WITHOUT A PADDLE
a kayak.
twelve hundred miles.
thirty days, or less.
twelve hundred miles.
thirty days, or less.
It is billed as the toughest expedition-style small boat race in the world. The Ultimate Florida Challenge is an all-out circumnavigation of Florida open to canoes, sailboats, and sea kayaks. Twelve hundred miles of adrenaline and dread.
This is a race so tough they don't even call it a race. It is more a dare. Or threat.
In March 2006, ten challengers pushed off a beach at Tampa Bay and began a round-the-clock struggle to make it back to the same beach without first becoming nourishment for some large, toothy creature. To beat the thirty-day deadline, they must paddle or sail, day and night, through storms and blazing sun, in boats about the size of a coffin.
Among the ten mariners is a 50-year-old divorced dad who takes up the challenge in a sea kayak. He doesn't know if he can make it all the way around, or even halfway to Lostman's River.
Then, out there alone on the water, something strange starts to happen.
This is my story. Call me Sharkchow.
The book is:
WITHOUT A PADDLE
By Warren Richey
June 2010
Hardcover $24.99, 338 pages
St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 978-0-312-63076-8
Order a copy today.
Amazon.com Barnes and Noble.com
Borders.com IndieBound.org
Praise:
"Wonderfully uplifting." -- Publishers Weekly
"As in the best of adventure literature, the physical journey in Without a Paddle is merely a portal through which Richey guides the reader on a voyage across the ocean of the heart. Read it. Go with him. It's a trip you'll never forget."
--Mark Jenkins, author of A Man's Life: Dispatches from Dangerous Places
"In his great paddle around Florida, Warren Richey braced for battle against sharks, pythons, and crazed drunken motorboaters, but his most formidable foe turned out to be middle-aged self-doubt. This book is for anyone who believes in the redemptive value of hard physical challenge, and who believes that age is just a number."
--Mark Obmascik, author of Halfway to Heaven; My White-knuckled -- and Knuckleheaded -- Quest for the Rocky Mountain High, winner of the 2009 National Outdoor Book Award
"This is the best kind of book; the kind that makes every day magical. I loved it for its humor and humility, its wonderful parables and pitch-perfect storytelling, its journey of discovery within and without, and its elegant ending."
--Kim Heacox, author of The Only Kayak: A Journey in the Heart of Alaska
"Warren Richey wields a pen like he maneuvers his kayak -- rapidly paced, lively, dipping between Florida lore, the wake of a failed marriage, the promise of love ahead, and the innumerable challenges of a race that can only be described as insane."
--Franz Wisner, author of How the World Makes Love
Author Readings and Signings:
Tuesday Barnes & Noble
June 8 4801 Bethesda Avenue
7 p.m. Bethesda, Md.
301-986-1761
http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/store/2750
Wednesday Paddling with Pirates of Pier 7
June 16 Chesapeake Paddlers Association
5 p.m. Pier 7
Annapolis, Md.
http://www.cpakayaker.com
Sunday The Annapolis Bookstore
June 20 35 Maryland Avenue
2 to 4 p.m. Annapolis, Md.
410-280-2339
www.annapolisbookstore.com
Friday The Sanibel Island Bookshop
July 2 1571 Periwinkle Way
11 a.m. Sanibel, Fla.
239-472-5223
www.sanibelbookshop.com
Saturday Circle Books
July 3 St. Armands Circle
1 p.m. Sarasota, Fla.
941-388-2850
Wednesday Books & Books
July 7 265 Aragon Avenue
8 p.m. Coral Gables, Fla.
305-442-4408
www.booksandbooks.com
Thursday Inkwood Books
July 8 216 South Armenia Avenue
7 p.m. Tampa, Fla.
813-253-2638
www.inkwoodbooks.com
Saturday Paddle with the Author
July 10 (Bring your own boat, or rent one.)
9 a.m. Kayaks Etc., Vero Beach
772-202-0220
www.kayaksetc.com
Saturday Vero Beach Book Center
July 10 2145 Indian River Blvd.
3 p.m. Vero Beach, Fla.
772-569-2050
http://theverobeachbookcenter.com
Friday The Bookmark
July 16 299 Atlantic Blvd.
7 p.m. Atlantic Beach, Fla.
904-241-9026
Saturday Florida Bay Outfitters
July 24 104050 Overseas Highway
All Day Key Largo, Fla.
Rental/Demo Fleet Sale
305-451-3018
www.kayakfloridakeys.com
Saturday Sunset Paddle with the Author
July 24 Florida Bay Outfitters
7 p.m. Key Largo, Fla.
Thursday Jupiter Public Library
July 29 705 Military Trail
6:30 p.m. Jupiter, Fla.
561-744-2301
www.pbclibrary.org
Thursday GlenLakes Kayak Club
August 5 GlenLakes, Fla.
4 p.m.
Saturday Books-A-Million
Sept. 4 Sawgrass Mills Mall
2 - 4 p.m. 12801 West Sunrise Blvd.
Sunrise, Fla.
954-846-7093
Sunday Book Ends
Sept. 12 559 Main Street
3 p.m. Winchester, Mass.
781-721-5933
www.bookendswinchester.com
Tuesday Essex Town Library
Sept. 14 33 West Avenue
6:30 - 8 p.m. Essex, CT 06426
860-767-1560
Saturday Private Group
Sept. 18 Sewell's Point, Fla.
7 p.m.
Saturday Allegheny River Competitive Paddlers
Nov. 13 YMCA, 212 Lexington Ave.
2 p.m. Warren, Pa.
Monday Harbor Hills Book Club
Nov. 15 Annapolis, Md.
10:30 a.m.
Sunday Miami Book Fair
Nov. 21 Downtown Miami
Noon
Tuesday Wellington Library
Jan. 4, 2011 Palm Beach County Library System
6:30 p.m. 1951 Royal Fern Drive
Wellington, Fla.
561-904-2394
Wednesday Master the Possibilities Education Center
Feb. 2, 2011 Ocala, Fla.
1 p.m. 352-861-9751
Thursday Warwick's
Feb. 17, 2011 7812 Girard Ave.
7:30 p.m. La Jolla, Ca.
858-454-0347
Thusday Blake Public Library
March 31, 2011 2351 SE Monterey Road
6:30 p.m. Stuart, Fla.
772-288-5702
