Guides Gone Wild

Reset the Compass for Adventure as You Age: Lia Lucine & Nicki Ripple, Filmmakers, "Beyond the Compass"

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Today I am so ridiculously excited to be talking to Lia Lucine and Nicki Ripple, two of the three women behind a film project that is unfolding right now, somewhere off the coast of Maine - it's called Beyond the Compass, and is documenting a group of women in their 60s, 70s, and 80s who are on a four-day Outward Bound sailing expedition.

According to Nicki and Lia, ”this short film will chronicle the journey of an all-women crew on Outward Bound Hurricane Island’s Women over 65 sailing course - emphasizing their resilience through challenge and adventure, as well as the practice of enjoying life at any age. While mainstream media often underscores the importance of enjoying youth, these women serve as a reminder that while advancing in age presents its own difficulties, it does not preclude a fulfilling life.”

PREACH! Obviously as someone knocking on the door of 60 (albeit as gently as possible at this point), I am over the moon at the idea of these every-women’s stories being highlighted as they navigate the physical, mental and emotional challenges of this multi-day adventure.

So let's get this documentary onto the big screen already! You can support the production of Beyond the Compass at https://gofund.me/587bfc42 - make a donation, then tell your inspiring-story-loving-friends to do the same.

And bonus points, if you work for a brand or organization that plays in outdoor spaces, let your colleagues know about this awesome film, and maybe YOU will be the reason Beyond the Compass gets the huge corporate underwriter it needs to tear up the outdoor film festival circuit in 2025!

Links to learn more:

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

Hopefully we're all going to get older, like that's a path that we're all going to be on, if we can live to that, and we need to be able to look forward and see value in ourselves.

Jen:

Welcome to the Guides Gone Wild podcast. What is Guides Gone Wild, you ask? This is where you'll fill your ears and minds with the stories of everyday, extraordinary women who will inspire you to take your outdoor adventure game to the next level. Whether you're starting your journey from the couch or the trailhead, this is the place for you. So let's get a little wild.

Jen:

Welcome to Guides Gone Wild. This is Jen, and today I am so ridiculously excited to be talking to Leah Lucene and Nikki Ripple, two of the three women behind a film that I cannot wait to watch. It's going to be my Barbie slash heiress tour for the ages. This project that is unfolding on film right this second, somewhere off the coast of Maine, is called Beyond the Compass, and it will document a group of women in their 60s, 70s and 80s who are on a four-day outward-bound sailing expedition. According to Nikki and Leah's advance promotion, I quote this short film will chronicle the journey of an all-women crew on outward-bound Hurricane Island's Women's Over 65 sailing course, emphasizing their resilience through challenge and adventure, as well as the practice of enjoying life at any age. While mainstream media often underscores the importance of enjoying youth, these women serve as a reminder that, while advancing in age presents its own difficulties, it does not preclude a fulfilling life. Preach obviously, as someone knocking on the door of 60, albeit as gently as possible at this point, I am over the moon at the idea of these every woman stories being highlighted as they navigate the physical, mental and emotional challenges of a multi day outward bound adventure. I suspect that the final cut beyond the compass will pile on to the tough love my friend Mary gave me not too long ago, which full disclosure she probably stole from some cheesy online motivational video. I quote again it's one day, or day one, you decide. I might actually put that clip up at some point, because it's hilarious and I actually think I did a very good job, sounding like her. Anyway, the fact that a 70 or 80 year old decided it was day one of her sailing career is pretty freaking awesome and I definitely want to ride along for that. So let's hear more about this epic project from filmmakers Leah Lucene and Nikki Ripple.

Jen:

So I get really discombobulated by the algorithm of Instagram. It gets me very angry sometimes, but in this one particular case I was so excited because I don't even know why this got fed to me all of a sudden. I saw your post with the yeah. I was like, oh, look at this, so it's a carousel and I'm gonna read it, because this is like I totally hooked me in. And I'm like, oh, look at this, so it's a carousel and I'm going to read it, because this is like it totally hooked me in and I'm like, oh my gosh, for once I'm getting content. I actually want to see and this is so exciting. So it's this beautiful, like, looks like old pictures from you know 1970s photo album. It says for over a year, my friends Nikki Peels and I have been planning a documentary project, this film.

Jen:

The film has been approved and we're now in the fundraising stage. We'll be telling the story of 10 badass older water women through a documentary we are calling Beyond the Compass. We want to show the world that as women grow older, they become together. Oh, they become tougher, wilder and infinitely more interesting. This summer, we will follow a group of women age 60 to 80 on a yearly sailing sailing expedition in maine. I and I'm not going to read the rest of this because you're going to tell me what, why you're doing this film or why you wanted to do this film I thought I was just like this is amazing. As somebody who's like screeching toward that demographic myself, I'm just like this is so awesome, so I want to hear all about it. And then I want you to tell us how we can support you in this effort, because I just think it's amazing and it needs to happen.

