Episode 1 : An Unplanned Swim Part 1

What happens when a tranquil fishing trip turns into a life-and-death struggle against the elements? This episode brings you the gripping tale of Will Fransen and his ill-fated solo fishing adventure. Will's love for the sea, which began in his childhood, drove him to purchase his dream boat, Betty G. However, a seemingly perfect summer holiday quickly transformed into a nightmare when he unexpectedly fell overboard while trying to release a marlin. Find out how a day filled with excitement and anticipation morphed into a desperate fight for survival.

Will's story is more than just harrowing—it’s a testament to human resilience and the sheer will to survive. Dressed in a simple hat, t-shirt, and sandals, Will recounts how he struggled to stay afloat for 23 and a half hours. Despite losing his jandals and watch, he managed to keep his hat on throughout the ordeal. Listen as he shares the critical moments of his experience: from the initial panic to the strategic decisions he made to stay alive, like draining water with a watch buckle and using his gear for buoyancy.

As the night drew on, Will faced physical exhaustion, shivering, and the eerie glow of bioluminescent plankton, all while clinging to the hope of rescue with the sunrise. Morning brought not just sunlight but also wind and waves, adding another layer of challenge to his already dire situation. This episode is a powerful reminder of the importance of safety and preparedness for anyone who ventures out to sea alone. Tune in next week for part two, where we’ll explore the dramatic moments of Will's rescue and his emotional return to land.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2360073/supporters/new
https://www.nzsportfishing.co.nz/
https://saferboating.org.nz/
https://www.tpsfc.co.nz/
https://www.coastguard.nz/

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:03

I called Coast Guard, as I always do, and logged a trip report when POB heading out past the Aldis and doing a bit of a loop around heading into the Mercs, and I said that I would update my trip report. That evening I reached under that safety rail to bring the fish up the head up, to release the hook leaning over, and I think in doing so I lifted the rail out of place and I think the marlin gave it its only head shake because it was pretty docile. And next thing I was in the water. Bang. I just I was in the water Wearing what I'm wearing as I grabbed the safety rail. It's got a little tether but I snapped that. I think that's gone. As soon as I hit the water I turned and tried to swim for the back of the boat. It was in about three strokes. I knew it was too late.

Speaker 2 0:58

Welcome back to the NZSFC Pod and Reel podcast. I'm Mike Plant, your host, and today we're diving into a story that will keep you hooked from start to finish. This episode is a cautionary tale filled with lessons for all anglers, especially those who venture out solo. This first-hand account provides invaluable knowledge that could save lives. It's part one of a two-part series you don't want to miss. This episode, recorded at a live event at Tairaapawanui Sport Fishing Club, is a fundraiser for Hospice and Coast Guard.

Speaker 2 1:32

So let's get this underway. We're joined by Will Franson, who will take us on an extraordinary journey, from the purchase of his boat Betty G to the harrowing moment of survival at sea. This episode, part one one, will cover Will's adventures leading up to his rescue, while part two, next week, will focus on the challenging journey back to land and the dramatic rescue of his boat Betty G. So let's meet Will and find out why he's sharing this remarkable survival story with us today. Story with us today. I just want to know, firstly, will, can you share a bit about your background and what drew you to the sea? How did you find your love of the ocean? Yeah, afternoon.

Speaker 1 2:18

everybody, thanks for coming to support Hospice and Coast Guard. I feel a bit of an idiot sitting here talking because of what happened to me, but I have to front it and there's a couple of lessons to learn and I hope that we talk about that as we go through it and make things a little bit better. I've always had a bit of an affinity for the sea. Started fishing as a young kid pretty much on my own, incidentally, but just in local creeks and whatever.

Speaker 1 2:45

As a kid in the South Island, always dreamt of having a launch, bought Lady Geneva off Peter Wikes, who's sitting sitting here, and many of you will know Pete. It was my first launch, having had a few partnerships and chartered a few boats. And Betty G was sort of a bit of a dream boat for me and forms a big part of this because she was built in town by Russell and named after his wife, betty George. So I've owned her four years now. Bit of a dream boat. Want to take her offshore. Love my fishing, love my diving, love anything to do with the sea. Caught a couple of marlin on her now, one of which led to all this happening.

