Flares Up , livre ebook

Pitch Publishing Ltd - Niamh McAnally

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259 pages

English

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Flares Up is a true story of adventure, tenacity and the capacity of the human spirit to triumph over adversity.Firefighter Paul Hopkins, 55, survives a brain haemorrhage. The experience motivates him to undertake the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge - to row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic. He teams up with entrepreneur Phil Pugh, who is aged 65but renowned for undertaking extreme physical challenges in honour of his disabled son. They encounter major financial and physical setbacks, which cause years of delays and put a strain on both their marriages. Finally, on 12 December 2019, in a fourth-hand 20ft wooden boat, they set off from the Canary Islands. Violent storms, 30ft waves and equipment failure leave both men seasick, dehydrated and sleep-deprived. Alone on the ocean, they are forced to examine their lives. Was the decision to undertake this challenge brave, selfish or foolish? After 70 days, nine hours and 11 minutes at sea, they cross the finish line, two changed men. Will either of their wives be there to greet them?

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Boating

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Publié par	Pitch Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	05 septembre 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781801504041
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

It s as if fate placed Niamh in the precise place and time to capture this important cover image that tells a thousand words. The decisive moment indeed, a defining moment in history. We can feel the churn in the water, the triumph through the expression on his face, and the perfect paired offset geometry of the body positions in the frame. It s the shot.
However, that s not the half of it if fate placed Niamh there, it was destiny that guided the story to the pages of this book. And there are so many more than a thousand words to be told. I think it s the relatability of Phil and Paul, and the idea that heroes are among us. What a photo, but what a story behind the it. I couldn t put it down.
David Evans, Australian Landscape Photographer of the Year
A compelling read from an author whose intimate knowledge of the sea and seafaring infuses every page.
A story of extraordinary courage and endurance shot through with the enduring power of ordinary love
Hilary Fannin, Irish Times Columnist of the Year and author of The Weight of Love and Hopscotch
Front cover and back photographs by Niamh McAnally

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2021
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Niamh McAnally, 2022
Every effort has been made to trace the copyright.
Any oversight will be rectified in future editions at the earliest opportunity by the publisher.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 9781801503983
eBook ISBN 9781801504041
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Contents
About the Author
Foreword
Prologue
Part One
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chpater 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Part Two
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Part Three
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Epilogue
Author Note
Acknowledgements
Photos
For Gary
About the Author