Jen:

Because, I know that these beautiful films that you see on all the streaming things don't just happen magically Like there's a shit ton of work that goes on behind the scenes and you know. I mean it's nice to see more films being made about women, but that has not been something that's been easy to do at all. So I'm just like I just have all the questions. So I guess, first of all, before we dive into it, how do you guys know each other? Where did you get the idea for this? Like, why, who?

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

what, when, where?

Jen:

why I want it all all.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

Oh Leah, I was so stoked that you reached out like literally, and I was looking through all like the content you've been making and I was like, yeah, whatever forces in the world that made this connection, we are super stoked. How did we meet? We met on a sailboat.

Jen:

We were doing a training.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

We were doing a training for Outward Bound. Nikki is a really accomplished sailor and I'm a newbie and I was really attracted to Nikki's personality because she was telling the craziest stories about hooping situations on sailboats and she's just such a storyteller and she's a captain and I don't know. I'm curious what Nikki thinks that we really hit it off and then immediately after the sailing trip, we got into her, we, we did like a. I had a dinner with everyone, we did the the training with and Nikki drove us in her, like her, her van, and she was like when I drive this van, I need to wear my mullet wig and was like this person I need to have in my life the rest of the rest of my life.

Jen:

Oh my God, that's amazing. And when was this Like? Put a pin in the timeframe where, when? 2016, 2016.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

Yeah, okay, yeah.

Jen:

The mullet wig is going to be a whole other podcast, because I fricking love that too.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

My earlys were wild, Jennifer. Yeah, I wore that wig a lot.

Jen:

She still wears it.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

Actually, that's true, I wore it to Leah's wedding. Yeah, and that's the same. I mean, yeah, we met on that training and Leah also was the best storyteller I had ever heard. She didn't know a lot about sailing yet, which is what I loved about her the most, but I was like always. I was holding my jaw up with my hand, listening. She told me a story that had three parts, and every day I would wait just to hear the next part. I was like my eyes were wide just waiting to hear what she had to say, and so that continues to be one of the best storytellers I have in my life, and sometimes I call her just to hear what she has to say, because it's always a wild adventure.

Jen:

That's awesome, the feeling is mutual. So are you guys professional storytellers by trade? I mean, tell me a little bit about what you do kind of in the real world that leads you to kind of be so good at this, or is it?

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

just a coincidence, when I met Nikki Nikki, I was working for Outward Bound and then, during the summers and in the the non-summers, I was a teacher. But anyways, long story short, now I'm a full-time filmmaker, a freelancer, and Nikki also works in the film world. But I'll, I'll let you tell them yeah, yeah, I am very cool.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

I am not a professional storyteller. I work in the film world, like recently, as a carpenter. I built sets and so for most of my profession I'm a carpenter and I also work as a sailor or a boat driver, but I think that's just something that I mean. Storytelling is probably a huge part of my profession anyway, because I work for outward bound and as a facilitator you're kind of helping people realize stuff about their own stories and trying to dig out little things about what they're going through or what they're finding in their own lives. And then, as a carpenter, I actually find it funny that when you're working with your hands, you'll be surprised how much people talk and how much like if it's mindless, you're just speaking and thinking and talking aloud. And I think that the I've actually become quite close with a lot of my co-workers just because we do that side by side all day yeah, that's super cool.

Jen:

Um, yeah, I was kind of wondering where the filmmaking came into it, but you know, just sounds like this has kind of evolved over time. This is our first.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

This is our first like. So for me my work has always been like someone will reach out and say we need a film about blank or we need a you know short documentary about what this person's doing. This is the first one for me and Nikki too. They're like. This story came to us, it wasn't like a paid thing at all, and the more we started talking to folks and just reflecting on our own experiences, we were like this has to be made. So this is the first time we're making like purely out of like. This needs to, this story needs to go out there.

Jen:

Yeah, so tell me a little bit more about that. How did this story kind of fall into your laps, like what's your connection with this group of women? Or, you know, how did you learn about it in the first place?

