Missing the Boat

Oct 3, 2024 12:31 AM

Author:Michael Hutchinson

Missing the Boat

The hilarious true story of an amateur boating adventure.

Yacht racing. A world of privilege and money. Beautiful women, bronzed men, and Simon le Bon explaining that he used to be in a band.

It's not like that for everyone. Somewhere much, much further down the ladder it all looks very different. As a teenager, Michael Hutchinson raced tiny plywood dinghies on Belfast Lough, amid shoals of sewage-eating jellyfish. For him, sailing became the kind of obsession that often as not ends with a psychiatric intervention. Turning pro was his only dream.

Then, at the age of eighteen, driven to despair by his own unremitting mediocrity, he gave up. But he never stopped dreaming about it - what was he missing out on? How good or bad had he really been? Had it really been a wasted youth? At last, fifteen years later, he went back.

Missing the Boat is the story of his comeback season, on the South Coast of England, in Ireland, and in the glamorous resorts of the Mediterranean. It's about the yachts, the people, the regattas, and just what it was like to dive back into a world that had become entirely alien.

Michael Hutchinson won the Best First Book at the British Sports Book Awards.

Reviews

Michael Hutchinson delivers the laughs with ease

—— Independent

A humorous account of messing about in boats

—— The Bookseller

Every marathon runner is touched by a peculiar madness, and Bryant's empathy with their affliction comes from the heart

—— Sunday Times

Gripping ... Tom English has interviewed all the main protagonists to produce a richly textured picture of the build-up, the day itself and the aftermath

—— Independent

5 stars. An epic tale of clashing personalities. The Grudge puts you right on the touchline as the English and Scottish teams go to war.

—— Simon Briggs , Daily Telegraph

English has written a marvellous book, in its way as gripping as that season and the match itself

—— Scottish Review of Books

A potentially award-winning book. It's a terrific bit of work, as engaging as the day itself was.

—— Mick Cleary , Daily Telegraph

A remarkable and compulsive re-enactment over 235 pages of the day Scotland confounded all expectation to win

—— Paul Ackford

A priceless read ... quite outstanding

—— Robert Kitson , The Guardian

If you haven't bought Tom English's book about the 1990 match - The Grudge - then do yourself a favour and get it now. It's terrific

—— Alex Massie , Spectator

Tom English's excellent book, The Grudge, revisits an occasion when sport and politics and ancient rivalry came together

—— Chris Foy , Daily Mail

True tales: great stuff

—— Frank Keating , The Guardian

Shudderingly good ... English has a rare talent for getting to the core of a person

—— Rugby World

Thatcherite politics and rugby come crashing into contact in this rich and textured account

—— i

The perfect present for any rugby fan. It shows the goldfish-bowl aspect to life as a modern-day sporting legend and gives an insight into what it's like on the inside looking out

—— Irish Independent

Whether you are a rugby fan or not, this book is likely to please... This honest autobiography will provide an intriguing read for the Christmas period

—— South Tipp Today

Compelling reading

—— Richard Fitzpatrick , Irish Examiner

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