Abandoned

What's that?

John! What's happening?

Oh, my god!

What the hell?

NARRATOR (V.O.): The rogue wave came out of nowhere, with no warning...

a 40-foot wall of solid water hit us like a freight train...

and was gone before we knew it.

Suddenly we were upside-down...

with water flooding through the companion way.

Jim!

Are you okay?

- Okay? Fucking kidding, we're upside-down, mate! - We're bloody sinking!

We won't sink. The boat will start rising when it equalizes with outside, okay?

We're gonna die! We're gonna die! Jesus!

- No! Hold on! Hold on! - (HULL CREAKING)

Shit... guys, grab anything you can!

The aft cabin is the highest point! Come on!

Look, that's about as good as we're gonna get it.

Rick! Rick! What are you doing?

Emergency beacon.

All right, come on.

I can't go in there.

Come on, Phil.

Get in!

What now? What the fuck do we do now?

Here... eat.

We're gonna die.

- We're rooted. - Shut the fuck up.

She's gonna break up... sooner or later.

Storm or container ship, we're going down.

Just keep calm, okay? That's the main thing.

We'll be all right.

So we just turn this thing the right-side-up?

- Can't... impossible. - Why not?

Once a multi-hull capsizes, it stays that way.

Fucked on the drawing board... bloody death traps!

How about we rig something up, make a mast, sail upside-down?

She's 75 percent underwater, all right... unnavigable.

Hey, we got food, we got water.

I got tanks full of it, thousands of liters.

We just have to wait.

We'll be okay. I want you guys to relax.

JOHN (V.O.): The only way forward was to adapt, learn to survive.

We needed to accept the situation and go with it.

But all they could think about was rescue.

Mutilation.

Yeah, of a corpse.

Wouldn't need to do it, if you'd built an escape hatch.

Now someone's gonna hear us, right?

How long before someone picks up the signal, do you reckon?

Hard to say.

Not too many boats out here... have to be a plane.

Well, how close do they have to be to pick up a signal?

Depends on the conditions.

JOHN (V.O.): I'd missed my scheduled departure date.

My original crew had dropped out at the last minute...

and I needed to find replacements at short notice.

Jim, check it out.

JOHN (V.O.): I wanted to sail before the weather changed.

- John Glennie. - Jim, pleased to meet ya'.

Yeah, good to meet you.

So what's the weather like in Tonga this time of year?

Oh, it's the tropics, mate. You know? Sun, warm, beaches...

more beautiful women than you can shake your stick at.

I like the sound of that.

Yeah, the Friendly Islands!

Could do with a cook. You got any sailing experience?

Absolutely none.

Some... a bit.

Oh, well. Yeah, it doesn't matter.

I just need extra bodies to keep watch.

How long would it take?

Mm... two weeks tops.

Trade winds are pretty strong this time of year.

You guys should come on down, check it out.

Sure.

Could be just what you need, mate.

Eh? Get away for a bit, time to think, clear the air.

- What about you? - Maybe.

Seriously?

Sure, why not?

Doctor phoned this morning.

Going to see her tomorrow, but it looks like I'm in the clear.

Latest scan says it's retreating.

Fantastic, man. Fantastic.

Rose Noelle, leaving two days time. What do you reckon?

Go on. Write them down.

C'mon, Martha. Don't do this.

I mean it. Write them down.

What?

The people I'll have to get in contact with when you drown.

Oh, for Christ's sake, have some faith.

You've never been to sea in your whole, damn, stupid, landlocked life. You can barely swim.

We decided to take a break to see if this is what we really want.

Not that kind of break.

That guy's gonna have you cooking dawn till dusk.

That is, when you're not throwing up. You get seasick in a kayak.

Look, I'm sorry I can't be on call for you, but I really need to do this.

Not your last will and testament.

Just a name and phone number in the States.

Don't forget that. You'll need it.

I'll wait in the car.

Knows how to pick her moments, doesn't she? Bloody hour of departure.

I s'pose, oh, you know Martha, she's probably just thinking of the worst that could...

Neither of us are exactly keen on this idea.

But it's good you're going. It's important.

No regrets, all that.

Uh... we'll say goodbye here.