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

I think. Nikki, you should, you should.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

Yeah, yeah, I can, um, I can tell you about that. Uh, so, like I said, I work for Hurricane Island at rebound school and, um, I think it's been the past four or five years. It must've started in 2018 or 2019. A group of women got together who used to be instructors. They were all over the age of 70 at the time and they were talking at an event and they were like, oh man, why don't we have a sailing course that's just for us? Like, I know there's open enrollment courses for adults, men and women, but like the experience feels so much different when you're with women and it would be nice to be with women our own age who, like we can just go out together and expedition together and so they ended up doing that and the course now they've opened it up a little bit more. It's been running for four or five courses. Now it's age 60 and up and I think this year our oldest participant is going to be 83. And, yeah, so they they've been coming together.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

I, couple of years ago, ended up getting on the course just because I think, like two other instructors got COVID, and so I kind of came in last minute, ended up on this course with them and I was so glad that I did because the course kind of changed my life and I'll try not to make this too long, but at the time that I went into the pandemic I was 29. And when I came out, like my early 30s were gone and I was like, oh my. Like you know, people are always telling you that's the prime of your life. You're supposed to have figured out if you're getting married or having kids or what's happening. And I just came out the other side thinking like did I miss something? And I went on this course and got to hang out with these 10 women who you know.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

Throughout the course I learned that I'm like so far from the prime of my life that I know so little. There's so much left to experience and they're choosing to adventure and expand their lives and they're continually exploring who they are and what each chapter of their lives are. And you know I was telling Leah about that. She said we have to. We have to tell the story. There's so many people who need to know about this.

Jen:

Yeah, absolutely no. I that's oh my gosh, yeah, You're. You're preaching to the choir on that one. So am I interpreting it correctly that it's a lot of the same women that do it year after year after year?

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

It's a. There's always new, new women each year, Um a couple new women, but I'd say it's. It's become this community of women who, like a different group of them, does it each year, but they all keep in contact and um sometimes get together for lunch or whatever that may be, but it's a community that's growing. That has been super important at our base.

Jen:

That's awesome. So are they. So are they? Is this underway now? Are you guys, gals, women in the process of hanging out with these women now? Or yeah, tell?

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

me about this. It'll happen August 19th. We're planning the final parts of the expedition and then it'll start on August 19th, are you?

Jen:

allowed to say where they're expeditioning to yeah, yeah or is. Is that like? I don't want? I don't want to spoil anything. I'm so excited about this.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

This is so fun we can never say for sure. Um, I know part of the time is spent on burnt island and we'll go over. Um, like how to sail the boat and navigation, and we also do reflective pieces and hiking around the island and where we will go on the boat is yet to be determined, just because we always have to wait a couple days beforehand and look at weather and and tides and all that stuff and see what the conditions are and that.

Jen:

So okay, so this is an outward bound program. Is it outward bound or related?

Jen:

yeah, okay, so it's an outward bound program that essentially happens every year. But but it's like, is it essentially the same type of training? But maybe you just kind of like work with the group that shows up that year and their level of experience, and then you know you either luck into the ability to go on something more adventurous because of the weather or you don't. But in any event it's like the same women, a lot of the same women, coming back year after year to like refine their skills, do something different.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

Yeah, I'd say it's not even as much about the skills, but more they come back, more for the community aspect, and this year will be the first year that we're going to go overnight on the boats. They have been asking for years if we can usually do day sailing and do skills like that and then make sure to do like the hiking and also reflective pieces. We do a lot of different stuff on island as well and, yeah, so this will be the first year that, like they've been asking and we're gonna make it happen we're gonna go actually out on the boat and stay overnight and do some expeditioning. Yeah, I just wanna.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

Yeah, I don't know like how familiar your listeners are with outward, and that could be like a whole, like series of podcasts, but, in summary, like it is a very difficult, like physically and mentally and emotionally difficult, truly expedition, where they're on a open it's a pulling boat. It's an open boat that does not have a cabin for them to sleep on. They're literally going to be sleeping on oars. Like it is a lifeboat that is a little bit bigger than a lifeboat and it's going to be 13 women, 10, 10 of the 60 to 80, 83, and then the three instructors, and one of the instructors herself is we don't actually, apparently she doesn't know how old she is, but around 76. So and then, and then there's Nikki, and then there's Julia Carlton. Who's how old is she? She's in her early forties.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

So there's really a range of ages and they are all doing something that is extremely difficult, difficult, and that's, for me, the thing that's so inspiring, like as a as a woman or like as a human being, that we all know. Like this is the narrative we hear all the time when you get older, it's hard. Getting older isn't for sissies? Ah, hip replacements, knee replacements. I'm from Florida. I have all my friends are older than 60, and a lot of them are epic surfers. And like than 60 and a lot of them are epic surfers and like are like living very impressive lives. But I also hear like the narrative I hear is it's very hard. And then the other narrative I'm always hearing maybe we're all hearing is how important enjoying your youth is and like this obsession with staying young and like that's what's super valued in like all the most of the content I see, like literally I was thinking like what movie or TV show have I seen that like features older women? Literally I can only think of the Golden Girls, like I couldn't think of anything else and that was a hit for a reason, like because women especially are desiring to see hopefully we're all going to get older, like that's a path that we're all going to be and we need to be able to look forward and see value in ourselves and to see. And that's what was like when I heard the story about Nikki.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

Originally it was a story about like we always hear about, like the foundations of our balance, very male centered, and so we were thinking, oh, we'll make a female center. But as we started talking, a more interesting story is like these women are older and they don't necessarily, like some of them have, like they are blessed with good physical like attributes. We just talked to one who, like, has two, had to have two shoulder replacements and she can't bend one of her legs and she's like still. She's nervous but she's still doing it. You know what I mean and that's like. Those are the women I want to see. Like because I want to be that person that, whether I have good health or I'm struggling with things, that I'm still like, challenging myself and living an adventurous life. And it's just so, it's so inspiring and I feel like important for all of us to see that you think these stories are so important to be told and you nailed it right on the head there.

