Sam Newman is sailing the seas for charity to raise money for the Rule Prostate Cancer organisation.
And the former footballer has revealed the moving reason why he is sailing along the Australian coast.
The 78-year-old said he wanted to make the trip after his wife Amanda Brown and his close friend Shane Warne tragically passed away just months apart.
“It makes you think and I would say very indirectly that was one of the reasons why I decided we might as well pack our bags and give this (sailing) a go,” he said Neil Mitchell asks why podcasting.
“What’s the point of sitting in your apartment, out there in Melbourne, in temperatures of six or seven degrees?” Sam continued.
“You better bite the bullet and come out here and do something before you get a chance to do it, when I look back at those two people.”
The footballer’s wife, Amanda, died suddenly in March 2021, before his friend, cricketer Warne, passed away in March 2022.
“It changed me massively,” the Geelong Football Club legend said The Herald Sun.
Sam Newman has been taking to the seas for charity, raising money for the Rule Prostate Cancer charity following the deaths of his loved ones, including his close friend Shane Warne. Pictured together
‘I became more cautious and emotional about people I knew and the tragedies that befell them.
“These two deaths that I’ve experienced have affected me. And dear Amanda, it’s the anniversary of her death on Sunday and it’s really shaken me up.”
He added: ‘Shane and Amanda’s deaths made me rethink how I do things.
‘I actually think about those two people almost every day, for all sorts of different reasons.’
Warne died on March 4, the first day of a Thai holiday on the island of Koh Samui, after suffering a heart attack at his luxury villa. He was just 52 years old.
The 78-year-old has revealed he was inspired to make the trip following the tragic deaths of Warne and his wife Amanda Brown (pictured), who died just months apart
Sam and Amanda were a couple for 20 years before tying the knot in November 2020.
On his own podcast You can’t be serious, Newman admitted that he went out for fish and chips on the night of her death, then quickly returned home.
He became concerned when his wife didn’t answer every time he called.
Newman entered his Melbourne apartment to find his long-term partner dead on the floor, having suffered a stroke.
He resuscitated her for 20 minutes, even though he knew it was too late.
“I come home and I walk in the door and the TV is on in the bedroom. So I look down there and she’s in her underwear — she was clearly in bed or she got out of bed to get something to eat,” he said.
“It makes you think and I would say very indirectly that was one of the reasons why I decided we might as well pack our bags and give this (sailing) a try,” he said.
‘She’s lying there on the tiles outside the laundry and as soon as I saw her I knew she was dead, I just knew.
‘I called 000 and the very helpful person said I better try CPR and she explained it to me.
‘I have the phone on speaker and I’m pumping this poor woman who’s laying there looking so peaceful, clearly dying, but the operator said we have to keep going in case there’s a spark of life left in her.
“So I spent 20 minutes performing CPR on what I knew was a dead body.”
Newman called his soulmate “loyal and loving, protective and ‘strong will’ in the podcast.
Sam left Queenscliff, Victoria in May, but things haven’t been going smoothly since then.
Sam left Queenscliff, Victoria in May, but the journey has not been smooth since then.
Last month he was forced to drop anchor and go to Proserpine Hospital in Queensland after being hit by his own drone
While en route to his destination in the Whitsunday Islands, Sam faces a number of trials.
Last month he was forced to drop anchor and go to Proserpine Hospital in Queensland after being hit by his own drone.
In a social media post, Sam showed off his foot injuries, a deep cut when the device was hit by a gust of wind.
In anger, he destroyed the drone and went to the hospital, where he was treated for his cuts, but he did not receive stitches.
Sam faced another emergency when his boat caught fire after two of the ship’s batteries shorted out.
In a social media post, Sam revealed his injured foot, which was deeply cut when a gust of wind sent the device flying into him
Sam faced another emergency when his boat caught fire when two of the ship’s batteries shorted out
Newman said he had to “use the fire extinguisher,” but he had to fight the fire through the smoke to get it under control.
The journey brought constant drama for the TV star, including “terrible weather conditions and huge waves of six to seven meters”.
“We had to go into Jervis Bay for repairs after waves blew out a porthole and flooded most of the boat,” Sam told the Herald Sun.
At one point Sam had to prevent water from leaking into the boat by lying on the bottom and holding the porthole closed with his feet.
The footballer’s wife, Amanda, died suddenly in March 2021, before his friend, cricketer Shane, passed away in March 2022
“It was like having cream puffs thrown at the city hall. It caused quite a bit of damage to the electrical system and the interior of the boat,” he said.
Sam added: ‘We had a few other minor issues: a transmission leak, a hydraulic steering cylinder leak, a few burst hoses and a little problem with the radar, but we survived.’
He’s traveling with his girlfriend Sue Stanley, and it’s not cheap: Sam estimates the trip will cost him $100,000.
This is Sam’s first long voyage on a sailboat. He has owned several vessels, but this is his first time out to sea.