We were recently informed of this book by Warren Richey which was inspired by a race around Florida.
The race is a 1,200-mile, round-the-clock circumnavigation of Florida with a 40-mile portage. Race organizers bill it as the toughest expedition-style small boat race in the world, but participants remember it fondly as the last time they could feel their fingers and toes.
The rules are simple. First one back to the launch beach wins. Paddle and wind power only. Also, don’t die.
Without a Paddle is a travel narrative and memoir of how a 50-year-old journalist enters the race in a sea kayak and paddles, claws, or otherwise finds his way back from a failed marriage. He navigates through moonless nights, driving rain, and blazing sun, across shark- and python-infested waters, not knowing if he can make it even halfway to Lostman’s River. Then, out there alone on the water, something strange happens. His boat begins to fly.
Key Info:
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
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