Jen:

I mean, there's so many reasons, so that's pretty amazing. So what is the process, I guess, of actually capturing this? Like how you know? Tell me a little bit about just the mechanics of this, because this seems like I mean, to your point, this seems like a really difficult and challenging undertaking in the elements, you know, in nature, you don't know what you're going to get as far as a lot of different things. There's so many variables. So you know what has been the process of kind of preparing for that and you know you both. You both said you've done, you've done film, kind of in response to people wanting to capture a certain thing. But in your case, my guess is you've got a story arc in the back of your head, but part of it is also just like being there and seeing what happens and seeing what evolves and then being able to edit it on the back. So tell me a little bit about that, the whole process of this filmmaking and getting ready and all it took.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

I just feel so lucky to be working with Nikki. I feel like we both have very different skill sets that complement each other really well and I'll let Nikki talk more about I don't know her perspective, but she has been doing like all this is challenging because organizing a film and a documentary is hard and I can go into that. But not only are we doing that, but we're planning an expedition, so that's like a whole nother set of logistical questions and then planning an expedition that's being filmed. So it's like what's the extra boat? So our crew is really small. Our film crew, nikki is co-directing with me, but she's going to be instructing. She's a licensed captain, so she's going to be instructing on the boat. So the crew side is going to be me and the cinematographer, who's my brother, who we've like collaborated on a bunch of projects.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

Normally you'd have a production assistant who's like helping with gear like at a minimum you'd have that and an odd, a person dedicated to capturing the audio. Making films is really expensive, even as like a very small crew which none of us are being paid, just the equipment alone and like the insurance for protecting the equipment on water is like just the money, just goes through your fingers. Um, so we have a very small crew, but the reason we have a small crew also not just because of money is we really want these women to be able to be vulnerable and have an authentic experience and not feel like there's like 10 people watching them talk about what it means to get older or like their vulnerabilities. So it's a benefit that it's two people, but it's a lot more work Do you want to share.

Jen:

When you were talking about it, I kept thinking about, you know, kind of like what's his face Like with the free solo documentary of like the whole, like the whole secondary thing that goes into just like getting the camera in the right place without being too intrusive and keeping them safe, and all that stuff that goes into just capturing the kind of thing that you want and making it, making it an authentic film, because they're not like acting like a real housewife, because they have 57 cameras like in their face at the time or whatever.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

And a lot of these women are like self, like self-proclaimed, like introverts and they're very they are very nervous to be filmed. So one of the things we've been doing is we've been having interviews with each one individually to hear their story and that's kind of helping us figure out, like what are common themes, what are the questions we can ask in the field, how are these all going to tie together? And we've been learning so much like Nikki can add more to that but we've been learning so much, so much that we weren't expecting. Like one of the women was saying the reason she did this is because her, she, she had like a second love not so long ago after her husband passed and like anyways, she like like they were sailing and he drowned and like it's like a crit and she's been through so much and like she needed to get herself out of depression and the whole of like the trauma, and so she like previously, a year ago, went on on this to like to see if she could like still be a human. And she's coming back again and she's like really I don't know. There's so many stories and there's like stories of like women who were like spent their whole lives, like dedicated to their families and like never got a chance to really like find who they are on their own. So and then there's some women that used to be outward bounded instructors and they're like super confident going into the field and this is their element. So it it's 10 women. Like they're so diverse in their experiences I don't really remember.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

Oh yeah, so we're doing pre-interviews. So we're doing the pre-interviews. We know our big theme and like the biggest thing with filmmaking is, or what makes it interesting is like what are the conflicts that our characters that we care about are going to overcome? So some of that stuff might be weather. It might be like personal I mean, it's definitely going to be some personal stuff but I think it's also going to be really physically challenging for them and like some of them are even like, can I even do this?

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

Like there's like literal, very, very serious concerns about these women. Like, can I emotionally, physically, do this? So I think that's the key for making a good film is like having a theme that's relatable for humanity and then like having problems that your characters emotionally and physically need to overcome. That's why we love sports. It's like it has a beginning, middle and end, like and there's a winner in the end and there's like struggle in the middle and there's anticipation in the beginning. So I think that's the key to finding the story. The rest of it is like so much logistics and equipment and like managing equipment on the ocean, like Nikki and I were just on the phone yesterday talking about like, how big is the swell going to be, how obvious will it be when rain comes? Because, like, this equipment can't be in the rain, or like splashed by waves.

