June 5, 2025 • 58 mins
What drives someone with zero ocean experience to sail 2,500 miles across the Pacific alone with just a cat as crew? Oliver's remarkable journey from Oregon to Hawaii captivated millions, transforming him from an unknown sailor with a few thousand followers into a viral sensation greeted as a hero upon his arrival in Waikiki.
The raw authenticity of his story resonates deeply with people seeking inspiration in their own lives. "I think everybody's kind of at this breaking point," Oliver reflects, "but I just went all in and went for it." This simple decision to pursue something meaningful despite overwhelming odds struck a chord with viewers worldwide who saw themselves in his struggles and triumphs.
His crossing wasn't without terrifying moments. When his rudder failed during 38-knot winds, locking hard to starboard and putting his boat beam to the seas, Oliver faced what could have been a catastrophic situation. "The lifelines were going into the water, coming out of the water," he recalls of the violent motion. With remarkable resourcefulness, he managed temporary repairs using lashing until calmer conditions allowed for proper fixes. Other challenges included getting trapped in a locker when the boat heeled (escaping only because he had a wrench with him) and learning to manage daily life at sea with his feline companion Phoenix, who adapted beautifully to become "a walking gimbal" navigating the boat better than her human.
Perhaps most surprising was Oliver's admission that he felt a certain melancholy upon reaching land. After weeks alone with just his thoughts and the vast ocean, the transition to instant fame was jarring. "I felt like I sailed through a wormhole and arrived into a different universe," he says of the flotilla that greeted him, including the coast guard and traditional canoes. Despite now having millions of followers, he remains humble and focused on the journey ahead—exploring Hawaii before continuing to French Polynesia in March, with plans to eventually circumnavigate the globe.
Want to follow Oliver's continuing adventures? Subscribe to his channels and join the millions of people finding inspiration in his willingness to chase dreams despite fear, inexperience, and uncertainty. As one viewer commented, "Being yourself, as awkward as you might think you are, is what draws me to watch."
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Capn Tinsley (00:05):
Good evening.
How do you cross the Pacificsolo with a cat and come out
more famous than ever?
Today's guest, oliver ofSailing with Phoenix, just did
exactly that From Oregon toHawaii, over 2,500 miles alone
at sea, with his sweet kitty,phoenix, as his only crew.
Since then his journey hasexploded, with over 2 million
followers on Instagram and ahero's welcome in Waikiki.
(00:27):
We're jumping into the realstory behind the crossing, the
viral fame and what's next as hesets his sight on sailing
around the world.
But first I ask that you please, please, please, like and
subscribe and share.
It really helps me bring youmore incredible sailing stories.
I'm Captain Tinsley of sailingvessels Salty Abandoned and
(00:48):
Island Packet 320, and this isthe Salty Podcast, episode 62.
And for the third time on theSalty Podcast.
Welcome Oliver and sweet little.
Phoenix hey, hey, hey, goodevening.
Oliver Widger (01:04):
Hey.
Capn Tinsley (01:04):
Well, good, good evening.
Hey, Well, good afternoon toyou.
Yeah yeah, so we were justtalking online.
You got a lot of people here.
Let me just I'm going to putsome of these up on the screen.
We got people coming out of thewoodwork here.
Look at this.
I've been waiting to see thispodcast.
(01:24):
So excited for Oliver and hiscat for the journey Supporting
from Morville, mississippi.
Hi Oliver from Tamra.
We got.
I've been waiting oh, I alreadyread that one.
Hello from Central California.
We got.
Hello from Honolulu.
We got Susie Q from New York.
(01:44):
Let me just read a couple ofthese and we'll start.
Hello from Aloha, oregon.
I guess you know where that is.
Oliver Widger (01:52):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (01:53):
Susie Q, new York.
Let me start at the top.
I want to acknowledge everybodybefore we start.
Adrian Drew he was on earlier.
Hey Drew, welcome back.
I'm in Florida.
Maybe I can lose to it tomorrow.
Hopefully you're still here.
We got Nancy White in LosAngeles.
(02:15):
We got San Diego in the house,barbara and I think I Nancy
White.
Arlington Cole Welcome Cole.
And we got Star Caps and JohnRichardson says let's go.
(02:37):
Aloha de Houston, wow, here's aNew York, someone from New York
right there.
Well, you got a lot of fans.
Phoenix I mean Phoenix too.
Oliver man, you got a lot offans.
So this is our third time, andthis is amazing because we were
just talking.
When I first talked to you inNovember, you had 10,000
(02:58):
followers.
Oliver Widger (02:59):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (03:00):
Then when you left , you had 30?
Oliver Widger (03:02):
60, I think 60.
Capn Tinsley (03:05):
And now you got 2 million and probably more by now
.
What do you think?
What is it about your story?
Wait, niagara, is that?
What am I reading that right?
Oliver Widger (03:20):
Canada.
Capn Tinsley (03:21):
Okay, is that Canada?
Okay, okay, I'm going to try toput these up while you're
talking.
What do you think about yourstory that people have latched
on to, because it's prettyincredible yeah, I don't know.
Oliver Widger (03:35):
I think, well, I think I don't know, I think the
world's in a weird place and Ithink I think I don't know.
I think everybody, like I, canspeak from my own.
There's my cat from my own, hey, phoenix.
Yeah, I think I'll speak frommy own feelings, I guess.
(03:58):
But like me personally, I justfeel like the world is
constantly like just slowlylikeling.
You know me, and I feel likeother people feel that way and
and everybody's kind of like.
A lot of people feel similar tohow I did, where I was just at
like this breaking point and butI like I just went all in and I
(04:18):
went for it and uh, I think,you know, people have found like
inspiration in that which iscool, you know, which is really
cool.
So I think that's, you know,part of it, you know, just lucky
too, I don't know.
Capn Tinsley (04:37):
Okay.
So Lisa Chamberlain says hegives hope to make a complete
turnaround change rather thansuffer in silence.
Yep, that's true, yeah, I think.
Yeah, there's a lot of peopleout there that are maybe not
happy with their situation andyou were brave enough to make
the change.
I'm just amazed at all thesecomments.
(04:58):
I would love to host you in myAirbnb If you come to Maui.
You got to do that.
I've been to Maui.
That's an awesome place.
Okay, here's someone saysOliver's real humble and
inspiring.
Um, yeah, so yeah, it feel freeto to, for you guys to to give,
tell, tell us why he inspiredyou.
(05:19):
So I did, I did, um, I've gotsome rapid fire questions.
So here we go and I'm going toalso be bringing these up there.
Look at that.
Are you seeing these?
Oliver Widger (05:35):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (05:35):
He's unpretentious and likable.
That's true.
Oh, look at that.
We all need to be takinglessons from all this.
Being yourself awkward, as youmight think and you are, think
you are is what draws me towatch, plus the love for your
animal.
My dog is my child.
Okay, I worked my tail offtoday.
(06:01):
Okay, the dude is low key, theand he has no idea.
There you go.
There's your answers rightthere.
Okay, first word that comes tomind when you hear Pacific
Crossing, oh Wild.
Oliver Widger (06:23):
I don't know, wild Are you asking me yeah.
Yeah, I'm asking you Crazy, Idon't know it.
Capn Tinsley (06:29):
You asking me, yeah, yeah I'm asking you crazy,
I don't know.
It's cool, cool, okay, it'scool.
Oliver Widger (06:31):
Favorite moment at sea uh, I think when I was,
when I was uh becalmed becauseyou know you're in the middle of
the pacific and it's likethere's no wind and it's just a
weird feeling I didn't feelnormal, I didn't feel something
about it, felt like just likewell you know weird.
(06:51):
And then that and then, likealso, I've always like
envisioned that moment when Iget a flying fish that jumps on
the boat.
And so when I found my firstflying fish, like that was like
a milestone.
It felt like a milestone for me.
Capn Tinsley (07:10):
I saw it and I was like a milestone.
It felt like a milestone for me.
I saw it.
Oliver Widger (07:13):
I was like awesome, you know, I thought
that was super cool.
Well, I know you were seasickquite a bit, which, um, did that
get better?
Yeah, I think a lot of it wasself-induced, like all right,
because there's I might.
I was eating pretty poorly andI did some experimenting after I
made a realization because Iwould like wake up and then I
would drink like a coffee, andthen I have like a chocolate bar
or something, and um, and thenI would be.
You know, I would until I putlike a reasonable amount of food
(07:36):
in my body.
I would start I would befeeling seasick.
So after I changed my morning,like I stopped drinking coffee
and then I would have a kind ofa bigger meal for breakfast, and
then I would feel okay, um,because I just think I was
always on the like edge of beingseasick, but I was just
amplifying it by my mornings.
(07:56):
So I figured that out, uh, aftera while okay um worst weather
you faced on the crossing it.
It was the first week where Iwas like I got up to like 38
knots of wind and there were,the swells were pretty.
You know, I hadn't sailedoutside of a river before, so to
(08:16):
me the swells were absolutelymassive.
So, and then that's when I hadthe rudder failure too.
I was at the height ofeverything.
It was the maximum amount ofwind I had seen, the maximum
amount of swell height, and uh,that was uh, it was terrifying.
But I mean, it wasn't anythingby any means any any.
(08:38):
It was.
You know, it was relativelysporty conditions, but it wasn't
anything crazy by any means,you know, but it was.
I mean, to me it looked, it was, it was crazy.
Capn Tinsley (08:47):
Um, jennifer Harlow's asking if you ever been
on a long cruise, and I believethat answer is no.
Oliver Widger (08:52):
No, I've never been on a long cruise.
Capn Tinsley (08:54):
No if you have watched my former podcast that
we did, it's like he hadn't beenout of that past.
Oliver Widger (09:02):
I had sailed.
Yeah, the furthest I had sailedwas when I sailed from portland
on the columbia to the, or todown the columbia to the oregon
coast.
Um, so that was 75 nauticalmiles.
That's the furthest I had eversailed and I had engine failure
on the river oh, wow, um.
Capn Tinsley (09:21):
So I guess you know, when you had those big
waves and you had the problemwith the rudder, that was kind
of a bummer, wasn't it?
Oliver Widger (09:29):
Yeah, it was absolutely terrifying, Like it
was terrifying, like the rudderlocked hard to starboard so it
put me in my beam to the seas,the side of the boat to the seas
and so, like I was, the boatwas like going from like this to
like this within like foursecond intervals.
You know what I mean.
It was like it was chaos and,like you know, the tow rail, the
water was literally the.
(09:50):
The lifelines were going likeinto the water, coming out of
the water and then the otherside would go into the water.
So I was just like in my headthe whole time.
I was just like just stayclipped in and because it
happened when I, I had two ofthe batons came out of my
mainsail and then I also poppeda car as well, one of the slugs
that go up the track.
I popped one of those out.
(10:10):
I was in the middle of repairingthat.
That's why I was using my mainrudder, not the hydrovane.
It was worst timing, worst casescenario.
Then, in the middle ofpreparing that, that's when I
lost the rudder.
My sails were flogging in thewind, it was chaos, everything,
it was everything went downhilland then I went in the engine
(10:31):
room to try and fix it and I gotso sick in there.
I think it was a combination ofjust like incredibly sick with
like fear and then also likelegitimately seasick, as well as
these those two things.
And I was in there trying tofix it and I got.
I got so sick I had to come outprior to that.
(10:53):
I had.
I had.
I had a big bucket filled withfishing lures and I poured it
down the companionway and I usedit as like a trove to try and
bring the boat over and itdidn't work.
But so, yeah, I was in theengine compartment, got super
sick and then I was like I needto come out and I need to rest.
So I come walking down thecompanionway and I start
(11:15):
stepping on fishing lures and uh, uh.
You know that sucked.
And then I just I got myquarter berth and I just laid
there and like just looked upand just like lay there for like
15 minutes just to collectmyself and to bring everything,
everything slow, slow,everything down and um, and then
I went back in.
I didn't know how like it was.
(11:35):
Like I, when I left, I was likethere's nothing on this boat
that can break that I won't beable to fix, so I've done so
much to it.
That was like the one thing Ihaven't.
I hadn't touched the rudderquadrant or anything.
I didn't know anything aboutrudder quad.
Capn Tinsley (11:47):
It was the one thing.
Yeah, I know Now.
Oliver Widger (11:49):
I do.
So I didn't know how to fix itand I think what happened was
the bolts two of the bolts thattighten the cable came loose and
it just loosened up the cables.
The cable literally just felloff and so, and so I got in
there and I tried to put it backon and it would keep falling
off and then every once in awhile the rudder would slam to
the other side and then the itwould go tight, and so I was
(12:12):
really worried about getting myfinger caught between the
quadrant and the cable and myfinger would just come off.
So I used forever to get it on,and then I held the tension
with my hand and then I I usedlike uh, whatever that's you
know when you suture down thesail, when you drop the sail, I
just did some line, basically,and I lashed it together to keep
(12:33):
the tension and I justreinforced that, and then that I
I left it like that for likejust to keep that main rotor
straight, and I left it likethat for like three days, and
then when I, when I got thecomms is when I did the full
repair on it right.
Capn Tinsley (12:46):
I know you didn't want to mess with it because in
case it came loose again.
It happened again.
Oliver Widger (12:50):
Yeah, if it happened again it would be a
nightmare.
So I did it when it was calmand you could see too on my
tracking when I was fixing itbecause the boat started going,
you know, all over the placelike it was just a little
section where it was like justgoing crazy, but it was calm.
Capn Tinsley (13:04):
So it's good well, the trying to do something like
that in those waves.