Speaker 2 3:22

A lot of locals here would have watched Betty G be created and built in the driveway, Just a show of hands. Those who actually witnessed Betty G over the years and had a bit of affinity. So it wasn't just you that had a bit of a love affair with that boat. I think it was admired by many boaties in this area. So what got you to buy Betty G? How did that come about?

Speaker 1 3:46

I used to drive by Pepe Road and check on progress. I never, ever called on Russell because I thought he's too busy. He doesn't want boystanders popping in seeing how the boat build's going and holding them up, and seems like everybody else here did exactly that. You did a good job because I'm very proud of my boat. Pete called me one day and said look the boat's for sale. And within about a week I think I viewed a here with Peter on the marina.

Speaker 1 4:14

Russell was unwell, we couldn't get inside. We walked around on board and I said and I didn't have the money at the time I said I want to see inside and it took quite a few months, pete, before we came back, russell hosted us through and hearing Russell talk and seeing the passion of the build and you people will know because you've been on board I sort of made my mind up straight away that I wanted to buy her and and that transpired yeah, I've had her for four years. She had 480 hours on the clock. She's got about 1,070 now, so she's getting a little bit of use. But there's a few hours clocked up over a couple of weeks in January which I'll talk about later. She was a bit overdue for a service, shall I say.

Speaker 2 4:57

We mentioned solo fishing. To start with, you've always had a passion for solo fishing trips. What motivates you to kind of embark on these trips, and how do you typically prepare for a solo fishing trip by yourself out there? So why do you do it and how do you prepare?

Speaker 1 5:14

Okay, so firstly, I like fishing with mates most of all and I like fishing with people, but there's something about just being on the water on your own and I know a lot of you fish solo as well. There's something special about it. You're just in your own space, thinking about what you're thinking about and going where you want, and it is a bit of a challenge with it. And if I don't have anybody to come with me, I'll just pull the pick and away. I'll go.

Speaker 2 5:38

On the day of the unplanned swim. Was it just a typical day out on the water? The plan was to just go out and catch a marlin, or that came about. What was the plan?

Speaker 1 5:48

I really didn't think I'd be catching a marlin, but I arrived on New Year's Day in the harbour and, as I do, I'm on a mooring up here by the main wharf. I loaded the boat from a little dinghy which is off the back of the boat, which which is down here now, overnight on the boat and then dropped the mooring at about 10 o'clock the next morning on the 2nd to head out on my own and it was such a lovely day I thought, oh well, we'll go for a bit of a troll. I called Coast Guard, as I always do, and logged a trip report on POB heading out past the Aldis and doing a bit of a loop around heading into the Mercs, and I said that I would update my trip report that evening when I found somewhere to anchor in Mercury Bay, which is where I thought I'd end up and it didn't go that way.

Speaker 2 6:33

Did you have any prior concerns or fears about falling off a boat? Had it ever entered your mind that this could happen, and did you prepare for this scenario?

Speaker 1 6:44

No, never entered my mind, thought about it a lot because I follow boating and sailing and anything to do with the water and for example, there was a chap out of Exmouth in Perth and you may recall that there was a Sunday documentary on him. He had fallen off his trailer boat trying to catch his gopro from falling off the transom and he spent about six hours treading water in his board shorts about 27 degrees over there in the water. He got rescued.

Man Overboard

Speaker 2 7:11

So I've thought about it and in terms of shit can happen, but not to me no the moment it did happen to you, how did it happen and what was going through your mind when it did happen.

