Real Survival Stories - Hurricane at Sea: Out of the Depths…

Episode Date: October 21, 2026

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 [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We make Chevrolet vehicles, but what you do with them makes them so much more. You make them mobile offices, your kids' personal taxi, a concert shuttle, your hockey equipment locker, your recording studio. We make a Chevrolet, but you make it a Chevy. Discover yours at Chevrolet.ca. It's April the 18th, 2019. 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 spinning through the air

before being swallowed by the seething ocean below. Waves, twice the height of houses, heave themselves up from the swell, obliterating the horizon. And there, in the very heart of the heart. hurricane is a boat, a 40-foot catamaran named Samsara. The half-submerged vessel rolls and pitches struggling desperately to stay afloat as the waves throw themselves against her. But it's a losing battle. There is a jagged hole in her side and dirty gray seawater is pouring in with frightening speed. In the cockpit, a 47-year-old German named Mijer Mullah staggers about, thrown off balance by the violent movements of the vessel.

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. Mika 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. As I was finished with that, the samsara was already sunken up to the windows in the saloon.

It was pretty much only the roof of the boat was out of the water. The rest was already underwater. With the water now circling his waist, Mika secures a small survival pack to the middle of his ramshackle raft and takes one final look around the flooded samsara. A split second later, another huge wave

smashes into the boat and Mika lurches, the impact vibrating through him. It's time to go. Clutching his raft, Mika 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. The point came where it was not safe on the boat.

So then I threw my fender raft in the water and jumped overboard. 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 a fight. for their lives. In this episode, we meet Meeha Mueller.

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 Mika into the grip of a deadly hurricane. The water comes out of all directions. It is a noise like you know,

sitting in the intake from a jet engine, it is like you got permanently shot with millions of needle. It is unbelievable. I was 100% sure I will never make it out there. Shipwrecked 1,000 miles from the nearest shore, and with no prospect of quick rescue, Mika'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. 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 start bleeding, then the sharks will come. I'm John Hopkins. From the Noiser Podcast Network, this is Real Survivor. survival stories. It's 10 days earlier in the sun-drenched splendor of the Bahamas, a dazzling archipelago on the northwestern edge of the Caribbean. On the pristine shores of one of these small islands, a gleaming 40-foot catamaran the Samsara bobs gently in the turquoise waters.

On board, 47-year-old Mika Mola 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. With conditions looking clear for the foreseeable future, Mecha's departure is now imminent. 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 they show something up like that, you have to take it. Mika's upcoming voyage is the culmination of months of hard work. 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. The vessel, based in Antigua, was in bad shape, having been severely damaged by recent hurricanes. Despite that, Mecha 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.

Their advantages, however, mean they don't tend to come cheap. If you see a catamaran, a 40 feet catamaran, even if you buy a used one, will cost you around about a half million euro. So money I didn't have, so I had to buy something that needs some work. With her comparatively low price tag, the Samsara was too good an opportunity to resist. After securing the catamaran at auction, Mika flew to antique. 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. This labour 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. But the recent hurricanes meant Mika wasn't the only person in the area with the damaged boat. Plenty of other sailors were seeking replacement parts, creating a major backlog. Even the manufacturer from the must was not able to give you a must because they had so much orders you had to wait over a year to get a new must.

But there was also a lot of masts lying around in the career. So I scroll through the Caribbean looking for a mast. Eventually, in the Dominican Republic, Mika's search brought success, and yet a local workman installed the mast he had found. Keen to take the newly restored Samsara back to Spain, Mika settled in the Bahamas to wait for favorable sailing weather. Having the ability to roam freely has been a long-held dream for Mika, one which lies in complete contrast with his previous existence.

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. We was 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 emerge.

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. He always teach us, as a 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. Alongside developing impressive physical strength and fitness levels,

Mika's KSK training also ingrained one key lesson within him. 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 40, maybe 50%. 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 survive, you survive. This proved invaluable when, In autumn 1993, Mika was deployed to Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. I think there are not many people that don't know the movie Blackhawk 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.