Um, you know, even if I waschanging a alternator belt in
waves, yeah it's, it's not agood situation.
Oliver Widger (13:17):
Yeah, I would instantly start feeling sick I
had so much stuff I made amistake of putting.
I knew I shouldn't put a lot ofstuff I don't have a lot of
room but I knew I shouldn't puta lot of stuff in that uh, in
that hatch because all of itwould be in the way.
But I had a lot of stuff in thehatch.
I had to like pull really heavystuff out and the post going
crazy and I'm trying to liftthese giant heavy things like I
(13:40):
had to throw a bunch of stuffoverboard just because I
couldn't have the cockpit a mess, because I didn't want to slip
on things in the cockpit andthen fall if I'm trying to
manage the sails.
So I didn't throw any chemicalsor anything, but it was like my
broom.
I had a mop in there.
(14:00):
I threw my mop overboard justto get everything clear in the
cockpit and I just startedlaunching stuff overboard.
And then where did you throwoverboard?
A mop, a broom?
some like cleaning stuff and, uh, just some stuff like that and
then the rest of it.
I kind of just threw down thecompanionway just to keep
(14:20):
everything clear in the cockpit,like in the cockpit I still had
.
I had my backup, my back, I hada drogue, a backup drogue with
chain, and stuff in the cockpitand then I had my backup anchor
with chain.
So I left those two things inthe cockpit, but for like two
days.
But aside from that I threweverything else either down here
(14:41):
or overboard.
Capn Tinsley (14:43):
Tell us about the getting trapped in a locker.
Oh, yeah, us about the gettingtrapped in a locker oh, yeah,
getting trapped in a locker yeah, that was like literally every
sailor's worst fear.
Oliver Widger (14:52):
I did it and uh that sounds like such a
nightmare I was.
It was so I go, it was like thenext day or the day one or two
days later, or I like went in tojust check on the lashings or
reinforce the lashings, and youknow like when you go in the
locker, you, you lash it off andlike I always lash it off, even
when I'm on shore.
(15:13):
But like I, uh, I guess you knowI, for some reason didn't I
lash it off kind of lazily,apparently, and uh, you know I,
I didn't, it didn't enter mymind.
I was in swells, you know, andso I was in there and a massive
swell came and the boatcompletely rocked to its beam
(15:34):
and the locker slammed shut andthen I could hear the latches go
click.
Capn Tinsley (15:39):
And I was like oh my.
Oliver Widger (15:40):
God, and I go up to the hatch and I hit it and it
goes click, and I was like, ohmy, I didn't have my phone with
me either.
I left my phone in here and uhI was like I am legitimately
stuck and I had, um a wrench inthere with me.
Um, fortunately, and between thelike the last, there was like a
(16:01):
little gap, um, and I just putthe wrench between the gap and I
just pried it and then I blewout the hinges and it popped
open.
Um, so I still have to fixthose, but uh, that, yeah, that
was crazy.
Capn Tinsley (16:14):
You know, mostly I've, I've always worried about
them, cutting your finger offwhen those things fall you know
when they close, but I had neverthought about getting trapped
in one until you said that I'mso glad that you were able to
get out.
That is super scary, I think Ialways would have figured it out
.
Oliver Widger (16:33):
You know, I don't know.
Capn Tinsley (16:34):
You weren't planning on staying in there.
Oliver Widger (16:36):
No no way.
Capn Tinsley (16:39):
Okay, so um more stressful big C's or 2 million
followers Um they're both, butthey're both pretty stressful.
Oliver Widger (16:48):
Yeah, they're both pretty stressful, like I
don't know I, I it's.
It's like sitting there waitingfor something to break, which
is what was like the moststressful, like you know,
because the boat would make suchinsane noises.
You know that, like I had neverheard this boat make and like
the boat was making likedifferent noises every day, and
(17:08):
so every time a different noisecame up, I'd be like oh no, and
like, because it was in theheight when I had that rudder
failure, so like that night andI would just lash it off that
night, I was like just layingthere like waiting for it to
like something to go just wrong,because at night it would be
the.
I didn't have anything go wrongat night, which which is good,
but that would have been muchmore difficult to deal with at
(17:32):
night, you know.
So just sitting there waitingfor things to fail was would
play with my mind a bit.
Capn Tinsley (17:38):
Well, I um, I saw your video and somebody
commented in here way back heresomewhere there's so many
comments the same thing when yousaid um, what does it feel when
people ask you what does itfeel like to be famous?
And you're like the pacificdoesn't care?
Oliver Widger (17:52):
oh yeah it doesn't.
Yeah, no, like when I was, Ididn't think about it at all
when I was, really, when I was,when I was crossing, because,
just because, like, uh, that,yeah, that environment, none of
it matters, you know, whenyou're there, like none of it
mattered.
So I I just have to kepttelling myself, like keeping
myself centered, focused on whatis actually happening, because
(18:14):
it's so easy to get lost in inthe.
You know, I went viral and likepay attention to that and I just
I really tried my best to juststay centered and stay in
reality and the reality was Iwas in the middle of the pacific
ocean and yeah, it does notcare, doesn't care at all what's
going on.
Capn Tinsley (18:32):
So um, this one says that uh Vala city.
I hope I'm saying that.
The day you reached Hawaii, didyou expect anything close to
what you experienced?
It was pretty incredible.
Oliver Widger (18:42):
No, I mean when I left, it was basically like no
one knew about me.
And uh, uh so like uh, so likeyeah, no, not at all.
Capn Tinsley (18:50):
I felt like it sailed through a wormhole and
arrived into a differentuniverse I mean the coast guard,
and then the the guy, um, theguy from the marina was out
there too, leading yeah therewas a bunch of boats, the canoes
.
I was all the canoes I wasgonna smoke a canoe, like.
Oliver Widger (19:07):
I was like how?
Like when I started coming in,I was like, oh, we, oh.
I'm not done yet I have to getthere and not run into a kayak,
because how bad would that be?
Capn Tinsley (19:18):
I'm sure they had their eye on you, but remember
when you left you were worriedabout pulling up to the dock.
Oliver Widger (19:26):
Yeah, I didn't know what dock I was going to go
to.
I didn't know what dock I wasgonna go to.
Capn Tinsley (19:29):
I didn't know what marina but you had mentioned
that when you said you told thestory about your first date with
this girl and you, you, oh,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, and
uh, it worked out.
Oliver Widger (19:41):
They knew about that because they, the coast
guard, came up to my boat andthey're like uh, we're gonna put
a, um, a captain on your boatto to bring it in and I was like
there's no way I'm I'm lettingsomebody take my kidding.
No, yeah, I wasn't the, I thinkit was.
Uh, the marina wanted to, justbecause I think they watched
that video and they were alittle nervous about it that I
(20:03):
was gonna start smoking boats onthe way, in which I've never
hit boats before.
But hey, Phoenix.
Capn Tinsley (20:11):
Well, yeah, I mean you had a nice side tie
situation, that was perfect.
Oliver Widger (20:16):
Oh yeah, it was the perfect landing.
If I had to go into like afinger slip it would have been a
different story, with a bigtide and everything.
Yeah, I'm going to bring this.
Capn Tinsley (20:29):
Amy says hi, y'all Thank.
Thank you for this, oliver,you're such an inspiration to
many.
I was so happy to have foundyou before the journey started.
Your age is a huge.
Your age is a huge inspirationfor bringing us along.
I'm not sure if that's a typo.
Um, okay, so let's see.
Uh biggest surprise that aboutgoing viral um, biggest surprise
(20:52):
about going.
Oliver Widger (20:52):
I mean just that in and of itself was a surprise
skill on viral, but biggestsurprise is the the absolute
overwhelming uh love fromeverybody.
Like that's been so coolbecause you know, like I'm sure
I've got some trolls and stuffand like you said you saw, so I
haven't seen any of it.
(21:12):
Like it's like the overwhelminglove from everybody like
totally drowns out any sort oftrolling and I know they're out
there, but like well, the goodthing is everybody jumps on the
troll, so you don't have to doanything.
No, it's it, it's.
I feel incredibly fortunate andI definitely, I definitely have
(21:33):
a heavy amount of like impostersyndrome with the whole thing,
especially within, like thesailing community too, because I
haven't.
There's so many people thathave done so much cooler things
than I have.
I haven't done anything likeactually, so many people have
sailed from the west coast toHawaii.
It's not like I've doneanything special.
Um, so that is weird to dealwith.
You know, coming into hawaiiand like getting greeted by like
(21:54):
the mayor and like, which isI'm credibly thankful for, but
you know, it's it feel I feelguilty in a way, for some reason
you know?
Capn Tinsley (22:03):
I mean, I don't know, you feel, I don't know, I
don't know.
Oliver Widger (22:07):
I just feel I don't know.
Capn Tinsley (22:10):
Well, I mean, there's a reason for it and so
just accept it.
These people you didn't youknow, force them to send you all
this love that I'm looking atright now on all these comments.
So it just happened and it'sorganic and I think it's awesome
.
Okay, does Phoenix know she'sfamous?
Oliver Widger (22:38):
I don't know I think she's just living in her
own world.
She knows, I give her lots morekisses from everybody, because
everybody wants me to kiss mycat.
So I.
I give her so much love, Ithink it I mean it does irritate
her, and but yeah, I don't know.
She is the most famous cat,though, which is really good, I
(23:01):
would say so.
Capn Tinsley (23:02):
She's the most famous cat.
All right, yeah.
What was some in the packagethat the plane dropped?
Oliver Widger (23:10):
It was was some letters.
She's going to jump up here andhit the keyboard.
Capn Tinsley (23:15):
That's okay, bring her up.
Oliver Widger (23:19):
If I suddenly disappear, it's because she hit
the keyboard, but I'll come back.
Capn Tinsley (23:23):
Okay, we'll be here.
Oliver Widger (23:25):
What was I going to say?
What were we talking about?
Capn Tinsley (23:30):
What was in the package that the plane dropped?
Oliver Widger (23:32):
Oh, it was some letters that these girls of the
pilots wrote, which is reallycool, and then some snacks,
because I had completely ran outof snacks.
And then two right before theyleft, they'd gotten two like
Jersey Mike sandwiches, whichwas awesome.
They had like fresh tomatoesand stuff in there and I was
(23:55):
literally eating Like I wasn'teven cooking the cans of like
moldy soup, I was just crackingthe lids and drinking it, which
is disgusting, and so I wasreally struggling for food.
So when I ate those, I wasreally struggling for food.
So when I when I ate those, Iwas like awesome.
(24:17):
So where did the plane come from?
Uh, from Hawaii.
And uh, it was elf cosmetics,like put it all together.
Um, so they did all the work onon getting it and stuff and um,
uh, yeah, I think it flew outof Maui.
The plane plane, did you knowit was?
Coming yeah, they gave me aheads up, okay, because you said
because I remember the video.
Capn Tinsley (24:34):
You said oh, they're opening the door.
Yeah, oh, we dropped somethingyeah, yeah, yeah.
Oliver Widger (24:40):
I mean, that was the only thing content thing
that I did was like I playedinto it a bit okay just because
it funny.
You know it was cool, it was acool thing.
Capn Tinsley (24:51):
Oh your videos were hilarious.
I mean, you've got a dry humorthat I really appreciate.
Uh, uh, Phoenix wants to be onthe show.
That was so awesome.
Oh, you'll have to read allthese eight later.
I'm a 58 year old Canadianwho's never been on a sailboat
and I teared up watching youarrive.
I love that you took this on.
Phoenix has things to say.
(25:14):
Did Phoenix have any weirdhabits on the boat?
Oliver Widger (25:23):
No, she became just a completely normal cat
after the first two days.
It was funny to watch her.
She liked to sit in this chairbecause this chair has two arms
on it so she could sit in hereand the boat could rock.
It was like her lee cloth waslike this chair.
She really liked the chairbecause she could stay in one
place and just let the boat,rock her.
(25:48):
She became like a walking gimbal, like it was.
She got around the boat so muchbetter than me, like she just
walk gimbal her way around theboat, which is really cool well,
I, and I asked this for my ownpurse because I wanted to sail
with my cats.
Capn Tinsley (26:01):
What did you do about litter?
Oliver Widger (26:03):
I, I just did, I just have my regular litter box
and then I, I, I would put thelitter in the trash, and then,
when my trash would just get,then I, I, I would put the
litter in the trash, and then,when my trash would just get
full, I, I just put it in theengine, in the, you know, the
engine locker, the engine room.
So that's where I put all my,my trash and I, I just, I didn't
throw anything like.
Legally you can throweverything overboard, um other
than plastic but.
(26:25):
I I didn't do that just because,like what, it would feel weird.
And then also I like I'm notlike super superstitious or
anything, but it felt likethat's, if you're gonna piss off
an ocean, that's one way to doit, you know.
So I just didn't want to, Idon't want to take any chances.
So I kept all my trash on boardand threw it all away when I
got here okay, I was uh, did you?
you have to carry a lot oflitter oh yeah, I had like two
(26:49):
big bags of litter that Ibrought and two big bags of food
.
So someone said that I got hermore treats than I got myself
snacks.
She was eating well the entiretime where I was suffering.
Capn Tinsley (27:06):
Jennifer said it was a good question that I asked
uh, let's see.
Jennifer said it was a goodquestion that I asked Um, and
it's nice, see ethic, all right,um, biggest thing you missed
while at sea I think you'regoing to say food.
Oliver Widger (27:22):
Oh well, let's see.
Yeah, food Like.
When I got here, I got I reallylike steaks and I, over the
last year, I haven't, Iliterally haven't eaten anything
but rice, beans and like macand cheese to save money.