Speaker 1 7:24

So, the boat's loaded up with all sorts, as you do when you're heading off for the first day of your summer holiday, which was what it was for me. So I had the game gear in place that slipper behind chilli bins, dive gear, you name it. The boat was cher um, I had, uh, shrink wrap food in the fridge and freezer for well enough to keep me going for a week or so. I thought I'd be in it 30 or somewhere and catching stuff, so I had plenty of food for a couple of weeks away, and that was the plan. What were you wearing on the day will? So what I was wearing on the day is what I'm wearing here in front here. This is. This was what I had on.

Speaker 1 8:05

So the hat was a new addition to my wardrobe from a few months earlier, with friends heading off to see Robbie Williams. I thought I'm getting old, I need to protect from the sun. Normally I'm wearing a singlet. For some reason I had a t-shirt on. It wasn't cold, but anyway, this is what I was wearing with sandals. It's calm.

Speaker 1 8:22

So I'd come out of the harbour past Slipper and I was heading on about that trajectory. Where the cross is is about where I fell in. So I'm happily motoring along, heading out to sea at about maybe 1.30. I thought, oh, nice day getting thirsty, I'll pop the cap off a Heineken, which I did. I had a couple of mouthfuls, lucky omen. Maybe the next thing the short corner goes off and hooked up and I thought, because there's nothing on the surface, no jumping around, I thought maybe a mahi-mahi or a big albie or something.

Speaker 1 9:06

I cleared all the gear, threw it all in the back of the boat, started my GoPro, which is mounted on the laser-lit roof, filming the whole back of the boat. I put my Blackmagic gimbal gear on. So you brought that too. So you guys probably used them. I think I actually had this on at the time already.

Speaker 1 9:25

And then, to play the fish, I added the gimbal which you just clip into them. Does everybody know about them? So there's a bit of foam on them, got a bit of closed cell foam and this this thing's got a bit of air in it, which turned out to be a bit of a lifesaver. So I I clipped into it. I can't remember exactly whether I had one of the safety rails that secure me into the boat in place on the port side, but the starboard one definitely wasn't in and I placed that in place while I was playing the fish. So I actually cleared the rods and clipped myself in to the 50 wide that I was using to play what turned out to be a marlin. I still didn't know it was a marlin at the stage, because it's pretty tame. I walked across the boat because, as you know, with stand up you can just walk around, and I unclipped the safety bar and put it into place. So, as far as I'm concerned, I was fully enclosed in the boat. Calm day, all's good.

Speaker 2 10:21

So fish is on feeling pretty good. And walk us through the moment you fell off, Betty G when was the fish? Had you got the leader to the boat and what caused you to fall off?

Speaker 1 10:33

So this is me connected to the marlin. It's pretty flat, as my son said. Gee, dad, it looks a nice day for a swim and I put my phone on the laserette table in the back of Betty G. She's actually just idling along, so I'm motoring there just at idle. I put the rod in the starboard corner holder and took the boat out of gear and then the marlin kept swimming underneath the boat. So I thought and I wanted to release it because I started my hollad and won it.

Speaker 1 11:03

I went back up to the helm and just clicked the boat into gear and then went back to release it. And what I did? I think because the GoPro is gone and would have recorded the whole silly thing but I reached under that safety rail to bring the fish up, the head up, to release the hook leading over, and I think in doing so I lifted the rail out of its place and I think the marlin gave it its only head shake because it was pretty docile. And next thing I was in the water Bang. I just I was in the water Wearing what I'm wearing as I grabbed the safety rail. It's got a little tether, but I snapped that. I think that's gone as soon as I hit the water I turned and tried to swim for the back of the boat. I was in about three strokes. I knew it was too late In doing this.

Speaker 1 11:53

This hat good old hat came off and hooked on the toe of my left foot and I grabbed it off and stuck it on my head and that's where it remained for the next 23 and a half hours and pretty fortunate that it stayed there. But I had my gimbal on, wearing what I'm wearing, had my watch lost, my jandals, I had leathering gloves and, like within seconds of putting my hat back on, I grabbed the line that the fish was connected to. So I started taking line. Of course, drag was releasing, clicking its way out, and I could feel the fish between my legs swimming down, still connected.

