#167 - Katie Carr - Moderate becoming good later kayaking the shipping forecast with Toby Encore

WEBVTT

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Welcome to Paddling the Blue. With each episode, we talk with guests from the

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Great Lakes and around the globe who are doing cool things related to sea kayaking.

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I'm your host, my name is John Chase, and let's get started paddling the blue.

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Welcome to today's episode of the Paddling the Blue podcast.

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Today's episode is an encore presentation of an interview from November 2023 with Katie Carr.

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And at that time, we talked about her book co-authored with her late brother

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Toby titled Moderate Becoming Good Later.

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It was a thoroughly enjoyable discussion about Toby's life, his impact on the

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world around him, and his paddling plans.

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And Katie was working on finishing Toby's life goal to paddle all the areas

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in the BBC's Shipping Forecast.

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She's recently released her follow-up to that book, titled Thundery at Times,

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which chronicles the rest of her story of loss, grief, and unfinished kayak business.

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Before we get to our replay chat with Katie, James and Simon at OnlineSeaKayaking.com

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continue to produce great content to help you evolve as a paddler and as a coach.

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Enjoy today's replay, and I hope it inspires you toward your own journey.

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And to pick up the books, you'll find a link in the show notes for this episode.

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Hello, Katie. Welcome to the Paddling the Blue.

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Hi, John. Yeah, great to be here. Thank you. So you are certainly helping me

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tread new ground with Paddling the Blue.

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We're here today to talk about a combination of trips, not necessarily only

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your kayaking, but your kayaking experiences as well as your brother's experience.

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But first, let's introduce our listeners to you. Who is Katie Carr?

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Katie Carr is a new paddler, so feeling a little bit of imposter syndrome being

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on this podcast, I have to say.

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But I'm also the author of Moderate Becoming Good Later, which is the story

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of my brother's trip around the UK shipping forecast, which is a large area

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that touches most of Western Europe.

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Okay. All right. And then tell me about your brother, Toby.

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So Toby was a keen kayaker. He started kayaking when our dad died in 2010 and

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got his five stars on the British system and traveled a lot around Europe, mostly kayaking.

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And when our other brother Marcus died, Toby decided that he would like to set

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himself a serious challenge.

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And he decided to try and sea kayak in all areas of the shipping forecast.

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This is a large area which is basically all the sea areas around the UK.

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It reaches from Southeast Iceland in the north down to the very southern tip

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of Portugal in the south and out encompassing Ireland to the west and hitting

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the European coast on the east.

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So he set out to do that. And he was an architect in real life,

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but enjoyed kayaking and getting out and...

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That connection with nature, and also the special connection that you get with other kayakers.

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Now, you had mentioned Marcus as well. And so you've had a lot of challenges

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through life with Toby and Marcus. Tell us a little bit about that.

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Yeah, well, both of my brothers were born with Fanconi anemia, which is a,

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genetic disease, meaning that they find out, usually when they're around eight

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to 12 years old, and the life expectancy, certainly when they were told, was 30.

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So they knew they had a life-limiting illness, and we all knew from quite early

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on that they were unlikely to reach middle age.

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So Toby was kind of working within this window of opportunity, and Marcus was as well.

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So Marcus sadly died in 2017 as a result of what normally happens with Fanconi

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anemia, which is a development into cancer in middle age, presuming that they've survived until then.

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And that became a wake-up call, in a way, for Toby to start his trip.

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So living with Franconia anemia, how did that change them?

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Or did that? I mean, I know Toby had a special zest for life,

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and I'm guessing Marcus had the same, but that didn't seem to slow them down.

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No, I think that often people find that they have a choice, presuming that we

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are mentally healthy, which is a big presumption, but we have a choice when

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faced with that kind of situation to,

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sort of take life by the horns and try and do as much as possible,

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or to maybe take a step back and go, well, I'm going to die anyway.

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And both of my brothers decided on the first option in different ways.

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Marcus was a doctor and traveled the world in more conventional ways,

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perhaps, than kayaking.

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And Toby, of course, went off on all these adventures in his kayak.

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You mentioned Toby's quest was to paddle all the areas of the shipping forecast.

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So what was it about kayaking in the shipping forecast that attracted him?

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Well, I think the shipping forecast was important for us when we were growing up.

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We had a small boat. It was about a 24-foot boat, catamaran,

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that you could sleep on and that we sometimes sailed across to France from the UK on.

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And with our dad, we would listen to the shipping forecast. The shipping forecast

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is basically the marine weather warning for the UK.

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And shipping forecasts exist everywhere in the world, really.

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But in the UK, it has a sort of a special nature.

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There was actually an article on this in the New York Times a while ago.

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If anyone in the States is interested in finding out about it.

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But it's this kind of lullaby that is on the radio.

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So most people don't understand its meaning at all.

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But we did as kids. And we grew up with our dad turning it up to listen to the

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weather forecast, whether we were on the boat or not.

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And so it was something that really connected all of us to our family.

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And I think when Toby was looking at a way of honoring our family history,

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perhaps, and Marcus and our dad, it was a good choice of basis for the trip.

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It's also quite a nice structure.

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There are 31 sea areas and Toby set himself the challenge of paddling in each of them.

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He didn't say how he was going to paddle in each of them.

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So, you know, you could have chosen to have paddled entire coastlines,

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which is obviously a lot.

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But he didn't decide to do that. He decided to find the nicest places to paddle

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or to take advantage of different opportunities that came up and kayak in each of those areas.

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Now, each of the regions or each of the areas within the shipping forecast has

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its own personality. Is that right?

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Well, kind of, because they're just sections of land and sea.

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So, if you compare Southeast Iceland with Trafalgar in Portugal,

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that's obviously quite a big difference just because of the change in the rocks

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and the history behind those pieces of land.

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And then some of them have kind of alternate names, I guess I might say, Sea of Flames for Faroe.

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Oh, those are the titles that Toby was giving them.

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And that's to do with the fact that in a book that he read about the Faroe Islands,

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Faroe Islands being the kind of

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place that not that many paddlers go to because it's a little bit scary.

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I have met quite a few people now who've been there, but I've been hanging around

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with quite a few paddlers.

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But in this book, it was called Sea of Flames, basically because of the tidal

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flows around the island.

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So there was this drawing, this map drawing, and all of the red tidal flows

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sketched on there, and it just looked like a big sea of flames.

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All right. And things like Humber welcomed in the gates of hell.

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Sounds like a lovely place to paddle.

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Well, exactly. But he basically went to Den Helder, which is a city in the Netherlands.

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And the reason it's called Den Helder is allegedly that it was something to

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do with the gates of hell. In fact, I think the translation is the gates of hell.

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And he sort of dug around to try and find out where that came from,

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because it was actually quite a nice place.

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So now, why did kayaking attract Toby?

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I think mostly because it was something he could do on his own.

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It was something he could do in connection with other people.

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And there's a special thing about kayaking, isn't there, where you're so close

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to the water that you are almost on it. It's probably the closest thing ever.