And um, I, I, for the firsthalf of the passage, I've been
eating better than I had beeneating over the past year, but I
(27:42):
, I promise I just I ate throughall of the good food
immediately because I couldn'thelp myself.
And uh, because it's sitting inthese hammocks just dangling
above my head and I'm watchingthis, these, you know, cringles
cans in these hammocks like acarrot in front of our face and
uh, so, but yeah, food like.
So I, yeah, I hadn't.
I had this realization when I Iwas like five days out, I was
(28:04):
like I haven't eaten.
I'm the first thing I'm gonnado when I get there is have a
steak, and, and so that's what Idid.
I got here and I had like thecraziest, most amazing steak of
all time.
Capn Tinsley (28:15):
So you know it's cool Right there at the marina.
Oliver Widger (28:18):
No, we went to.
It was close, but we went tothis like a steak place.
Capn Tinsley (28:23):
Was that your brother?
Oliver Widger (28:26):
Yeah, one of my brothers and his girlfriend, and
then basically, two of myfriends okay, so solo sailing
love it or hate it so I love it.
I I don't think I would everwant to sail with really anyone
else.
I like to be you know I I'm.
(28:47):
I think that would be hard toget along with, you know, in
general in a tight place.
So like I like to be in my own,I do things my own way and I do
think my own system.
That probably doesn't makesense to most people but like to
me, like it's my own rhythm, myown way and I like that, you
know, because like it'd be hardto say with somebody you know it
would be, it'd be hard to sailwith somebody you know it would
be, it'd be difficult.
(29:09):
And I like yeah, like I'm okaywith myself you know alone.
And for a long period of time.
Like I learned that over theover the year of doing, of
getting prepared for thecrossing, that's how I knew I
was going to be able to likewhat's an extra 25 days of being
alone.
I spent a year completelyisolated, completely alone,
(29:30):
doing nothing but social mediaat the boat and blurting out of
sail and working on the boat forlike seven days a week, 10
hours a day.
That's all I did and uh, too,like the extreme.
So I knew I would be, I wouldhave been fine and um, yeah, I
think I just prefer going on myown okay, um, first thing you
did when you hit waikiki marina,I saw your feet hit the, hit,
(29:53):
the dock the first thing I didwas, oh yeah, the first.
The first day was weird.
The first day was, uh, afterthe first day it was fine, but
the first day, like I said, thefirst thing I did was get off,
got the officials on board formy cat to get her signed off.
That went fine, and then I went, and then I had like an hour to
(30:13):
go and shower before like theevent started, and so I we just
went to a hotel and I was likewalking down the hallways and
like I would like fall, I haveto hold myself up on the the
hallway.
And then, um yeah, I took ashower and that was bliss and
then, and then came back hereand did that whole thing yeah,
(30:39):
we were talking about somethingoffline and I was going to ask
you about it.
Capn Tinsley (30:44):
I'll think of it again.
You just alluded to it.
Now I can't think of what it is.
One piece of gear you couldn'tlive without um.
Oliver Widger (30:56):
Oh, the hydro pain yeah, like it's a
hydropneumatic failed.
I mean, if the hydropneumaticfailed, that rudder situation
would have been so much worse.
And um, I tried to fail on me,but but yeah, the hydrovane, the
self-steering hydrovane, was,was and the, the jack, my jack
(31:16):
lines.
I really like the harness thatI got because it had two levels
to it, so like one tether wasreally long and the other one
was very short so I could likefor the short one.
I would use the short one when Iwas moving forward along the
side so if I did fall over, Iwouldn't actually really fall
over, I would.
My feet would be in the water,but I would still be clipped
(31:37):
because, you know, if it's toolong you get just dragged in the
water yeah, and so it's hard topull yourself back up, yeah,
and I would use the short one tomove forward and then long one
to clip on the deck.
Um, so, even so, from up there,with a long one I could.
If I went all the way back Iwouldn't go over the boat.
So I I really like that systemjust because it would seem like
(31:59):
a safe.
You know, the way I had my jackline set up seemed pretty.
At all times I was pretty safeI.
Capn Tinsley (32:05):
I didn't see the jack lines, but I'm glad to hear
that you have them.
Oliver Widger (32:09):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (32:10):
Yeah, okay, here's a pretty good question what's
the first place in the islandsyou want to explore once you fix
whatever you need to fix?
Oliver Widger (32:21):
I want to.
I don't really.
I have to like look into it.
I didn't really even know whichisland was Oahu for sure until
I was like two-thirds of the wayhere and uh, I, uh, I love
kawaii, kawaii is my favorite.
I like to explore all theislands at first.
I think I'm gonna explore theanchorages and stuff here um and
(32:45):
uh, like that's just being in acool anchorage with like
crystal blue water where youcould see your anchor would be
such a cool.
I've never experienced thatbefore, so that'd be really cool
.
So I'm excited, really excitedfor that.
But Panda Kelly could you do itwithout Internet access uh,
(33:10):
yeah, I think so in a way, Ifeel like it like like I felt
guilty about having the starlinkbecause like I felt like it
pulled away from the experience.
Like you all the my heroes andthe people that you you hear
about that have that, have donebig crossings and stuff much
bigger than mine and you knowthey never had internet or
anything like that and like theytalk about their experience in
(33:34):
a way to where it's, because ifyou don't have internet, I feel
like you'd be so in tune witheverything and like borderline
going insane.
And I feel like I did miss outon that a bit, uh, because of
Starlink.
So I did feel guilty abouthaving it and I would like to do
a passage in the future withoutit, just to get the full.
Capn Tinsley (33:56):
You know just being out there with just the
sounds and the boat and, likeyou know, just being all in you
know I interviewed Tanya Abbeywho crossed, who went around the
world in the eighties, beforeGPS, and she got in the Pacific
and didn't have a motor either.
But she talked about in herbook how she would just like for
(34:17):
30 days she was going acrossthe Pacific and how she was just
so in the moment.
Oliver Widger (34:23):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (34:23):
Whatever she was doing stirring soup, she was in
the moment.
Oliver Widger (34:27):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (34:27):
And I read that and I never forgot it and I've
never experienced that Becauseof all the social media and
everything, all the distractionsand everything.
Oliver Widger (34:37):
So I feel like, yeah, part of the social media
and stuff.
Like I wasn't really scrollinga lot on social media because I
was spent a lot of time editingthe videos, but I did learn that
I think I'm a relatively lazysailor and I think the social
media having that availabledidn't help um with with that
and uh, what do you?
Capn Tinsley (34:58):
mean like what do you mean I?
Oliver Widger (35:00):
don't know I'm.
I'm relatively lazy in general,depending on you know what I
mean.
Like there's some times where Iwas like where I should fix
that or I should probably reducesome of the sale, but it's
probably fine Stuff like that.
Capn Tinsley (35:24):
I love that.
Oliver Widger (35:24):
Jennifer, and cooking.
Sometimes too, I had an issuewith my oven too.
I didn't really want to.
I had an issue with my oven too.
That didn't help because I felland I hit my oven and it bent
it and so anytime it would swingit would get stuck in a
position and then, as the boatcomes back over, it would
release really quickly.
So like it was so frustrating.
Capn Tinsley (35:47):
You don't have a lock for that.
No, I do, I do, but it was sofrustrating.
Like you, don't have a lock forthat.
Oliver Widger (35:51):
There's not the lock I do, I do.
But it was when I was cooking.
You know, if I was cooking andI had boiling hot water on, I
needed a gimbal going and then agimbal gets stuck and then
release immediately and boilingwater would go everywhere.
And that was really frustrating.
Like that made me so angry andso I got like a screwdriver.
I tried to pry it back.
I fixed it a little bit, butit's still doing it.
(36:11):
So I still gotta figure it outand fix it.
But that was very frustrating.
I don't know how we got therewith that, but here you go um,
okay, most underrated piece ofboat advice you got most
underrated piece of boat adviceI got um
(36:34):
uh, I think from it was theadvice that like saved the whole
journey.
I think was from uh, uh, jeromerant, uh, yeah, jerome, and um,
he told because I went on hispodcast before I left.
And uh, he was like because I Ino one really told me this and
I I don't have it all you know,I say, like I watched youtube to
(36:56):
learn how to sail I did in thebeginning.
I was so busy I never watchedYouTube.
I should have learned more, butI never watched.
I was just so busy all the time.
Then I went on his podcast andhe told me the best piece of
advice ever.
He was just like do your dailyrounds, check everything, check
every little thing.
Capn Tinsley (37:13):
I knew you were going to say that.
Oliver Widger (37:16):
Yeah, and.
Capn Tinsley (37:17):
I did.
Oliver Widger (37:18):
I did.
It was like every other day Ifound something and I almost I I
was one tack away from havinglike rigging failure because the
pin that goes on like the chainbuckle or that you know that
had to come off, that had tocome out.
And I saw that I was like holycow.
You know that would have beenbad, so yeah, that would have
(37:43):
been bad.
That was a really good piece ofadvice, underrated, I guess.
Maybe to a sailor it's commonknowledge, but to me it was
everything, because I wasn'tgoing to do that.
Capn Tinsley (37:52):
Amanda says do you have a lot of women wanting to
join you?
Oliver Widger (37:58):
I don't know.
I mean I don't know, no, Ihaven't.
I haven't like looked into it,just because, like I don't, I
don't know, it's all I I, it'sall I guess, for lack of better
words and stuff, it's just adistraction.
You know what I mean.
Like it's I don't, I don't get,I can't get, I can't do both.
I can't have like a realrelationship and like, do this,
(38:22):
I don't think, because they'reboth very consuming things.
So I'm not looking, I'm not,but I'm also not like not
looking, I'll just, I'm justgoing with the flow and if
something comes and it works,and it works.
This is awkward, and here weare being awkward.
Capn Tinsley (38:43):
It could happen that the right sailor girl comes
along.
So you never know.
Yeah, here's another questionfrom Susie.
Do you have a favorite phrasefrom the trip?
So many good Oliverisms, assomeone called them, I don't
remember it.
Oliver Widger (38:59):
They just kind of just come like I like in my
head.
I'm like a poet, but the wordsnever come out correctly.
So I just just feel weird Ijust said words out my mouth and
uh, and sometimes funny thingscome out.
So that's how, yeah, it's funny.
On All my post people willquote the things that I say and
(39:21):
I don't realize how weird thething is.
I said until people quote itLike, oh yeah, it's a funny
thing to say.
You know, it's funny.
Capn Tinsley (39:28):
Is this one of them.
I'm wearing shorts forlogistical reasons.
Oliver Widger (39:32):
This is my favorite.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was whenI took the shower.
Capn Tinsley (39:39):
Oh yeah, I remember that one.
Let's see, I've written downall of her isms because they
were great.
These are funny, so I knoweverybody's asking you what is
next.
I think we kind of covered that.
Oliver Widger (40:01):
Well, next is I'm going to spend some time on the
island.
I'm in no rush to sail aroundthe world.
If I wanted to go to FrenchPolynesia, I would have to be
ready within three months forthe window, because then
hurricane season really kicksoff, or what do they call it?
They call it something elsehere.
Then hurricane season reallykicks or kicks off, or what do
they call it, they call itsomething else here.
But, uh, hurricane season kicksoff, cyclone season.
(40:24):
They say um, yeah and um, so I,uh, I don't want to be in any.
I'm not in any sort of rushlike I've spent.
I've worked so hard to get herefor the last year.
I'm going to enjoy some timehere and explore the islands and
sail around and just have a,you know, just enjoy my myself.
(40:45):
And then, uh, it looks likeFrench Polynesia.
I'll go, I'll leave in likeMarch around that time, and um,
so yeah, I'm in no rush to sailaround the world, but I am going
to sail around the world.
But yeah, I think it's importantto kind of just enjoy.
You know, I've spent like allwinter in oregon with snowing
(41:06):
and like my hands were hurt somuch and the boat was just
everything was so miserable fora year, um, and now I I'm in
like paradise.
So it's like I'm just, I'm inno rush and uh, but I'm really
excited because I do want to,like I have this like craving to
go back out onto the ocean.
Capn Tinsley (41:25):
Wow, really yeah, oh yeah, yeah.
Oliver Widger (41:29):
It was like a sat , like coming, arriving, I was
like happy to arrive, but it wasalso like I don't know.
It felt like um, I felt likeit's sad was also like I don't
know.
It felt like um, I felt likeit's sad, like I I don't know.
I was like because I enjoyedbeing out there and like nothing
really mattered.
All that mattered was justbeing out there and I was just.
(41:49):
You know, I was just out thereand I don't know I felt sad,
like there's, uh, like the nextday when I was on the boat, I
like came out the hatch or theyou know of the companionway and
I like looked around and like Iwas like surprised, surprised
that I saw like land you knowwhat I mean, like when I was
here at the marina, because youstill it takes like 20 days or
(42:10):
whatever to develop a habit, soI was really in tune of being
out there.
And so, yeah, when I came outthe hatch and I saw like the doc
that I'm on, I was like Ithought you were going to say
you saw there were people tryingto take your picture.
Capn Tinsley (42:22):
No, no, I've had that a couple of times.
Oliver Widger (42:25):
But yeah, I do want to.
I have this immediate likecraving to just go back out for
sure.
Capn Tinsley (42:34):
Yeah, I've heard that before.
When people do like an aroundthe world or nonstop, or it's
almost overwhelming with all thepeople.
Oliver Widger (42:44):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (42:44):
You get used to being alone and it's just a lot
of stimulation.
Oliver Widger (42:48):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (42:49):
Yeah, yeah.