Speaker 1 12:31

So I just started feeding, trying to feed myself back to the boat. I knew I had to get to the backing knot and a lot of line came out and I got to the backing knots and then I started grabbing hand over hand to pull myself back up and there's a fair bit of drag, even at three knots. And I got to the backing knots and then I started grabbing hand over hand to pull myself back up and there's a fair bit of drag, even at three knots, and I knew I had a long way to go. But I didn't get that far because I took a grab and the line slipped out of my right hand and next thing that was it.

Speaker 2 12:55

I'm just floating. You've tried to get back to the boat. So firstly you've fallen off the boat, then you've tried to make your way back to the boat. So firstly you've fallen off the boat, then you've tried to make your way back to the boat, unsuccessfully. You're floating there with the aid of the gimbal. How else did you manage to stay afloat during that time? Were your legs treading water? Was there much energy being used, or were you actually quite comfortable, relatively, with the flotation provided by the gimbal?

Speaker 1 13:20

The first thing I thought never mind the flotation from the gimbal. I just thought, well, will you f*** this one up? And I thought I had about instantly. I knew this was a biggie because the boat was in gear, quietly chugging away from me. I knew straight away. Nobody knew that I was in the water, nobody would know for probably a long time, till that night maybe, that I was in the water. Nobody would know for probably a long time, till that night maybe, that I was missing. Yeah, I had flotation from the gimbal belt and that was a lifesaver amongst a whole lot of other things. So yeah, to start with, I just tread water for a bit and swam around and acted like I was on holiday, I suppose, sort of swimming around a bit, thinking what an idiot I am actually Did you see or hear other boats on that first day?

Speaker 2 14:11

Were they about?

Speaker 1 14:13

Yeah, I was just treating water there, for this is two o'clock, by the way, on the 2nd of January. So I'm treating water and it's really calm. I'm looking around, around, trying to see if there's other boats and I did see some other boats, but a long way off, and so I just kept looking, looking. I think the first thing that I saw that I recognized was the shark that you've probably heard mentioned, which was half the distance away middle of the room, I suppose, from me, and started circling. I didn't know what sort of shark it was it wasn't a bronzy and it wasn't Marco by the look of its color, but I knew it was big enough that if it wouldn't have a bit of a go I'd be in trouble, and I tried not to move too much because I didn't know whether, whether my movement would attract it.

Speaker 1 14:58

I clearly remember thinking I don't want to go this way. I just, I just didn't want to have a shark having a chew on me. So he didn't hang around too long, did a bit of a circle and I'm looking around. I thought maybe he's not alone. And then I look back and he's gone. And then I'm looking down into the water and I think that I saw him sort of underneath. But I don't know, it might have been my imagination, but I never saw him again. But what I do recall is that every little bit of weed that touched my leg or anything for the next few hours just lit me up, so the shark had left physically but not mentally, is what you're saying.

Speaker 1 15:41

Not for quite a while. So that was maybe, I don't know, an hour, hour and a half. In, maybe a couple of hours I'm sitting there treating well, not sitting there, but I'm treating water floating there. I'd adjusted the gimbal harness up so that this part I sort of had under my chest, underneath me, and to start with I wouldn't let the thing go. But it actually floats so I could have let it go and got it back.

Speaker 1 16:06

But your mind doesn't work properly. So I thought, well, the aldermen aren't that far away and there's nobody here, so might as well have a swim for it. So I just started kicking with my feet for the aldies on my back and holding this for flotation on my chest, and I'd check on the Aldis and I thought, yeah, I'm gaining and keep flapping. And I just kept kicking for I don't know, it would have may have been a couple of hours, I don't know quite a while, but I thought I was gaining and looked again, thought I was gaining, looked again and I'd gone the other way quicker than what I gained. So I thought that's the end of that.