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To sort of swimming without actually swimming. So you can drift around in that

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space between the sea and the land.

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And I think he was quite interested in that.

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He was also a whitewater paddler. So he loved a bit of tide race, a bit of a challenge.

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And I think there's a lot of variety.

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So I would say, and I didn't actually speak in great detail with Toby about this.

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I sort of got this out of his notes, that it was the variety,

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it was the connection with the water, with nature,

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and also this connection with other people while also maintaining that autonomy

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and being able to do things on your own and build up your skills and do more

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and more fun stuff. Okay.

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Now, Toby didn't finish all the areas of the shipping forecast,

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so you're continuing the quest, correct?

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I am, yes. This is rather more of a challenge than it was maybe for Toby.

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Now, how many of the areas did he complete?

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He completed 17 of the areas. Okay.

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So there, well, I say completed, he paddled in 17 of them in Lundy,

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which is the area he ended in, which is a sort of, it's an area that encompasses

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a bit of Ireland, a bit of Wales, a bit of England.

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And he marked that as uncompleted. So that's where I decided to start.

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And there are 10 areas that he didn't kayak in as part of the trip.

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So I'm working on those and also

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Lundy, so 11 in total. There are another four areas that have no land.

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So if anybody has any idea of how I can get out to these areas and technically

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kayak in them, that would be quite interesting to hear. At the moment, I'm ignoring them.

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What was his plan to be able to to get to those four areas he didn't have one

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but he was definitely more crazy than me as i said he was a very experienced

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kayaker i i only got into a kayak for the first time this year so

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it was january this year that i thought okay

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if i'm thinking of doing this i ought to try it out and so,

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He'd spoken to his friend Mikal about helicopters, oil rigs, this kind of thing.

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I've had some ideas from other paddlers about going on cruise ships,

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but they're a little bit of a challenge. One of them, Bailey,

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is right out in the middle. It's underneath Southeast Iceland.

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And yeah, basically kind of pretty rough area where there must be a massive

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fetch that just comes right across the Atlantic, and I got no idea how to do that, really.

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Now, what are those four areas, just in case any of our listeners know of a

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way to be able to get to them?

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Yeah, sure. They're Bailey, Dogger, Viking, and Forties.

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Okay. If you want to look them up on the map. Yeah, I did have a chance to look

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at the map, so I happened to see those.

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Now, Moderate, Becoming Good and Later. this is the book that you've written

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about toby's journey and and you've written that from his notes and from his

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from his voice recordings and video recordings and such tell us what that's like for you.

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That's a big question what it was like in the process was initially extremely

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difficult because i was listening to his voice i was reading his handwriting.

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And this is the handwriting that I've seen my whole life on birthday cards and

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Christmas presents and parcels and things. So it was very emotional to dig into that and.

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But as time went on, I started to realize that I was getting to spend time with

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Toby at a time when he was experiencing immense joy and just out there adventuring,

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doing this wonderful thing that he loved.

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And that was truly special. So it was hard and it was emotionally very challenging.

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But at the same time, I feel like it gave me an extra year with Toby and it

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made me feel like I was doing his story justice. So he spent a lot of time recording

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things in many different ways.

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He had three different video options, a GoPro, an iPad, a phone,

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actually four, and his waterproof camera.

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And then he was recording sound. He was making notes every day.

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He was using the notes in his phone.

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So there were lots of different things that I needed to bring together.

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But it was almost like unveiling the depth of this trip that he'd done which he'd,

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absolutely loved and was probably one of the best things he did in his life,

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so it was special and then actually writing the book it became more of a creative challenge,

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I wrote it in his voice obviously I don't know exactly what he would have written

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so I had to make a creative jump there based on all of the information I had

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and based on how well I know Toby.

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And then kind of trust my own judgment.

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I did interview a lot of people who were involved. I went and tried to do primary

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research on other parts of the book, obviously plotted everything out on a map,

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sat in a kayak to figure out how it worked, all of this kind of stuff.

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So it's been a journey in itself for me to do that.

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I feel delighted that I've been able to because it was so obvious that Toby

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wanted to tell his story and

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such a shame not to use all of this quality information, these descriptions

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that he had of these places, these special experiences, moments in time.

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And also, I hope that it kind of passes on other messages about living life

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to the full, about choosing adventures and, you know, getting out there into

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nature and doing what you want to do, really.

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So by all the recordings and all the notes that he kept, it's clear that he

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had planned to write the book but did not get the chance.

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Yeah he he basically when he started the trip he didn't know whether it would

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be a book a podcast a radio show television whatever he,

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had had quite a lot of contact with the bbc they'd done a little tiny documentary

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on him so he had that in his mind

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he also needed to write a report for the people that sponsored him initially

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which was the winston churchill memorial trust which is now the

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Churchill Fellowship.

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And so he knew that he needed to do something.

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By the end of his life, he had got a book deal.

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So there is a sort of a key here, and it was that he died having signed a contract

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with some publishers, which he was obviously delighted about being able to do,

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but it came at a time when he was in a serious health decline.

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So he wasn't really able to do it.

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Now, you mentioned the BBC documentary. Is that something that's available online

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that I could link to so folks could see that?

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Yeah, it is available online. Okay. The easiest way to find it,

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I think, is to go to my website and get it from there because it was

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in 2018, so it's quite far back in their archives.

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I'll give you all of that information afterwards. All right.

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We will make sure we collect that information and we'll add that to our show

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notes. So you've done a wonderful job of capturing the stories.

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How much of the content is Toby's own words and how much of it is yours?

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Ah, that would be telling.

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It's actually very difficult to say because Toby had written three chapters,

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as part of the book proposal.

00:17:59.173 --> 00:18:04.653
So there are those. He'd also written blogs. So there were bits of the blogs.

00:18:05.257 --> 00:18:09.692
Over time, it got edited and edited and edited.

00:18:10.226 --> 00:18:13.494
So I don't really know what the proportion would be.

00:18:13.761 --> 00:18:19.637
It's fairly low if you look at sentences toby actually wrote okay if you look

00:18:19.637 --> 00:18:25.783
at descriptions toby alluded to in his notes obviously that's going to be much higher,

00:18:26.457 --> 00:18:31.817
you had never been in a kayak at the time you wrote the book that is right how

00:18:31.817 --> 00:18:36.507
did you capture the essence of that and and and really be able to grab the stories

00:18:36.507 --> 00:18:38.283
not having experienced a kayak,

00:18:39.322 --> 00:18:44.076
So, I mean, I'd been on a sit-on-top, but I think we can all ignore those.

00:18:46.090 --> 00:18:52.017
And I got in in November, so I'd written most of the book but was still doing edits.

00:18:52.325 --> 00:18:57.995
I went to Jersey, Channel Island, Jersey, and met my aunt and uncle who were

00:18:57.995 --> 00:19:02.455
mentioned in the book. They're sea kayakers since the late 1960s,

00:19:02.455 --> 00:19:05.309
I think, so pretty well known.