Oliver Widger (42:51):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (42:53):
And it took 25 days 25.
Oliver Widger (42:56):
Yeah, I think I'm the only person to do it
without a whisker pole.
I did a whole lot of downwindsailing without a whisker pole
and that sucked.
I will never do that again.
And just because when I left, Icouldn't afford one, and so I
was like you know and there's somany other things that I would
have liked to have done but Iwas already way over budget, a
(43:17):
bunch of money in debt and I waslike I'm just going without,
I'm just going, I'm just gonnago without a whisker full and
I'll deal with it.
And uh, so my, my jib didn'tanything the whole time.
I just basically kept it tokeep it under control.
I kept it like close hold, likethat's.
I was super self-consciousabout filming anything with,
like the sails, because the sail, the sails were not.
(43:39):
You know, people would havebeen like where are you going?
Capn Tinsley (43:41):
because they you know it didn't look like I was
sailing downwind, but I was didsomebody give you a whisker pole
already?
No, I still have to get one Ijust figured somebody would walk
up and give you one um, allright, uh, what happened to your
gofundme?
We can't find it anymore towalk up and give you one.
Yeah, alright.
What happened to your GoFundMe?
We can't find it anymore, lisa.
Oliver Widger (44:04):
I took it down.
Everyone's been so incrediblykind and donated so much already
.
I took it down.
I mean yeah.
Capn Tinsley (44:16):
What a guy.
Alright, hold on on.
I'm so distracted by all thesea bit off topic.
You might not care, but you'veseen the fake Facebook pages
posting all your videos.
Is there any way to shut themdown?
Oliver Widger (44:33):
they blocked those Facebook pages, blocked me
.
So it's up to you guys to justreport them, just if everybody
goes report those.
Well, they blocked thoseFacebook pages, blocked me, so
it's up to you guys to justreport.
Report them.
Just if everybody goes reportthose fake, I did.
My brother reached out and toldme that he had someone.
One of the Facebook pages pagesis is.
It's like asking people formoney.
Capn Tinsley (44:52):
Oh, I got something.
I got something that as becausehe saw that we were friends or
you had been on here- yeah.
And they were asking me tocontribute crypto.
Oliver Widger (45:03):
Yeah, stay away.
Capn Tinsley (45:05):
Yeah.
Oliver Widger (45:06):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (45:07):
I knew that was fake.
Oliver Widger (45:08):
So I'm never going to ask you guys or anybody
for money and stuff or anythinglike that.
So if you see a fake account,just report it.
Capn Tinsley (45:16):
Well, ingrid says put it back your GoFundMe.
So Barbara must have gottenthat too about the crypto.
Let's see, let's see.
Biggest surprise when you madelandfall, I guess it was the
(45:42):
greeting right.
Oliver Widger (45:43):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (45:44):
Yeah.
Oliver Widger (45:44):
Well, I mean, yeah, it was crazy, yeah, I
didn't expect that, and you knowlike I didn't really have a
comprehension of like how manypeople were watching.
I didn't.
I try not to pay too much likeattention to it.
That's why, like making thevideos now is really tough,
because everybody I see like Iwill watch my I didn't.
I try not to pay too much likeattention to it.
That's what.
Like making the videos now isreally tough because everybody I
see like watches my stuff.
So it like kind of gets in myhead a bit because out there I
(46:05):
was just like you get a littleweird when you're crossing an
ocean, when you're alone.
It's like I just leaned intothat weirdness and just I just
used it in the videos and Ididn't have an immediate.
Now if I post, I post a video,I have an immediate, it seems I
go up there.
So I love the video you justposted and it like plays with me
a little bit.
So I have to like I'm stilllike trying to navigate through
that and just so I can be, causeI do want to.
(46:28):
You know my goal is just to bemyself and you know I'm I'm
weird.
Capn Tinsley (46:38):
So you know a little quirky, so I try and lean
into it.
I had no idea that this wasgoing to be the the reception
that you got, and I was eventhinking about it.
I told a friend why don't wejust go to Hawaii?
It's been a while since I'vebeen there.
Let's let's greet them and doan interview.
I would have had to stand inline.
Wow, I was.
I was thinking, oh, let's goout and see, but all right.
(47:01):
So something about pet aid.
So people were worried aboutthe kitty.
Someone said something about adocumentary.
Oliver Widger (47:15):
Yes, my brother is a uh, uh like a filmmaker and
so he, I think like seven yearsago, moved to the uk that's
where my mom is as well um, andbecause he got accepted to like
this really like big film schoolum, and so he graduated like
top of the class from there andthat's what he does is make.
(47:39):
He specializes primarily inlike nature, documentaries and
stuff, but he like, if mybrother knows me so well and if
someone's gonna make like, sohe's gonna make the YouTube
video that I just I've justmailed him that like the sb
cards without because I took, Ialso recorded at the same time
(48:00):
everything on my dga camera foryoutube format, so like
horizontal, and so he's gonnaput it all together and oh man,
that's nice, he's gonna do itfor you yeah, um.
So yeah, it's really cool.
It's really cool.
That's my brother, that too,and uh, and then once I do a
complete, so all of my footageand film and stuff I'll just
(48:23):
always send to him for YouTube,and once I complete a full
circumnavigation, he's going tomake a like a really cool, you
know, film or something.
Capn Tinsley (48:32):
You are so lucky to have that I know.
Oliver Widger (48:35):
I know You're blessed.
I'm getting good at the socialmedia stuff, but the youtube
stuff I'm so bad at, so I justkind of just my youtube stuff is
pretty, just raw but oh, yourvideos are great I mean all the
editing you do, and everythingum what's his name, should we?
Follow him yeah uh, yeah, yeah,his name is.
His name is marcusger, so Ithink that's his handle On
(49:02):
Instagram or what.
Instagram.
Capn Tinsley (49:05):
Marcus M-A-R-C-U-S-W-I-G-E-R.
Oliver Widger (49:11):
D-G-E-R.
Capn Tinsley (49:12):
D-G-E-R.
So it's just at, marcus Widger.
Oliver Widger (49:16):
Yeah, I think so.
I'm pretty sure it's what it is.
Capn Tinsley (49:18):
Is that it there, marcus Widger?
Yeah, I think so, I'm prettysure Is that it, there's the
brother, so we have to followhim because we might see some.
Oliver Widger (49:25):
Some footage.
Well, I'll let you guys knowwhen it all obviously it'll go
out, it'll go on my youtube andand you know, announcing when
it's all put together and stuff.
Okay, so what?
You're so blessed to have acool brother, that's for sure.
What?
Capn Tinsley (49:36):
is your favorite kind?
I'll announce it when it's allput together and stuff.
Okay, so, um, you're so blessedto have a cool brother, that's
for sure.
What is your favorite kind of?
Oh no, no, the one I wanted wasI'm wearing the shirt he's
selling to fund the documentary.
Oliver Widger (49:48):
Yeah, so he has to in order to do it, like he
has to take time off work, likeyou can't be working, so I so I
came up with the idea for him todesign like a cool, like a
Britney shirt, and uh, just tohelp him not work while he's
putting it together oh, did so.
Capn Tinsley (50:06):
He's not working, he already he won't.
Oliver Widger (50:09):
He won't.
He is right now, but he won't.
He it's not, he won't beworking, he won't be looking for
work.
It's like contract work,basically okay works with it.
So he won't be, he'll be notgetting any money.
Capn Tinsley (50:18):
So, um, yeah, to put it together so he can take
the time to put it together okay, so I finished my rapid fire
ones, but I would like to knowum your plan like, uh, are you
you're planning to haul out theboat?
Oliver Widger (50:36):
yeah, I'm probably gonna.
Oh, I have to replace thestanding rigging, um, and then,
uh, I should just replaceeverything to do with the rudder
and the quadrant, everything inthere, um, and then I've just
got, so I've got to do a newrethink because I've got the in
boom rethink system and, uh,that's all.
The whole thing is just adisaster, like if I had lost I
(50:56):
almost chafed one of my linesthrough and if I had lost the
line to go to try and it'd beimpossible to to replace the
line.
If you don't have a tail, youhave to take the boom off and
take the riveted caps off, andeven after you've taken the boom
off, it's still like a process.
So I want to put all of therethink stuff external, um, on
(51:17):
the boom or on the mask, I'm notsure, but I do need to change
that so when you had said beforeyou left that you were thinking
about doing that yourself, butyou're hopefully going to get a
rigger now oh, I don't know.
I like the idea of still doingeverything myself.
It's still the reason I know um, it's the only reason that gave
me.
It's the only reason I know um,uh, it's the only reason that
(51:38):
gave me confidence.
It's the only thing that gaveme confidence when I was
crossing that there's likeanything could go wrong and I'm
pretty sure I can fix it.
You know what I mean.
So, because I've done all thiswork myself, all of that gave me
that, that that gave me theconfidence and and, and that I
learned a lot about the boat bydoing that.
So, like I don't know, I'llprobably have, you know, like I
(51:59):
don't know, I'll probably haveat least the guidance of, like a
professional like rigger.
But I would like to do it allmyself because I'd like to know
exactly how it all works andstuff you know.
Capn Tinsley (52:11):
I echo the statements made.
What does Oliver have plannedfor his health Should someone
something happen with hiscondition while on the water?
That's a good.
It's a good question.
Oliver Widger (52:22):
Yeah, I had no plan.
I'm just going all in riding ituntil I can't.
Capn Tinsley (52:28):
Well, you have a plan for Phoenix.
Oliver Widger (52:32):
Well, I mean, I have a short team, so like if
something did happen, um, uh,you'd be able to see my route
change.
You know things would.
It'd be obvious.
Capn Tinsley (52:43):
I was checking in every six hours, right um to
just to tell everyone I was okay, so uh they would know, you
know, so somebody would ideallycome rescue my cat okay, so, um,
I don't know if you want to sayit on here, but you already
have a place to haul out theboat, is it?
Is it that place?
(53:04):
I think there's only one.
Oliver Widger (53:05):
I think there's only one place.
I can't remember the name ofthe place, but I think there's
only like one place.
So I have to set it up becauseit is apparently a long time.
Capn Tinsley (53:18):
It's like a long waiting list, so I do have to
set that up soon, okay, and thenyou'll be able to stay at a
hotel with your cat.
Oliver Widger (53:23):
No, I'd stay on the boat, Like I did the last
time.
If it's allowed I'm sure it'sallowed I would stay on the boat
with Molly.
Capn Tinsley (53:33):
Well, yeah, some places, when you haul out, they
don't let you, but that'd begreat.
Oliver Widger (53:37):
I'd say I'm working around the clock.
Well, yeah, some places whenyou haul out, they don't let you
.
But that'd be great, you, maybeyou could get.
Capn Tinsley (53:41):
I'd say I'm working around the clock, okay,
and so you're going to get allnew rigging, okay, well, I'm
glad to hear that.
I'm glad to hear it because Iwas a little worried about the
rigging.
Oliver Widger (53:51):
Yeah, yeah, I was too.
It was the one thing that wasconstantly on my mind.
Capn Tinsley (53:58):
One of the things you said in the podcast last
time before you left was theonly thing I've had corners on.
Yeah.
Oliver Widger (54:08):
I was like uh-oh.
Capn Tinsley (54:11):
But, it worked out .
Oliver Widger (54:13):
Yeah, it worked out, not recommended.
You're going to cross motion,just replace the rigging.
I mean I had it looked over bysomebody I trusted and somebody
who built boats, and he lookedit over and was like, yeah, it
should be fine.
I was like, all right, I'lltell you.
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (54:31):
So, star Caps, thank you for doing this live
interview, oliver.
I know it's probably outside ofyour comfort zone, but we
really appreciate you doing thisinterview, oliver, I know it's
probably outside of your comfortzone, but we really appreciate
you doing this.
You know this is the third timehe's been on here and he's
always done really well and andit's the third time he's on
Jerome's, which I need to getJerome.
If Jerome's watching, I want totalk to Jerome yeah, he's a
good guy your quirkiness is thebest.
(54:54):
Don't ever change, kiddo, do youlike all these comments?
Yeah, it's, yeah, and this isthe best, don't ever change
kiddo.
Oliver Widger (54:58):
Do you like all these comments?
Yeah, yeah, it's cool.
I don't know.
Capn Tinsley (55:07):
I want to know what your plan is next.
When are you going to travel to, or do you not know yet?
We kind of covered that.
Oliver Widger (55:14):
Yeah, french Polynesia.
Alright, is there anything elseyou want to say to all your
fans?
Capn Tinsley (55:16):
We got a lot of people watching.
Yeah, french Polynesia, allright.
Well, is there anything elseyou want to say to all your fans
?
We got a lot of people watching.
Oliver Widger (55:23):
It's not all of them, but it's a lot of them
Thanks, thanks for the supportand thanks for being here and
thanks for the love.
Yeah, so you know, stay tuned.
Capn Tinsley (55:35):
Yeah, okay.
Oliver Widger (55:36):
Well, I'm just going gonna explore the island
and, uh, I really want to getfun again and go some anchorages
, so I think I'm going to startworking towards that pretty soon
.
Capn Tinsley (55:46):
But well, I, I, I love hawaii.
I've probably been there 15, 20times and um, I love the
culture there, I love the wholevibe there.
And someone says in here thatwas a Hawaiian welcome, and I
believe that.
Oliver Widger (56:01):
Yeah, that's cool , yeah, that's really cool.
Capn Tinsley (56:04):
The spirit of Aloha and you're perfect there,
yeah, okay.
Well, I'm not going to take upany more of your time.
I want to say thank you forcoming on here.