Jen:

So those are the things I'm noticing. Yeah, well, and then there was that. There was that video of the, the, the whale, coming up and knocking the boat over. That was right locally, like off of the coast of Massachusetts, over the weekend I was like oh my.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

God it's crazy. Yeah so.

Jen:

Nikki. Nikki, give me your perspective on this, because obviously you've been doing this for a long time and and you know you must have been seeing kind of these types of stories all along, and you know you're obviously facing these types of challenges year after year, because you keep coming back and doing this like what's your, what's kind of your hope or your um impression of how things will go.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

Oh, you mean from like the story perspective or the actual filming? Any perspective, yeah?

Jen:

I just I'm so fascinated by this whole thing. It sounds like such a major undertaking so I'm like I don't know, I'm just so impressed, and I guess that's why we're trying to.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

Nikki, you got to share the story about the comment. Well, I don't know if you feel comfortable about the comments about, like I guess, the previous reality TV show and you were like are we doing, are we?

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

even doing the right thing. Yeah, I know. Ok, yeah, there was. I did get nervous because one of the instructors shared with me. He was like he used to work in the 90s as well and he was like, oh yeah, there was a film crew who came through to do a reality TV show and it was so awkward and and hopefully yours isn't like that and I was like, yeah, I hope not, I really hope not, but I mean it.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

Um, I did get a little nervous, but that's obviously not our intent to stir the pot or make some sort of reality show. But uh, leah's right, there's a lot of logistics that go into this. It's funny. I've been walking around base and normally when you prep for an expedition, there's administrators who do a whole like X, y and Z on the to-do list and then there's course advisors who do this and then it gets filtered down to the program coordinators and to the instructors and as an instructor, normally you'll do two days of prep and then two to three days of prep and go out and field. And I've, leah, and I have been talking about this with um. The other instructor who's working on this is peels, who doesn't know how old she is, only because she lost count.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

But you know we've been talking about this for like two years instead of two days and uh, there's the amount of logistics that go into it. You know I was saying I'm walking around base telling people they're like, oh, what are you working on today? And I'm like, oh, the film stuff. And I think everybody's probably thinking how can you possibly still be working on the film stuff? I think you just don't realize until you get into it, how much goes into capturing a story like this, just because it's so dynamic.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

Yeah, we don't know what the weather's going to be. We don't know. You know, last year we had such big weather we couldn't get a fast boat out to us to help us shuttle all the women home or the whole crew home, because the sea was so big and the wind was really heavy. But yeah, I think as far as and the other thing I'm thinking about is capturing the story a lot of I think probably I'm in my early, actually mid-30s now, but my generation and younger are so used to being filmed and so used to putting themselves out there on the internet and it's been interesting to, you know, work with these women and be like, don't worry, it's okay, we're just going to have a camera in your face, not that I think Leah's been so good about explaining how it's going to happen and you know about what the real intent is behind why we're capturing the story, and I think that they're all pretty excited about it now, after talking with Leah.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

But, yeah, I guess those are just some of my thoughts.

Jen:

Yeah so and give me a sense of kind of Peel's role in in this whole thing, other than just being a great story, because she's forgot how old she was, which you know, it happened. Back then, my father-in-law never really knew which day he was born on, because there were two different records that said two different things.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

And his mom was just like I don't freaking, remember, I don't know.

Jen:

I was pushing something out, Is it? Do you think it's important to have like a peer more involved in this? I mean, is that kind of? Is she going to be like grease in the skin conversationally or like, give me a sense of where she's fitting into this whole puzzle?

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

Yes, Okay, peels is. She's definitely a hero for so many of us, so for that reason alone it's so important to have her involved with this. Next year will be her 50th year of service working as a field instructor, so she's been doing this for almost 50 years, has incredible experience and knowledge in the field and she, you know a lot of the women say when they come back each year they're like, well, we just come back for peels, like they love her so much and she's such a role model to not only all of us on base and in our Outward Bound community, but also to the people that are involved with this course. I mean I can't imagine, yeah, for them to come on this course and see somebody like Peele's, who's been doing this for 50 years and she's so humble about it and she doesn't ever really like to be focused on but yeah, she's, that's what I would say. And, leah, I'm sure she is like Cher. She's like an icon with a single name.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

So I mean, there is something there for sure there is something there.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

There's something there. You probably have more to say about her, I mean. So I actually just reworked a course with her. We were working with veterans and one of the women on the course was in her late 60s and she just like the whole time was complaining about how she can't physically do it. But then, like halfway through the course she's like she just she mentioned, and I know it was in her mind that seeing that peels, who is older than her, is doing it and like excelling at it, was very inspiring and like totally changed her life. So so yeah, I think that's similar to like how these women feel, like the fact that Kiehl's is doing it and like this is her profession and she's so like when Nikki said she's humble, like she's so humble she literally before every course she goes, I'm so nervous and I'm like why are you nervous?

