. I have no money. I had no idea what to do now. And there was not really something where I said, hey, you survived. It was more thinking about what is coming now and how should that work? The crew of that ship did everything to make me comfortable as possible. For them, I was a hero. They treated me like a hero, but I was feeling like a loser because I just lost the boat in the ocean.

• 52:38Speaker 01

  And getting rescued has nothing that feels heroic.

• 52:47John Hopkins?

  It takes a further five days before the Orinoco docks in Port Mobile, Alabama.

• 52:53John Hopkins?

  Upon reaching land, Mika is confronted with the logistical nightmare of having no phone, no money, and no means of transport. The crew of the Orinoco do what they can for him, presenting him with a small amount of cash, some food, and a mobile phone with a prepaid SIM. Mika uses the phone to put out an appeal within the sailing community. And in less than 24 hours, he has raised enough money for a plane ticket back to Spain, where he is reunited with his RV.

• 53:22Speaker 01

  I was back in Spain and as I went into my RV and was lying on my bed, I think that was the point where I really realized what happened. That was a kind of breakdown that I had there where I realized, hey, it started here from the RV and now you are back. There's nothing except a crazy story.

• 53:57John Hopkins?

  It isn't easy, but in time, Mika does manage to get back on his feet, working, recuperating, rebuilding. Eventually, he's even able to buy another catamaran, which he also christens the Samsara.

• 54:12John Hopkins?

  It's been a rough journey, but Mika says that as a result of surviving the hurricane in 2019, he has become a better sailor, one with a deeper understanding of the ocean. And despite the trauma of the experience, he remains enamored by his life at sea and committed to exploring new horizons.

• 54:32Speaker 01

  Now I read the water, I read the clouds in a different way as before. I kind of feel it change in the air. And I'm not really afraid anymore, even if it gets more rougher out there. I mean, every storm after that we hit was a kindergarten birthday party compared to that. The ocean is not bent. It is the best place you can be. It is so incredible. Only thing you have to learn is that the ocean makes his own thing. It is never against you. And it is real freedom.

• 55:13Speaker 01

  Out there is nothing that tells you what to do except the ocean itself. You can do what you want, you can go where you want. There's nobody that tells you what you have to do. And this is still what I love about it.

• 55:34John Hopkins?

  Next time on Real Survival Stories, we meet 18-year-old John Thompson. On a frosty January morning in 1992, John, a high school student from North Dakota, gets up from an ordinary day of chores on his family's farm. With his parents out of town, the teenager has been left to unload barley from a dump truck,

• 55:54John Hopkins?

  a simple task, one he's done millions of times before. But on this occasion, things suddenly take a horrifying turn as John gets too close to some dangerous farming machinery and suffers devastating consequences. Critically injured and alone on the farm, John turns his focus towards an improbable survival. He will have to rely on an inner resolve and the remarkable support of the family pet to keep fighting on.

• 56:24John Hopkins?

  That's next time on Real Survival Stories. Listen right now without ads and without waiting a week by joining Noiser Plus.

• 56:32John 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.

• 57:15John Hopkins?

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