Moderate Becoming Good Later: Sea Kayaking the Shipping Forecast

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A mesmerising and poignant story that shares how the sea can bring together people, places and purpose. It’s a book I will keep on my bookshelf and remember and refer to when visiting some of the places in the future. There are barely any descriptions of the places he was in which makes the book very unemotional and one-dimensional. I read this wonderful book often with a lump in my throat, many tears in my eyes and a racing pulse, because of the pure adventure of his inspirational physical and emotional endeavours.

On a journey that took him to the harshest and most tranquil stretches of our sea, Toby found the real people, places and stories behind the familiar names and imagined environments of the well-loved BBC broadcast. The sort of adventure I've often dreamed of late at night, with additional layers of poignancy and love. What an amazing adventurer Toby Carr was and what an incredible achievement that his sister Katie has done by putting together his notes to create this book. This is a must-read book not just for sea kayakers, but for anyone looking for inspiration to make the most out of life. There is something special about people experiencing loss who decide to make the most of life while they still have the opportunity.Obviously, I understand how hard it must have been to finish writing a book someone else started when Katie didn't even experience what her brother lived through but at the very least, maybe it would've been worth it for her to go to the places he went and try and picture what he felt by being there, instead of looking at photos on Google.

Courageous, uplifting and exquisitely written, Moderate Becoming Good Later is a tale of the indefatigable resilience of the human spirit, the unbreakable bond of family, the life-affirming kindness of strangers and the perpetual freedom of exploring the unknown. Exceptionally beautiful and moving, a book that conjures connection to people, places and the ocean with the immediacy, grace and clarity of a kayak cutting through sea spray. Written by his sister Katie from Toby's extensive notes and recordings, Moderate Becoming Good Later is both an epic adventure – sometimes choppy, constantly moving – and a personal voyage of discovery that includes old friends and new, plenty of wildlife, and the ever-present sea. The ending is moving even though I knew it was coming I was rooting for a different ending for Toby.Use this tool to build your own journey or choose from an exciting range of specially selected tours. The remarkable variety of those coastal areas and challenges faced to traverse them, have been beautifully distilled. One of the most moving parts of the book for me was how you get a real insight into this man’s unique and mind-bending take on life. Thrilling and moving in equal parts, it should inspire us all to get out into the world and embrace its beauty.

The expedition also gave him space and time that he desperately needed, to reflect on the death of his brother from the rare genetic condition that they were both born with, and to process the personal challenges that life had set him over the years.This is an amazing book, so well crafted by Katie from his notes, audio recordings, blogs and messages and it was a pleasure to have had a chance to have read it and join Toby on this adventure. An incredible read of adventure and life that will draw you in and inspire you to pursue your own journeys. It was at this point that I realised I had become too heavily involved in Toby’s adventure and life, the last chapters were some of the hardest things I’ve ever read, I knew it was coming but just didn’t expect to get hit so hard. Lyrical descriptions, engaging reporting of meetings with the people he meets on his travels, scary episodes in rougher seas that ordinarily would give me nightmares, all come together to make this a thoroughly delightful and compulsive read.