Jen:

But that's so nice to hear. I mean, she, she's like leading by example and she, you know, like we talk a lot of times. We talk about representation, you know, with younger women of like you need to see somebody in the role and blah, blah, blah. But I mean it's same thing with older women. Like if you don't see somebody doing what it is you've been thinking about doing, who looks like you or you know is coming from the same circumstances as you, you're going to be way less likely to just try to do it yourself. So I mean it's awesome. Yeah, that's actually go ahead.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

Oh, I was going to say that's been a huge part of this as well, I think, during the pre-interviews with some of the women hearing, because one of the things that was big for me was seeing all these people who I consider role models out in the field on this course doing this all together and talking to them after during these pre-interviews, they're like we ask, oh, who was your role model? And they're like, well, I actually don't think I had very many female role models who I saw doing this. I just had to make a choice to do it. So it's that's such a big thing for us to hear that and then know and focus on them as the people that we're looking to.

Jen:

Yeah, that's amazing and I was curious as to whether she, whether Pills, was like more of the bootcamp, like yeah, you can do this, you know like getting in people's face to get them to do it, but it sounds like it's just much more like she just is do it, going along doing it, doing it year after year, talking about all the other times she's done it and just leading by example in.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

Yeah, she just does it.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

Yeah, she definitely doesn't get in people's faces. No, she does not.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

Yeah. She does not, she just does it. She's very funny, she's very forthcoming with the challenges she has in the field and, you know, makes it funny and fun and accessible for everybody, which is why I think they love coming back to hang out with her. Yeah, and Peele's is, she just connects with people of all ages and she works with people of all ages. I consider her one of my best friends. I would say All right, that's awesome.

Jen:

I'm looking forward to this so much because, like there's no way we can't see all that as well. You know, I mean you guys will be on film too, I hope so let's. Let's get to the nitty gritty here because, as you said, this is a major production, a major project. This is taking some funding. You are doing some fundraising now, so tell me about, like, all the different places where people could potentially go follow you, donate, see your progress or you know, kind of what's the, what's the process from here, and how can people be supporting this process when they're thinking to themselves holy f, yes, this has to happen um okay, so right now we're still we have, we're fundraising for the production.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

We're like getting very close to where we need to be. It's on gofundme and we can provide the link, but it's called beyond the compass and it's on gofundme. Um, we will be providing bts and like kind of a little bit of the journey on social media, as best as we can.

Jen:

We'll be pretty remote during the time of, but afterwards for sure um on social media, probably instagram, um we don't know you guys to do that on your personal ones, or are you going to create something for the movie?

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

We should create something for the movie, but right now it's on personal things Okay, all right.

Jen:

I'll put all the links that you have in the show notes.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

Yeah, oh, so yeah, Now the big thing that we're like it's always in the back of our minds, we're like maybe not talking about because it's kind of overwhelming, is we have to fundraise again for post-production and that we're hoping like once we get all the, all the footage, we'll be able to make a trailer and really be able to get like bigger, like maybe grants. But so far all the funding has been through friends and family and neighbors which has been like amazing that people, that so many people relate to the story.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

It's been really cool, like some of them have been our about people, but a lot of people been like I live in hawaii, people in hawaii who don't even know what outward bound is, they want to see this story, they want to see older women being epic like. So that's the thing. That's super cool. So it's all been. It's all been literally friends and family and we're gonna have to fundraise again, probably like another ten thousand dollars for post-production. Uh, editing high quality footage has to be done in certain places and, um, we're gonna hire a composer and like sound designer. So what am I? What am I? I feel like I'm not doing a good job of this.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

No, yeah, I think. Well, actually I think you got the number wrong. I think it is more than 10,000,.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

but we won't get too overwhelmed about that yet. The point is that post-production will be more expensive, but yeah, it's been really cool. I'll just add on to that a little bit. It's been really cool, just, I think you know we were so nervous about being able to raise the money and when we finally got the green light, we posted about it and sent out a few emails really not as much work as I thought at first and within 10 days we raised what we needed and the amount of support that we got was awesome. People have been super excited about this story and yeah, so any continued support or like spreading the word is going to be amazing for us. And yeah, we will make a page for beyond the compass and right now it is just go fund me, but I think anything else would be yeah, we'll probably just go through grants and stuff like that. We're just hoping that our behind the scenes stuff is going to be helpful for applying yeah, I I wonder what, if there's any.

Jen:

I mean is, is there any space for corporate dollars? I guess in in some ways you don't want to like sully the water, but in other ways, like if it's really fifteen thousand dollars or something like that, like it's kind of a drop in the bucket for people that are in this space.

