A BOOK conceived during six days’ confinement in the cabin of a small boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean is set to celebrate exactly what it says on the cover: a mid-life less ordinary.
Islander Pete Wright completed the book to chronicle a series of extreme endurance exploits that culminated with a 3,000-mile trans-Atlantic rowing challenge on the cusp of his 50th birthday in 2023.
The race dubbed the World’s Toughest Row, which took Mr Wright and fellow adventurer Steve Hayes from the Canary Islands to Antigua in just under eight weeks, forms the backbone of his new book, set to be published on Monday 7 July.
The duo survived on four hours sleep a day, each losing around 15kg and enduring multiple equipment failures, temperamental GPS and water makers, broken oars and attacks by flying fish.
Rowing across the Atlantic was the culmination of a series of challenges undertaken by Mr Wright since his 40th birthday, a landmark which sees many people opt to take life at a slightly gentler pace.
This included completing an ultramarathon dressed as the Easter Bunny. surviving an encounter with a jaguar and heat-induced hallucinations during a jungle marathon in Brazil, swimming across the English Channel and nearly perishing from extreme Arctic temperatures while running in the Yukon territory in Canada.
Mr Wright said the idea for the book had first been discussed with his brother Steve, a freelance writer, while waiting to start the Atlantic crossing in La Gomera in the Canary Islands in December 2022.
“We agreed that there was potential to so something, and then the idea evolved once the race started when Steve and I were caught in a weather front a couple of weeks into the race,” he said. “I had six days in a sweaty cabin with a naked Welshman, and there was also quite a bit of time to think about what I might do after finishing the race.
“The idea was to do something a bit different – usually books like this are written by well-known people with high profiles, so the aim was to give the perspective of an ordinary guy and make it a bit more relatable to hopefully inspire others to challenge themselves a bit.”
Mr Wright, who moved to Jersey in 2002 and for the last seven years has been chief financial officer for St Helier-based tech business Prosperity 24/7, was also cheered off from La Gomera by his wife Rachel and children Josh and Leila.
Although he’s been a little less active over the past two years since returning to Jersey after his rowing exploits, Mr Wright is set to carry on avoiding the ordinary – he is currently in training for a multi-day endurance challenge planned for October.
Pete Wright
A Mid-Life Less Ordinary will be published on 7 July by Pitch Publishing
- Age: 52.
- Work: CFO, Prosperity 24/7.
- Challenges completed: Solo English Channel Swim, Yukon Arctic Ultra (Canada), Jungle Marathon (Brazil), Marathon des Sables, the Jungle Ultra, the Western States 100, Cape Wrath Ultra, World’s Toughest Row.
