Years before Erin Molan agreed to join the crew of Perpetual Loyal for the 2015 Sydney to Hobart yacht race, she was smashed with regular nightmares of mammoth swells and crushing currents.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"I got dunked by a wave at Sambolo Beach when I was little and I don't reckon I've been near a wave since," the Canberra-born but Jakarta-reared co-host of the NRL Footy Show said grimly.
Now Molan, 33, is facing what forecasters have tipped to be the wildest weather conditions since Boxing Day 1998 when six sailors drowned aboard the 100-foot supermaxi.
The Nine Network sports presenter, Roosters legend Anthony Minichiello, Waratahs and Wallabies star Kurtley Beale and former Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke will join the 20-strong crew, skippered by Anthony Bell, in the 1170-kilometre race.
Molan has ventured out on the yacht about six times so far and said wryly her years in the capital have done her no favours when it comes to readying herself for this race.
"We did a sea safety course the other day and I basically sat in the car and bawled my eyes out afterwards because it was so overwhelming watching six hours of people drowning at sea and all of the accidents they've had just to prepare you," Molan said.
"I'm from Canberra and Lake Burley Griffin is about as close to the Bass Strait as I've ever gotten and although the fountain does get a little bit rowdy it's obviously nothing in comparison to what I'm in for."
Fitting with her level of nautical experience, Molan has been roped into a highly important job: "I push buttons. The other celebrities – in inverted commas – get to sit along the side and get this epic view of the harbour and I'm basically kneeling on the deck pushing buttons with a beautiful view of the sailmaster's crotch."
It's probably for the best her view of the ocean is somewhat restricted, she conceded, as she is "basically terrified of every single element of it".
"The Bass Strait with 10 to 20 foot waves is giving me nightmares. I'm terrified of drowning, I'm terrified of sharks, I'm basically terrified of every single element of it, except the party at the end."
Molan isn't expecting to come away with a new appreciation of the high seas – "I bungy-jumped on The Footy Show after bawling my eyes out live on television and after I did it I was like that was horrendous, I never want to do it again" – but draws perspective from the Loyal Foundation's support of the Humpty Dumpty Foundation.
"We've raised about $1.2 million in the past few months and that alone is worth it. It's nothing compared to what those kids are going through on a cancer ward," she said.
"I already know it's not going to be fun, they've said to me after an hour I'll be seasick and hypothermic and I'm prepared for that, I'm not expecting myself to be sipping champagne on the deck but it doesn't matter.
"Even if it's just miserable for 72 hours, sailing into Hobart having done it will be the biggest achievement ever."