Speaker 2 16:44

We've gone through a few challenges for you so far, so falling off the boat, trying to get back on the boat by climbing up the line. What I didn't ask was did you actually try and track Betty G until you lost sight of her on the horizon, or how did that play out?

Surviving a Night at Sea

Speaker 1 17:00

Yeah, I watched my baby tick away from me. She just quietly just disappeared over the horizon. Basically, I watched her for ages and I thought hmm, I'm not sure I'll see you again. The outriggers are deployed, there's no gear in the. You know, maybe somebody would think that boat there's no gear in there, she's going too slow to be trolling.

Speaker 1 17:22

But, as you know, you see boats out there and they're stopped. They're not making way, for whatever reason, and you don't take too much notice. You generally don't go towards them if the riggers are out, in case they've got gear out. So it's just what happens. So later as the afternoon went on, I saw more and more boats, but they're all heading back to base, probably later in the afternoon and a long way away. But then there was one alloy boat that had gear out and was relatively close between myself and the Aldis this is later in the afternoon and I took my hat off and I waved and I yelled and can't yell loud enough eh, so they just chugged on by and I didn't think about my watch. So they disappeared home and all the other boats were too far afield and that was it.

Speaker 2 18:12

We have beautiful sunsets here. What did you think of the sunset that night? I watched it for ages.

Speaker 1 18:17

The sun quietly dipped, just tuck its way down and it slowly got dark. And I'm still just treading away there and I thought, well, she's going to be a long night and it was.

Speaker 2 18:26

So how do you get through the night? I'm guessing you're not sleeping like a baby. No, no.

Speaker 1 18:32

No, so I oh, there's one thing I missed. So the gimbal started. I noticed that the gimbal was leaking, so I had this thing and if I held it up water would start running out of this little bung here. I couldn't pull this bung out to drain the water, so I thought I'd use my watch buckle to try and pick it out so I could drain it and then put the bung back in. So I took my watch off, holding it real tight, and tried to get this thing off and broke the watch strap buckle. I put the watch in my pocket and that's where it stayed until I used it the next day.

Speaker 1 19:09

What I started doing was draining the water out of this as it filled, and then if I held it flat like this instead of vertically, it didn't seem to drain as much water in. So I would hold that above my head and you'd get a little trickle coming out of it. But anyway, I did that. A lot is held this thing out of the water to try and keep the air in it, because I thought that's the only buoyancy I got, and the more I do that, the longer it'll keep me afloat. So through the night I was doing that. I ended up with all these little luminous green things all over my legs and arms, little green LED lights, some sort of plankton that stuck to my skin. So I entertained myself by flapping my arms around underwater. You could see on my legs that these little lights would. They were quite fun and and they they remained on my skin, which I'll tell you about later, but they were on me all the night. They didn't hurt or do anything, they just stuck to me, I suppose, and so I just had lots of thoughts going through my head, thinking about friends and family and work and all those sorts of things that you do, and I don't know why you think about work when you're in those circumstances, but you do.

Speaker 1 20:19

I drifted I must have moved reasonably quickly away from the Aldis and I don't know whether in a straight line or an arc, but through the night I could see the lights of Taronga behind Mare Island. So Mare Island was quite illuminated from those lights and I seemed to stay in that position for much of the night because the Mare was illuminated and I just tried to move my arms a bit. I was getting cramps and I was shivering and my teeth were chattering, and all that Periodically. That would happen for a while and then it would stop and then happen again. So that started happening through the night, I guess, as it got darker, got cooler it was about 20 degrees, by the way, when I went in the tide so the moon eventually came up and I'd watched that.

Speaker 1 21:12

It sort of came up overhead I'd been star watching before that but the moon sort of created a fair bit of light, as it does at sea, and then it started lightning on the horizon prior to the sun coming up. And then eventually the sun came up, which is great, I thought. Well, I made it through the night. But unfortunately a little while after that the wind came up as well.

Speaker 2 21:32

Also, with the sun comes sunburn, and that's something that was a reality for you pretty quickly If I hadn't had this thing, it would have been way worse than it was.

