VOYAGES OF A SIMPLE SAILOR
SHIPWRECK - CAPSIZE - CALMS 'A classic...riveting, informative and beautifully told.'Jake Kavanagh, Practical Boat Owner
'This single volume contains three of the best written accounts of voyages and seagoing under sail that I have read in many a year. Remarkable tales, exceptionally well told. A real pleasure and of great value to anyone sailing small boats on long voyages.'
Colin Jarman, Sailing Today
' Compelling.'
Yachting Monthly
'A marvellous book of the sea.'
Sea Breezes
' Inspiring.'
Offshore
' ...there is really nothing you can say about it but to recommend that you go out and buy it. It is that good..'
Royal Naval Sailing Association Journal
' ... as a reader of many, many sailing adventure books, this is one of my all time favorites.'
Thomas Armstrong, 70point8percent.blogspot.com
'Thoroughly recommended. Excellent writing and interesting from the first page to the last.'
Steve Pavey, Corribee Owners' Association
Aged just 23, and already set on a life of adventure, Roger Taylor signed up as an able seaman on the square-rigger Endeavour II, bound from Australia to New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. It was the realisation of a boyhood dream. The dream was cruelly shattered when the ship was caught in a fierce tropical storm off the coast of northern New Zealand. For several days, the young crew fought in horrific conditions to keep the ship off the hostile cliffs to leeward. Their efforts were in vain. Nothing could save the ship as it was driven towards the shore. At one in the morning the ship finally struck land. With mountainous seas and storm force winds there was little chance of survival. Death seemed inevitable; the ordeal over. In fact it had hardly begun...
Having narrowly survived this formative experience, Taylor resolved that from then on he would only ever go to sea on his own terms, single-handed and in small, easily manageable yachts. He built the 19' ocean cruiser Roc and sailed her in the 1974 Trans Tasman Single-handed Yacht Race, only the sixth ever solo ocean race. In the early part of this voyage Roc was rolled in huge seas, the main steering was damaged and the self-steering smashed beyond repair. He hand-steered the tiny, cockpit-less yacht for nearly 30 days, only to encounter one of the worst storms recorded off the east coast of Australia.
Roger Taylor went on to sail many thousands of ocean miles, all the while refining his simple approach. In 2006 he sailed his junk-rigged Corribee Mingming in the very first Jester Transatlantic Challenge. In contrast to the two previous voyages this was a passage of calms, frustrations and mature reflection. This book is a distillation of over 50 years of sailing experience, describing small-boat voyaging from a unique and deeply considered perspective.