Flares Up: A Story Bigger than the Atlantic - New Book Reveals Drama of Transatlantic Rowing Adventure

1st October 2022

Paul Hopkins and Phil Pugh set out on their journey Credit: kind permission of Atlantic Campaigns

English firefighter Paul Hopkins (55) had recovered from a brain haemorrhage and entrepreneur Phil Pugh (65) was renowned for undertaking extreme physical challenges in honour of his son when they rowed into Antigua in a fourth-hand wooden rowing boat in February 2020.

The pair, who undertook the transatlantic challenge on a tight budget, had no family there to greet them after 70 days at sea.

Phil Pugh and Paul Hopkins before (above) and after their voyage Photos: Atlantic Campaigns Phil Pugh (below) and Paul Hopkins (above) before and after their voyage Photos: Atlantic Campaigns

Phil Pugh and Paul Hopkins before (above) and after their voyage Photos: Atlantic Campaigns

However, Irish-born author and former television director Niamh McAnally and her husband Gary Krieger were there on their yacht, Freed Spirit, and the result is a compelling book which records how two “disparate alpha males” learned to work together by focussing on solutions rather than problems during a life-changing high-seas voyage.

Paul and Phil arriving in Antigua. Photo by Niamh McAnally

McAnally and Krieger spoke to Wavelengths about how the book came about. You can listen to the podcast here and details of the book are below.

Afloat.ie · Flares Up: A Storm Bigger than the Atlantic

Nelson's Dockyard, Antigua. L to R Gary Krieger (author's husband) Phil Pugh, Niamh McAnally (author) Paul Hopkins taken before dinner onboard Gary and Niamh's sailboat home, Freed Spirit. Three hours later the idea for this book was born

Flares Up: A Storm Bigger than the Atlantic by Niamh McAnally

Flares Up: A Story Bigger than the Atlantic by Niamh McAnally with a foreword by Jeremy Irons ( Pitch Publishing £14.99) is available in print and on audiobook form, and more details are on McAnally’s website

A video of Jeremy Irons speaking at the Dublin launch of Niamh McAnally's book FLARES UP is below.

Published in Wavelength Podcast, Coastal Rowing, Book Review

Published in Wavelength Podcast

Tagged under

rowing

About The Author

Lorna Siggins

Email The Author

Lorna Siggins is a print and radio reporter, and a former Irish Times western correspondent. She is the author of Search and Rescue: True stories of Irish Air-Sea Rescues and the Loss of R116 (2022); Everest Callling (1994) on the first Irish Everest expedition; Mayday! Mayday! (2004); and Once Upon a Time in the West: the Corrib gas controversy (2010). She is also co-producer with Sarah Blake of the Doc on One "Miracle in Galway Bay" which recently won a Celtic Media Award

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven’t put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full–time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.