Due to the injuries he sustained in this brutal conflict, Mika was no longer able to serve in his military unit. 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. 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 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 stuck in Spain. Parked on the coast of Spain, staring out at the vast ocean before him, Mika resolved to take his adventure to the next level. Everywhere water, nowhere where I can go with my RV. And so I said, okay, I need a boat. want Mr. Hagan? I want my life back. Through 23rd.

The procedure is causing, traveling, physical changes. What's happening to me? Look fear. You have to learn to control it. In the face. I have no idea who you are anymore. Tell me who you want me to be. Clayface, only in the years, October 23rd.

This October on the Noisor 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 unpicked. 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 Noisa Plus. It's morning, one week after Mika set off from the Bahamas. The enormity of the Atlantic stretches out in a never-ending expanse around the samsara, the horizon and unbroken line of sea and sky. So far, sailing has been smooth and Mika has made good progress. But recently the wind is 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. 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. 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. The Samsara reverberates, but holds her own. Her twin hulls providing reassuring stability despite the choppy conditions.

Mika sted 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 at the same moment there is a sickening crack followed by the horrifying sight of the catamaran's mast tumbling through the air What happened was that where that connectors are pressed on the steel wires,

one of them slipped out. It shouldn't happen. When one of the steel wires breaks, the mast fell. 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. It was above the water. line 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 must so it was hanging on the side still attached by the other steel wires so with the angle grinder i cut it that all off cut it all the lines and sunk my must with sails and everything into the ocean and from that moment on I was a powerboat. Miko 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. 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. All he can do now is hope that it will see him through to his destination.

It's three days later. April the 18th. The sullen skies above the Atlantic have grown increasingly stormy since the rogue wave claimed Mecca's mast, and the sea is becoming more turbulent every hour. In these conditions, it's only a matter of time before Meeker's tape fix fails. 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.

But with 1,000 miles to cover, before he hits land, Mika has now entered a race against time to escape the approaching stormfront. He urges the Samsara to move as fast as possible, pushing the engines to their limit in a desperate attempt to reach safety. But it's no use. The weather approached me from the side and it catched up with me before I was even close to safe waters. So what happened then as the waves came bigger and bigger and bigger, my tape fix came loose, and with each wave, water came into the hole. 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. 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 rocked beneath him as towering waves throw themselves against the catamaran whipped into a fury by winds gusting up to 80 knots.

With every barrage, more and more water forces its way into the hull and eventually the pumps are overwhelmed. 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, shot after that, the first engine died. Then a while later, the second engine died, and from there on I was drifting. Now unable to move under his own steam, and with his samsara already half-flooded, Mika's situation is dire. 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. The boat filled up with the one hole, then the water was so high that it runs over the bridge. stick to the other hole. And so I started to prepare. With the Samsara going down, Mika's priority now is sorting out his lifeboat. 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. Mika grasps the heavy fiberglass cover of the locker and manages to lift the lid. Using all his strength, he had to take the top of the boat. strength he attempts to hold it open with one hand and heave up the 60 kilo box containing the lifeboat with the other. A merchant, 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.

It was a design flaw from the manufacturer. If you were 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. The Samsara rolls and lurches beneath Mecha's feet as massive waves crash over the boat. Every gust of wind threatening to slam the fiberglass lid shut. In vain, Nica tries to wrestle the lifeboat free, his whole life seeming to hinge on this success. I tried there everything for, I don't know, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, up to I realize 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. 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, these cylindrical objects used to protect boats during docking, are buoyant. But they are stored in a locker towards the front of the boat. 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. 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. But the time he's finished, the water is up to his waist. A large wave suddenly slams into the boat, almost knocking meekers straight over his feet.

It's his cue to leave. He struggles up to the roof, his raft clutched to his chest. and then the abandoned ship. The point came where it was not safe on the boat, so then I threw my fender raft in the water and jumped overboard. 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.

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. He starts swimming towards it, terrified it might be carried away by the storm. He kicks and struggles through the waves, adrenaline surging through his veins. Finally, his fingers find... 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. 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. Then he glances back at the samsara, just in time to see the catamaran be capsized by a huge wave. Moments later, she's vanished, dragged into the depths. Nika is now entirely adrift. 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 first I was not a, of trade, but I was pretty sure that was it. That is from now on only question of time, but nobody will find you here. We make Chevrolet vehicles, but what you do with them makes them so much more. You make them mobile offices, your kids' personal taxi, a concert shuttle, your hockey equipment locker, your recording studio. We make a Chevrolet, but you make it a Chevy. Discover yours at Chevrolet.ca.