Speaker 1 21:43

My face fell off a few days later, as Kelvin and Hayley and so on will say, because they looked after me afterwards, the hat was a big thing because I shaved my head and my face was really badly burned. It was only I don't know how many hours in the sun, two o'clock, it wasn't that bright. But the next day, and yeah, it was enough to burn my face, just with reflection, really badly. My eyes were burnt but my head was fine. No sunstroke, thankfully. So yeah, the sun came up, the wind came up. So so, yeah, the sun came up, the wind came up, and then the waves came up, and that was the worst part how do you maintain this mental fortitude to get through something like this?

Speaker 2 22:23

like I know, everyone here would have maybe run a long distance or done you know things like this before, but how do you get through it? I really want to know.

Speaker 1 22:33

Well, I'm naturally pretty positive, even though I was pessimistic right at the start. I was just realistic that I knew the chances of making it out were zip. Basically, again, as I said, nobody knew. I was out there, I suppose, through the night. I thought, well, maybe people will be looking for me in the morning. So maybe that was a bit of hope in hindsight. But I just sort of just kept on doing what I was doing because that's all I could do. Really what?

Speaker 2 23:00

really pushed you. Was it the shark? Was it getting through the night? Was it thinking of your loved ones, all of them in different little ways, the shark.

Speaker 1 23:08

I moved on from that after a while because I didn't see it again and I sort of forgot about it. Through the night I thought a lot about friends and family and thought what the hell are they going to say, you know? Because I thought about okay, if I don't make it, how do they find my body? Because if they don't find my body, what do they think happened? Do they think I what happened? You know, there's all these what ifs. And then, as the TV which was one of the little things that I said that they picked up on, of course, I thought about it my life insurance. I thought nobody, no pay, because life insurance companies all just find a reason for not paying. You won't they? If you just abscond, as they would probably have said I did, my kids don't get anything out of it, and it's a weird thing to be thinking about in the middle of the night while you're bobbing around. But I thought something's got to, good's got to come of it. My kids have got to get my life insurance, otherwise it's a waste, you know. So that motivated me to keep the gimbal drained and I thought well, if I die out here, I don't know how I die, but I was thinking I was going to die and then at least hopefully, somebody might find me. I I didn't know exactly where I was, of course, and when James and Tyler and Max picked me up and then later I found out how far out I was, the chances of being found if I was dead would be that slim. It's not funny, even though it's the summer game fishing season. But the wind came up and with it the waves.

Speaker 1 24:29

That morning was really difficult because I estimate it was over 20 knots, because they were capping. I could hear them coming, which I tried to keep behind me. This hat was on my head the whole time, but they were going over my head and up my nose. I'd have to hold my breath because I was underwater. So I developed, I started pinching my nose and holding my breath and then blowing out hard as soon as I broke the surface and then taking another big breath to try to wait for the next one, and I'd shut my eyes.

Speaker 1 25:03

But the shutting your eyes because you have to paddle to keep your back. I kept trying to keep my back to the waves because it was just really difficult. If I turned, if I didn't paddle, I would turn into the waves for some reason and they'd get me in the face, and then that was even worse. So I had to try and keep my back to the sea the whole time, hold my breath, hold my nose, blow out, repeat. All morning really. And I tried looking for boats whenever I could on the top of waves, but I thought there's no way, I no going to be out of here fishing in this. So that probably didn't help my morale, if you like, because I thought well, that doesn't it just doesn't help.

Speaker 2 25:44

That concludes part one of Will Franson's incredible journey. Will has made it through the night, and the morning has brought wind and waves, conditions that deflate Will's optimism of being rescued by another boat. He's starting to believe no one would be out in these conditions. Join us next week for part two, where we'll dive deeper into his harrowing rescue at sea. Until then, tight lines and safe travels on the water. The Pot and Reel podcast is brought to you by the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council. Listen on iHeartRadio, rover or wherever you reel in your podcasts.