Ever since I first read Voyages of a Simple Sailor I’ve been a fan of Roger Taylor. I you haven’t read it, by the way, I suggest you stop reading this now, and click here to buy it from Amazon (it also means I’ll get about 10p in commission which helps feed this writing sailor 
.
I’m quite surprised by the number of sailors I’ve encountered who haven’t even heard of Roger Taylor, or Ming Ming, his Corribee.
I promise you that this will be one of the best book purchases you will make this year. The man is a master of the written word, a craftsman of language, and a bloody lunatic! A potent combination that will have you on the edge of your seat throughout. If you don’t agree by the time you get to the last page, then you have a truly inert sense of adventure indeed.
Sadly the last page comes all to soon, and thus pauses the epic tale of Mr Taylor.
Fortunately, he writes a monthly article on his website, and it always makes for entertaining reading. I hadn’t checked for updates in a while, but I enjoyed reading the latest one this morning so much, that I thought it deserved sharing.
http://www.thesimplesailor.com/articles.html
I do believe that reason there have been no updates since June, is because he’s currently sailing to the Arctic, in a Corribee, similar to Kudu. Legend!
I’ve been enjoying following your adventure. I brought the book. I hope that 10p gets you a little bit further !
Not just a Corribee…
A corribee with NO ENGINE at that.
He takes the “simple” approach a long way, preferring to use good seamanship to stay off lee shores, sweeps when it’s calm and sail the rest of the time.
Yet another reason to read his stuff.
I’ve not read his book (thanks for the reminder, Nathan) but his site is a belter and I’d recommend it to anyone.
my ambition is to become an engineless sailor – it may be a while before i become a member of the oar club by making a 100 mile four port passage but i want to get there http://www.oarclub.org/page5.html
advantage of owning a small boat with no inboard engine is that it’s going to be easier to get rid of the power when i feel confident enough. bought some sweeps but still need to fit the locks to use them.
Just ordered it so you are up to 20p ! best of luck with the round britian – hope to do it myself one day.
I’ve heard of the oar club before.
Great concept – truly terrible website. I mean AWFUL.
Every page is an image file and on my high resolution monitor it’s pretty much unreadable!
I managed to get an email address off the page and sent them a (very nice and friendly) message about how terrible it was basically told to “buy the book”.
So while I love the engineless idea (more due to the lower cost at the moment than due to the ethos) and will more than likely meet the criteria for the club – I don’t think I’ll ever bother joining.
Ah well.
Good luck with your mission though. I expect you could be an engineless sailor now. Sail as if the engine was not an option, using the outboard only to save the boat from wrecking… even if that means missing a tide or making for a different harbour it would be possible to go engineless in general practice and only use the motor in the way you’d use a life raft. There if you need it but never intended to be used.
engineless? Artic? I’m fiarly convinced that you lot are all boat-potty!
…… and where does Mr Taylor fit his drum kit on his dinky corribee…
Actually it seems he’s back from his Arctic adventure – full account with photos is online now..
http://thesimplesailor.com/voyages.html