You're a big star now and youcame on the Salty Podcast and I
do appreciate that.
Oliver Widger (56:20):
Of course I like to keep my world small and you
and Jerome had me on yourpodcast before I had any follows
.
I'll always come back on.
Capn Tinsley (56:34):
A lot of my friends, after you were on my
podcast, were following you.
Every time I would talk to them.
We'd talk, and then, oh, by theway, did you see Oliver's video
?
And I was like, no, I didn'tsee it.
Tell me what happened.
One of my friends told me aboutthe GoFundMe and I was like, oh
, my goodness, wow, that'sawesome.
So, yeah, don't feel bad aboutthat, oliver, you always make my
(57:01):
day aloha, all right, well, goget some rest, enjoy the rest of
your day.
I do appreciate you coming on.
I will talk to you again sooncool.
Oliver Widger (57:10):
Thank you again for having me.
Capn Tinsley (57:11):
It's good talk all right, we'll talk again soon.
That Is that salty AbandonedOut.
Good evening.
How do you cross the Pacificsolo with a cat and come out
more famous than ever?
Today's guest, oliver ofSailing with Phoenix, just did
exactly that From Oregon toHawaii, over 2,500 miles alone
at sea, with his sweet kitty,phoenix, as his only crew.
Since then his journey hasexploded, with over 2 million
followers on Instagram and ahero's welcome in Waikiki.
(00:27):
We're jumping into the realstory behind the crossing, the
viral fame and what's next as hesets his sight on sailing
around the world.
But first I ask that you please, please, please, like and
subscribe and share.
It really helps me bring youmore incredible sailing stories.
I'm Captain Tinsley of sailingvessels Salty Abandoned and
(00:48):
Island Packet 320, and this isthe Salty Podcast, episode 62.
And for the third time on theSalty Podcast.
Welcome Oliver and sweet little.
Phoenix hey, hey, hey, goodevening.
Oliver Widger (01:04):
Hey.
Capn Tinsley (01:04):
Well, good, good evening.
Hey, Well, good afternoon toyou.
Yeah yeah, so we were justtalking online.
You got a lot of people here.
Let me just I'm going to putsome of these up on the screen.
We got people coming out of thewoodwork here.
Look at this.
I've been waiting to see thispodcast.
(01:24):
So excited for Oliver and hiscat for the journey Supporting
from Morville, mississippi.
Hi Oliver from Tamra.
We got.
I've been waiting oh, I alreadyread that one.
Hello from Central California.
We got.
Hello from Honolulu.
We got Susie Q from New York.
(01:44):
Let me just read a couple ofthese and we'll start.
Hello from Aloha, oregon.
I guess you know where that is.
Oliver Widger (01:52):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (01:53):
Susie Q, new York.
Let me start at the top.
I want to acknowledge everybodybefore we start.
Adrian Drew he was on earlier.
Hey Drew, welcome back.
I'm in Florida.
Maybe I can lose to it tomorrow.
Hopefully you're still here.
We got Nancy White in LosAngeles.
(02:15):
We got San Diego in the house,barbara and I think I Nancy
White.
Arlington Cole Welcome Cole.
And we got Star Caps and JohnRichardson says let's go.
(02:37):
Aloha de Houston, wow, here's aNew York, someone from New York
right there.
Well, you got a lot of fans.
Phoenix I mean Phoenix too.
Oliver man, you got a lot offans.
So this is our third time, andthis is amazing because we were
just talking.
When I first talked to you inNovember, you had 10,000
(02:58):
followers.
Oliver Widger (02:59):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (03:00):
Then when you left , you had 30?
Oliver Widger (03:02):
60, I think 60.
Capn Tinsley (03:05):
And now you got 2 million and probably more by now
.
What do you think?
What is it about your story?
Wait, niagara, is that?
What am I reading that right?
Oliver Widger (03:20):
Canada.
Capn Tinsley (03:21):
Okay, is that Canada?
Okay, okay, I'm going to try toput these up while you're
talking.
What do you think about yourstory that people have latched
on to, because it's prettyincredible yeah, I don't know.
Oliver Widger (03:35):
I think, well, I think I don't know, I think the
world's in a weird place and Ithink I think I don't know.
I think everybody, like I, canspeak from my own.
There's my cat from my own, hey, phoenix.
Yeah, I think I'll speak frommy own feelings, I guess.
(03:58):
But like me personally, I justfeel like the world is
constantly like just slowlylikeling.
You know me, and I feel likeother people feel that way and
and everybody's kind of like.
A lot of people feel similar tohow I did, where I was just at
like this breaking point and butI like I just went all in and I
(04:18):
went for it and uh, I think,you know, people have found like
inspiration in that which iscool, you know, which is really
cool.
So I think that's, you know,part of it, you know, just lucky
too, I don't know.
Capn Tinsley (04:37):
Okay.
So Lisa Chamberlain says hegives hope to make a complete
turnaround change rather thansuffer in silence.
Yep, that's true, yeah, I think.
Yeah, there's a lot of peopleout there that are maybe not
happy with their situation andyou were brave enough to make
the change.
I'm just amazed at all thesecomments.
(04:58):
I would love to host you in myAirbnb If you come to Maui.
You got to do that.
I've been to Maui.
That's an awesome place.
Okay, here's someone saysOliver's real humble and
inspiring.
Um, yeah, so yeah, it feel freeto to, for you guys to to give,
tell, tell us why he inspiredyou.
(05:19):
So I did, I did, um, I've gotsome rapid fire questions.
So here we go and I'm going toalso be bringing these up there.
Look at that.
Are you seeing these?
Oliver Widger (05:35):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (05:35):
He's unpretentious and likable.
That's true.
Oh, look at that.
We all need to be takinglessons from all this.
Being yourself awkward, as youmight think and you are, think
you are is what draws me towatch, plus the love for your
animal.
My dog is my child.
Okay, I worked my tail offtoday.
(06:01):
Okay, the dude is low key, theand he has no idea.
There you go.
There's your answers rightthere.
Okay, first word that comes tomind when you hear Pacific
Crossing, oh Wild.
Oliver Widger (06:23):
I don't know, wild Are you asking me yeah.
Yeah, I'm asking you Crazy, Idon't know it.
Capn Tinsley (06:29):
You asking me, yeah, yeah I'm asking you crazy,
I don't know.
It's cool, cool, okay, it'scool.
Oliver Widger (06:31):
Favorite moment at sea uh, I think when I was,
when I was uh becalmed becauseyou know you're in the middle of
the pacific and it's likethere's no wind and it's just a
weird feeling I didn't feelnormal, I didn't feel something
about it, felt like just likewell you know weird.
(06:51):
And then that and then, likealso, I've always like
envisioned that moment when Iget a flying fish that jumps on
the boat.
And so when I found my firstflying fish, like that was like
a milestone.
It felt like a milestone for me.
Capn Tinsley (07:10):
I saw it and I was like a milestone.
It felt like a milestone for me.
I saw it.
Oliver Widger (07:13):
I was like awesome, you know, I thought
that was super cool.
Well, I know you were seasickquite a bit, which, um, did that
get better?
Yeah, I think a lot of it wasself-induced, like all right,
because there's I might.
I was eating pretty poorly andI did some experimenting after I
made a realization because Iwould like wake up and then I
would drink like a coffee, andthen I have like a chocolate bar
or something, and um, and thenI would be.
You know, I would until I putlike a reasonable amount of food
(07:36):
in my body.
I would start I would befeeling seasick.
So after I changed my morning,like I stopped drinking coffee
and then I would have a kind ofa bigger meal for breakfast, and
then I would feel okay, um,because I just think I was
always on the like edge of beingseasick, but I was just
amplifying it by my mornings.
(07:56):
So I figured that out, uh, aftera while okay um worst weather
you faced on the crossing it.
It was the first week where Iwas like I got up to like 38
knots of wind and there were,the swells were pretty.
You know, I hadn't sailedoutside of a river before, so to
(08:16):
me the swells were absolutelymassive.
So, and then that's when I hadthe rudder failure too.
I was at the height ofeverything.
It was the maximum amount ofwind I had seen, the maximum
amount of swell height, and uh,that was uh, it was terrifying.
But I mean, it wasn't anythingby any means any any.
(08:38):
It was.
You know, it was relativelysporty conditions, but it wasn't
anything crazy by any means,you know, but it was.
I mean, to me it looked, it was, it was crazy.
Capn Tinsley (08:47):
Um, jennifer Harlow's asking if you ever been
on a long cruise, and I believethat answer is no.
Oliver Widger (08:52):
No, I've never been on a long cruise.
Capn Tinsley (08:54):
No if you have watched my former podcast that
we did, it's like he hadn't beenout of that past.
Oliver Widger (09:02):
I had sailed.
Yeah, the furthest I had sailedwas when I sailed from portland
on the columbia to the, or todown the columbia to the oregon
coast.
Um, so that was 75 nauticalmiles.
That's the furthest I had eversailed and I had engine failure
on the river oh, wow, um.
Capn Tinsley (09:21):
So I guess you know, when you had those big
waves and you had the problemwith the rudder, that was kind
of a bummer, wasn't it?
Oliver Widger (09:29):
Yeah, it was absolutely terrifying, Like it
was terrifying, like the rudderlocked hard to starboard so it
put me in my beam to the seas,the side of the boat to the seas
and so, like I was, the boatwas like going from like this to
like this within like foursecond intervals.
You know what I mean.
It was like it was chaos and,like you know, the tow rail, the
water was literally the.
(09:50):
The lifelines were going likeinto the water, coming out of
the water and then the otherside would go into the water.
So I was just like in my headthe whole time.
I was just like just stayclipped in and because it
happened when I, I had two ofthe batons came out of my
mainsail and then I also poppeda car as well, one of the slugs
that go up the track.
I popped one of those out.
(10:10):
I was in the middle of repairingthat.
That's why I was using my mainrudder, not the hydrovane.
It was worst timing, worst casescenario.
Then, in the middle ofpreparing that, that's when I
lost the rudder.
My sails were flogging in thewind, it was chaos, everything,
it was everything went downhilland then I went in the engine
(10:31):
room to try and fix it and I gotso sick in there.
I think it was a combination ofjust like incredibly sick with
like fear and then also likelegitimately seasick, as well as
these those two things.
And I was in there trying tofix it and I got.
I got so sick I had to come outprior to that.
(10:53):
I had.
I had.
I had a big bucket filled withfishing lures and I poured it
down the companionway and I usedit as like a trove to try and
bring the boat over and itdidn't work.
But so, yeah, I was in theengine compartment, got super
sick and then I was like I needto come out and I need to rest.
So I come walking down thecompanionway and I start
(11:15):
stepping on fishing lures and uh, uh.
You know that sucked.
And then I just I got myquarter berth and I just laid
there and like just looked upand just like lay there for like
15 minutes just to collectmyself and to bring everything,
everything slow, slow,everything down and um, and then
I went back in.
I didn't know how like it was.
(11:35):
Like I, when I left, I was likethere's nothing on this boat
that can break that I won't beable to fix, so I've done so
much to it.
That was like the one thing Ihaven't.
I hadn't touched the rudderquadrant or anything.
I didn't know anything aboutrudder quad.
Capn Tinsley (11:47):
It was the one thing.
Yeah, I know Now.
Oliver Widger (11:49):
I do.
So I didn't know how to fix itand I think what happened was
the bolts two of the bolts thattighten the cable came loose and
it just loosened up the cables.
The cable literally just felloff and so, and so I got in
there and I tried to put it backon and it would keep falling
off and then every once in awhile the rudder would slam to
the other side and then the itwould go tight, and so I was
(12:12):
really worried about getting myfinger caught between the
quadrant and the cable and myfinger would just come off.
So I used forever to get it on,and then I held the tension
with my hand and then I I usedlike uh, whatever that's you
know when you suture down thesail, when you drop the sail, I
just did some line, basically,and I lashed it together to keep
(12:33):
the tension and I justreinforced that, and then that I
I left it like that for likejust to keep that main rotor
straight, and I left it likethat for like three days, and
then when I, when I got thecomms is when I did the full
repair on it right.
Capn Tinsley (12:46):
I know you didn't want to mess with it because in
case it came loose again.
It happened again.
Oliver Widger (12:50):
Yeah, if it happened again it would be a
nightmare.
So I did it when it was calmand you could see too on my
tracking when I was fixing itbecause the boat started going,
you know, all over the placelike it was just a little
section where it was like justgoing crazy, but it was calm.
Capn Tinsley (13:04):
So it's good well, the trying to do something like
that in those waves.
Um, you know, even if I waschanging a alternator belt in
waves, yeah it's, it's not agood situation.
Oliver Widger (13:17):
Yeah, I would instantly start feeling sick I
had so much stuff I made amistake of putting.
I knew I shouldn't put a lot ofstuff I don't have a lot of
room but I knew I shouldn't puta lot of stuff in that uh, in
that hatch because all of itwould be in the way.
But I had a lot of stuff in thehatch.
I had to like pull really heavystuff out and the post going
crazy and I'm trying to liftthese giant heavy things like I
(13:40):
had to throw a bunch of stuffoverboard just because I
couldn't have the cockpit a mess, because I didn't want to slip
on things in the cockpit andthen fall if I'm trying to
manage the sails.
So I didn't throw any chemicalsor anything, but it was like my
broom.
I had a mop in there.
(14:00):
I threw my mop overboard justto get everything clear in the
cockpit and I just startedlaunching stuff overboard.
And then where did you throwoverboard?
A mop, a broom?
some like cleaning stuff and, uh, just some stuff like that and
then the rest of it.
