Voyages of a Simple Sailor

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 for New Zealand. The voyage turned into a terrifying ordeal as the ship was caught in a tropical storm. Embayed between two headlands the ship was driven towards a hostile lee shore. The Endeavour II finally struck land in horrific conditions at one in the morning. There seemed little chance of survival... Following this formative experience, Roger resolved that from then on he would ever only go to sea on his own terms, single-handed and in easily manageable yachts. He built the 19' Roc and twice crossed the Tasman Sea in her - the smallest craft then to have made the crossing. Roger continued to develop his ideas on the importance of simplicity in ocean voyaging and sailed his 21' junk-rigged Corribee Mingming in the first Jester Challenge. This was a voyage of calms, frustrations and mature reflection.