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Hold Fast! 1. Signs from the Universe

Amid the fireworks of a new year celebration, a young Italian ship’s cook, Giulia Baccosi, accepts a last-minute job offer aboard a century-old sailing cargo ship.

15 people, 188 days at sea, one extraordinary ship: how the Avontuur was locked down at sea during the Covid-19 pandemic.

What would you do if your world shrunk to 300 square metres, and you had no say over who you shared it with? If you were on a ship, at sea, far from loved ones - and didn’t know when you’d be able to set foot on land again, and get home?

Signs from the universe: When ship’s cook Giulia Baccosi accepts a last-minute job aboard sailing cargo ship The Avontuur, she’s looking for more than a job. She’s seeking adventure and community, too. She tells the captain that she’ll stay with the ship until it reaches Mexico, in about three months’ time.

After saying goodbye to her partner, Giulia settles into life on board and the responsibilities of feeding the Avontuur’s crew of fifteen.

But before Giulia and the crew know it, everything they’re counting on will be thrown to the winds.

Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney
Produced by Christina Hardinge
Sound & Music by Noémie Ducimetière
Narration written by Laura Thomas
Sound mix by Jackie Margerum and Giles Aspen
For Lives Less Ordinary, the series producer is Laura Thomas and the editor, Munazza Khan.

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41 minutes

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Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected