Listen To The Noise

That hurt.

My nose was bleeding, I don't think it was broken but it was bloody sore.

I didn't deserve that but it's always the one who shouts the loudest and hits the hardest that people take notice of me.

When he knocked me out of the boat into the sea, they didn't even throw me a rope.

Luckily I had a lifejacket on, but most of them didn't feel they needed one.

That guy reckoned he knew everything and was in complete control.

When I heard the noise, I knew what it was, and I said we had to turn round or change our course or we would be in danger.

He told me "Shut the fuck up!" but I knew what was going to happen if we kept on this course. I couldn't sit and keep quite. I had some knowledge of this area and knew that there was a huge whirlpool and it had taken some big boats, ours would stand no chance.

The usual plan was to avoid the area, and if you were aware of the whirlpool that is exactly what you would do. This guy and all the people on the boat bar me knew nothing about the area and had done no research into our trip out.

These were people I worked with rather than friends and we had been told to attend this "Team Building Exercise" or it would not reflect well on us. The guy who had pushed me overboard was our manager and he was the same here as he was in the office.

Loud, annoying and ignorant.

Talking among staff was not tolerated, we were there to work not socialise, so what the point if this sailing trip was I really don't know. The work environment was terrible, but people needed the money, even though we were only paid minimum wage with deductions for desk rent.

I had the noise and knew it was the maelstrom or whirlpool. I told them and he told me that I didn't know what I was talking about, I was stupid, and the others by their silence, supported him.

I still said we had to change course, and as usual when he didn't get his way he hit out. When this happened in the office everyone went quiet, because when complaints were made it resulted in job losses, usually the ones who had made the complaint.

So when he punched me and knocked me overboard, everyone accepted that. They knew they would be next if they said anything, so there was quiet agreement.

Now I was in the water watching them float away towards the whirlpool, nothing I could say would make them change their mind, and when they were pulled into the whirlpool the choice to avoid it would be gone.

I knew that soon they would disappear from sight, sinking into the swirling waters never to be seen again.

I was the man overboard, the one in the water.

The office would be very quiet tomorrow.

They believed the one who shouted the loudest, not the one who spoke with experience and told the truth.

They have gone now.

So now I am swimming back.

It will be a couple of hours unless I run into another boat. Then I will have to report to the authorities, the police and the coast guard. They will probably send out rescue boats and helicopters, but I am sure that there will be nothing for them to find.

When a boat is sucked down into a whirlpool, there are no survivors, that is the end for all.