So Far, So Good recounts the story of an ordinary man who has enjoyed
extraordinary adventures throughout his life. Trained as a civil
engineer, Paddy Barry managed to combine raising a family with exploring
remote parts of the world, often on his Galway Hooker sailing boat. From
Siberia to Tierra del Fuego, Connemara to Malawi, Greenland to Ethiopia,
on mountains and on sea, Paddy has endured hardships and visited places
very few could match.
In this revised and updated memoir, Paddy describes sailing his leaking
Galway Hooker across the Atlantic Ocean to a triumphant arrival in
Boston Harbor; a near 'wipe out' while successfully recreating Ernest
Shackleton's exploits in Antarctica; capsizing near Mount Brandon on the
night of the Fastnet Race disaster; accomplishing the first westward
circumnavigation of the North Pole in a small boat, winning the Blue
Water Medal; completing the hazardous journey through the Northwest
Passage, one of only a handful of boats to do so; his recent remarkable
journey to Greenland on an old Irish ketch; and a few less perilous
journeys such as sailing across the Bay of Biscay to trade Irish
woollens and whiskey for Spanish wine and cheeses - though even then
they nearly collided with a tugboat and its tow - and retracing the
remarkable journeys of Irish monks in Iceland.
On land Paddy had further adventures building bridges in the fierce heat
in Malawi, and later in life worked for the Rapid Response Team for the
United Nations World Food Programme in Ethiopia. And in Ireland he
worked on the construction of the iconic Poolbeg Stacks which still
dominate the Dublin skyline, and which his children always referred to
as 'Daddy's Chimneys'. But he was always drawn back to the sea.
So Far, So Good is a rollicking, delightful account of a life truly
well lived, and a striking example of a work/life balance that is much
to be envied.
