Sea Survivor
8/21/2006 8:43:02 PM by Sandy Lindsey
One of the original Survivor cast members reminisces on his lifelong love affair with the sea and what he’s been up to since his top-four finish on the show that launched the reality TV craze in the U.S.
Photo courtesy of Rudy Boesch
Rudy Boesch, of Survivor reality-television fame, is proof of just how great a life spent on the water can be. In fact, when asked what his most exciting moment boating was, the former Navy SEAL replies with a straightforward, “I’m sorry but that’s still classified.”
What makes the statement even more amazing is that this is a man who took a Zodiac Ribster, a folding rigid hull inflatable boat, down 1,700 miles of the Mississippi River with friend and fellow ex-SEAL Jack Lynch LT (SEAL) Ret. If that wasn’t the adventure of a lifetime, it makes us wonder what actually happened that he does consider thrilling.
“Once I took a small Zodiac inflatable with a 35 hp engine from Norfolk, Virginia to the SEAL museum in Fort Pierce, Florida,” reminisces Boesch casually. “That took my friend Jack Lynch and I about a week, especially when we got into the areas of the Intracoastal where we had to slow for manatees. Needless to say, we had a great time. Another memorable boat trip had me freezing in Labrador for a week. Was that ever cold weather!”
“I thoroughly enjoy everything to do with the water,” adds Boesch, who made yet another notable journey, a 150-nautical mile cruise, to help promote SEAL Wives Against Terrorism (S.W.A.T.), a group formed to lift public support for their husbands and raise scholarship funds for the families in their unique community who have lost a loved one in the ongoing War on Terrorism. The boat tour was conceived of by Rudy’s wife, Marge, who while keeping the focus on the wives, wanted to use Rudy’s fame to generate additional interest in their important cause.
Rudy gets out on a boat every chance he gets - and in interesting ways. After retiring after 45 years in the U.S. Navy, Master Chief Rudy captained a 38-foot power boat during the 1992 America’s Cup event and was at the helm of a support boat at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. He’s also the spokesperson for the 2006 North American Safe Boating Campaign - a public awareness initiative that promotes life jacket wear among recreational boaters to make them all “survivors.”
As far as the infamous incident on the first season of Survivor, where Rudy couldn’t start a fire, he explains, “We don’t learn how start fires in the SEALS. I couldn’t show you 600 SEALS that can rub sticks together and start a fire,” he says. “After that episode, I asked every boy scout or adventure person I ran into if they could start a fire by rubbing two sticks together and they all said yes but no one’s shown me yet.” He’s also quick to mention that the firemaking resources on the island were everything but favorable. “Go into the woods and find two sticks that have been rained on and try it!”