Followed by a Whale -- One Woman's Unbelievable Story

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all right so you're in the middle of this is a charity event right you were paddling to raise money for breast cancer awareness and to foundations that keep a breast foundation importing for breast cancer actually it was kind of my pep talk to my friend Angela who's been battling breast cancer on and off for the last 11 and a half years so this is my let's do this right yeah so you're a you or an ex pro surfer right so you're used to the water and used to seeing probably lots of things yet your your paddling where's this Catalina where were I paddled from this is you that's me and that heating yeah that what's alarm isn't quite paddleboarding I was the largest wave you there's probably the largest wave which is what what would you say that I don't know about that big okay well you're that niggas that big so about six inches all right so all right so you're you're paddling near off of Catalina yes this is island off in California in Catalina and I how long had you been out there so I was a 40-mile paddle and I knew I'd to get from point A to point B it it actually took me nine hours in one minute and a few seconds to do it so I'm only three men had accomplished that feat before in the past it's typically a relay race but I asked the race organizer of the ocean Ohana chalant Catalina challenge if I could do it solo to raise money and awareness for these to breast cancer foundations and he said sure you're crazy but sure right because no other woman had not done right okay so you're how long had you been in the water before you came across Larry um well I'm told it was about a little over three hours because I didn't want anybody on the boat telling me how far I had gone how much farther I had to go cuz there's a boat ahead of you were following an escort boat yeah with my support crew my sister Jenny and my friend Angela I was on the boat and our filmer drew and our boat captain ray and so I saw the there look on their faces and I had music in my ears I had a waterproof iPod case there and I what we listening to ah everything from your getting you are getting asked me that question or yeah well just curious what kind of music went yeah I meant everything from worship music in the morning when the Sun was coming up was I beautiful to UM Billie Jean was awesome Michael Jackson that was a good one to Powell to and I'm embarrassed to say this but I do love JT but I'm bringing sexy back had a good beat too good that's great yeah slow as you can be I'm bringing sexy back in a good beat to it okay so alright so then you see their face and then what look at my face in that photo I'm not I was stressed out like I saw their faces and then and I kind of was scared to look back at what it was cuz I have a terrible fear of great white sharks I've never seen one in the wild yet and I still don't want to see one but I'm like infatuated with them because I'm so terrified right and so I saw their faces and I took one of my earphones out and I looked back and I just see this giant whale coming out and I yeah I took my breath away and I would ask you how big but you probably are gonna go that no no my board is my boards 14 feet um he was at least twice as big as my board so he's around thirty feet Wow and what kind of whale is this he I actually haven't seen this footage yet he's a minke whale there's only 500 to 600 of them off the cows off the west coast of the United States and there's a minke whale expert John Stern out of the Bay Area he's been studying these animals for over thirty years and he's genuinely jealous of my encounter well well I mean I can't imagine what I I was jet skiing in Bora Bora and the school of dolphin started swimming with me on the jet ski and that was exciting I can't imagine what that feel don't we talk to whale well yeah I just way I speak whale yeah so I find that I spoke with Larry but I can't quite get your language down kids Jimmy what it's kind of hard it's all it's hard on your throat yeah I can't do it right now yeah I see where you're going yeah alright so so when you see the whale and in what was it doing with you oh my goodness he was kind of getting in my way like after a while you kind of a little bit annoying cuz I had a job to do I had a long ways to go and he was playing he was all around going under my board both sides he liked it when I was away from the boat he'd come closer he was blowing up big bubbles and I could smell his breath it was so stinky and smelly I was like oh come on Larry then it was it was nerve wracking but and I'd get I was having a hard time keeping my legs underneath me and breathing and everything did you feel like he he was genuinely playing or did you ever find moment think he was trying to knock you over know what I was thinking the whole time as I was working on this theory that there was something else down there like a great white shark and he was trying to protect that shark and so the whole time I was really you know concentrating on that and at one point he came up and then I did see a big gray dorsal fin and he was on my right side so when it was on my right side I couldn't see under the water and I thought it was a shark for sure but what had happened is he came up and then turned on his side so his tail went vertical and it looked just like a shark Pam freaked me out that's amazing that he found you though and just how long did he say with you almost two hours it was nuts I felt like I was on a giant dog walk with a whale and he wanted like all my attention like he kept just rolling over and it was crazy I I kept reminding myself this doesn't just happen to anybody oh yeah I kept going enjoy this moment enjoy this moment absolutely yeah that's me being annoying that's amazing that's really in seven good incredible is I had a celebrity friend of mine that was going to help me get more eyeballs on this before the day of the paddle and he kind of didn't come through and so when Larry showed up I said I don't need so and so I've got Larry the whale he's gonna help us get the money that were we're trying to raise and he has we got the front page of Yahoo and in less than 24 hours we raised over $100,000 and I'm just blown like God played a huge role in this and we got up that morning at like 4:15 and my sister and Angela and I prayed and my sister prayed that God would just reveal his beauty in nature and the beauty and the human body and that I could endure this tract Trek and so when Larry showed up it was just like it wasn't a huge surprise to me because I knew that God had orchestrated all of it it would be some form of help you know it's more of why I believe in protecting our entire planet and these creatures are so amazing and so smart I mean you see how passionate I am about stand up paddleboarding and I just I wanted to give you a gift for on behalf of all the stand-up paddling community cuz we're a tight-knit group and I wanted to give you something to participate in are all wonderful score and then we got a little paddle here for you right let me get this in myself tonight yeah you're gonna have to try that out yeah I'm ready to go did it Oh Janson I could take you Porsche and a couple your friends whatever do a little lesson stand up paddleboard lesson I'll take you up on it I promise if Larry will come visit okay I'll work on Larry I'll give him a call please play you got to practice your whale I know I will I am my throne yeah

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Channel: TheEllenShow

Views: 1,187,130

Rating: 4.9230056 out of 5

Keywords: Jodie, Nelson, Followed by a whale, Paddleboarding the ocean, The, Ellen, DeGeneres, Show, Humor, Daytime, Celebrity, Television, Comedy, Talk Show, Chat, Los, Angeles

Id: gW7jRXG76RU

Channel Id: undefined

Length: 7min 19sec (439 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 13 2010

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