I kind of just threw down thecompanionway just to keep
(14:20):
everything clear in the cockpit,like in the cockpit I still had
.
I had my backup, my back, I hada drogue, a backup drogue with
chain, and stuff in the cockpitand then I had my backup anchor
with chain.
So I left those two things inthe cockpit, but for like two
days.
But aside from that I threweverything else either down here
(14:41):
or overboard.
Capn Tinsley (14:43):
Tell us about the getting trapped in a locker.
Oh, yeah, us about the gettingtrapped in a locker oh, yeah,
getting trapped in a locker yeah, that was like literally every
sailor's worst fear.
Oliver Widger (14:52):
I did it and uh that sounds like such a
nightmare I was.
It was so I go, it was like thenext day or the day one or two
days later, or I like went in tojust check on the lashings or
reinforce the lashings, and youknow like when you go in the
locker, you, you lash it off andlike I always lash it off, even
when I'm on shore.
(15:13):
But like I, uh, I guess you knowI, for some reason didn't I
lash it off kind of lazily,apparently, and uh, you know I,
I didn't, it didn't enter mymind.
I was in swells, you know, andso I was in there and a massive
swell came and the boatcompletely rocked to its beam
(15:34):
and the locker slammed shut andthen I could hear the latches go
click.
Capn Tinsley (15:39):
And I was like oh my.
Oliver Widger (15:40):
God, and I go up to the hatch and I hit it and it
goes click, and I was like, ohmy, I didn't have my phone with
me either.
I left my phone in here and uhI was like I am legitimately
stuck and I had, um a wrench inthere with me.
Um, fortunately, and between thelike the last, there was like a
(16:01):
little gap, um, and I just putthe wrench between the gap and I
just pried it and then I blewout the hinges and it popped
open.
Um, so I still have to fixthose, but uh, that, yeah, that
was crazy.
Capn Tinsley (16:14):
You know, mostly I've, I've always worried about
them, cutting your finger offwhen those things fall you know
when they close, but I had neverthought about getting trapped
in one until you said that I'mso glad that you were able to
get out.
That is super scary, I think Ialways would have figured it out
.
Oliver Widger (16:33):
You know, I don't know.
Capn Tinsley (16:34):
You weren't planning on staying in there.
Oliver Widger (16:36):
No no way.
Capn Tinsley (16:39):
Okay, so um more stressful big C's or 2 million
followers Um they're both, butthey're both pretty stressful.
Oliver Widger (16:48):
Yeah, they're both pretty stressful, like I
don't know I, I it's.
It's like sitting there waitingfor something to break, which
is what was like the moststressful, like you know,
because the boat would make suchinsane noises.
You know that, like I had neverheard this boat make and like
the boat was making likedifferent noises every day, and
(17:08):
so every time a different noisecame up, I'd be like oh no, and
like, because it was in theheight when I had that rudder
failure, so like that night andI would just lash it off that
night, I was like just layingthere like waiting for it to
like something to go just wrong,because at night it would be
the.
I didn't have anything go wrongat night, which which is good,
but that would have been muchmore difficult to deal with at
(17:32):
night, you know.
So just sitting there waitingfor things to fail was would
play with my mind a bit.
Capn Tinsley (17:38):
Well, I um, I saw your video and somebody
commented in here way back heresomewhere there's so many
comments the same thing when yousaid um, what does it feel when
people ask you what does itfeel like to be famous?
And you're like the pacificdoesn't care?
Oliver Widger (17:52):
oh yeah it doesn't.
Yeah, no, like when I was, Ididn't think about it at all
when I was, really, when I was,when I was crossing, because,
just because, like, uh, that,yeah, that environment, none of
it matters, you know, whenyou're there, like none of it
mattered.
So I I just have to kepttelling myself, like keeping
myself centered, focused on whatis actually happening, because
(18:14):
it's so easy to get lost in inthe.
You know, I went viral and likepay attention to that and I just
I really tried my best to juststay centered and stay in
reality and the reality was Iwas in the middle of the pacific
ocean and yeah, it does notcare, doesn't care at all what's
going on.
Capn Tinsley (18:32):
So um, this one says that uh Vala city.
I hope I'm saying that.
The day you reached Hawaii, didyou expect anything close to
what you experienced?
It was pretty incredible.
Oliver Widger (18:42):
No, I mean when I left, it was basically like no
one knew about me.
And uh, uh so like uh, so likeyeah, no, not at all.
Capn Tinsley (18:50):
I felt like it sailed through a wormhole and
arrived into a differentuniverse I mean the coast guard,
and then the the guy, um, theguy from the marina was out
there too, leading yeah therewas a bunch of boats, the canoes
.
I was all the canoes I wasgonna smoke a canoe, like.
Oliver Widger (19:07):
I was like how?
Like when I started coming in,I was like, oh, we, oh.
I'm not done yet I have to getthere and not run into a kayak,
because how bad would that be?
Capn Tinsley (19:18):
I'm sure they had their eye on you, but remember
when you left you were worriedabout pulling up to the dock.
Oliver Widger (19:26):
Yeah, I didn't know what dock I was going to go
to.
I didn't know what dock I wasgonna go to.
Capn Tinsley (19:29):
I didn't know what marina but you had mentioned
that when you said you told thestory about your first date with
this girl and you, you, oh,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, and
uh, it worked out.
Oliver Widger (19:41):
They knew about that because they, the coast
guard, came up to my boat andthey're like uh, we're gonna put
a, um, a captain on your boatto to bring it in and I was like
there's no way I'm I'm lettingsomebody take my kidding.
No, yeah, I wasn't the, I thinkit was.
Uh, the marina wanted to, justbecause I think they watched
that video and they were alittle nervous about it that I
(20:03):
was gonna start smoking boats onthe way, in which I've never
hit boats before.
But hey, Phoenix.
Capn Tinsley (20:11):
Well, yeah, I mean you had a nice side tie
situation, that was perfect.
Oliver Widger (20:16):
Oh yeah, it was the perfect landing.
If I had to go into like afinger slip it would have been a
different story, with a bigtide and everything.
Yeah, I'm going to bring this.
Capn Tinsley (20:29):
Amy says hi, y'all Thank.
Thank you for this, oliver,you're such an inspiration to
many.
I was so happy to have foundyou before the journey started.
Your age is a huge.
Your age is a huge inspirationfor bringing us along.
I'm not sure if that's a typo.
Um, okay, so let's see.
Uh biggest surprise that aboutgoing viral um, biggest surprise
(20:52):
about going.
Oliver Widger (20:52):
I mean just that in and of itself was a surprise
skill on viral, but biggestsurprise is the the absolute
overwhelming uh love fromeverybody.
Like that's been so coolbecause you know, like I'm sure
I've got some trolls and stuffand like you said you saw, so I
haven't seen any of it.
(21:12):
Like it's like the overwhelminglove from everybody like
totally drowns out any sort oftrolling and I know they're out
there, but like well, the goodthing is everybody jumps on the
troll, so you don't have to doanything.
No, it's it, it's.
I feel incredibly fortunate andI definitely, I definitely have
(21:33):
a heavy amount of like impostersyndrome with the whole thing,
especially within, like thesailing community too, because I
haven't.
There's so many people thathave done so much cooler things
than I have.
I haven't done anything likeactually, so many people have
sailed from the west coast toHawaii.
It's not like I've doneanything special.
Um, so that is weird to dealwith.
You know, coming into hawaiiand like getting greeted by like
(21:54):
the mayor and like, which isI'm credibly thankful for, but
you know, it's it feel I feelguilty in a way, for some reason
you know?
Capn Tinsley (22:03):
I mean, I don't know, you feel, I don't know, I
don't know.
Oliver Widger (22:07):
I just feel I don't know.
Capn Tinsley (22:10):
Well, I mean, there's a reason for it and so
just accept it.
These people you didn't youknow, force them to send you all
this love that I'm looking atright now on all these comments.
So it just happened and it'sorganic and I think it's awesome
.
Okay, does Phoenix know she'sfamous?
Oliver Widger (22:38):
I don't know I think she's just living in her
own world.
She knows, I give her lots morekisses from everybody, because
everybody wants me to kiss mycat.
So I.
I give her so much love, Ithink it I mean it does irritate
her, and but yeah, I don't know.
She is the most famous cat,though, which is really good, I
(23:01):
would say so.
Capn Tinsley (23:02):
She's the most famous cat.
All right, yeah.
What was some in the packagethat the plane dropped?
Oliver Widger (23:10):
It was was some letters.
She's going to jump up here andhit the keyboard.
Capn Tinsley (23:15):
That's okay, bring her up.
Oliver Widger (23:19):
If I suddenly disappear, it's because she hit
the keyboard, but I'll come back.
Capn Tinsley (23:23):
Okay, we'll be here.
Oliver Widger (23:25):
What was I going to say?
What were we talking about?
Capn Tinsley (23:30):
What was in the package that the plane dropped?
Oliver Widger (23:32):
Oh, it was some letters that these girls of the
pilots wrote, which is reallycool, and then some snacks,
because I had completely ran outof snacks.
And then two right before theyleft, they'd gotten two like
Jersey Mike sandwiches, whichwas awesome.
They had like fresh tomatoesand stuff in there and I was
(23:55):
literally eating Like I wasn'teven cooking the cans of like
moldy soup, I was just crackingthe lids and drinking it, which
is disgusting, and so I wasreally struggling for food.
So when I ate those, I wasreally struggling for food.
So when I when I ate those, Iwas like awesome.
(24:17):
So where did the plane come from?
Uh, from Hawaii.
And uh, it was elf cosmetics,like put it all together.
Um, so they did all the work onon getting it and stuff and um,
uh, yeah, I think it flew outof Maui.
The plane plane, did you knowit was?
Coming yeah, they gave me aheads up, okay, because you said
because I remember the video.
Capn Tinsley (24:34):
You said oh, they're opening the door.
Yeah, oh, we dropped somethingyeah, yeah, yeah.
Oliver Widger (24:40):
I mean, that was the only thing content thing
that I did was like I playedinto it a bit okay just because
it funny.
You know it was cool, it was acool thing.
Capn Tinsley (24:51):
Oh your videos were hilarious.
I mean, you've got a dry humorthat I really appreciate.
Uh, uh, Phoenix wants to be onthe show.
That was so awesome.
Oh, you'll have to read allthese eight later.
I'm a 58 year old Canadianwho's never been on a sailboat
and I teared up watching youarrive.
I love that you took this on.
Phoenix has things to say.
(25:14):
Did Phoenix have any weirdhabits on the boat?
Oliver Widger (25:23):
No, she became just a completely normal cat
after the first two days.
It was funny to watch her.
She liked to sit in this chairbecause this chair has two arms
on it so she could sit in hereand the boat could rock.
It was like her lee cloth waslike this chair.
She really liked the chairbecause she could stay in one
place and just let the boat,rock her.
(25:48):
She became like a walking gimbal, like it was.
She got around the boat so muchbetter than me, like she just
walk gimbal her way around theboat, which is really cool well,
I, and I asked this for my ownpurse because I wanted to sail
with my cats.
Capn Tinsley (26:01):
What did you do about litter?
Oliver Widger (26:03):
I, I just did, I just have my regular litter box
and then I, I, I would put thelitter in the trash, and then,
when my trash would just get,then I, I, I would put the
litter in the trash, and then,when my trash would just get
full, I, I just put it in theengine, in the, you know, the
engine locker, the engine room.
So that's where I put all my,my trash and I, I just, I didn't
throw anything like.
Legally you can throweverything overboard, um other
than plastic but.
(26:25):
I I didn't do that just because,like what, it would feel weird.
And then also I like I'm notlike super superstitious or
anything, but it felt likethat's, if you're gonna piss off
an ocean, that's one way to doit, you know.
So I just didn't want to, Idon't want to take any chances.
So I kept all my trash on boardand threw it all away when I
got here okay, I was uh, did you?
you have to carry a lot oflitter oh yeah, I had like two
(26:49):
big bags of litter that Ibrought and two big bags of food
.
So someone said that I got hermore treats than I got myself
snacks.
She was eating well the entiretime where I was suffering.
Capn Tinsley (27:06):
Jennifer said it was a good question that I asked
uh, let's see.
Jennifer said it was a goodquestion that I asked Um, and
it's nice, see ethic, all right,um, biggest thing you missed
while at sea I think you'regoing to say food.
Oliver Widger (27:22):
Oh well, let's see.
Yeah, food Like.
When I got here, I got I reallylike steaks and I, over the
last year, I haven't, Iliterally haven't eaten anything
but rice, beans and like macand cheese to save money.
And um, I, I, for the firsthalf of the passage, I've been
eating better than I had beeneating over the past year, but I
(27:42):
, I promise I just I ate throughall of the good food
immediately because I couldn'thelp myself.
And uh, because it's sitting inthese hammocks just dangling
above my head and I'm watchingthis, these, you know, cringles
cans in these hammocks like acarrot in front of our face and
uh, so, but yeah, food like.
So I, yeah, I hadn't.
I had this realization when I Iwas like five days out, I was
(28:04):
like I haven't eaten.
I'm the first thing I'm gonnado when I get there is have a
steak, and, and so that's what Idid.
I got here and I had like thecraziest, most amazing steak of
all time.
Capn Tinsley (28:15):
So you know it's cool Right there at the marina.
Oliver Widger (28:18):
No, we went to.
It was close, but we went tothis like a steak place.
Capn Tinsley (28:23):
Was that your brother?
Oliver Widger (28:26):
Yeah, one of my brothers and his girlfriend, and
then basically, two of myfriends okay, so solo sailing
love it or hate it so I love it.
I I don't think I would everwant to sail with really anyone
else.
I like to be you know I I'm.
(28:47):
I think that would be hard toget along with, you know, in
general in a tight place.
So like I like to be in my own,I do things my own way and I do
think my own system.
That probably doesn't makesense to most people but like to
me, like it's my own rhythm, myown way and I like that, you
know, because like it'd be hardto say with somebody you know it
would be, it'd be hard to sailwith somebody you know it would
be, it'd be difficult.
(29:09):
And I like yeah, like I'm okaywith myself you know alone.
And for a long period of time.
Like I learned that over theover the year of doing, of
getting prepared for thecrossing, that's how I knew I
was going to be able to likewhat's an extra 25 days of being
alone.
I spent a year completelyisolated, completely alone,
(29:30):
doing nothing but social mediaat the boat and blurting out of
sail and working on the boat forlike seven days a week, 10
hours a day.
That's all I did and uh, too,like the extreme.
So I knew I would be, I wouldhave been fine and um, yeah, I
think I just prefer going on myown okay, um, first thing you
did when you hit waikiki marina,I saw your feet hit the, hit,
(29:53):
the dock the first thing I didwas, oh yeah, the first.
The first day was weird.
The first day was, uh, afterthe first day it was fine, but
the first day, like I said, thefirst thing I did was get off,
got the officials on board formy cat to get her signed off.
That went fine, and then I went, and then I had like an hour to
(30:13):
go and shower before like theevent started, and so I we just
went to a hotel and I was likewalking down the hallways and
like I would like fall, I haveto hold myself up on the the
hallway.
And then, um yeah, I took ashower and that was bliss and
then, and then came back hereand did that whole thing yeah,
(30:39):
we were talking about somethingoffline and I was going to ask
you about it.
Capn Tinsley (30:44):
I'll think of it again.
You just alluded to it.
Now I can't think of what it is.
One piece of gear you couldn'tlive without um.
Oliver Widger (30:56):
Oh, the hydro pain yeah, like it's a
hydropneumatic failed.
I mean, if the hydropneumaticfailed, that rudder situation
would have been so much worse.
And um, I tried to fail on me,but but yeah, the hydrovane, the
self-steering hydrovane, was,was and the, the jack, my jack
(31:16):
lines.
I really like the harness thatI got because it had two levels
to it, so like one tether wasreally long and the other one
was very short so I could likefor the short one.
I would use the short one when Iwas moving forward along the
side so if I did fall over, Iwouldn't actually really fall
over, I would.
My feet would be in the water,but I would still be clipped
(31:37):
because, you know, if it's toolong you get just dragged in the
water yeah, and so it's hard topull yourself back up, yeah,
and I would use the short one tomove forward and then long one
to clip on the deck.
Um, so, even so, from up there,with a long one I could.
If I went all the way back Iwouldn't go over the boat.
So I I really like that systemjust because it would seem like
(31:59):
a safe.
You know, the way I had my jackline set up seemed pretty.
At all times I was pretty safeI.
Capn Tinsley (32:05):
I didn't see the jack lines, but I'm glad to hear
that you have them.
Oliver Widger (32:09):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (32:10):
Yeah, okay, here's a pretty good question what's
the first place in the islandsyou want to explore once you fix
whatever you need to fix?
Oliver Widger (32:21):
I want to.
I don't really.
I have to like look into it.
I didn't really even know whichisland was Oahu for sure until
I was like two-thirds of the wayhere and uh, I, uh, I love
kawaii, kawaii is my favorite.
I like to explore all theislands at first.
I think I'm gonna explore theanchorages and stuff here um and
(32:45):
uh, like that's just being in acool anchorage with like
crystal blue water where youcould see your anchor would be
such a cool.
I've never experienced thatbefore, so that'd be really cool
.
So I'm excited, really excitedfor that.
But Panda Kelly could you do itwithout Internet access uh,
(33:10):
yeah, I think so in a way, Ifeel like it like like I felt
guilty about having the starlinkbecause like I felt like it
pulled away from the experience.
Like you all the my heroes andthe people that you you hear
about that have that, have donebig crossings and stuff much
bigger than mine and you knowthey never had internet or
anything like that and like theytalk about their experience in
(33:34):
a way to where it's, because ifyou don't have internet, I feel
like you'd be so in tune witheverything and like borderline
going insane.
And I feel like I did miss outon that a bit, uh, because of
Starlink.
So I did feel guilty abouthaving it and I would like to do
a passage in the future withoutit, just to get the full.
Capn Tinsley (33:56):
You know just being out there with just the
sounds and the boat and, likeyou know, just being all in you
know I interviewed Tanya Abbeywho crossed, who went around the
world in the eighties, beforeGPS, and she got in the Pacific
and didn't have a motor either.
But she talked about in herbook how she would just like for
(34:17):
30 days she was going acrossthe Pacific and how she was just
so in the moment.
Oliver Widger (34:23):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (34:23):
Whatever she was doing stirring soup, she was in
the moment.
Oliver Widger (34:27):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (34:27):
And I read that and I never forgot it and I've
never experienced that Becauseof all the social media and
everything, all the distractionsand everything.
Oliver Widger (34:37):
So I feel like, yeah, part of the social media
and stuff.
Like I wasn't really scrollinga lot on social media because I
was spent a lot of time editingthe videos, but I did learn that
I think I'm a relatively lazysailor and I think the social
media having that availabledidn't help um with with that
and uh, what do you?
Capn Tinsley (34:58):
mean like what do you mean I?
Oliver Widger (35:00):
don't know I'm.
I'm relatively lazy in general,depending on you know what I
mean.
Like there's some times where Iwas like where I should fix
that or I should probably reducesome of the sale, but it's
probably fine Stuff like that.
Capn Tinsley (35:24):
I love that.
Oliver Widger (35:24):
Jennifer, and cooking.
Sometimes too, I had an issuewith my oven too.
I didn't really want to.
I had an issue with my oven too.
That didn't help because I felland I hit my oven and it bent
it and so anytime it would swingit would get stuck in a
position and then, as the boatcomes back over, it would
release really quickly.
So like it was so frustrating.
Capn Tinsley (35:47):
You don't have a lock for that.
No, I do, I do, but it was sofrustrating.
Like you, don't have a lock forthat.
Oliver Widger (35:51):
There's not the lock I do, I do.
But it was when I was cooking.
You know, if I was cooking andI had boiling hot water on, I
needed a gimbal going and then agimbal gets stuck and then
release immediately and boilingwater would go everywhere.
And that was really frustrating.
Like that made me so angry andso I got like a screwdriver.
I tried to pry it back.
I fixed it a little bit, butit's still doing it.
(36:11):
So I still gotta figure it outand fix it.
But that was very frustrating.
I don't know how we got therewith that, but here you go um,
okay, most underrated piece ofboat advice you got most
underrated piece of boat adviceI got um
(36:34):
uh, I think from it was theadvice that like saved the whole
journey.
I think was from uh, uh, jeromerant, uh, yeah, jerome, and um,
he told because I went on hispodcast before I left.
And uh, he was like because I Ino one really told me this and
I I don't have it all you know,I say, like I watched youtube to
(36:56):
learn how to sail I did in thebeginning.
I was so busy I never watchedYouTube.
I should have learned more, butI never watched.
I was just so busy all the time.
Then I went on his podcast andhe told me the best piece of
advice ever.
He was just like do your dailyrounds, check everything, check
every little thing.
Capn Tinsley (37:13):
I knew you were going to say that.
Oliver Widger (37:16):
Yeah, and.
Capn Tinsley (37:17):
I did.
Oliver Widger (37:18):
I did.
It was like every other day Ifound something and I almost I I
was one tack away from havinglike rigging failure because the
pin that goes on like the chainbuckle or that you know that
had to come off, that had tocome out.
And I saw that I was like holycow.
You know that would have beenbad, so yeah, that would have
(37:43):
been bad.
That was a really good piece ofadvice, underrated, I guess.
Maybe to a sailor it's commonknowledge, but to me it was
everything, because I wasn'tgoing to do that.
Capn Tinsley (37:52):
Amanda says do you have a lot of women wanting to
join you?
Oliver Widger (37:58):
I don't know.
I mean I don't know, no, Ihaven't.
I haven't like looked into it,just because, like I don't, I
don't know, it's all I I, it'sall I guess, for lack of better
words and stuff, it's just adistraction.
You know what I mean.
Like it's I don't, I don't get,I can't get, I can't do both.
I can't have like a realrelationship and like, do this,
(38:22):
I don't think, because they'reboth very consuming things.
So I'm not looking, I'm not,but I'm also not like not
looking, I'll just, I'm justgoing with the flow and if
something comes and it works,and it works.
This is awkward, and here weare being awkward.
Capn Tinsley (38:43):
It could happen that the right sailor girl comes
along.
So you never know.
Yeah, here's another questionfrom Susie.
Do you have a favorite phrasefrom the trip?
So many good Oliverisms, assomeone called them, I don't
remember it.
Oliver Widger (38:59):
They just kind of just come like I like in my
head.
I'm like a poet, but the wordsnever come out correctly.
So I just just feel weird Ijust said words out my mouth and
uh, and sometimes funny thingscome out.
So that's how, yeah, it's funny.
On All my post people willquote the things that I say and
(39:21):
I don't realize how weird thething is.
I said until people quote itLike, oh yeah, it's a funny
thing to say.
You know, it's funny.
Capn Tinsley (39:28):
Is this one of them.
I'm wearing shorts forlogistical reasons.
Oliver Widger (39:32):
This is my favorite.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was whenI took the shower.
Capn Tinsley (39:39):
Oh yeah, I remember that one.
Let's see, I've written downall of her isms because they
were great.
These are funny, so I knoweverybody's asking you what is
next.
I think we kind of covered that.
Oliver Widger (40:01):
Well, next is I'm going to spend some time on the
island.
I'm in no rush to sail aroundthe world.
If I wanted to go to FrenchPolynesia, I would have to be
ready within three months forthe window, because then
hurricane season really kicksoff, or what do they call it?
They call it something elsehere.
Then hurricane season reallykicks or kicks off, or what do
they call it, they call itsomething else here.
But, uh, hurricane season kicksoff, cyclone season.
(40:24):
They say um, yeah and um, so I,uh, I don't want to be in any.
I'm not in any sort of rushlike I've spent.
I've worked so hard to get herefor the last year.
I'm going to enjoy some timehere and explore the islands and
sail around and just have a,you know, just enjoy my myself.
(40:45):
And then, uh, it looks likeFrench Polynesia.
I'll go, I'll leave in likeMarch around that time, and um,
so yeah, I'm in no rush to sailaround the world, but I am going
to sail around the world.
But yeah, I think it's importantto kind of just enjoy.
You know, I've spent like allwinter in oregon with snowing
(41:06):
and like my hands were hurt somuch and the boat was just
everything was so miserable fora year, um, and now I I'm in
like paradise.
So it's like I'm just, I'm inno rush and uh, but I'm really
excited because I do want to,like I have this like craving to
go back out onto the ocean.
Capn Tinsley (41:25):
Wow, really yeah, oh yeah, yeah.
Oliver Widger (41:29):
It was like a sat , like coming, arriving, I was
like happy to arrive, but it wasalso like I don't know.
It felt like um, I felt likeit's sad was also like I don't
know.
It felt like um, I felt likeit's sad, like I I don't know.
I was like because I enjoyedbeing out there and like nothing
really mattered.
All that mattered was justbeing out there and I was just.
(41:49):
You know, I was just out thereand I don't know I felt sad,
like there's, uh, like the nextday when I was on the boat, I
like came out the hatch or theyou know of the companionway and
I like looked around and like Iwas like surprised, surprised
that I saw like land you knowwhat I mean, like when I was
here at the marina, because youstill it takes like 20 days or
(42:10):
whatever to develop a habit, soI was really in tune of being
out there.
And so, yeah, when I came outthe hatch and I saw like the doc
that I'm on, I was like Ithought you were going to say
you saw there were people tryingto take your picture.
Capn Tinsley (42:22):
No, no, I've had that a couple of times.
Oliver Widger (42:25):
But yeah, I do want to.
I have this immediate likecraving to just go back out for
sure.
Capn Tinsley (42:34):
Yeah, I've heard that before.
When people do like an aroundthe world or nonstop, or it's
almost overwhelming with all thepeople.
Oliver Widger (42:44):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (42:44):
You get used to being alone and it's just a lot
of stimulation.
Oliver Widger (42:48):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (42:49):
Yeah, yeah.
Oliver Widger (42:51):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (42:53):
And it took 25 days 25.
Oliver Widger (42:56):
Yeah, I think I'm the only person to do it
without a whisker pole.
I did a whole lot of downwindsailing without a whisker pole
and that sucked.
I will never do that again.
And just because when I left, Icouldn't afford one, and so I
was like you know and there's somany other things that I would
have liked to have done but Iwas already way over budget, a
(43:17):
bunch of money in debt and I waslike I'm just going without,
I'm just going, I'm just gonnago without a whisker full and
I'll deal with it.
And uh, so my, my jib didn'tanything the whole time.
I just basically kept it tokeep it under control.
I kept it like close hold, likethat's.
I was super self-consciousabout filming anything with,
like the sails, because the sail, the sails were not.
(43:39):
You know, people would havebeen like where are you going?
Capn Tinsley (43:41):
because they you know it didn't look like I was
sailing downwind, but I was didsomebody give you a whisker pole
already?
No, I still have to get one Ijust figured somebody would walk
up and give you one um, allright, uh, what happened to your
gofundme?
