PADDLER 4
‘ Adventures on the water’ by Jo Moseley www. adventurebooks. com Review by Dale Mears @ supwithdale
PADDLER 4
REVIEWS
‘ Adventures on the water’ by Jo Moseley www. adventurebooks. com Review by Dale Mears @ supwithdale
When I was asked to be part of Jo’ s book, I jumped at the chance and am now very proud to review it here. Adventures on the water is just what we need, a heartwarming, adventurefilled set of stories from a range of carefully selected contributors from the sup community. Published by Vertebrate Publishing, who also published Jo’ s previous award-winning guidebooks,‘ Stand up paddleboarding on Great Britain’ and‘ Stand up paddleboarding on the Lake District’, both excellent!
The book opens with a lovely introduction discussing age, wellbeing, community and much more about what SUP can offer. Jo is very honest about her journey into SUP and her own life outside of SUP. I’ ve been lucky enough to meet Jo in person many times, and the positivity she holds stands true in this book. Jo has curated an excellent selection of stories, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading.
Having met many of the contributors or having spoken to them before reading their stories, I realise this contact often only scratches the surface. After reading, I feel a deeper connection with their own stories and understand why and how paddleboarding has changed their life. Trust me, there are some significant, life-changing stories in this book. Even reading my own story to my daughter felt like it gave us a deeper connection.
Starting with the excellent Cal Major and her encounters with orcas, Brendon Prince’ s circumnavigation of the UK, some early history of SUP from John Hibbard, and then some truly inspiring stories from people who have faced adversity. Will Behenna’ s journey into SUP after a childhood accident is one to be read. The book takes you on a journey into people’ s lives, and unless you have met and had these conversations with people, you would never know. There are many big names in this book, and some you will have never heard of. Others in the book include SUPjunkie Sarah Thornely, endurance paddler Emily King, Sup Lass Caz Dawson, SUPfm’ s Simon Hutchinson and racers Anna and James Little.
There’ s something for everyone, and this makes a refreshing change to hear why people paddle and their stories. Whether you are new to SUP or a seasoned paddler, you will enjoy reading this. It isn’ t a challenging read either, and I’ ve enjoyed picking it up and putting it down, one short story at a time. Each paddler has a bio on the back, so you can check out their top tips and contacts if you want to reach out. Jo has also included her own top tips and valuable contacts.
A great read and one to share with friends, even if they don’ t participate in SUP or paddlesports. The book is £ 20 for the hardback or £ 14.95 for the paperback so it’ s quite affordable. Also available for Kindle and if you pre-order direct you have a chance of winning one of five Red Equipment dry bags.