00:19:05.663 --> 00:19:10.495
And there was a point where there was an opportunity to go to the local swimming

00:19:10.495 --> 00:19:17.925
pool and try out a kayak this is obviously not really testing it out properly

00:19:17.925 --> 00:19:20.627
but I went there and sat in a sea kayak,

00:19:21.306 --> 00:19:25.555
just to kind of get the feel of it which is kind of a weird thing to do the

00:19:25.555 --> 00:19:31.155
weather wasn't good enough to go out as a beginner for real so I did that but mostly what I did,

00:19:31.835 --> 00:19:37.175
was speak to people in detail about it and get other people to check what I'd written.

00:19:37.175 --> 00:19:43.125
So Toby obviously had a lot of kayaking friends and we've got Nikki and Kevin

00:19:43.125 --> 00:19:46.504
in our family who are, you know, very experienced sea kayakers.

00:19:46.876 --> 00:19:51.855
And at one point I just sat down with them at the table and asked every single

00:19:51.855 --> 00:19:55.505
question I had about kayaking from, you know, what's it like?

00:19:55.505 --> 00:20:00.935
Is it a sport, which way round do you hold this? If I'm sitting in the cockpit,

00:20:00.935 --> 00:20:02.799
can I get something out of the rear hatch?

00:20:03.495 --> 00:20:07.265
These kind of questions. And they sat there for two hours and answered all my

00:20:07.265 --> 00:20:09.794
questions. How have you developed your skills?

00:20:10.866 --> 00:20:16.370
My kayaking skills? Yes, yes. Okay. So I started in January and I just went

00:20:16.370 --> 00:20:19.660
out with my aunt here in the Costa Brava. I live in Barcelona,

00:20:19.660 --> 00:20:22.790
so it's a little bit warmer and you can definitely paddle in January.

00:20:22.790 --> 00:20:24.289
In fact, it's one of the best times.

00:20:24.933 --> 00:20:31.240
And we just went out. She showed me some of the basic stroke skills and that

00:20:31.240 --> 00:20:34.040
was just kind of a start, just getting used to it.

00:20:34.360 --> 00:20:40.000
As I said, I grew up partly sailing and I've sailed as an adult as well,

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:42.003
doing sort of dinghy sailing.

00:20:42.705 --> 00:20:47.030
So I felt comfortable on the water. I just didn't really have any kayaking skills.

00:20:47.407 --> 00:20:52.140
So yeah, she helped me out there. And then I got in touch with a school that's

00:20:52.140 --> 00:20:57.980
here in Palamos on the Costa Brava and started working with them whenever they went out on,

00:20:58.529 --> 00:21:02.592
a little tour or whenever they did any training, I went along to that.

00:21:03.353 --> 00:21:09.250
And then I just got started. There was a moment when I realized that people

00:21:09.250 --> 00:21:11.231
learn to kayak in all these places.

00:21:11.486 --> 00:21:15.200
People learn to kayak on the West coast of Ireland, which is obviously one of

00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:18.760
the scary places that everyone's like, oh, you're going to the West coast of

00:21:18.760 --> 00:21:21.231
Ireland. It's going to be big waves.

00:21:21.463 --> 00:21:25.062
And it is big waves, but there are also sheltered places.

00:21:25.393 --> 00:21:30.565
So I got started and where Toby did a lot of his paddles solo,

00:21:30.949 --> 00:21:32.260
I'm not doing that at all.

00:21:32.260 --> 00:21:37.113
So I'm always going out with qualified coaches, with very experienced paddlers

00:21:37.502 --> 00:21:41.160
and having them help me and coach me as I go along.

00:21:41.160 --> 00:21:46.181
So in every paddle I do in or out of the shipping forecast,

00:21:46.796 --> 00:21:51.640
I'm learning new skills and being corrected in different ways to the point where

00:21:51.640 --> 00:21:56.170
the other day I was paddling in Scotland and Nicky and I went around an island

00:21:56.170 --> 00:21:59.343
just near Oban in the Hebride region,

00:22:00.695 --> 00:22:02.292
sorry, in the Malin region.

00:22:02.565 --> 00:22:07.296
I'm going to show up my lack of knowledge here, in the Malin region of the shipping forecast.

00:22:09.557 --> 00:22:13.617
I was sort of paddling and the sea got a little bit more challenging for me.

00:22:14.037 --> 00:22:19.097
And as I was doing it, I was sort of hearing the voices of all of these different

00:22:19.097 --> 00:22:24.797
people in Ireland, in the UK, in Wales, all of these different pieces of advice

00:22:24.797 --> 00:22:27.499
that were kind of helping me to keep going.

00:22:28.643 --> 00:22:31.847
And that's interesting. That's a nice way of learning, I think.

00:22:31.847 --> 00:22:34.250
It's not a conventional way, but it's a nice way.

00:22:34.697 --> 00:22:39.684
Which areas did he leave for you to paddle? Not that he left them, but were remaining.

00:22:40.399 --> 00:22:47.257
Yeah, so Toby left basically the cold and wet ones, which is Wales,

00:22:47.257 --> 00:22:53.097
Ireland, Scotland, essentially, a little bit of England, but he hadn't done those.

00:22:53.097 --> 00:22:57.817
I think he was saving them for last because they do have bigger seas and maybe

00:22:57.817 --> 00:23:04.107
more challenging conditions. So he was probably looking forward to doing that, I suspect.

00:23:04.422 --> 00:23:07.117
He might have tried to paddle all the way around Ireland and,

00:23:07.577 --> 00:23:11.137
you know, do some of these, the big paddles that other people like to do.

00:23:11.758 --> 00:23:19.727
But yeah, he didn't get time. So I received those and then decided to put a plan together.

00:23:20.337 --> 00:23:25.683
I wanted to do them in two years. I want to be able to finish the project in two years.

00:23:26.026 --> 00:23:29.987
I mean, one would have been great, but I've got a family, I've got responsibilities.

00:23:29.987 --> 00:23:34.786
I live in another country, so it's a little bit of a challenge to be able to do all of it.

00:23:35.431 --> 00:23:38.515
So I basically started in Lundy near Bristol.

00:23:38.898 --> 00:23:46.799
And then I went up to Wales. So the South Wales, Pembrokeshire area, absolutely beautiful.

00:23:47.083 --> 00:23:50.737
Anglesey, that's moving into a different shipping forecast area,

00:23:50.737 --> 00:23:52.006
which would be Irish Sea.

00:23:52.436 --> 00:23:56.505
Then I took the kayak on the ferry over to Dublin. I left it there for a while

00:23:56.615 --> 00:24:00.023
and picked it up and did a paddle just south of Dublin.

00:24:00.417 --> 00:24:05.827
Then on the Copper Coast and the bottom of Ireland basically absolutely stunning

00:24:05.827 --> 00:24:11.377
coastline really beautiful and then over in Skull so the Copper Coast is Fastnet

00:24:11.505 --> 00:24:14.425
Skull is also Fastnet and then up near,

00:24:14.878 --> 00:24:19.127
Kerry in the Shannon region I had one failed attempt at kayaking on.