We can't find it anymore towalk up and give you one.
Yeah, alright.
What happened to your GoFundMe?
We can't find it anymore, lisa.
Oliver Widger (44:04):
I took it down.
Everyone's been so incrediblykind and donated so much already
.
I took it down.
I mean yeah.
Capn Tinsley (44:16):
What a guy.
Alright, hold on on.
I'm so distracted by all thesea bit off topic.
You might not care, but you'veseen the fake Facebook pages
posting all your videos.
Is there any way to shut themdown?
Oliver Widger (44:33):
they blocked those Facebook pages, blocked me
.
So it's up to you guys to justreport them, just if everybody
goes report those.
Well, they blocked thoseFacebook pages, blocked me, so
it's up to you guys to justreport.
Report them.
Just if everybody goes reportthose fake, I did.
My brother reached out and toldme that he had someone.
One of the Facebook pages pagesis is.
It's like asking people formoney.
Capn Tinsley (44:52):
Oh, I got something.
I got something that as becausehe saw that we were friends or
you had been on here- yeah.
And they were asking me tocontribute crypto.
Oliver Widger (45:03):
Yeah, stay away.
Capn Tinsley (45:05):
Yeah.
Oliver Widger (45:06):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (45:07):
I knew that was fake.
Oliver Widger (45:08):
So I'm never going to ask you guys or anybody
for money and stuff or anythinglike that.
So if you see a fake account,just report it.
Capn Tinsley (45:16):
Well, ingrid says put it back your GoFundMe.
So Barbara must have gottenthat too about the crypto.
Let's see, let's see.
Biggest surprise when you madelandfall, I guess it was the
(45:42):
greeting right.
Oliver Widger (45:43):
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (45:44):
Yeah.
Oliver Widger (45:44):
Well, I mean, yeah, it was crazy, yeah, I
didn't expect that, and you knowlike I didn't really have a
comprehension of like how manypeople were watching.
I didn't.
I try not to pay too much likeattention to it.
That's why, like making thevideos now is really tough,
because everybody I see like Iwill watch my I didn't.
I try not to pay too much likeattention to it.
That's what.
Like making the videos now isreally tough because everybody I
see like watches my stuff.
So it like kind of gets in myhead a bit because out there I
(46:05):
was just like you get a littleweird when you're crossing an
ocean, when you're alone.
It's like I just leaned intothat weirdness and just I just
used it in the videos and Ididn't have an immediate.
Now if I post, I post a video,I have an immediate, it seems I
go up there.
So I love the video you justposted and it like plays with me
a little bit.
So I have to like I'm stilllike trying to navigate through
that and just so I can be, causeI do want to.
(46:28):
You know my goal is just to bemyself and you know I'm I'm
weird.
Capn Tinsley (46:38):
So you know a little quirky, so I try and lean
into it.
I had no idea that this wasgoing to be the the reception
that you got, and I was eventhinking about it.
I told a friend why don't wejust go to Hawaii?
It's been a while since I'vebeen there.
Let's let's greet them and doan interview.
I would have had to stand inline.
Wow, I was.
I was thinking, oh, let's goout and see, but all right.
(47:01):
So something about pet aid.
So people were worried aboutthe kitty.
Someone said something about adocumentary.
Oliver Widger (47:15):
Yes, my brother is a uh, uh like a filmmaker and
so he, I think like seven yearsago, moved to the uk that's
where my mom is as well um, andbecause he got accepted to like
this really like big film schoolum, and so he graduated like
top of the class from there andthat's what he does is make.
(47:39):
He specializes primarily inlike nature, documentaries and
stuff, but he like, if mybrother knows me so well and if
someone's gonna make like, sohe's gonna make the YouTube
video that I just I've justmailed him that like the sb
cards without because I took, Ialso recorded at the same time
(48:00):
everything on my dga camera foryoutube format, so like
horizontal, and so he's gonnaput it all together and oh man,
that's nice, he's gonna do itfor you yeah, um.
So yeah, it's really cool.
It's really cool.
That's my brother, that too,and uh, and then once I do a
complete, so all of my footageand film and stuff I'll just
(48:23):
always send to him for YouTube,and once I complete a full
circumnavigation, he's going tomake a like a really cool, you
know, film or something.
Capn Tinsley (48:32):
You are so lucky to have that I know.
Oliver Widger (48:35):
I know You're blessed.
I'm getting good at the socialmedia stuff, but the youtube
stuff I'm so bad at, so I justkind of just my youtube stuff is
pretty, just raw but oh, yourvideos are great I mean all the
editing you do, and everythingum what's his name, should we?
Follow him yeah uh, yeah, yeah,his name is.
His name is marcusger, so Ithink that's his handle On
(49:02):
Instagram or what.
Instagram.
Capn Tinsley (49:05):
Marcus M-A-R-C-U-S-W-I-G-E-R.
Oliver Widger (49:11):
D-G-E-R.
Capn Tinsley (49:12):
D-G-E-R.
So it's just at, marcus Widger.
Oliver Widger (49:16):
Yeah, I think so.
I'm pretty sure it's what it is.
Capn Tinsley (49:18):
Is that it there, marcus Widger?
Yeah, I think so, I'm prettysure Is that it, there's the
brother, so we have to followhim because we might see some.
Oliver Widger (49:25):
Some footage.
Well, I'll let you guys knowwhen it all obviously it'll go
out, it'll go on my youtube andand you know, announcing when
it's all put together and stuff.
Okay, so what?
You're so blessed to have acool brother, that's for sure.
What?
Capn Tinsley (49:36):
is your favorite kind?
I'll announce it when it's allput together and stuff.
Okay, so, um, you're so blessedto have a cool brother, that's
for sure.
What is your favorite kind of?
Oh no, no, the one I wanted wasI'm wearing the shirt he's
selling to fund the documentary.
Oliver Widger (49:48):
Yeah, so he has to in order to do it, like he
has to take time off work, likeyou can't be working, so I so I
came up with the idea for him todesign like a cool, like a
Britney shirt, and uh, just tohelp him not work while he's
putting it together oh, did so.
Capn Tinsley (50:06):
He's not working, he already he won't.
Oliver Widger (50:09):
He won't.
He is right now, but he won't.
He it's not, he won't beworking, he won't be looking for
work.
It's like contract work,basically okay works with it.
So he won't be, he'll be notgetting any money.
Capn Tinsley (50:18):
So, um, yeah, to put it together so he can take
the time to put it together okay, so I finished my rapid fire
ones, but I would like to knowum your plan like, uh, are you
you're planning to haul out theboat?
Oliver Widger (50:36):
yeah, I'm probably gonna.
Oh, I have to replace thestanding rigging, um, and then,
uh, I should just replaceeverything to do with the rudder
and the quadrant, everything inthere, um, and then I've just
got, so I've got to do a newrethink because I've got the in
boom rethink system and, uh,that's all.
The whole thing is just adisaster, like if I had lost I
(50:56):
almost chafed one of my linesthrough and if I had lost the
line to go to try and it'd beimpossible to to replace the
line.
If you don't have a tail, youhave to take the boom off and
take the riveted caps off, andeven after you've taken the boom
off, it's still like a process.
So I want to put all of therethink stuff external, um, on
(51:17):
the boom or on the mask, I'm notsure, but I do need to change
that so when you had said beforeyou left that you were thinking
about doing that yourself, butyou're hopefully going to get a
rigger now oh, I don't know.
I like the idea of still doingeverything myself.
It's still the reason I know um, it's the only reason that gave
me.
It's the only reason I know um,uh, it's the only reason that
(51:38):
gave me confidence.
It's the only thing that gaveme confidence when I was
crossing that there's likeanything could go wrong and I'm
pretty sure I can fix it.
You know what I mean.
So, because I've done all thiswork myself, all of that gave me
that, that that gave me theconfidence and and, and that I
learned a lot about the boat bydoing that.
So, like I don't know, I'llprobably have, you know, like I
(51:59):
don't know, I'll probably haveat least the guidance of, like a
professional like rigger.
But I would like to do it allmyself because I'd like to know
exactly how it all works andstuff you know.
Capn Tinsley (52:11):
I echo the statements made.
What does Oliver have plannedfor his health Should someone
something happen with hiscondition while on the water?
That's a good.
It's a good question.
Oliver Widger (52:22):
Yeah, I had no plan.
I'm just going all in riding ituntil I can't.
Capn Tinsley (52:28):
Well, you have a plan for Phoenix.
Oliver Widger (52:32):
Well, I mean, I have a short team, so like if
something did happen, um, uh,you'd be able to see my route
change.
You know things would.
It'd be obvious.
Capn Tinsley (52:43):
I was checking in every six hours, right um to
just to tell everyone I was okay, so uh they would know, you
know, so somebody would ideallycome rescue my cat okay, so, um,
I don't know if you want to sayit on here, but you already
have a place to haul out theboat, is it?
Is it that place?
(53:04):
I think there's only one.
Oliver Widger (53:05):
I think there's only one place.
I can't remember the name ofthe place, but I think there's
only like one place.
So I have to set it up becauseit is apparently a long time.
Capn Tinsley (53:18):
It's like a long waiting list, so I do have to
set that up soon, okay, and thenyou'll be able to stay at a
hotel with your cat.
Oliver Widger (53:23):
No, I'd stay on the boat, Like I did the last
time.
If it's allowed I'm sure it'sallowed I would stay on the boat
with Molly.
Capn Tinsley (53:33):
Well, yeah, some places, when you haul out, they
don't let you, but that'd begreat.
Oliver Widger (53:37):
I'd say I'm working around the clock.
Well, yeah, some places whenyou haul out, they don't let you
.
But that'd be great, you, maybeyou could get.
Capn Tinsley (53:41):
I'd say I'm working around the clock, okay,
and so you're going to get allnew rigging, okay, well, I'm
glad to hear that.
I'm glad to hear it because Iwas a little worried about the
rigging.
Oliver Widger (53:51):
Yeah, yeah, I was too.
It was the one thing that wasconstantly on my mind.
Capn Tinsley (53:58):
One of the things you said in the podcast last
time before you left was theonly thing I've had corners on.
Yeah.
Oliver Widger (54:08):
I was like uh-oh.
Capn Tinsley (54:11):
But, it worked out .
Oliver Widger (54:13):
Yeah, it worked out, not recommended.
You're going to cross motion,just replace the rigging.
I mean I had it looked over bysomebody I trusted and somebody
who built boats, and he lookedit over and was like, yeah, it
should be fine.
I was like, all right, I'lltell you.
Yeah.
Capn Tinsley (54:31):
So, star Caps, thank you for doing this live
interview, oliver.
I know it's probably outside ofyour comfort zone, but we
really appreciate you doing thisinterview, oliver, I know it's
probably outside of your comfortzone, but we really appreciate
you doing this.
You know this is the third timehe's been on here and he's
always done really well and andit's the third time he's on
Jerome's, which I need to getJerome.
If Jerome's watching, I want totalk to Jerome yeah, he's a
good guy your quirkiness is thebest.
(54:54):
Don't ever change, kiddo, do youlike all these comments?
Yeah, it's, yeah, and this isthe best, don't ever change
kiddo.
Oliver Widger (54:58):
Do you like all these comments?
Yeah, yeah, it's cool.
I don't know.
Capn Tinsley (55:07):
I want to know what your plan is next.
When are you going to travel to, or do you not know yet?
We kind of covered that.
Oliver Widger (55:14):
Yeah, french Polynesia.
Alright, is there anything elseyou want to say to all your
fans?
Capn Tinsley (55:16):
We got a lot of people watching.
Yeah, french Polynesia, allright.
Well, is there anything elseyou want to say to all your fans
?
We got a lot of people watching.
Oliver Widger (55:23):
It's not all of them, but it's a lot of them
Thanks, thanks for the supportand thanks for being here and
thanks for the love.
Yeah, so you know, stay tuned.
Capn Tinsley (55:35):
Yeah, okay.
Oliver Widger (55:36):
Well, I'm just going gonna explore the island
and, uh, I really want to getfun again and go some anchorages
, so I think I'm going to startworking towards that pretty soon
.
Capn Tinsley (55:46):
But well, I, I, I love hawaii.
I've probably been there 15, 20times and um, I love the
culture there, I love the wholevibe there.
And someone says in here thatwas a Hawaiian welcome, and I
believe that.
Oliver Widger (56:01):
Yeah, that's cool , yeah, that's really cool.
Capn Tinsley (56:04):
The spirit of Aloha and you're perfect there,
yeah, okay.
Well, I'm not going to take upany more of your time.
I want to say thank you forcoming on here.
You're a big star now and youcame on the Salty Podcast and I
do appreciate that.
Oliver Widger (56:20):
Of course I like to keep my world small and you
and Jerome had me on yourpodcast before I had any follows
.
I'll always come back on.
Capn Tinsley (56:34):
A lot of my friends, after you were on my
podcast, were following you.
Every time I would talk to them.
We'd talk, and then, oh, by theway, did you see Oliver's video
?
And I was like, no, I didn'tsee it.
Tell me what happened.
One of my friends told me aboutthe GoFundMe and I was like, oh
, my goodness, wow, that'sawesome.
So, yeah, don't feel bad aboutthat, oliver, you always make my
(57:01):
day aloha, all right, well, goget some rest, enjoy the rest of
your day.
I do appreciate you coming on.
I will talk to you again sooncool.
Oliver Widger (57:10):
Thank you again for having me.
Capn Tinsley (57:11):
It's good talk all right, we'll talk again soon.
That Is that salty AbandonedOut.
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