how Moderate Becoming Good Later finds meaning and structure in the form of the Shipping Forecast

by Jon Massey

While Toby Carr’s story is one that stretches as far north as Iceland and south to Spain, it’s one that is steeped in the waters of Shadwell Basin and the Thames. It was in 2011 that the then Hackney residen and archi ec rs encountered the Tower Hamlets Canoe Club – a catalyst for his decision to later embark on a great adventure.

“We’d been to see our uncle and aunt in Jersey after our dad died in 2010,” said Toby’s sister, Katie. “The club had a connection with the island and they gave Toby a helmet to take back to east London that had been left behind.

“He’d had a bit of a try at kayaking in Jersey and had enjoyed it, so I think that when he walked into the club and the people were nice, then that was it.

“He got involved and would sweep out of London most weekends to go paddling in some really beautiful places with these wonderful people. The youngest members are around 20, and the oldest around 70. They all just get on with it – practising in London on Tuesday nights and then going all around the country.

“Before that, he was very land-based and had been on some cycling adventures through France and Norway but hadn’t spent a lot of time on the water since we were kids.

“Back then we’d had a boat. It certainly wasn’t a posh yacht – my dad called i a oa ing caravan and I remember it as being cold, wet and windy, sailing out of the River Orwell on the east coast.

“I remember having cold water thrown in my face and having to inch forward to change the sail because the sea was too rough, and coming back completely soaked. I also remember the Shipping Forecast was so important, with Radio 4 constantly on in the background.”

Toby wasn’t expecting to live much past 30. Born with Fanconi Anaemia – a rare genetic disorder ha affec s he i une sys e and increases an individual’s chance of getting cancer – doctors told him at the age of 12 that he would be unlikely to survive beyond three decades.

So when his brother, Marcus, who had the same condition, died in 2015, Toby decided to embark on a journey. Having spent four years honing his skills on the water with the canoe club, he decided that he wanted to attempt to sea-kayak in all the areas mentioned by the Shipping Forecast. Armed with a grant from the Churchill Foundation and his kayak, he took a sabbatical from work and set out.

“ or he rs su er he wen to the northern parts of the shipping forecast – South-East Iceland and Faroes then to North Utsire, South Utsire, Fisher, German Bight and Humber.

“Then he did some during the winter in the UK and then the following summer he went down o iscay off rance and i roy and rafalgar off nor hern pain and Portugal.”

By the following summer, in oby was suffering fro

After Toby died, I was going through his stu and found all his notes. He’d really recorded his journey. I thought I could write the book for him

Katie Carr, Author

author and artist living and working in Barcelona – decided to step in and make good on his intentions.

Katie said: “After Toby died, I was going hough his s uff and found all his notes. He’d kept a blog and been very active on Instagram – he’d really recorded his journey and there was a lot that had never been published – details of what he saw, how he felt and how he’d set things up each day. I thought that I could write it for him, so I sat down and started.” liver cancer but still managed to kayak around the coast of Cornwall having moved there to be closer to the sea and to lecture at Falmouth University. A formal diagnosis came in 2021 and Toby died in 2022. He was 40.

The result is Moderate Becoming Good Later by Toby Carr and Katie arr se for i s o cial launch on June 6 at Shadwell Basin Outdoor Activity Centre, the base of operations for Tower Hamlets Canoe lub. Wri en in he rs person in Toby’s voice, the book follows his journey to immerse himself in nature, to connect with countries around the UK across the seas and to deal with the death of his and Katie’s brother.

However, the story doesn’t end there. Toby had kept detailed notes and voice recordings as well as blogging, all chronicling the trips that had seen him kayak in 17 of the forecast’s 31 distinct areas. Before his death, he’d successfully pitched them as a book about his journey to publisher Summersdale in 2021 with a summary of the chapters and three that he’d written.

While unable o nish i himself, his sister Katie – an

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Sometimes the trips he makes are with friends and sometimes alone, taking in seas choppy and calm as he paddles the everpresent sea.

“I wrote the book, but the aim is that it doesn’t sound like that,” said Katie. “It was a hard thing to do. My brother had just passed away and I had to sort through his s uff.

“Opening his notebooks, there was the smell of his house and of him on the pages and that was pretty tough. Then I started to listen to all his voice recordings on his phone and on videos.

“But I just kept working on it and the story emerged. The Shipping Forecast was a framework so that he could do an adventure with something that was quite speci c. oby was really clear ha he wanted it to be a book with a story that people wouldn’t be able to put down. It’s not a kayaking manual, or list of things he did and places he went to.

“A lot of people come into it,

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