00:24:20.387 --> 00:24:24.727
The on the River Shannon where I got everything ready it was a grey miserable

00:24:24.727 --> 00:24:28.877
day and it was going to be difficult but I was there with two other people who

00:24:28.877 --> 00:24:32.844
were extremely skilled and thought you know I'll give it a go let's see how it goes

00:24:33.210 --> 00:24:36.565
I got everything ready you know even the dry suit on everything,

00:24:37.167 --> 00:24:41.857
I saw the first lady launch just thought oh that looks really difficult she

00:24:41.857 --> 00:24:44.971
was struggling and she's you know got years of experience,

00:24:45.429 --> 00:24:49.427
and then I said to the second person who was there well you go out and see how

00:24:49.427 --> 00:24:54.367
you find it and he also struggled a bit and I just thought I don't want to just

00:24:54.367 --> 00:24:55.677
smash the boat up on the beach.

00:24:55.677 --> 00:24:59.413
I've got a fiberglass boat, which is a tide race exceed.

00:24:59.884 --> 00:25:03.947
And I just wanted the boat to survive and myself to survive.

00:25:03.947 --> 00:25:05.068
So I didn't do that paddle.

00:25:05.665 --> 00:25:10.157
But I was told that that's actually a very good learning to be able to say no,

00:25:10.157 --> 00:25:12.166
even when you're all ready to go.

00:25:12.793 --> 00:25:16.687
From there, then I went round to further up the north of Ireland.

00:25:17.047 --> 00:25:23.437
And then after putting the boat on and myself on the ferry to Scotland.

00:25:23.437 --> 00:25:28.095
I left it in Scotland and then picked it up just a few weeks ago and.

00:25:28.815 --> 00:25:34.170
Did then the Malin and Hebrides area, which is basically the Hebrides area of

00:25:34.170 --> 00:25:38.580
the shipping forecast and the Hebrides islands, not the outer Hebrides.

00:25:39.204 --> 00:25:42.410
So you're right, that learning, that experience that you just had,

00:25:42.410 --> 00:25:45.520
I mean, that's the one question that we should all be asking every time we go

00:25:45.520 --> 00:25:48.498
out and paddle, which is, should I be doing this today?

00:25:49.044 --> 00:25:52.920
And we really need to be honest with ourselves. And you took that opportunity

00:25:52.920 --> 00:25:55.923
to ask that question and to be honest with yourselves and then say,

00:25:56.341 --> 00:25:58.407
no, this is not what I should be doing at the moment.

00:25:59.110 --> 00:26:03.210
Yeah. It's a difficult one though, isn't it? Because you want to push yourself.

00:26:03.210 --> 00:26:08.100
As a beginner, you don't actually really know what your skill level is,

00:26:08.820 --> 00:26:10.196
really what you can deal with.

00:26:11.620 --> 00:26:15.890
So you want to push yourself forward, but at the same time, not get into any

00:26:15.890 --> 00:26:18.863
dangerous or difficult situations.

00:26:19.182 --> 00:26:24.110
I try to look at the sea and go, okay, is that right at the end of my comfort

00:26:24.110 --> 00:26:25.527
limit as I'm getting on it?

00:26:25.794 --> 00:26:30.444
Because if so, I don't have any room for maneuver if it gets worse,

00:26:30.548 --> 00:26:31.547
because it probably will.

00:26:33.020 --> 00:26:36.800
So that's what I did with that one. And usually I kind of go,

00:26:36.800 --> 00:26:38.920
well, you know, actually, it's fine.

00:26:39.260 --> 00:26:42.380
I just need to get used to it. And I'm with someone who's really good.

00:26:42.380 --> 00:26:46.912
So no problem. But yeah, that one was definitely beyond my capabilities.

00:26:47.621 --> 00:26:52.190
The cold and wet areas are the ones that are remaining. And so you've done about

00:26:52.190 --> 00:26:54.581
half of those areas and another half you'll do next year?

00:26:55.551 --> 00:27:01.427
Yeah, exactly. So next year, I will do the Tyne, Forth, Cromartie areas,

00:27:01.427 --> 00:27:05.185
which is up the east coast of northern England and Scotland,

00:27:05.608 --> 00:27:08.951
and then finish in Fair Isle, which is the Shetland Islands.

00:27:09.520 --> 00:27:13.711
So I wanted to put probably the most challenging place last.

00:27:13.903 --> 00:27:19.527
It's also one of the places that Toby saw from the ferry that he went on as

00:27:19.527 --> 00:27:22.467
he went from the Faroe Islands to Norway.

00:27:22.467 --> 00:27:26.057
So it's quite nice to connect it up that way as well. He didn't actually paddle

00:27:26.057 --> 00:27:30.207
there, but he saw the Muckleflugger Lighthouse, which is a lighthouse right

00:27:30.207 --> 00:27:31.979
on the top of the British Isles.

00:27:32.687 --> 00:27:35.558
Now, you mentioned the boat, the Tide Ray Succeed. That was Toby's boat?

00:27:36.243 --> 00:27:46.390
It was Toby's boat, yeah. Toby had three boats and in varying stages of, let's say, usability.

00:27:47.965 --> 00:27:52.527
And i i got some help to decide which one to take obviously one of them had

00:27:52.527 --> 00:27:57.323
no skeg was quite broken that was the one he used for the first part of his trip in 2018

00:27:57.747 --> 00:28:01.887
so that one is now being mended so that we can continue to use it

00:28:02.227 --> 00:28:08.917
and he also had an more of a play boat for the sea which i quite fancied because

00:28:08.917 --> 00:28:10.611
it was red but i was told by

00:28:10.936 --> 00:28:14.397
many people that it would be really difficult to paddle as a beginner so I took

00:28:14.397 --> 00:28:18.267
the exceed and I've loved paddling it it's brilliant

00:28:18.607 --> 00:28:21.536
and I feel much more comfortable in that than any other kayak now,

00:28:22.207 --> 00:28:23.767
all right so it feels kind of part of me,

00:28:24.687 --> 00:28:29.233
so what's the biggest challenge for you as you as you go about this remaining quest.

00:28:30.681 --> 00:28:35.963
So I think the biggest challenge is probably to do with frustration.

00:28:36.532 --> 00:28:41.082
A lot of the people I know and a lot of the people who are helping me have spent

00:28:41.082 --> 00:28:43.719
years kayaking and they're really good at it.

00:28:44.474 --> 00:28:50.360
I've obviously only been doing it for a few months and I can't do it every weekend and all of that.

00:28:50.946 --> 00:28:56.432
So I find now that I'm getting to the point of being frustrated with myself

00:28:56.432 --> 00:29:00.877
for not having as much skills and experience as I would like.

00:29:01.614 --> 00:29:05.730
And that's something that I'm having to mentally manage. So there's that.

