The Paddler Magazine issue 71 Late Spring 2023 | Page 46

PADDLER 46

Katie in Flushing , Cornwall , wearing Toby ’ s kit , ready for her first paddle in Toby ’ s kayak . Tell us a little about Toby ’ s book and why he took on the challenge of the many sea paddles featured in the book . After about five years of sea kayaking , Toby started cruising for a larger kayaking adventure , his good friends Natalie Maderova and Michal Madera had kayaked around Britain , and others had been on more exotic expeditions , but it was Marcus ’ s death which cemented his decision to set himself the challenge to kayak in all the areas of the shipping forecast .

“

Our dad Mike was a keen sailor , so we grew up listening to the shipping forecast ( although , for me , it is heavily associated with dismal weather and waves slamming into the hull of the small catamaran we sailed on ). Like many of us , Toby was intrigued by what the places behind the poetically named sea areas are like and decided to find out .

Toby started his book because , in his own words , he felt he was on borrowed time – was it always the plan for you to finish the book if Toby couldn ’ t ? No , we never even spoke about it : finishing the book or living on borrowed time . It wasn ’ t until October 2021 that Summerdale Publishers accepted the idea for the book based on a proposal which included three chapters . Toby was quite ill by then and knew it would be hard to write any more . His friends in Cornwall held a sea-themed party for him shortly after he signed the contract , but Toby was reluctant to celebrate . It was a tough time ; at last , he had an opportunity to tell his story to a broader audience but no longer had the energy to write it . I , like others , offered to help transpose voice notes or sit with him to get it down , but even for someone as eternally hopeful as Toby , it was hard to reconnect with the high points of his life from the darkness of a rapidly progressing terminal cancer .

We briefly discussed the book during our stay with him over the Christmas holidays . By this time , he was taking some special steroids , which helped him recover some of his hope for the future . It wasn ’ t until the 3rd of January 2022 that he wrote again , capturing his joy at being able to go out for a short paddle on the Fal on New Year ’ s day . He sent me the account by mail entitled “ Writing – a start ! I ’ m not sure it ’ s book material ,” he said , “ but it ’ s nice to write again .” I read it on the long journey back to Barcelona through France . Less than a week later , I was on a flight racing to catch him before he died .

The week following his death , I found his hand-written notes and a half-organised hard disk drive . It was so clear that he wanted his story to be told , and at a time when there was little I could do for him , writing the book seemed like something important . It was a massive challenge for me . I teach storytelling , worked for many years in communication and have had articles published in prestigious publications ( under other people ’ s names ), but I ’ d never written a book , and I had never been in a sea kayak .

Our aunt and uncle , Nicky and Kevin Mansell , fielded many of my kayaking-specific queries ( such as what a bongo slide is ), as did good friends of Toby ’ s , Sarah Hollingworth and Owen Rutter . Toby never intended the book to be a sea kayaking book but rather for it to be about life and nature viewed from the unique perspective of a sea kayak . The vivid descriptions he wrote in his notes helped me recreate this feeling .

How are you approaching the challenge ? Firstly , by being honest with myself , as a new paddler , my version of the challenge will be very different from Toby ’ s . Toby would no doubt have circumnavigated Ireland , paddled out to Rockall Rock ( with Michal ) and then probably crossed to Portpatrick to continue up the Scottish coast . I obviously can ’ t do that .

Toby showed us in life ( and I hope this comes across in the book ) that we are all operating within our own

TOBY DIDN ’ T FINISH THE SHIPPING FORECAST ; WHY DO YOU FEEL YOU MUST COMPLETE THE PADDLES THAT TOBY COULDN ’ T ?

I spent a year at my desk , reading Toby ’ s notes and writing about his adventures in the first person ; by the end of that , I was dying to get on the water , be out in nature , and get back to doing things in my own voice . Toby said he hoped , “ The book would encourage others to find and have their own adventures .” I ’ ve had many adventures ( none in a kayak ), but as a mum of two young boys , that side of me has been on pause for the last six years . I don ’ t feel like I have to finish Toby ’ s challenge ; I feel like I want to .

”