Without a Paddle: Racing Twelve Hundred Miles Around Florida by Sea Kayak

by Warren Richey

As far as Warren Richey knew, his life was on course. A reporter with a beautiful wife and talented son, Richey couldn’t imagine how it could be any better....Then his marriage falls apart and he can’t imagine how it could be any worse.

The divorce leaves Richey questioning everything, while struggling to find a way forward. To get his bearings, he enters the first Ultimate Florida Challenge, an all-out twelve-hundred-mile kayak race around Florida.

The UFC is less of a race than it is a dare or a threat. The thirty-day deadline sets a grueling, twenty-four-hour-a-day pace through shark- , alligator- , and even python-infested waters. But those twelve hundred miles are only a fraction of a journey that pulls Richey back to when he was embedded with troops in Iraq, reporting on missing children, and hiking the mountains of Montana with his son, and shows him where he went wrong, where he went right, and how to do it better the second time around.

Warren Richey’s memoir Without a Paddle is a remarkable physical and emotional journey that cuts to the heart of what it means to be a man, a husband, and a father.

Genres: Nonfiction, Adventure, Outdoors

352 pages, Hardcover

First published June 2, 2010

Reviews

[VerJean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another in my "Who Knew?" category !
Who knew you could race AROUND Florida ? (Well, I guess there is a 40 mile portage - and that was done on-foot!)
Interesting adventure - you'll get tired, tired, tired of all the paddling you're doing with the author.
Loved it !
Read in 2011.

[Sharon Archer · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can hardly believe what you are reading. I have paddled a few of the same places and can't believe the distances and hardship...fantastic read, even if you don't paddle.

[Mark Hurley · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a previous journalist it was rewarding to read a book so well written with complete detailed whereabouts that made me feel as if I were there with him on this epic voyage.

For one who has sailed up and down the Atlantic along the south eastern coast, the familiarity with the locations was thrilling.

I also wanted to understand his journey as I consider a similar but shorter journey in my own sea kayak.

Thank you to the author for taking the time to write this and share your amazing adventure.

And congratulations!

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's incredible to have the will to kayak around the state of Florida and to do it so quickly. A truly amazing story giving the truth that it isn't some fun thing that everyone does it's hard and it takes will.

[Simon Moskovitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great adventure story. Has a better funny bone than Sedaris and fellow Florida writer Carl Hiaason.

[Monica Boudreaux · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great story and well written! Even with no interest in kayaking, I enjoyed every word and felt as if I were on the journey with the author. Kudos!

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 I do love these types of adventures. I liked how he interspersed bits of his personal life but I'd have liked a bit more.

[Rob Britt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this story of the journey/race around florida on a kayak. A friend of mine has done this race a few times so I wanted to get some insight.

[Delany · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a well-written story; the author competed in an astonishingly difficult 1200 mile small (and unmotorized) boat race around FL in a sea kayak. Having completed my own long kayak trip on the St. Johns River in FL within the last year, I could appreciate the enormity of the difficulty level of this race. These guys traveled 60 or so miles per day (on my own expedition we averaged 15 miles per day, and some of those days were very tough) and often slept less than 4-5 hours per night, with no assistance in finding camping spots. My only complaint is that the author interjects too much talk about his failed marriage (and his bitterness about that) and about his subsequent lover. He's a pretty good adventure writer; his writing on the subject of personal relationships, love and loss, is not nearly as good.

[Caro · Rating 3 out of 5]

He portrays himself as a bit of a schlub, but it takes an incredible amount of determination to paddle almost nonstop for three weeks, stringing his hammock up in any available trees for four-hour rests, scared to death of Burmese pythons, sharks and flying sturgeons. He's right - clearly you have to be in good shape to do something like this, but a lot of it comes down to attitude. I could have done without the bits about his divorce, though.

[Chris Folsom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rickey wrestles with personal and physical issues as he paddles his kayak on a 1200 mile journey around Florida. He quickly finds his mind and body racing between past, present, and future, as he pushes the limits in search of answers to important questions that are not quite resolved at he finish line. His competitors in the race ultimately fade into the background as his personal life enjoys a win at the same finish line.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book, highly recommended. Besides writing about the actual race, the author tells about his history, and future, and how the race helped him move forward after a divorce.
If you are from Florida, this is also a great story about the history of the different places stopped at during the race.
Just thinking about this race, 1200 miles, around the whole state, in less than 30 days, should make you want to read this :)

[Mike Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a canoeist, a Kayaker, or even just a water lover this is an essential read for you. As every Kayaker and canoeist knows there is a moment when you are on the water when you slip the bonds of this life and find yourself in Nirvana. Warren Richey captures this feel and so much more in this book!!!!!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the best book I have ever read; he turned a 1200 mile kayak race into a work of memories, humor, and life lessons. I found it inspirational and plan to re-read at some point... and I never re-read.

[Alison Frye · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think my favorite kind of book is a non-fiction adventure book, and this one delivered. I read it in one sitting. The title tells you a lot of what you need to know. A guy in a kayak going around the entire state of Florida. Well worth the read.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Author is kind of a tool.

[Clif Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good writer; unusual approach as a sort of memoir and chronicle of a kayak marathon.
I really enjoyed his account of this "race." It was more than just a kayaking story.

[Mark Bolle · Rating 2 out of 5]

What an amazing race of endurance for someone to do. Pretty interesting and had some funny moments.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable easy-reading book. Some of his muses about his new relationship get a little sappy but they are from the heart.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable generally, despite sometimes clunky writing and intermittent cloying chapters on author's romance.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a lot in one. It's a great travelogue, inspirational story, and history lesson, but it's a very poor heartbreak and love story. His aside odes to his new love interest were rather awful.

[Calista Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a good book. I found the main character someone I could relate to

[Joe White · Rating 4 out of 5]

fill this in later.