00:29:06.363 --> 00:29:14.548
There's also obviously still the ongoing grief to do with losing Toby and losing the rest of my family.

00:29:15.378 --> 00:29:20.392
Sometimes there are moments on the water where it is such a special place and

00:29:20.732 --> 00:29:23.472
you can be drifting in the calm or whatever,

00:29:24.132 --> 00:29:27.005
maybe got seals popping their heads up all around you,

00:29:27.893 --> 00:29:33.222
that it just brings to the fore that toby isn't doing this and and i'm doing

00:29:33.222 --> 00:29:36.798
it and it it was toby's thing to do it wasn't really mine,

00:29:37.553 --> 00:29:44.327
it's obviously helpful for me to do it as well as part of that grieving process but it's a challenge,

00:29:45.365 --> 00:29:50.479
now you mentioned that it's it was toby's thing not really yours has it become yours.

00:29:51.597 --> 00:29:56.335
Yeah, I think so. It's like I was saying, the kayak now feels more and more

00:29:56.335 --> 00:30:00.325
like it's my kayak. It never will be really because it's Toby's.

00:30:00.785 --> 00:30:06.457
It's got all of the scratches that he put into it, rock hopping and things like that.

00:30:07.450 --> 00:30:11.785
So it is yeah becoming more and more my challenge and actually one of the nice

00:30:11.785 --> 00:30:16.204
things about going to ireland was that most people there,

00:30:16.976 --> 00:30:21.875
hadn't met toby they'd heard of him perhaps but they hadn't met him and so they

00:30:21.875 --> 00:30:26.745
met me for the first time and were kind and helpful and

00:30:27.105 --> 00:30:32.495
wonderful with me and that just felt amazing to feel that support of the community

00:30:32.495 --> 00:30:34.786
of paddlers in another country,

00:30:35.517 --> 00:30:40.305
who knew a bit about my story, but essentially were just willing to take me

00:30:40.305 --> 00:30:41.695
out and have a great time.

00:30:41.695 --> 00:30:46.125
And that's something really special. And I think it's special in the community

00:30:46.545 --> 00:30:50.955
of paddlers that there are around the world and something that I don't think

00:30:50.955 --> 00:30:52.769
that I'll want to let go of.

00:30:53.158 --> 00:30:54.958
How are you being supported along the way?

00:30:55.526 --> 00:30:59.885
Basically, I'm reaching out to people in different places to each different area.

00:30:59.885 --> 00:31:04.635
I've got a bit of a different plan for. So in Ireland, I didn't know anybody

00:31:04.635 --> 00:31:11.745
and I basically connected with the Irish Sea Kayaking Facebook group and explained my story.

00:31:12.065 --> 00:31:17.815
I also joined the Irish Sea Kayaking Association and people sort of just came

00:31:17.815 --> 00:31:19.685
along and were wonderful and wanted to help and,

00:31:20.425 --> 00:31:25.255
I said to them oh you know I'd like to be doing a paddle here on this day or

00:31:25.255 --> 00:31:30.385
around this time and they basically came along with a whole group of people from their clubs.

00:31:31.662 --> 00:31:36.544
Or on their own and came to help me do it. And that was amazing.

00:31:37.158 --> 00:31:41.264
And that's the same thing I found in the UK as well. I've relied maybe a little

00:31:41.264 --> 00:31:45.384
bit more on people who Toby already knew, some of his friends.

00:31:45.633 --> 00:31:48.874
Like I said, when I went up to Mallon and Hebrides in Scotland recently,

00:31:48.874 --> 00:31:55.303
I went with my aunt and she came in to help, I mean, help kayak with me and enjoy being in nature.

00:31:55.756 --> 00:32:02.084
So it depends on what the situation is. I'm keen for it to continue to be a

00:32:02.084 --> 00:32:07.232
connection with people. So Toby's trip, even though he set off solo,

00:32:07.412 --> 00:32:09.450
was never about doing it alone.

00:32:09.781 --> 00:32:12.712
And mine obviously can't be about me doing it alone.

00:32:13.095 --> 00:32:18.084
But the strategy for it I'm coming up with and then getting different bits of

00:32:18.084 --> 00:32:23.034
help in different places whatever's available and I've had people offering to take me out,

00:32:23.554 --> 00:32:27.794
and they run kayaking schools or just do you want me to come and help you

00:32:28.214 --> 00:32:33.256
sort out the boat was one one friend of Toby's really gave me massive help by

00:32:33.599 --> 00:32:37.304
telling me what bits of kit I needed in the beginning yeah lots of different

00:32:37.304 --> 00:32:41.074
ways people have been helping it's been really lovely it truly is an amazing

00:32:41.074 --> 00:32:42.694
community where people will come together,

00:32:43.274 --> 00:32:44.858
and help in any way they can.

00:32:45.375 --> 00:32:51.268
Yeah. Now, the book Moderate Becoming Good Later, the book's not about paddling. What's it about?

00:32:51.956 --> 00:32:55.944
Yeah. So basically, with me not being a paddler, it couldn't,

00:32:55.944 --> 00:32:58.734
when I wrote it, it was never going to be about paddling. In fact,

00:32:58.734 --> 00:33:03.560
Toby's synopsis of the book stated that quite clearly.

00:33:04.269 --> 00:33:12.007
It's about enjoying nature. it's about overcoming loss or difficult circumstances,

00:33:12.552 --> 00:33:16.146
it's about going out and doing what you want to do,

00:33:16.807 --> 00:33:23.014
it's also about the history of places and connections across the seas so the

00:33:23.014 --> 00:33:28.081
importance of maybe looking at land masses not as different countries but as.

00:33:28.883 --> 00:33:33.803
Places with different history and different idiosyncrasies, but also places

00:33:33.803 --> 00:33:36.110
with a lot of things that connect them. Yeah.

00:33:36.592 --> 00:33:41.503
He was doing this solo, but as you mentioned earlier, solo, but not alone.

00:33:41.938 --> 00:33:45.131
And he was really fully immersing himself into these regions.

00:33:45.456 --> 00:33:46.605
How are you doing the same?

00:33:47.328 --> 00:33:52.183
So basically every region I go to, I'm contacting and being in,

00:33:52.183 --> 00:33:55.900
being connected with people who live there, who work there.

00:33:56.202 --> 00:34:02.073
And really, I think it's more of a sense of curiosity of just being able to

00:34:02.073 --> 00:34:05.391
go, oh, that looks interesting. Let's find out a little bit more.

00:34:05.855 --> 00:34:10.853
The book never tried to be a guidebook to any of the regions.

00:34:10.853 --> 00:34:15.643
So, you know, there may be things that are missing out of those areas that haven't

00:34:15.643 --> 00:34:17.407
been mentioned that are pretty important.

00:34:17.780 --> 00:34:22.423
But it's about kind of looking and being aware of what's going on,

00:34:22.423 --> 00:34:26.203
where you are in that moment and asking, okay, what else is there?

