Hold Fast!: 2. I didn’t know the sea was so big

Lives Less Ordinary

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.6 • 814 Ratings

🗓️ 4 August 2025

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

15 people, 188 days at sea, one extraordinary ship: how the Avontuur was locked down at sea during the Covid-19 pandemic.

What would you do if your world shrunk to 300 square metres, and you had no say over who you shared it with? If you were on a ship, at sea, far from loved ones - and didn’t know when you’d be able to set foot on land again, and get home?

In this episode: The Avontuur begins the second leg of its journey, setting out from Tenerife to cross the Atlantic. At work in the galley preparing breakfast, ship’s cook Giulia Baccosi learns that the night watch noticed an unusual little light, far off on the horizon. It’s been there through the night. It’s too far from shore to be a fishing boat, so what is it?

Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney Produced by Christina Hardinge Sound and music by Noémie Ducimetière Narration written by Laura Thomas

For Lives Less Ordinary, the series producer is Laura Thomas and editor, Munazza Khan.

Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected.

Got a story to tell? Send an email to [email protected] or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

Transcript

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0:00.0	Coming up on lives less ordinary, hold fast continues.
0:05.0	And the closer they were coming, the more anxious we were like, oh my God, what is happening? What is happening?
0:12.0	Is this really what I think it is?
0:15.0	They're waving at us. They are trying to get in touch with us. We have to do something.
0:24.9	This is the extraordinary story of sailing cargo ship, the Avantour, and its crew of 15, on a wind-powered
0:32.8	mission to transport olive oil, cacao, coffee and rum between Europe and Central America.
0:39.7	But before they even make it halfway, everything they're counting on is thrown to the winds.
0:47.5	I'm Chauvin McSweeney and you're listening to Lives Less Ordinary Presents.
0:54.1	Hold Fast
0:55.2	from the BBC World Service
0:58.2	Episode
1:01.3	I didn't know the sea was so big
1:04.8	I didn't know the sea was so big.
1:37.3	Music It's now the 28th of February 2020, 42 days since leaving Germany and barely 24 hours into the ship's Atlantic crossing.
1:45.1	The Avantour is making the rather slow pace of 1.5 knots, some 80 miles off the coast of Grand Canaria.
1:49.7	It's impossible to predict how long any Atlantic crossing will take.
1:55.4	Depending on the wind, it could be three weeks, it could be four, or it could be longer.
1:59.9	It's early morning, not yet light.
2:02.5	And before beginning her breakfast prep,
2:06.2	ships cook Julia Bikosi heads up on deck for a moment.
2:10.2	We see a little light on the faraway distance and we think, oh, it must be a fisherman.
2:14.0	But it was feeling a bit weird because it were too far off.
	...

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