What does a sunny getaway with Air Canada sound like? Sunny Jamaica moves to its own rhythm. Rio comes alive long after the sun goes down. Philippines slows everything down. And just when you think you've heard it all, there's Sunny Lima. However you imagine your sunny escape, Air Canada can take you there.

Book hot fairs and vacation packages today. Nice travels. Nice travels. In the grip of the hurricane, Meechre 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. Deffining peals of thunder fill the sky, and jagged shards of lightning seem to split the

world apart. All that exists in this moment is the storm. You don't really see the water. It is you have with visibility for maybe two or three meters. So the wind is so strong. The breaking waves, it's like you got 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. In these conditions, Mika can't risk getting his satellite phone out of his bag to contact the Coast Guard in case the hurricane snatches it from his grasp. And even if he could,

nobody would be able to reach him right now. 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 roar. Hours pass in this way as the hurricane howls around him, until finally the might of the storm begins to die down. 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. 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. 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 a point where I was able to lie on my raft. 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. Needing to regain some strength, Mica eats a few energy bars, takes some glugs of water, and activates his E-Purb, a type of emergency locator beacon.

He also sends a message to the Coast Guard on his satellite phone, explaining that he has been wrecked, but doesn't expect any help given the weather conditions. And then he prepares himself for round two. As dawn begins to seep into the horizon, Mecha's eyes fix on a series of dark, dreadful shapes in the distance. You see it coming pretty clear. It is really 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 switch on a switch. And it comes from zero. from zero to 100% in a second. One moment is still okay and then fall in. 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. Fortunately he has attached himself to the vessel by a safety line

and it snaps torts with a hard jerk. He remains tethered, just. Just. But now the waves seem to be coming from everywhere all at once, and the horizon disappears behind them. The waves coming from all direction. 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 we took like minutes where I was underwater. When I came up, I was throwing up salt water. I think I drank more sold water than most fishes do. I wanted to give up where I say, okay, I'm done, but you can't give up. Pulverized by the storm, Mekak clings to his raft as he is lifted high into the air by the enormous then thrown down into the newly created valleys. He grips the fender so hard that his fingers begin to bleed.

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 saltwater stings his face and the wind howls in his ears, he loses consciousness. 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. The sea seems calmer. The winds and waves are little less ferocious. The worst it seems is finally over. Searching for the source of the sound, Mecha squints into the cloud-strewn sky and spots a plane flying low overhead. It cannot simply swoop down and rescue mehia. 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. It lands about 150 meters away, inflating as soon as it hits the water. For a second, Nika's hope surges. But a heartbeat later, the lifeboat is snatched away by the wind. It was too far away, and the wind was already picking up, so it was 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 fence. and a raft and if that happened, it would be over. Mieh watches helplessly as the inflatable raft vanishes and the plane disappears into the gray skies. It's a devastating blow. Worse still, his satellite phone is now out of credit

and his e-perb only has a 72-hour battery life. When it eventually dies, nobody will have any way of knowing his location. Mika can do nothing but lie there, drained and despairing. Before long, his exhaustion begins to get the better of him again. 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. awake, but I fall asleep a few times because I was still too exhausted to stay awake.

Time warps and bends, the only constant, the vast, ever-shifting seascape and the empty, infinite horizon. Mika has no way of knowing how long has passed before he's pulled back to reality by a strange, unsettling sensation. With his legs dangling in the water, he feels something tugging on his dry suit. There was something like picking on my legs, and as I realized that that was fishes, around 50, 60 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. 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.

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. Sometime later, Mija is woken by sleep.

the bleep of his satellite phone. Weekly, he pulls it from his backpack and discovers a message from the Coast Guard. 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. The estimated arrival time is 18 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. 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 50 to 60 knots of wind and not 15 to 20 meters of waves, but still 10 to 15 meters. But at least now he has an end goal in sight.