Niamh McAnally is an Irish-born author, former TV director, and youngest daughter of the late BAFTA award-winning actor, Ray McAnally, and actor, Ronnie Masterson. Niamh has travelled all over the world and lived and worked as a volunteer in many island nations in the Caribbean and the South Pacific.
In 2016 she helped a solo sailor crew his boat from Florida to the Bahamas. It was only supposed to last a month. Niamh soon realized she had not only found the life she loved but also the love of her life. She and Captain Gary have sailed as far north as Maine in the USA and south to Bonaire off the coast of Venezuela. They are now joyfully married.
Many of Niamh s stories are inspired by her travels on land and at sea. Flares Up: A Story Bigger Than The Atlantic was conceived when she photographed Paul Hopkins and Phil Pugh cross the finish line after rowing 3,000 nautical miles across the Atlantic.
Connect with Niamh:
www.thewriteronthewater.com
https://twitter.com/niamhmcanally
https://www.instagram.com/niamhmcanally_/
https://www.facebook.com/TheWriterOnTheWater
Foreword
by Jeremy Irons
I first met Niamh McAnally in Colombia, in the jungle, on the arm of her father, the great Irish actor, the late Ray McAnally. It was 1985 and she must have been in her early twenties. We were making a film called The Mission , and Niamh was there for the ride.
I suspect there for the ride was not a phrase in her lexicon, since as well as supporting her father, she quickly made herself a valued assistant to the director Roland Joff , and an enthusiastic member of the stunt team.
Years passed before I heard of her again, and by then she had grown into an ocean traveller, living aboard her now husband s yacht, sailing the seven seas in search of adventure, fuelled by a curiosity for what life had to offer and writing down her experiences for others to share. A person with a lust for life and love who seemed to have learned the lesson that the more you give of yourself, the more life will give you back.
So it came as no surprise that being by chance in Antigua, and witnessing the landfall of two middle-aged Englishmen who had spent 70 days rowing the Atlantic, she should become fascinated enough by their plight to set pen to paper and record why and how two such unlikely heroes came to pit their wits against the fierce Atlantic. She must have recognised them as fellow travellers, determined to make the most of what life has to offer, to test themselves to their limits, becoming an example of what can be achieved when we push ourselves far beyond our comfort zone.
In a world of growing affluence, the majority of such tests of skill, bravery and pure guts are most often facilitated by large corporate back-up, allowing for the latest technology and communications in support.
But the 55-year-old Paul Hopkins and the 65-year-old Phil Pugh, both from Tyneside in the north of England, had little financial support compared to the other competitors in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, and had to rely on their second-hand boat, the only wooden boat in that 2019 crossing. The boat was aptly named Didi - Dream It, Do It.
Paul, a firefighter, had never rowed a boat before, but in the long hours of training with Phil on the River Tyne and in the North Sea, stroke by stroke, these two middle-aged men grew a mutual trust that was to serve them well during an Atlantic crossing plagued with equipment failure and continual rough weather. But no matter what the sea or news from back home threw at them, they refused to let each other down.
These were the two men Niamh photographed standing in their boat off Nelson s Dockyard in Antigua as they landed amongst flares and strangers, their loved ones absent. And the following pages chart the hopes and the sacrifices that they made to get there.
As one who has learned how hard it can be for those living alongside people who become focused on a particular project, I recognise the many sacrifices that others have to make to allow such dreams to be followed. Niamh does not ignore the downside of such obsession, and the burden carried by those left at home. Neither does she let us forget Paul and Phil s desire to inspire children of all backgrounds to know they can achieve amazing things. Dream It, Do It. And they Did It.
This is an inspirational story for all ages and pockets.
Prologue
20 February 2020
Antigua
The flare set fire to the evening sky. From the same boat, a second one blazed; its red sparks reflected on the dusky waters off the Antiguan coast. Two flares. Normally a sign of distress, a call for help, a plea for rescue, but not these flares, not this time, not this night.
An hour earlier, locals and visitors, cruisers and superyacht staff had begun to gather around a podium at Nelson s Dockyard in English Harbour on the southern end of Antigua. The atmosphere tingled. Word had gone out: They re coming!
Outside the inlet, wind drove white caps on to nearby rocks and pelicans deferred their dives for fish. In the fading light, a dot appeared on the horizon. It disappeared, then reappeared as it rode the swells. The closer it got, the more details emerged - a white boat, maybe 20 feet long, oars dipping in a lumpy sea. Stick figures became the silhouettes of two men slicing their way home. The media and race officials of the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge jumped in powerboats and sped out to sea to guide them in. Only a couple more strokes and these two middle-aged British men would complete their arduous voyage, having rowed 3,000 nautical miles across the Atlantic, from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean.
As the tiny vessel skimmed between the red and green buoys marking the finish line, the cannon fired and the harbour erupted in a cacophony of horns, hooters, ships bells and whistles. From sailboats to luxury yachts, every deck of every moored boat was laden with mariners applauding their achievement, and along the cliff road citizens and expats waved their national flags.
In keeping with race tradition, the two balding, bearded men stood up in their tiny boat, despite the choppy sea, lit their hand-held flares and raised them to the skies. The redhot blaze illuminated their weary but elated faces. Smoke snaked its way around their torsos and morphed into clouds of grey against the dark green hills. The media boat circled them, filming their moment of triumph. Race officials in an inflatable dinghy followed their arc. Round and around the rowers they sped, churning up a congratulatory spray. In the centre of the rowboat, still as bronze, stood the two men who had dared to dream.
On the quay, emotion overwhelmed the well-wishers who waited for them to step ashore.
I m in bits, one tourist said, and I don t even know them.
Me neither,