Oh, you don't want to come down?

No, I'm not big on public farewells.

And it looks like Martha is in one of her moods, so...

Be careful.

Don't fall overboard.

I won't.

See you in a couple of weeks.

Bye-bye.

Bye! See ya'! Love you!

Oh, this is gonna be so good for him!

- See ya, Dad! - Bye, Dad!

- See ya. - Bye. Bye, baby! Bye.

Be nice to your mum! Be good!

Oh, hey, don't be like that!

Us girls, we'll look after each other.

Where's your mate?

Is she all right?

Oh, come on, cheer up. They'll be fine.

Just think of all the fun you'll have when you get him back, he'll be hot to trot!

No, it's... it's not that... we're breaking up.

Hey, Jim, give Phil a hand with the fenders.

JOHN (V.O.): I'd waited a long time for this adventure.

Unfortunately, I wasn't sharing the first leg of the voyage...

with the men I wanted, but at least I had a crew.

Once we made landfall in Tonga, I would replace them.

This voyage was going to take me back to my old cruising haunts of the South Pacific.

New beginnings, a fresh start, love and adventure.

I had invested everything I had in Rose Noelle.

She was my pride and joy, my home, my haven.

What do you reckon, Jim?

Jim looks a bit green around the gills.

Yeah, he'll be alright.

She's all yours, mate.

- Oh, yeah, okay. - ANNOUNCER (ON RADIO): The extended marine forecast...

for all of New Zealand until the 6th of June.

An intense tropical cyclone is situated off the east coast of the North Island...

with south-westerly gales gusting to 50 knots and seas rising to 6 meters.

For all of the east coast... severe weather warning...

For all of the west coast from Terawhiti to Cape Egmont.

JOHN (V.O.): This was music to my ears.

There'd be no beating into the wind.

We'd sail on a broad reach all the way to Tonga, and make faster time than I'd hoped.

What's he doing?

Don't know. Look's as those he's putting up more sails.

A plane would have to be close. Within a 100 nautical miles.

Come on, John, honestly. How long before they find us?

What's she gonna remember of me... of us?

John?

Five days.

It's okay, mate. Five days and we'll be out of here...

according to the oracle.

JOHN (V.O.): I estimated our position to be about 140 miles off the east coast.

The EPIRB signal was well outside the reach of domestic aircraft.

We'd need to pin our hopes on an international flight.

Jesus, I can't breathe!

It's time you took a turn back there.

- Oh, I was just... - Oh, shit!

Can't be much longer now. Surely, somebody's gotta hear that signal.

They will. We've been pretty lucky up till now.

Lucky? In what way have we been lucky?

If one of us had been on deck when that wave hit, it would've been curtains.

If we'd cut the parachute, we would've been fine.

Hey, it was your idea to put it out in the first place. Remember that.

What's that supposed to mean? You knew the storm was coming.

You put us out here! You risked our lives!

Right, Rick. Let her go!

JOHN (V.O.): Leaving on a journey and arriving at a destination...

is the best part of cruising.

To be honest, I dislike blue water sailing, it bores me to tears.

The excitement of bad weather and long night watches soon wears off.

For me, it was all about seeing the world and taking my home with me.

There's a man who knows what he's doing.

We're flying along, mate. She's got a great turn of speed.

Oh, yeah. She's fast, just how I like my women.

So, who've you left behind? Do you have someone in Australia?

More interested in who I could be sailing towards, mate.

Hey, who's the lady in the picture down below?

Now that is the original Rose Noelle, Tahitian princess.

I named the boat after her. Love of my life.

Do you still love her?

In spirit.

We're going a bit fast, John? Don't you think?

I mean, we're not in that much of a bloody hurry, are we?

Well, I want to get as far as we can before nightfall.

- But why? - Well, the weather's changing.

The weather's changing? What do you mean? What's it doing?

Well, there's a storm coming. We're going to catch it.

It'll be on us pretty soon. And then we'll do some real sailing.

JOHN (V.O.): A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

I don't like this. I really don't like this.

JOHN (V.O.): Phil had limited coastal sailing experience.

Maybe that's why he was so anxious. His fear was contagious.