It's distant, but there. And then the Atlantic throws a whole new horror Mika's way. As dawn breaks on yet another day at sea, he gazes out at the gold-tinged water, and that's when he sees them. Fins. The thing he has dreaded has come to pass. Mika watches in horror as the fins quickly multiply until 40 or 50 sleek, dark shapes are circling his raft. He is in the middle of a school of blue sharks. I took the knife out of my survival bag.

I had a big night there. It was only more to calm myself as I was thinking that will really matter here. With the 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 crows. creatures together. For a while, the animals circle Mika's raft, watchful, but keeping a wary distance.

As time passes, however, they grow bolder. 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. The siege continues for hours, every minute exhausting and terrifying in equal measure as the sharks continue their slow, deadly dance around the raft. And then in a flash, everything changes. They're starting to hit the rest more and more and more serious.

And after a while, one of the... the sharks try to get on that rat. There is a blur of movement as the shark lunges for Mika, its open mouth revealing ranks of pointed, serrated teeth. 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. 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.

He was maybe 30 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 fell back in the water, and then the other sharks took over, and they massacred it. Suddenly the ocean is a frenzy, fins and snapping teeth. Blood darkens the water as the sharks tear their injured companion apart. Nika watches on in sickened horror as the fate he has narrowly avoided plays out before him. Within

mere moments there is nothing left of the wounded shark. For a while, the remaining sharks keep a careful distance from Nika. But then the ramming starts again. 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. 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. Mieh frowns as he stares at the fins flashing occasionally in the darkness.

Is he hallucinating, or are there fewer of them than before? Then suddenly he hears something, a low, sonorous whoosh and the splash of falling water. The sound is unmistakable. There must be whales and dolphins nearby, though it's impossible to see them in the blackness. 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.

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. 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. An orange package falls from its belly, but at the same moment a large wave crashes over Mika, knocking him from his raft. When he surfaces, he scans the swell and sees the package only meters away. It could contain precious supplies.

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. When he finally reaches the package, he clasps it to his chest and somehow struggles back to his raft. Heart drumming in his ears, In his ears, Mika opens the bag to find food, drink, a new e-perb, 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. 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. Audio adds that connect. Display ads that stand out. Run them together on Spotify and unlock incremental reach for your campaign. 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. Get all of these shows and more early and ad-free on Noiser Plus. It's the following morning.

Slumped upon his life raft, Mecha scans their rise. vision hazy from dehydration and lack of proper sleep. So far, the sea has remained disturbingly empty. Did he imagine the conversation with search and rescue? His help actually coming? And then his eyes find a speck in the distance, the outline of a ship moving towards him. It must be the Orinoco.

She was maybe two miles away, really like in a move. over the wave and I saw her the first time and I was kind of shocked. I saw this incredible big ship punching through that water. I was thinking they run over me without even seeing me. 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. Nika 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. I grabbed the net, but I hung there for a few seconds, and I was not able to climb that. It was two, three seconds, and then I fall down. 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. 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. 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 troupe. And everything, I say, the only thing was I need to get away from that. As Mika struggles to escape the shadow of the enormous ship, the crew scrambled to throw the life ring to him once more. This time, he slides his arms through the inflatable and locks it against his body to prevent any more unfortunate accidents. The crew haul him up towards the net, where one of the sailors is waiting to help pull him to safety. Eventually they reached the deck.

Mika collapses in exhaustion and relief. 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. 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. 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 ground. the head, so that was from us, as I hit under the boat from all that barnacles stuff, they are pretty sharp, so nothing really serious, but bleeding. Though he is treated like a hero by the crew of the Orinoco, his own feelings are somewhat more complicated. 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 shall 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. And getting rescued has nothing that feels heroic.

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

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 with nothing except a crazy story. 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. 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. Now, I read the water, I read the clouds, in a different way as before. I kind of feel it changed 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 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. 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. 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. 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. That's next time on real survival stories. Listen right now without ads and without waiting a week by joining Noyser Plus. This October on the Noyser 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's 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. Get all of these shows and more early and ad-free on Noiser Plus.