Ocean rower. World record-breaker. Deep water phobic.
At six years old, a jetty gave way beneath Vicki Anstey and her sister, plunging them into deep water. Both survived, but the fear followed her for the next three decades: no diving into the deep end, no jumping off boats, a quiet, lifelong avoidance of anything past her depth. Then, in her forties, she said yes to rowing the Pacific, unsupported and with two crew-mates whose safety depended on her fear staying in check. In this fascinating episode, Vicki talks to Salim about the panic that surfaced when she agreed to take part in SAS: Who Dares Wins, the cognitive behavioural therapy that finally named what she was really afraid of, and the open water coaching - with Salim - that got her calm enough to cross one of the deepest stretches of ocean on the planet, and set a world record doing it.
Together, Salim and Vicki explore:
The near-drowning at six years old that shaped her relationship with water for 30 years
What actually happened when a childhood fear resurfaced on SAS: Who Dares Wins
How CBT uncovered the real fear underneath the fear, and why it wasn't about the water at all
The open water coaching process used to prepare her, physically and mentally, for an unsupported ocean crossing
Why 60 days at sea taught her more about people than about swimming
The toxic team dynamics on board, and the coping mechanisms she built to survive them
What the title of her book - Other people are like the weather - means, and how it changed the way she handles conflict
Why she's about to do it all again, rowing the Atlantic this December
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