Dave Manby has been at the cutting edge of expedition kayaking for the best part of a quarter of a century. In that time he has had more first descents and epic adventures than most paddlers have had swims, from his first expedition experience on the Dudh Kosi in 1976 to leading a trip for disabled paddlers on Turkey's Coruh river in 1993. Along the way he has met many of kayaking's more colourful characters, and here he presents the stories - and rivers - that have defined their lives: Mick Hopkinson's account of big crocodiles and even bigger cataracts on the Blue Nile; Don Weedon's arrest after running the infamous whirlpool rapids below Niagra falls; Arlene Burns' epic struggle just to get to the putin of Tibet's Bramaputra; and Dave's own intimate and personal battle with the Braldu in in Pakistan, first with Mike Jones in 1978 and then on his own in 1983.
For those who paddle, these stories provide not just inspiration, but confirmation of the spirit that is constantly pushing back the boundaries. To the uninitiated, each is as much an excellent adventure as an explanation of what drives paddlers.