Jen:

You know, and, and who, and I and I think I mean for crying out loud they just did a golden bachelor. The momentum is there for talking about people. You know people's unique stories as they get older. So, yeah, I think this, this, this definitely has to, has to happen.

Jen:

So I don't know, we'll have to, we'll have to, we'll have to spitball some of this Like who can, and maybe it can't be a direct sponsorship type thing, or, but maybe they, maybe people can like donate gear or something for an auction or, like you know, do something that will allow people who are in the outer, outside space to like, especially if they're in the area. I mean, if you're in new England, you should be interested in supporting this effort. Because I mean if you're in New England, you should be interested in supporting this effort. Because I mean Outward Bound is, you know, a program everybody wants to work with and ah, so good. I tell you, this is so exciting. I can't, I just can't even wait.

Jen:

I'm like I'm going on that I couldn't remember if it was GoFundMe or Kickstarter. I'm like I got to get on that site after this and, you know, give you my 50. I can spare right now, since I'm unemployed, but I'm excited about it. Oh my god, this is great. Um, is there a site or something that you guys know off the top of your head? Is there a website or something I can't remember what, oh, like I remember where you were directing people.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

Maybe you had the oh it's all go fund me here, I'll get the winner okay, all right, it must've been All right.

Jen:

This is. This is great, though. What are you most, what are you each most excited about for this? I mean so you. So the actual expedition is how many days overnight? Four days, so that that's like that's serious business. What are you most excited about for those four days? Um, what are you most excited?

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

about for those four days, besides just being off instagram for that long. Well, I for me, I think there's two things. Um, you know I said they've been asking every year like, can we go? Can next year, can we go on the boat? And to finally be able to make that happen and I know that a lot of people are so excited about that I'm or to stay overnight on the boat. I'm really excited for that.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

Leah described what the pulling boats are a little bit, and they are truly. I mean, they're difficult to be on. Every age group finds it difficult to learn how to live together on these boats, but it is one of the most challenging yet rewarding experiences. Like you laugh hard, you cry a little, you do it's, it's everything. It brings you through everything. So I'm excited that we all get to experience that together. And the other thing I'm really excited about is I look forward to this course each year to be able to spend time with these women and talk to them and hear from them, and a lot of times they're giving me guidance on my own life. I mean, it just feels incredible to just you know, I guess that just spend time with these women.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

I agree. I'm also, yeah, really excited to get to hear their stories and capture them. I'm really excited Personally, this is like a professional challenge, because multiple days in a remote location, normally with film crews, you know, you film and you go back to your hotel and you have your charging station, like even charging equipment has been like a logistical, like many days of conversation like how are we going to keep gear dry. So it's going to be a huge challenge, but and I'm nervous, slash, scared about it but I'm also really excited to see how far we can push it, because I think also that it's being documented by women. Um, I mean, my brother is not a woman, but we're like, yeah, I think that him to wear Nikki's mullet wing a couple of barrets it'll be fine.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

Yeah, I mean it shows like you were talking about the solo, free solo film. I mean that was like mostly men, I think the main guy's wife helps with co-directing, but not necessarily in the field. So filmmaking is very physical. It's not just the mental side, it is very physical, like we were talking about how we're going to have to like how far we're going to have to walk the cabins like very, very heavy gear. So I mean it's cool, it's exciting that we're going to be able to prove ourselves that like not only prove and believe in these women, but also prove that like women can make these stories in remote locations when there's like a lot of physical challenges. So I'm excited about that too.

Jen:

Yeah, absolutely, I think that it's a. It's just going to be a whole new level of stuff, cause, yeah, you're right, I mean, I think, yeah, it's Jimmy Chin and his wife who, like, produced that movie, but and I know she was definitely a behind the scenes person, but definitely, you know, she was on the ground just watching them, all you know, hang from the cliff with their 9 billion pounds of, you know, equipment. So I think this is cool. I, I don't know. I think you should try to find some volunteers to, like, film a behind the scenes behind the scenes of you guys, of you doing what you're doing, because it's going to be so groundbreaking for for both of you and just for the whole like space, the whole process. So this is exciting. Um, yeah, I'm, I'm stoked. Um, one last question for each of you that's completely unrelated to the film what is your favorite piece of gear that you own or use that cost you less than 50?

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

oh, I can answer that because, nikki, this is how we became friends partly this cost me zero dollars. I was surfing and one of the old guys that I surfed with came up to me and said oh, I found this in the ocean.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

Do you want it? And it's like a wetsuit headpiece that straps. But it's not just like it's a cap, it's wetsuit. But somebody, some person, has glued very carefully and like constructed this this very complex sea slug on top of like made out of cloth, on top of the little antennas, and that's what I wore on our sailing trip because I was worried about getting cold. But that's my favorite piece of gear. Oh my god, it keeps you warm. It really does.

