Easkey Britton - Saltwater in the Blood: Surfing, Natural Cycles and the Seas Power to Heal

Saltwater in the Blood

Easkey Britton

This edition first published in the UK and USA 2021 by Watkins, an imprint of Watkins Media Limited

Unit 11, Shepperton House 8993 Shepperton Road

London N1 3DF

Design and typography copyright Watkins Media Limited 2021

Text and illustrations copyright Easkey Britton 2021

Excerpt from Heron, from Collected Poems by Francis Harvey, by kind permission of the Dedalus Press, www.dedaluspress.com

Easkey Britton has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the Publishers.

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Commissioning Editor: Fiona Robertson

Editor: Belle Mundy

Editorial Assistant: Brittany Willis

Designed by Glen Wilkins

Layout by Karen Smith

Production: Uzma Taj

Printed in United Kingdom by TJ Books

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-78678-555-8 (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-78678-518-7 (eBook)

www.watkinspublishing.com

For the water protectors

PRAISE FOR SALTWATER IN THE BLOOD

Easkey Brittons story is one of resilience, strength and the nourishing power of the sea. This is a moving tale of one womans exploration of her own self and her beloved blue sea; a touching reminder of how interwoven every living creature is to the other, and how important it is to learn to live alongside every species on this planet with respect and love.
Kerri n Dochartaigh, author of Thin Places

Easkey Britton has transferred the courage and dedication of a life spent surfing the worlds wildest waves onto the written page to tell a fascinating story that is both an intensely personal reflection and a celebration of the sea. She shines a rare light on the everyday miracles of our coastline in a story that is brimming with vitality and life.
Keith Duggan, award-winning journalist and bestselling author of books including Cliffs of Insanity

Easkey Britton shines a light on the ocean in a way that is powerful and emotive. Saltwater in the Blood is the most beautiful insight into her relationship with the sea and how important it is to all of us on this planet.
Emily Penn, director of eXXpedition

Easkey Brittons story is uniquely, authentically, wholly, powerfully and untouchably her own. She tells us how to bring water in all its forms into our own lives as mother, muse, coach, confidant, healer, lover, sparring-partner and best friend. I hope everyone listens.
Dr Wallace J Nichols, New York Times bestselling author of Blue Mind

A fantastic read beautifully written and brimming with wisdom, wildness and stories that enlighten and inspire. Easkeys passion for life bounces off the page, inviting the reader into the realm of adventure and possibility. She reminds us that our true nature lies in our connection with the natural world and encourages us to immerse ourselves in the wonders of the sea. Saltwater in the Blood is a book for these times from a soulful surfer, scholar and artist who offers us a compelling and hopeful vision for how things can be.
Ruair McKiernan, bestselling author of Hitching for Hope

Saltwater in the Blood is one of the most profoundly moving books Ive had the pleasure to sit down with. Easkeys stories and experiences explore our connection to water in a raw, authentic and unapologetic way. Rarely is a book so insightful, honest, poetic and powerful in equal measure. It will give those of us who already have a deep connection to the ocean the understanding to verbalize the profound effect we instinctively know water has on our lives, and it will inspire those who are just dipping their toes into the blue world to continue exploring and evolving their relationship with it. It truly is a beautiful book, immersing and transporting the reader to the Irish coast, and allowing appreciation of the wild, unforgiving, cold water in a new way. Easkey writes beautifully and her vulnerability brings strength to all the topics she brings out through her stories and journeys.
Cal Major, ocean advocate, BVM&S MRCVS MSc, and founder of Seaful charity

Shaped by the cold-water aloha at the Atlantic edge of Ireland, this beautiful book is much more than a celebration of place. It is a powerful story of an incredible woman at the front line of surfing for social good from Iran to Papua New Guinea. Easkeys blue heritage runs deep through her bloodline, and she will draw us all closer both inside our bodies and the bigger body of the world to water as we flow through these pages. The sea is honest, writes Easkey. It is truth, without discrimination.
Sam Bleakley, surfer, filmmaker and author of Mindful Thoughts for Surfers: Tuning in to the Tides

We learn of a womans deep sensations from Easkeys book. She is not coy. She says it how she feels, in water and on paper and in this world.
Pauline Bewick, Irish artist and author

I felt myself becoming a surfer in this entrancing book, a tale of life, sea and swell.
John Connell, film-maker and bestselling author of books incuding The Cow Book

Saltwater in the Blood is a compelling and moving read about the thrill, wonder and danger of surfing, and how Easkeys relationship to the sea and surf has awoken in her a responsibility to life itself and above all to the sacred and powerful art of encounter that capacity to meet life and evolve with and through it rather than seek to control it. By such wisdom our planet might just survive and thrive.
Alexandra Pope, co-author of Wild Power

When I began this book, I thought it was an autobiography. But it is much more. It is a love story of the exhilarating relationship between a deeply sensitive, courageous woman and the ocean. The author, a world-class surfer, describes how the people she has met on sea coasts around the world have shaped her life, inspiring achievements we can scarcely imagine. With such an intimate personal account it also illustrates how each person can have their own rich and fulfilling relationship with the natural world.
Professor Michael Depledge CBE FRCP, Emeritus Professor of Environment and Human Health

In Saltwater in the Blood, Easkey invites us into her intimate relationship with the sea, and shows us how hearing its calls has given her new eyes, profound connections and a fierce courage to release the wild woman soul that yearns to come out of hiding in her, and in all women.
Captain Liz Clark, author of Swell

Saltwater in the Blood tells the powerful story of Easkey Brittons relationship to the ocean the ways it moves her, literally, as surfer, and figuratively as an educator, advocate and visionary to rethink the ways that our connections to the planet and to each other are born from the essential power of belonging to this earth. Her journey as a surfer and as a woman are an urgent reminder of the spiritual power of this one ocean as a source of inspiration, humility and connection that we all need in this moment of human and planetary crisis.