00:34:26.203 --> 00:34:28.652
What else can I find out? Who else can I talk to?

00:34:29.151 --> 00:34:34.903
And also at the same time, being able to take those moments of reflection in

00:34:34.903 --> 00:34:38.293
nature and just sit there or float there,

00:34:38.786 --> 00:34:45.038
looking at the beauty of small things that perhaps we don't make time to look at.

00:34:46.204 --> 00:34:51.524
What was the last region that you paddled? It was Hebrides. All right.

00:34:51.524 --> 00:34:53.006
Tell us about that experience.

00:34:53.673 --> 00:34:58.944
So I flew over to Scotland, well, into Liverpool and then drove up to Scotland.

00:34:59.711 --> 00:35:04.431
I hadn't been in Scotland for quite a while, so I'd sort of forgotten a bit what it looked like.

00:35:04.656 --> 00:35:12.464
And we, first of all, went for a paddle out to a place where I could wild camp.

00:35:12.464 --> 00:35:16.294
So this was something that Nikki decided that I needed to be able to experience

00:35:16.294 --> 00:35:20.160
wild camping, which I hadn't actually done before. I'd done some camping, whatever.

00:35:20.486 --> 00:35:24.824
And we wanted to do a journey of several days, but the weather forecast was

00:35:24.824 --> 00:35:29.604
not great for that, mostly due to rain rather than wind in this case.

00:35:29.604 --> 00:35:34.040
So we didn't just really want to be out with all the wet camping gear for ages.

00:35:34.446 --> 00:35:36.252
So we left from Plockton.

00:35:36.728 --> 00:35:42.045
So paddling out from Plockton, just around the coastline, very close in,

00:35:42.416 --> 00:35:46.142
looking at everything that's happening, looking at the rock formation.

00:35:46.467 --> 00:35:51.394
Nikki, my aunt, is quite an expert on geology. So she was explaining to me how

00:35:51.394 --> 00:35:55.655
all of these rocks were formed and why they were quite different in different places.

00:35:56.241 --> 00:36:01.014
And we were joined by seals we were joined by lots of different birds it was

00:36:01.014 --> 00:36:09.547
very calm sea just absolutely stunning to be surrounded by massive mountains beautiful water,

00:36:10.040 --> 00:36:14.764
it wasn't sunny I think sometimes we think that as doing water sports we need

00:36:14.764 --> 00:36:17.885
to go out when it's always sunny maybe that's me because I live in Spain.

00:36:19.044 --> 00:36:22.544
But actually getting on the water can be one of the best things you can do on a.

00:36:23.724 --> 00:36:29.844
Rainy or gray day rather than sort of sitting at home and watching Netflix or whatever.

00:36:31.664 --> 00:36:35.914
So we just took it really easy. This is probably an example of a paddle that

00:36:35.914 --> 00:36:41.814
didn't particularly challenge me as a paddler, but was just about taking in

00:36:41.814 --> 00:36:43.669
nature and taking in the beauty of it.

00:36:44.366 --> 00:36:50.688
Later on, we were paddling around this island where it was the island of Kerara,

00:36:50.688 --> 00:36:53.345
which is further south. That's in the Malin region.

00:36:53.763 --> 00:36:58.608
And this was more of a challenge just because the sea got a bit more choppy.

00:36:58.608 --> 00:37:02.288
There was a bit of a tide race that we didn't expect. The tide had changed at

00:37:02.288 --> 00:37:05.158
a slightly different time from what we expected.

00:37:05.785 --> 00:37:11.724
And yeah, you've just got to suck it up and deal with it. Like many things in life, I think.

00:37:11.834 --> 00:37:16.211
Sometimes life gets a bit choppy and you've just got to paddle on through it.

00:37:16.623 --> 00:37:20.568
And I felt really good about that paddle. It was the longest one I've ever done.

00:37:20.888 --> 00:37:24.478
I mean, it's only 22 kilometers. So, you know, anyone thinking,

00:37:24.478 --> 00:37:26.782
wow, not very impressive.

00:37:27.118 --> 00:37:31.988
But anyway, it's quite impressive for me. And it had lots of different conditions

00:37:31.988 --> 00:37:34.528
and absolutely stunning scenery.

00:37:34.528 --> 00:37:40.248
At the bottom of the island, there was a castle standing in front of this massive

00:37:40.248 --> 00:37:42.941
green mountain, emerald green.

00:37:43.249 --> 00:37:45.020
At that point, there was a bit of sun.

00:37:45.530 --> 00:37:49.758
The sea had calmed down a bit, but there were massive ocean waves flowing in

00:37:49.758 --> 00:37:53.678
that Nikki and I looked at later that were probably a storm that had come all

00:37:53.678 --> 00:37:56.821
the way from Florida, just straight across the Atlantic.

00:37:57.153 --> 00:38:01.508
Just that amazing comfortable ocean wave where you're just sort of going up

00:38:01.508 --> 00:38:05.048
and down and you don't even realize you're on it until you see it smashing into

00:38:05.048 --> 00:38:06.748
the rocks a bit further over.

00:38:07.259 --> 00:38:12.120
So this was some of my experience of paddling in Scotland recently.

00:38:12.683 --> 00:38:19.051
There's something mysterious about a gray day that just makes those days kind of wonderful.

00:38:19.764 --> 00:38:23.816
Yeah, I think partly because not so many people are out.

00:38:24.604 --> 00:38:29.539
And it feels more like an adventure. There was one day in the Shannon region

00:38:29.539 --> 00:38:37.119
where I went out in Kerry and it was a very gray day. It was also quite windy.

00:38:37.119 --> 00:38:38.813
There was also quite a lot of tide.

00:38:39.179 --> 00:38:43.753
I went out with one other person who was extremely skilled at sea kayaking and

00:38:44.165 --> 00:38:48.549
we basically paddled out into the wind against wind and tide.

00:38:48.549 --> 00:38:50.099
I was like, well, this isn't very much fun.

00:38:52.310 --> 00:38:56.426
Got out to the place where we wanted to get to and the sea was massive.

00:38:56.704 --> 00:39:00.221
And I just had to say, I'm not comfortable with this. I think we need to go back.

00:39:00.663 --> 00:39:04.299
And so he just said, okay, well, let's just raft up and go back.

00:39:04.299 --> 00:39:08.534
And we rafted up the kayaks. He put a small sail up on the front of his kayak

00:39:08.918 --> 00:39:12.139
and we zipped down that river so fast.

00:39:13.172 --> 00:39:18.032
It was so much fun. It made it worthwhile having paddled against the wind and tide.

00:39:18.357 --> 00:39:22.099
And that was just a very, very gray day. And that day, I just thought there

00:39:22.099 --> 00:39:25.107
was absolutely nothing better I could have done with this day.

00:39:25.747 --> 00:39:30.299
So again, I realized that each region has its own personality and each is wonderful

00:39:30.299 --> 00:39:34.009
in its own way. What has been your favorite region to paddle so far and why?