Jen:

Keeping the head cold in the water the water it's like a ski helmet cover for the kids only it's like that's hilarious.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

It's a very flamboyant sea slug.

Jen:

Paul Bonds is the person that got knocked three ways to Sunday and actually lost that. Or maybe they left it on shore and it just washed out to sea. I'd be like where's my slug.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

They gifted it to the ocean and it came to the next person or something that's good because you want that stuff floating around up there anyway. So yeah, that is hilarious.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

Yeah, oh, my god I actually I will never forget that piece of gear. I have to talk about that really quick. The um. That was the first time I met leah. Yeah, and one of the things that we do at outward bound is we go swimming, we take a morning dip in the ocean in ma Maine at between 5 and 6 am in the morning just dreadful it's truly dreadful, it's really hard and because it was a staff training that we were on, we thought like maybe we'll skip it unless somebody says something.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

And then Leah Leah got in her bait like we all turned and she's in her bathing suit with that sea slug wormy cap on and and we were like damn it. You know, nobody was happy to see that we were like I guess we have to do this now.

Jen:

I guess we are game on.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

I have to be enthusiastic about jumping into the cold ocean.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right.

Jen:

That's hilarious. I'm curious about your gear, nikki.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

Well, I had to think. I actually can't think of a piece of gear that is my favorite, but I thought of there is this one thing that I chose or that I have with me on every expedition, which is a little bit more of a sappy story than your cool one, but my um, when I first applied for outward bound, I thought like I couldn't decide if I wanted to work for outward bound and when I finally, because I knew it was going to be really challenging and it was going to be a lot of long days and hard work and probably really rewarding as well. But when I finally decided to do it, my friend gave me this hat and it said Outward Bound on it and she said welcome to the family. And hopefully it reminds you of all the people that you're going to meet and all the things that you're going to experience. And so I do.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

I bring that on every single expedition with me and it does. I mean it's probably worth a dollar, like we always say. It's probably worth a dollar or something. But, um, every time I look at it it makes me think of all the people that I've gotten to meet and all the experiences that I've had, and that absolutely includes this group of women that I get to spend time with. Like I think of them when I when I have that with me. So it's just a little hat, but you know.

Jen:

I love it. Yeah, those are. That. That's good. Those are both very good, very, very good.

Jen:

Yeah, I like to ask people that question just because I think one of the many you know misperceptions maybe that people have about getting more involved in the outside, it's just like, well, I don't have the right gear, I can't. You know that's expensive and you know there are a lot of sports that biking, for example. There's a lot of stuff that is expensive, but there's always a few things that you can ways you can find value. So, but the slug helmet and the slug hat and the souvenir other hat, those are good ones.

Jen:

It just speaks to how much meaning that you both find in being outside and I think it's cool that's how that you met this way and that you're taking your relationship up a hundred notches by doing a project like this, which just is going to mean so much to so many people. So I just thank you very much notches by doing a project like this, which just is going to mean so much to so many people. So I just thank you very much. Thank you for making my my week. When I saw this on the feed, I'm like, even if this doesn't happen, it made me so excited to see anybody would even think about doing it in the first place.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

So but hopefully everybody gives you some freaking money, so it happens, oh my god I'm excited, thank you so much thank you, yeah and thank you for helping it with it.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

Yeah, thank you for having us. Thank you for being willing to share a story.

Jen:

We really appreciate it no I have no idea, literally I'm excited, I want everybody to share your story, because that way somebody will actually hear it. You know, the more it gets shared and, uh, we can get this thing made already and then, and then get it into some like festivals and get it some prizes.

Nicki Ripple, Beyond the Compass:

Yeah.

Lia Lucine, Beyond the Compass:

Right, yes.

Jen:

That would be so awesome. I love it All right. Well, thank you so much. Let's get this story onto the big screen. You can support the production of Beyond the Compass the link is in the show notes for you, or just head on over to goldfundmecom and search Beyond the Compass.

Jen:

It was the very first and very much most obvious result that popped up. Make a donation and tell your inspiring, story-loving friends to do the same, and bonus points if you work for a brand or organization that plays in outdoor spaces. Let your colleagues know about this awesome film project and maybe you will be the reason beyond the compass gets the huge corporate underwriter it deserves and needs to tear up the outdoor film festival circuit in 2025. I hope you enjoyed listening to this as much as I enjoyed having the conversation. Nikki and Leah are so fun and inspiring and I can hardly wait to meet them and peels in person at some award show soon. Leah and Nikki, if you are out there on the high seas listening today, I hope your spirits are on land and can't wait to watch Beyond the Compass and aspire to become an 80-year-old who's donning a mullet wig or a sea slug swim cap and getting a little wild.