Mum-of-two completes Shipping Forecast sea kayak challenge after death of Rutland adventurer

A BBC documentary will delve into the epic seafaring challenge a woman completed after the death of her adventurer brother.

Katie Carr last month finished the challenge her brother Toby set himself in 2018 to sea kayak the Shipping Forecast.

Toby Carr died from cancer, aged 40, having explored two-thirds of the 31 shipping forecast areas.

Originally intended to be a project lasting one year, it has taken the siblings six-and-a-half to complete.

“The idea of ‘closure’ has become a cliché, but I’ve found it very therapeutic to complete the challenges fate didn’t allow Toby to do,” said Katie.

“At the same time, it’s reiterated to me that the important things in life aren’t about ticking off a list, but enjoying the journey.

“I’ve just been on a big adventure I wouldn’t have been on without Toby.”

Toby set himself the challenge in homage to childhood sailing holidays on the east coast and to his late father who insisted on reverential silence whenever the Shipping Forecast came on the radio – even when at home in Barrowden.

It also followed the loss of his brother Marcus to cancer in 2017, aged 38, which acted as an alarm call for his own life.

The brothers were born with the rare genetic condition Fanconi anaemia, which affects one in two million people and left them highly susceptible to cancer.

Katie finished the book Toby started writing about his travels, Moderate Becoming Good Later, which was published in June 2023, using his extensive notes, voice recordings and videos.

She is now working on telling her own story in a second book.

The story of their adventure will also be the focus of a BBC The Travel Show documentary, set to be broadcast on BBC 1 and BBC iPlayer on September 21.

Toby’s journey took him from Southeast Iceland down the seaboard of Western Europe to Trafalgar, including some parts of England while Katie’s has taken place in England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.

“Until now I’ve generally avoided the cold and wet but it’s been a great way to visit places I wouldn’t otherwise have gone to,” the 45-year-old said.

Katie started her part of the challenge in March last year near Bristol in the Lundy sea area, the last one Toby paddled, before continuing through the Welsh, Irish and western Scottish sea areas later that year.

From April she continued her journey in northeast England and eastern and northern Scotland, before finishing in the Shetland Islands in late-July.

Unlike Toby, who was an experienced paddler, Katie had never been in a sea kayak before taking on the challenge and had to rely on support from coaches in different places.

“When I started, I knew it would be hard, but I thought, people learn in all these areas, I bet I can too.

Katie also had to fit kayaking around being a mum of two young boys and working, something which was further complicated by her and her family living in Spain.

“We all face limitations of one form or another; the real challenge is doing what is possible from where we are,” she said.