00:39:34.791 --> 00:39:42.001
I would say my favorite one so far has been Fastnet, and that's the bottom of Ireland, essentially.

00:39:42.355 --> 00:39:48.363
And I did two paddles in Fastnet, one which was on the Copper Coast,

00:39:48.533 --> 00:39:56.398
which is near Waterford, and one which was out from a beautiful loch near to Skoll.

00:39:57.135 --> 00:40:05.290
And what made the first Paddle Beautiful was just this amazing rock stacks and,

00:40:06.344 --> 00:40:11.017
just absolutely stunning scenery, a little bit of a challenging sea,

00:40:11.168 --> 00:40:18.790
and a great group of people who were fun and very normal and.

00:40:20.154 --> 00:40:25.380
Just out there to enjoy a day out and help me as much as they could.

00:40:25.380 --> 00:40:27.475
But really, they were all enjoying it as well.

00:40:28.037 --> 00:40:32.317
And I remember sitting on the beach with them, as you do. I've noticed as kayakers,

00:40:32.317 --> 00:40:36.371
you spend a lot of time sitting on beaches in the middle of nowhere eating your lunch.

00:40:36.888 --> 00:40:41.517
And they were sort of sharing out all of their homemade cakes and talking about

00:40:41.517 --> 00:40:43.749
their homemade jams. This was a group of guys.

00:40:44.034 --> 00:40:46.627
And I just thought it was such a nice community.

00:40:46.987 --> 00:40:50.814
They were obviously friends as well as paddling buddies.

00:40:51.250 --> 00:40:56.707
And they just made me feel part of it. So that was great. And then in Skoll,

00:40:57.047 --> 00:40:58.907
the weather was bad for me.

00:40:59.547 --> 00:41:04.107
I think it was like a 4.6 or something like that. The waves were maybe three

00:41:04.107 --> 00:41:06.877
meters, way beyond what I could do.

00:41:07.319 --> 00:41:13.927
And I joined the Irish Sea Kayaking Association meet. So I went along to their

00:41:13.927 --> 00:41:18.103
meet and met loads of people from all over Ireland who just welcomed me with

00:41:18.294 --> 00:41:20.645
absolutely open arms. And it was amazing.

00:41:21.202 --> 00:41:26.367
And two of them set up a paddle specially for me, but didn't sort of say it

00:41:26.367 --> 00:41:31.557
was, this is for you because you're a beginner, but they did it as part of the meet.

00:41:31.557 --> 00:41:35.167
So it was one of the options that anyone could have joined, but it was one that

00:41:35.167 --> 00:41:39.951
they knew was sheltered enough for me to do. And it started off in this loch called Loch Ein.

00:41:40.392 --> 00:41:45.297
And it's very calm. And then it's got a little rapids that you can go down,

00:41:45.297 --> 00:41:48.386
which was quite a fun thing for me to try out.

00:41:48.775 --> 00:41:53.007
And then you can paddle out to the open sea as well and play in those massive

00:41:53.007 --> 00:41:58.997
waves for about two seconds before the leader of the trip just went,

00:41:58.997 --> 00:42:01.647
you know, we could, I think we should probably go back.

00:42:01.647 --> 00:42:05.657
At which point I just did my best sweep stroke, turned the kayak around and

00:42:05.657 --> 00:42:07.607
paddled as fast as I could back in.

00:42:08.744 --> 00:42:12.167
You were just fine with that. I was just fine with going back.

00:42:12.507 --> 00:42:17.167
And then we did some rescue practicing. So it was just brilliant.

00:42:17.707 --> 00:42:20.047
And obviously absolutely stunning scenery as well.

00:42:20.587 --> 00:42:26.206
This is Southern Ireland. It's green and it's rugged and it's, yeah, just amazing.

00:42:27.113 --> 00:42:32.160
Will you continue kayaking after completing the shipping forecast? I expect so.

00:42:33.260 --> 00:42:39.000
I've already been thinking about whether to bring the kayak back to Spain or not.

00:42:39.380 --> 00:42:42.770
We have some really nice paddling here on the Costa Brava, so a bit further

00:42:42.770 --> 00:42:47.770
north of Barcelona, or whether to just keep renting them. But it's in my mind

00:42:47.770 --> 00:42:50.356
as something I don't really want to stop doing.

00:42:50.763 --> 00:42:56.020
And one of the things that's been wonderful about starting was that you know

00:42:56.020 --> 00:43:02.013
I was starting something very new and I'm 46 now I started last year so 45 starting

00:43:02.384 --> 00:43:03.620
and I was thinking you know,

00:43:04.100 --> 00:43:08.630
I'm not sure about starting a new sport at this age you know whatever but what

00:43:08.630 --> 00:43:12.950
I found with sea kayaking is that actually most people are quite a lot older

00:43:12.950 --> 00:43:15.780
than me a lot of people started when they were my age.

00:43:15.780 --> 00:43:20.897
A lot started very much younger, but it's very welcoming and very much something

00:43:21.232 --> 00:43:28.152
that you can use to explore no matter what age you are. So I think I'll definitely keep doing it.

00:43:28.400 --> 00:43:32.770
To get some reference for our listeners here. So we are talking right now in

00:43:32.770 --> 00:43:38.220
2023 when you've been completing a portion of the trip and then you'll complete

00:43:38.220 --> 00:43:41.212
the remainder of the trip planned in 2024.

00:43:41.846 --> 00:43:47.465
So for those who are listening before that time, how can Paddling the Blue listeners help you?

00:43:48.174 --> 00:43:53.910
Well, you could follow me on Twitter, which is I'm at Kayak Forecast,

00:43:53.910 --> 00:43:57.519
or on Instagram, which is at Moderate Becoming Good Later.

00:43:58.240 --> 00:44:03.500
If you follow me in either of those, when I come up with some issues that I

00:44:03.500 --> 00:44:07.360
need to be able to solve, I'll be sharing them on there, like the what we were

00:44:07.360 --> 00:44:10.660
talking about before about what do I do with these four areas so,

00:44:11.200 --> 00:44:17.278
they can come up with ideas for what to do with these four areas and just supporting

00:44:17.387 --> 00:44:23.080
buying a copy of the book if you if you can find it and I think that's probably

00:44:23.080 --> 00:44:25.645
it okay now where can people find the book.

00:44:26.410 --> 00:44:31.507
So it's available on Amazon. It's available in all good bookshops in the UK,

00:44:32.027 --> 00:44:35.283
in Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland.

00:44:35.631 --> 00:44:39.467
And yeah, and then you can get it online in different places.

00:44:39.467 --> 00:44:42.429
In the US, I know it's available on Amazon as a Kindle book,

00:44:42.783 --> 00:44:46.707
but it's not been published as a paperback there at the moment.

00:44:47.047 --> 00:44:50.271
Okay. Well, we'll hopefully see that in a bookshop soon.

00:44:51.125 --> 00:44:55.763
Yeah. Now, I understand the title came from the way that the forecast is presented. Is that correct?

