John Aldridge, a 45-year old lobster fisherman from Long Island, flew off the back of his boat when a plastic handle supporting a box hook snapped with the power of his pull. He grabbed at the side of the boat, missing it by inches before landing in the water at 3:30 am, alone and stunned, as the boat sped away with his partner sleeping in his cabin. They were 40 miles off the coast of Montauk, Long Island. First, yelling, then panic, then silence before he allowed himself to think he was going to die.
Today’s show is about survivors, but that doesn’t always mean the same thing, even when we narrow it down to people who survive desperate situations outdoors.
There are people who wind up in those desperate situations because they train for them. Some of those people are adventurers, but not all of those adventures have taken the possibility of a crisis as seriously as they should.
Then there are people with no special training or attraction to risk, but life simply thrusts them into the middle of a dangerous situation.
But there’s also this huge group of people in the middle – People who these days have chosen to live in a place that previous generations would have rejected as unsafe, and people who think their latest activity is safe, because they’re carrying devices which they believe will keep them in touch with satellites and the outside world. So let’s explore! Safely.
Post your comments below, email Colin@wnpr.org, or tweet us @wnprcolin.
GUESTS:
- Michael Togias is the author or co-author of 23 books including Fatal Forecast, Overboard, and The Finest Hours, which is soon to be a movie by Disney
- Michael Kodas is Associate Director of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder, a photojournalist and the author of High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed. His work has appeared in several publications including the New York Times, Outside.com, and OnEarth.org
- John Aldridge is the co-founder of the lobster boat, Anna Mary. John survived in the Atlantic Ocean for 12 hours in July 2013 after being thrown from his boat
- Danny McInnis is the lead instructor at Survival Systems USA in Groton
SONGS:
- “Survival Expert” by Something for Kate
- “Survival” by Muse
- “Survive This” by The Tell-Tale Hearts