00:44:56.471 --> 00:45:00.517
It is, yeah. So the forecast is, like I think I said earlier,

00:45:00.517 --> 00:45:03.897
that it's quite poetic. It's something that people listen to when they don't

00:45:03.897 --> 00:45:06.142
necessarily understand what it's saying.

00:45:06.549 --> 00:45:11.669
So moderate becoming good later is actually, it refers to the visibility on the water.

00:45:11.976 --> 00:45:16.841
And so it's just that the visibility is moderate and it'll be getting better later, basically.

00:45:17.398 --> 00:45:24.961
And Toby wanted to make a play on that a little bit associated with his kayaking skill.

00:45:25.512 --> 00:45:31.532
And also this idea of optimism. Like we may not be in a great place right now,

00:45:32.113 --> 00:45:35.497
but let's hope that we're going to become good later.

00:45:36.164 --> 00:45:41.067
Now, how can listeners reach you? So yeah, they can follow me on Twitter on,

00:45:41.567 --> 00:45:47.154
Kayak Forecast or on Instagram on Moderate Becoming Good Later.

00:45:47.688 --> 00:45:53.567
I also have my own website, which is www.ktneastcar.com.

00:45:54.047 --> 00:46:01.127
And on there I post anything about any events I'm doing and just information

00:46:01.127 --> 00:46:04.064
about the book and other stuff that I'm working on.

00:46:04.354 --> 00:46:09.207
All right, well, we will make sure that we put links to your website and to

00:46:09.207 --> 00:46:12.327
some of the other pieces that were on that website, like the documentary,

00:46:12.327 --> 00:46:16.127
and we'll make sure we get your social media outlets on there so folks can.

00:46:17.139 --> 00:46:21.987
Connect with you and offer that help and then just learn more about your journey along the way.

00:46:22.643 --> 00:46:26.527
Great, thank you very much And we'll certainly encourage everybody Pick up the

00:46:26.527 --> 00:46:29.403
book, it's a great read And you will really enjoy it.

00:46:31.191 --> 00:46:34.858
Now, one other question that I have for you, it's a final question that we ask

00:46:34.858 --> 00:46:38.728
for all of our guests, and that is, who else would you like to hear as a future

00:46:38.728 --> 00:46:39.945
guest on Paddling the Blue?

00:46:41.010 --> 00:46:45.148
Well, there's one person that really comes to mind because I met him for the

00:46:45.148 --> 00:46:49.206
first time while I was in Scotland, and that is Nick Ray.

00:46:49.682 --> 00:46:54.837
Nick Ray has recently completed 360 days paddling around the whole of Scotland.

00:46:54.942 --> 00:46:59.063
He's a great guy, and I think he'd be a really interesting person to talk to on the podcast.

00:46:59.197 --> 00:47:02.478
Fantastic. Well, I've had a couple of other guests that have made reference

00:47:02.478 --> 00:47:06.318
to Nick and I've followed his journey along the way. And he's recently completed

00:47:06.318 --> 00:47:09.288
the journey. So we'll certainly connect with him and see if we can get him on

00:47:09.288 --> 00:47:13.788
the show and enjoy his message as well. Brilliant.

00:47:14.242 --> 00:47:17.658
Again, Katie, this has been wonderful learning from you, learning about your

00:47:17.658 --> 00:47:21.398
journey, learning about Toby's journey and the book, Moderate,

00:47:21.398 --> 00:47:24.348
Becoming Good Later. And again, we'll encourage everybody to pick up the book

00:47:24.348 --> 00:47:27.608
and then read the stories and experience it for themselves.

00:47:27.985 --> 00:47:31.224
But I really appreciate your time today and your being with us.

00:47:31.596 --> 00:47:35.567
Well, thank you so much for having me on Paddling the Blue. It's been brilliant. Thank you.

00:47:36.825 --> 00:47:40.395
If you want to be a stronger and more efficient paddler, Power to the Paddle

00:47:40.645 --> 00:47:44.143
is packed with fitness guidance and complete descriptions, along with photos

00:47:44.143 --> 00:47:48.470
of more than 50 exercises to improve your abilities and enjoy your time on the water.

00:47:48.818 --> 00:47:52.470
The concept and exercises in this book have helped me become a better paddler,

00:47:52.696 --> 00:47:54.223
and they can make a difference for you, too.

00:47:54.548 --> 00:47:58.023
The exercises in the book can help you reduce tension in your shoulders and

00:47:58.023 --> 00:48:01.933
low back, use the power of your torso to create leverage and use less energy

00:48:01.933 --> 00:48:05.833
with each stroke, use force generated from your lower body to make your paddling

00:48:05.833 --> 00:48:06.796
strokes more efficient,

00:48:07.313 --> 00:48:10.683
have the endurance to handle long days in the boat, drive through the toughest

00:48:10.683 --> 00:48:14.093
waves or white water, protect your body against common paddling injuries,

00:48:14.296 --> 00:48:17.518
and while you're at it, you might even lose a few pounds. And who wouldn't mind that?

00:48:17.669 --> 00:48:22.000
So visit paddlingexercises.com to get the book and companion DVD.

00:48:22.907 --> 00:48:26.823
I hope you enjoyed today's Encore episode with Katie. Moderate Becoming Good

00:48:26.823 --> 00:48:28.457
Later was a fantastic read.

00:48:28.758 --> 00:48:31.464
I can't even imagine how difficult it was for her to write that book.

00:48:31.835 --> 00:48:34.697
I've not yet read Thundery at times, but it's definitely on the list.

00:48:35.103 --> 00:48:38.743
You'll find a link in the show notes for this episode at peddlingtheblue.com

00:48:38.743 --> 00:48:42.644
slash 167, so you can pick up your own copy of both books.

00:48:43.161 --> 00:48:47.416
Thanks as always to our partners at onlineseacayking.com for extending special offers to you.

00:48:47.874 --> 00:48:51.273
Visit onlineseacayking.com and take advantage of the great programming from

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James and Simon and other talented guests, including many previous guests of Paddling the Blue.

00:48:56.257 --> 00:49:00.823
Just enter that code PTBpodcast at checkout and get 10% off just for being a

00:49:00.823 --> 00:49:02.282
member of the Paddling the Blue community.

00:49:02.896 --> 00:49:06.043
As always, until next time, thanks again for listening, and I look forward to

00:49:06.043 --> 00:49:09.000
bringing you the next episode of the Paddling the Blue podcast.

00:49:10.956 --> 00:49:14.273
Thank you for listening to Paddling the Blue. You can subscribe to Paddling

00:49:14.273 --> 00:49:18.526
the Blue on Apple Music, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

00:49:18.798 --> 00:49:21.661
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00:49:21.788 --> 00:49:23.483
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00:49:23.820 --> 00:49:27.423
And you can find the show notes for this episode and other episodes along with

00:49:27.423 --> 00:49:32.672
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00:49:32.980 --> 00:49:36.016
until next time i hope you get out and paddle the blue.